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SF.net SVN: jazzplusplus: [548] web/htdocs/documentation/index.php
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From: <pst...@us...> - 2008-05-20 04:43:17
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Revision: 548
http://jazzplusplus.svn.sourceforge.net/jazzplusplus/?rev=548&view=rev
Author: pstieber
Date: 2008-05-19 21:43:07 -0700 (Mon, 19 May 2008)
Log Message:
-----------
Applied a slightly modified patch provided by Donald B. Moore.
Moved the Linux/MIDI treatise out of this document and into the
jazz.tex file as an abstract.
Pete's changes.
Made cosmetic indentation changes.
Modified Paths:
--------------
web/htdocs/documentation/index.php
Modified: web/htdocs/documentation/index.php
===================================================================
--- web/htdocs/documentation/index.php 2008-05-20 04:39:55 UTC (rev 547)
+++ web/htdocs/documentation/index.php 2008-05-20 04:43:07 UTC (rev 548)
@@ -46,198 +46,14 @@
</p>
<h3>Using Jazz++ with Linux on the x86/x86_64 PC</h3>
-
-<h4>Introduction</h4>
<p>
-Years ago when the Jazz++ project first came to my attention,
-using it with Linux on the PC was a much different proposition to
-what is possible today on this platform/OS. Although it would be
-entirely possible to create a MIDI score with jazz, (in the same way
-this text is being produced with a text-editor), the whole point of
-the exercise would be to compose a MIDI score you could actually hear.
+Sections of this documentation are being added to right now.
+The lastest versions of this and other Jazz++ documentation
+is always included in the current svn source code. As time
+permits, links to that documentation will appear here.
</p>
<p>
-Back then with Linux, making sound via MIDI applications meant having
-MIDI *hardware*. This may have taken the form of a MIDI adapter plugged
-in the PC's serial port or soundcard gameport (in MPU-401 mode), with a real
-world MIDI instrument(s) attached to that, or else a MIDI capable soundcard
-with a hardware based MIDI sound synthesis chip to make the actual sound.
-(so called 'MIDI/synth' capable soundcards)
-In that latter case, the soundcard necessarily had to be supported
-by Linux drivers, and in that respect these drivers were more than
-likely using the now deprecated 'OSS' sound system modules.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Things have changed. The x86 based hardwares have become faster and
-cheaper, Linux has grown and matured as an operating system, and
-likewise Free software has multiplied and proliferated around the world
-giving rise to the creation of a great many new software applications.
-Along the way, the venerable 'OSS' sound system drivers were replaced
-with the 'Advanced Linux Sound Architecture' (ALSA) drivers and API.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The result of these many advances and changes over time, means Linux
-users are no longer constrained by the need of having actual MIDI
-capable hardware or a MIDI/synth capable soundcard, to obtain good sound
-production with MIDI applications like Jazz++. Instead of having one
-or more hardware sound synthesis chips (be they on a soundcard or
-in a MIDI musical instrument) to produce the sound(s), we can now
-use a software application to achieve the same ends, and many folks
-loosely refer to these software applications as being 'softsynths'.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For many years now, users with Windows on their PC have had a distinct
-advantage over Linux users on the PC, because virtually every sound
-card (and/or onboard sound chip) typically ships with proprietary
-Windows drivers that enable the use of that hardware as a 'softsynth' in
-conjunction with the underlying Windows sound API supports. In
-effect, Windows users could come to the website, download Jazz++ and
-install it, and be making noise in under 2 minutes with very little
-or no effort. If only users of other platforms/OS' could have it this
-easy - hopefully this documentation will help bridge the (Linux) gap.
-</p>
-
-<h4>Hardware based sound synthesis and Linux on the x86 PC</h4>
-<p>
-Thanks to all the great work done by the ALSA team over the years, Linux
-now has much better driver supports for the various soundcards on the market
-today that have hardware based MIDI/synth chips as part of their design.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-However, at this point documentation detailing the configuration and
-use of such soundcard hardware with Linux and Jazz++ will be the
-focus of future efforts here. Why? Simply because the majority of
-people out there on the x86 PC don't have a hardware MIDI/synth soundcard
-as part of their computer's hardware. They need to know how to setup a
-'softsynth' in Linux if they don't have this sort of soundcard or
-any 'real' MIDI hardware to hear Jazz++ with...and believe me, this
-will be 80% or more of people out there using Linux and the PC.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-I will however include a section here soon listing all the sound
-cards of this type that are currently supported under Linux, and
-later document configuration details here for use with Jazz++.
