I feel that might have been directed towards me, and the various posts I have made. I spent my life creating and exploiting the intellectual property vested in complex software, so I am aware more than most of its intrinsic value and the need to protect it. Also, I am an avid fan of Davide and his team and suspect than many users might not full appreciate the concepts the team has embodied and why it can be set apart from apparently similar products, which if I were to sum it up in 3 words, would be ‘facilitation, not creation’. Let me set out my position for clarity.
1 Firstly, my comments about ‘back engineering’ were clearly stated to be in the context of a data file which is a legitimate output of scaler - the state dump. I merely generated an XSD schema, which is a pre-requisite to subsequently read the file and print things. This can only be done in a limited way because types have to be inferred and I have no knowledge of other metadata within the system.
2 I also stated that I compared state files to see what the changes were when parameters in Scaler were changed. I see nothing inherently malevolent in that,
3 My goals have been clearly stated, related to auditioning the bazillion possible outputs from Scaler, to try and home in on a small subset which might be relevant to the music I’d like to make. I have now been doing this more efficiently by methodically listening to a combination and either saving the state or moving on to the next.
4 The result is many xml files with the only identity being a timestamp in the file name. I could, of course, rename the file on saving, and give it a lengthy name with details of how it was formed. This is as time consuming (and very unwieldy) as maintaining a paper/excel list, and unlike an excel file, can’t be easily ordered or searched.
5 So it seemed to me that it would be possible to produce a report/excel file from the XML - obtained by perfectly legitimate means from the software - to create the list. However, there is nothing in the state file which enables this to be done directly. So the approach I have taken is (for example) to produce otherwise identical files in different keys and look what changes; This enables me either to see what elements /attributes hold values or to identity the uuid of a value to create a ‘translation’ table for the things I’m interested in e.g. what uuid maps to ‘minor pentatonic’
6 This also facilitates my recording of ratings or notes in my created file against combinations. This probably won’t be incorporated as a function in Scaler (and IMHO, would be a mistake from a maintenance perspective for them to ever do so.)
7 I see none of this as being threatening to the Scaler owners, and I have been 100% open about this (and I’m not certain yet if it can be done). Ed did query why I’d suggested the time stamp and schema hook in the state file, and I was completely open with my response, and what I was exploring doing.
8 Finally, I respond on this point only because the word legality’ was used, as overseas users might not be familiar with this. Within the EU (and now the UK still) decompilation of binaries is permitted to create an interface with the software in question (‘interoperability’, which is what this is) , so if this were done, it wouldn’t be illegal. However, as I hope the forgoing has shown I have no plans to create an interface or link with the system in any way other by using (completely indirectly) the data export provided by the vendor.
9 Davide, Ed, jump in if relevant and please let ne know if you have any concerns. I will of course desist on a good faith basis from performing any activities that you feel are ultra vires.
PS The new avatar picture in fact no way resembles me. I am older and more ugly.