133 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
133 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
What is it?
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-----------
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jack-keyboard is a virtual MIDI keyboard - a program that allows you to
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send JACK MIDI events (play ;-) using your PC keyboard. It's somewhat
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similar to vkeybd, except it uses JACK MIDI instead of ALSA, and the
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keyboard mapping is much better - it uses the same layout as trackers
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(like Impulse Tracker) did, so you have two and half octaves under your
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fingers.
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How to compile it?
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------------------
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If you're using FreeBSD, install from ports - audio/jack-keyboard.
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Otherwise, you need JACK with MIDI support, gtk+ 2.6 or higher,
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make(1), gcc and all the standard headers. Untar the file, type
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'make install' and that's it.
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If Makefile is not present, you can generate it with:
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aclocal && autoheader && automake --add-missing && autoconf && ./configure
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How to use it?
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--------------
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You need JACK with MIDI support and some softsynth that accepts
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JACK MIDI as input. Ghostess, http://home.jps.net/~musound/,
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is a good choice. Of course you will also need some DSSI plugin
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that will make the actual sound. WhySynth is nice.
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When you have all of these installed: first, run jackd. Then run
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ghostess with a plugin of choice. Then run jack-keyboard. Press
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'z' key. You should hear sound.
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Keyboard
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--------
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Keyboard mapping is the same as in Impulse Tracker. This is your
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QWERTY keyboard:
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+----+----+ +----+----+----+ +----+----+
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| 2 | 3 | | 5 | 6 | 7 | | 9 | 0 |
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+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
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| q | w | e | r | t | y | u | i | o | p |
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+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
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| s | d | | g | h | j |
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+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
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| z | x | c | v | b | n | m |
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+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
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And this is MIDI mapping.
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+----+----+ +----+----+----+ +----+----+
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|C#5 |D#5 | |F#5 |G#5 |A#5 | |C#6 |D#6 |
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+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
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| C5 | D5 | E5 | F5 | G5 | A5 | B5 | C6 | D6 | E6 |
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+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
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|C#4 |D#4 | |F#4 |G#4 |A#4 |
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+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
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| C4 | D4 | E4 | F4 | G4 | A4 | B4 |
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+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
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Spacebar is a sustain key. Holding it when pressing or releasing key
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will make that key sustained, i.e. Note Off MIDI event won't be sent
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after releasing the key. To release (stop) all the sustained notes,
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press and release spacebar.
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Holding Shift when pressing note will make it louder (it increases
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velocity). Holding Ctrl will do the opposite. You can change the
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default velocity by moving the Velocity slider. You can change the
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"high" and "low" velocity values by moving the slider while holding
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Shift or Ctrl keys.
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Pressing "-" and "+" keys on numeric keypad changes the octave your
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keyboard is mapped to. Pressing "*" and "/" on numeric keypad changes
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MIDI program (instrument). Pressing Insert or Delete keys will connect
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jack-keyboard to the next/previous MIDI input port (it will cycle
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between running instances of ghostess, for example). Home and End keys
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change the MIDI channel. Page Up and Page Down keys switch the MIDI
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bank.
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Esc works as a panic key - when you press it, all sound stops.
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Setting channel/bank/program number directly
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--------------------------------------------
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To switch directly to a channel, bank or program, enter its number on
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the numeric keypad (it won't be shown in any way) and press Home or End
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(to change channel), Page Up or Page Down (to change bank) or "/" or
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"*" (to change program). For example, to change to program number 123,
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type, on the numeric keypad, "123/", without quotes.
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Titlebar
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--------
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When -G xor -T is given, some informational messages in the title bar
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appear. They are supposed to be self explanatory. If you see
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"bank/program change not sent", it means that the bank/program numbers
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as seen in the title bar were not sent. In other words, synth the
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jack-keyboard is connected to may use different values. This happens
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at startup and after switching between synths (using Insert/Delete
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keys). To send bank/program change at startup, use -b and -p parame-
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ters. To automatically send bank/program change after reconnect, use
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the -u option.
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Pianola mode
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------------
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In addition to the MIDI output port, jack-keyboard also opens MIDI
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input (listening) port. MIDI events going into this port will be
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passed to the output port unmodified, except for channel number, which
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will be set to the one jack-keyboard is configured to use. Note On and
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Note Off MIDI events will cause visible effect (pressing and releasing)
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on keys, just like if they were being pressed using keyboard or mouse.
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jack-keyboard will never connect to it's own MIDI input port. It will
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also refuse to connect to any other client whose name begins in "jack-
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keyboard", unless the "-k" option is given. It is, however, possible
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to connect these ports manually, using jack_connect or qjackctl; this
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may create feedback loop.
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License
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-------
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JACK Keyboard is distributed under the BSD license, two clause.
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Contact
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-------
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If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, patches or anything,
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let us know: Edward Tomasz Napierala <trasz@FreeBSD.org> or
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Hans Petter Selasky <hselasky@FreeBSD.org>.
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