I'm going to try again... I think somehow, we got off on a tangent of
sheet music which blurs the issue. Ignoring my previous message about
not being able to have sound be a transparent copy at all:
I hope we can agree that:
1) Transparent copies of a document are required for
distributing printed copies in significant quantity
2) A transparent copy of a work must actually be a copy
of it.
Now, let's talk about a specific example: Let's say I want to make a
music video with portions of the EMACS manual. Why? I'm crazy, that's
why. Being crazy, I decide that the sound track will include the second
part of Brahms' German Requiem, "Denn Alles Fleisch." Why? Once again,
I'm crazy.
So, in order to get a recording under a an acceptable copyright license
I hire an orchestra, a choir, etc. While listening to the singing
Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras
und alle Herrlichkeit des Menschen wie des Grases Blumen...
I start to wonder: What is a transparent copy of this work? At first, I
think I'll just include the score. But upon closer reading of the GFDL,
I notice that a transparent copy must be suitable for _automatic_
conversion. So, that rules out the score --- there is no automatic way
to convert a musical score of Ein Deutsches Requiem, no matter how
represented, to the audible form.[0]
So that leaves me with my digital sampling. So I call the 96KHz,
48-bit[1] many-track full recording the transparent copy. Or at least
I'd like to. I notice that a transparent format, unless a drawing or a
painting, must be "straightforwardly [editable] with generic text
editors." So now I'm stuck. It's fairly easy to do all kinds of neat
editing on sound, with programs designed to do so. But generic text
editors sure aren't.
Let's say that we allow that completely unmixed PCM data, as long as all
editing is done through AJ's Special XML Format. That way, we can claim
it's straightforward to modify with a text editor. So to mix the tracks
(for example), I do:
<mix>
<track id="firstViolin" src="orch/violin1.wav">
<channel id="1" volume="40" />
<channel id="2" vulume="60" />
...
</track>
<track> ... </track>
...
</mix>
With 32 tracks[3], that 14:32 of transparent copy is a mere 15.3GB.
Nothing major.
So, the question is: Where have I erred? AFAICT, I can't use the score
as the transparent copy. I can't use the PCM data as the transparent
copy. Even if I could, it's too damn big to be of any use.
Good thing I didn't even get to trying the do the video part, video is
easy to edit with video editors; however, editing video with a text
editor is once again, near impossible.
[0] Just getting the instruments right is extremely hard even
with very expensive synths; doing the singing is right out.
[1] Not sure what rate/bit size is actually used today.
[3] Google searches turn up studios using many more tracks, e.g.,
<http://www.angelfire.com/id/dkstudios/>,
<http://www.cavemanmusiconline.com/cl_about.html>. I saw up to
128...
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