-</p>
-
-<h4>Software based sound synthesis and Linux on the x86 PC</h4>
-<p>
-This area of the documentation will grow over time. There is a lot
-that can be documented here now with Linux, however at this early
-stage of Jazz++'s development, it's more important for potential
-users and testers of the Jazz++ code to have some form of consistant
-MIDI 'test-bed' to prove and test Jazz++ itself on linux.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Although this isn't 'set in stone', the Jazz++ developers have
-been using a softsynth setup in Linux as I describe below, which
-uses JACK, FLUIDSYNTH and QSYNTH. A similar setup should also
-work on the Mac running Mac OSX.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Essentially, -any- ALSA based, MIDI capable softsynth setup
-should work with Jazz++, and I've already tested a few that seem
-to work fine. However, more consistant and comparable results of
-testing, will be observed using the same softsynth 'kit' as the
-Jazz++ developers do, and this is why documentation of this
-softsynth setup comes first.
-</p>
-
-<h4>Overview of a typical Linux softsynth setup</h4>
-<p>
-Softsynth setups in Linux are comprised of a number of
-software applications which work together to form a virtual
-machine that emulates hardware based MIDI/synth devices. The
-so formed virtual machine can be easily broken down into it's
-individual parts, to better understand how the components
-'expose' themselves to the user ;
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The ALSA part -- forms virtual MIDI and real audio paths for the
-other parts of the virtual machine to communicate across. Allows
-PCM data rendered by the virtual machine to be realized as an
-analogue audio signal at the line outputs of the soundcard hardware.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The JACK part -- a low-latency sound server. Forms both a virtual
-MIDI patch-bay and a virtual audio patch-bay to control and
-define how the virtual machine parts interconnect with and across
-the virtual and real machine paths formed by the ALSA part.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The FLUIDSYNTH part -- the virtual MIDI synthesizer itself. It
-accepts valid MIDI data as input, and renders that data into
-PCM data output, as determined by sound/instrument data contained
-in a 'SoundFont' file.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-The QSYNTH part -- this forms the virtual control panel of the
-virtual synthesizer part. Essentially, this comprises a GUI to
-easily allow the user to change/control the virtual synthesizer
-itself, add/remove SoundFont files, define bank settings, and
-adjust other working parameters of the virtual synthesizer itself.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Additionally, the QJACKCTL software provides a GUI visualization
-of the virtual MIDI/audio patch-bays formed by the JACK part,
-allowing the user a quick and easy way to 'hook it all up' as it
-were, in any particular configuration they desire.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-For the sake of accuracy with this overview, it is worth noting
-that Jazz++ itself is a virtual machine - it is a software emulation
-of -hardware- based MIDI sequencers that were in common use years
-ago. Jazz++ is of course much more capable than these old hardware
-sequencers I speak of, which in their day were little more than
-'drum machines' triggering sound events on a MIDI or otherwise
-connected 'tip-and-ring patch cord configured' analogue synthesizer.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Also note here, the virtual machine softsynth described in the
-overview above, lacks one obvious component - the INPUT part.
-It is basically a virtual MIDI synthesizer with all the bells,
-knobs and whistles, but without a keyboard or anything else
-'driving' it. Jazz++ is that part. The MIDI data produced by Jazz++
-is that MIDI input data the FLUIDSYNTH part accepts.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Jazz++ can itself accept valid MIDI data from either the virtual
-and/or 'real world' MIDI domains. This means, you can connect
-a real MIDI synthesizer keyboard to Jazz++ as a MIDI data INPUT
-part, and record notes played on that with Jazz++. Equally, you
-could connect the same external MIDI keyboard as an INPUT part
-to FLUIDSYNTH and use the virtual MIDI softsynth to replay the
-notes you are playing, instead of the synthesizer's own hardware
-kit.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-Finally, there are other virtual machines in software that
-can be used as valid MIDI data INPUT parts here, such as the
-program VKEYBD, which is a virtual onscreen MIDI keyboard GUI
-with keys you click on with your mouse -- all these MIDI devices
-be they virtual machines or not, can interact and interconnect
-with each other, and thus possibly form very complex MIDI
-sound production environments that traverse and inter-operate
-across the software virtual and real hardware MIDI domains.
-</p>
-
-<p>
Check out an ancient version of the Jazz++ online docs by visiting
<a name="Old Manual" href="/manual/jazz_contents.html">the manual page</a>.
</p>
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