[linux-audio-user] Re: [linux-audio-dev] dssi question

[Chris Cannam]

On Sunday 05 Dec 2004 11:37, Julien Claassen wrote:
>   I've just one important - for me at least - question. Can the jack
> example client be used without gui? Can it be used with midi only?

Yes and no.  The DSSI JACK host will always try to start a user interface for 
each plugin it loads.  (It could easily have a command line switch to tell it 
not to, but there isn't one at the moment.)  However, if no user interface 
executable is found, it will continue happily without.  So you could make it 
never start a UI by simply not installing any UIs.  It will still continue to 
deliver MIDI and produce audio.

Also, DSSI user interfaces have no obligation to be "graphical".  The DSSI UI 
mechanism is a simple Open Sound Control protocol, and you can control it 
from any OSC client.  You can provide many UIs for a single plugin, and the 
host will choose one or support many at once -- again, the JACK host is 
probably not optimal here as it offers no way for you to specify which UI to 
prefer.  (I haven't tested it with multiple simultaneous UIs.)

The DSSI package also includes a command-line tool (dssi_osc_send) that you 
can use to control the ports, parameters, and configuration of any loaded 
DSSI plugin without explicitly using a UI at all.

So most of the bits you need are there, but their organisation can probably be 
improved upon.  Any suggestions for particular use cases will be warmly 
received.


Chris