NAME¶
vkeybd - virtual keyboard on X
SYNOPSIS¶
vkeybd [-options]
DESCRIPTION¶
vkeybd is a virtual keyboard for AWE/OSS, MIDI/OSS and ALSA drivers. It's
a simple fake of a MIDI keyboard on X-windows system. Enjoy a music with your
mouse and
computer keyboard :-)
OPTIONS¶
Common Options¶
- --device mode
- Use the specified mode for output device. The argument are awe,
midi or alsa, for AWE/OSS, MIDI/OSS and ALSA devices,
respectively. Default is alsa.
- --config file
- Use the specified file as config file (see section
"KEYBOARD").
- --preset file
- Use the specified file as preset list file (see section "PRESET LIST
FILE").
- --channel num
- Specify the channel to be played for normal instruments. Valid only for
MIDI and ALSA devices. Default is 0.
- --drum num
- Specify the channel to be played for drum instruments. Valid only for MIDI
and ALSA devices. Default is 9.
- --octave num
- Specify the number of octaves to display keys. Default is 3.
ALSA Device Option¶
- --addr destination
- Set ALSA client and port numbers to be connected. If argument begins with
's' or 'S', the port is opened as subscription port, and events are sent
to all connected subscribers. The port can be connected to other ports via
aconnect(1). Otherwise, vkeybd connects directly to the
specified port. The argument must be a form like client:port or
client.port, where client and port are index numbers listed in
/proc/asound/seq/clients. Default is 's'.
- --name string
- Specify the name of client/port. Some applications like tk707 check the
client/port name whether it is a valid MIDI device port. This options
makes vkeybd possible to "fake" as a real MIDI device.
OSS Sequencer Device Options¶
- --seqdev file
- Specify the device file path for sequencer access. As default
/dev/sequencer is used.
- --seqidx num
- Specify the synth device index for AWE32/64 WaveTable. If negative value
is given, the device is auto-probed. Default value is -1.
MIDI Device Option¶
- --mididev num
- Speicfy the file path of MIDI device. Default value is /dev/midi.
Connection shows whether the
vkeybd connects to the device. On OSS
system, only one application is allowed to access sequencer device. Thus, if
one wants to play another program even using another device, he needs to
disconnect
vkeybd once. On ALSA or OSS emulation on ALSA, you don't
have to switch
vkeybd off, since multiple access is allowed.
With
Save Config , the current keymap and view configuration are saved on
~/.vkeybdrc config file. This file will be read at the next invoke.
Thie menu shows the check buttons to toggle the display of control buttons.
With
Key/Velocity button, a key and a velocity scale bars are shown. The
key scale indicates the lowest note value of the visible keyboard (as default
48 = C4). The velocity scale bar is used to change the velocity of each
note-on.
With
Control button, controls for the current channel and for the MIDI
continous-controls are enabled. The channel number is increased or decreased
by clicking the right or left button around the shown channel number. The bank
and preset are remembered for each channel. You may choose the CC to be
adjusted by pull-down menu, which indicates
ModWheel as default. Then
change the parameter value with the scale bar at the right side.
With
Pitch button, you may adjust pitch wheel. The pitch goes back to the
center position when you click the
Pitch Clear button at the left.
With
Program button, the selection list of playing instrument is toggled.
The shown presets are read from preset list file.
KEYBOARD¶
Each visible key is mapped on your computer keyboard from 'z' to '\'. To use the
computer keyboard, you should turn off auto repeat on your X display via
xset(1) :
-
- % xset -r
The key assignment can be changed by editing the config file
~/.vkeybdrc.
Once save the current configuration via
File/Save Config menu. The
config file is the Tcl source, and you may change the list of keymap as you
wish.
The keymap is a list of elements consisting on the key symbol and the
corresponding note offset. The key symbol is the X key symbol for assigned
key, and note offset is the shifted note number from note key of beginning of
keyboard, which is changed by
Key scalebar. For example, when a pair of
{a 8} is defined and the lowest MIDI key is 48, a MIDI note 56 will be turned
on by pressing the key 'a'.
PRESET LIST FILE¶
The preset list file is used to describe the list of MIDI preset names. If the
command line option is omitted, the default preset list file
~/vkeybd.list, ~/.vkeybd.list and
$vkblib/vkeybd.list are
searched sequentially. The preset list will appear when
Program toggle
button is on, and you can select a tone to be played from the list.
The preset list file can be converted from
SoundFont(tm) file via
sftovkb(1) utility. For example,
-
- % sftovkb synthgm.sbk > vkeybd.list
SEE ALSO¶
sftovkb(1), X(1),
xset(1),
aconnect(1)
AUTHOR¶
Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de>