Sound on linux tends to center around the "jack" sound architecture. This is a demon for connecting audio and midi gadgets
the problem with os-specific solutions is that they, and code based on them, don't work on other platforms - reduces the target audience and the potential gain for anyone wanting to invest time. for graphics, we've got OpenGL, and a nice Haskell binding to it, so I wonder whether there's a similar option for sound? e.g., does anyone have experience with PortAudio/PortMusic/PortMidi? PortAudio - portable cross-platform Audio API (platforms including Windows, Macintosh (8,9,X), Unix (OSS), SGI, and BeOS) http://www.portaudio.com/ PortMusic APIs - Platform Independent Libraries for Sound and MIDI ( PortMusic is open-source and runs on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. Currently, libraries support Audio I/O and MIDI I/O) http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~music/portmusic/ would that be a useful basis for a portable Haskell sound binding? or has anyone already implemented such bindings, for this or any other sound API (SOE's music component includes Midi file support, and also talks about csound)? cheers, claus ps. just had a look at their mailing list archives, and saw a reply by Roger Dannenberg, confirming that PortMidi is still being developed http://www.create.ucsb.edu/pipermail/media_api/2004-May/000305.html (given his background in functional real-time control and music languages, he should be interested if anyone wanted to provide a Haskell binding!-)