BMX Metadata?

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Candle
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BMX Metadata?

Post by Candle »

Ok, I know this is a big ask, but I'm wondering if it would be possible to add ID3-like Metadata to BMX files? I understand that right now you can't & that it would probably be a big hassle to do so (re-coding the file format), but it would be nice for BMX indexing & cataloguing to have Metadata attached to BMX (& BMW) files.

Pipe dream, right? ;)

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Joachip
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Re: BMX Metadata?

Post by Joachip »

I think changing anything in the bmx format right now would be risky. Any change would certainly need to be both backwards and forwards compatible, and whether that's even possible depends on how the bmx format works internally - something I don't know. It does seem to be a chunk based format like IFF or RIFF, so it might be possible.

Without changing the format, it should be possible to deduce at least some meta data - if someone managed to reverse engineer the bmx format:

* Track title could be extrapolated by removing the extension from the file name and converting underscores to spaces.
* Tempo in BPM
* Time signature (the TBP value)
* Comment (the text on the "F10" page)
* Creation date might be stored somewhere in the bmx, but if not, it could be fetched from the file creation date even though these often get changed when copying files or restoring stuff from backup.
* Perhaps something could be constructed based on the number and names of generators/effects/samples used - something that is available in the bmx file.
* Buzz version used, e.g. "Buzz build 1503 - Jan 16 2016 18:10:53"
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mcbpete
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Re: BMX Metadata?

Post by mcbpete »

I think most of the file format has been known about for quite a while now - https://buzzwiki.robotplanet.dk/index.p ... BMX_format (albeit in a format a little over my head!)
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Candle
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Re: BMX Metadata?

Post by Candle »

Found a work-around if anyone else is interested. Neat little software package called FileMeta that allows you to add Metadata to any file type & have it displayed in Windows Explorer's Details Pane.

https://github.com/Dijji/FileMeta

It works pretty good, but do read the documentation to see its limitations.

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