Aria vs. AriaX Files

[lunker]

Hello,

Love JABB3. One question though.

When saving an ensemble with the "File > Save as" option from the menu of the standalone player, the files are saved as *.aria files.

When saving an ensemble by clicking on the "Ensemble" section inside the player and selecting "save", the files are saved as *.ariax files.

From what I gather, the *.ariax file is an XML version of the binary *.aria file.

Is there any practical difference between the two types of files? Is there a scenario where one would prefer to use the *.aria files instead of the more-easily-read (and edited) *.ariax files?

Sorry -- the software engineer geek in me wants to know.

[TompaD]

From what I gather, the *.ariax file is an XML version of the binary *.aria file.

Is there any practical difference between the two types of files? Is there a scenario where one would prefer to use the *.aria files instead of the more-easily-read (and edited) *.ariax files?

Sorry -- the software engineer geek in me wants to know.

Me too!! :-)

Regards
TompaD

[bionicbub]

Hello,

Love JABB3. One question though.

When saving an ensemble with the "File > Save as" option from the menu of the standalone player, the files are saved as *.aria files.

When saving an ensemble by clicking on the "Ensemble" section inside the player and selecting "save", the files are saved as *.ariax files.

From what I gather, the *.ariax file is an XML version of the binary *.aria file.

Is there any practical difference between the two types of files? Is there a scenario where one would prefer to use the *.aria files instead of the more-easily-read (and edited) *.ariax files?

Sorry -- the software engineer geek in me wants to know.

I'm going to take a stab (in the dark) at this one because it seems likely that the File -> save option (.aria) is designed only for the Aria Player to read, whereas the SaveAs option (.ariax) under the ensemble button was designed to be read by other notation and sequencer programs. The XML format is becoming a universal method of exchange between different programs (especially the .musicXML format in the music field). The .aria format is most likely the Aria Player's native format that cannot be read by other programs.

So there's my stab at it!

Arvid

[David (plogue)]

Hi and thanks for the question.

aria files and ariax files contain the exact same information, and are essentially interchangeable in the aria player Ensemble load menu (or by drag and dropping) They each contain the state of an entire 'engine instance' ;
.aria being a compressed binary version of a .ariax file.

As you noticed ariax are readable XML files, wereas the aria files are not.
The standalone player can only save the binary variant, so if you want to save editable presets, you better use the ensemble menu.

aria files were made originaly and I added ariax's to allow hand editing of data for power users (frankly because I needed to :), but the standalone doesnt have access to uncompressed content by design (its a host if you will).

I hope that clears up some confusion.
Kind Regards