26 May
2010
26 May
'10
1:23 p.m.
Hi linux-audio peoples,
I want to announce my new and fun and useful python script -- I call it
'jackctl' -- it basically is a frontend to the jack tools 'jack_lsp' and
'jack_connect'. It's like 'qjackctl' , but since it's command
line, no 'q'
!!!
get it here:
http://www.akjmusic.com/software/jackctl20100526.py
Why would I embark on writing such a script? Who would want to use this?
You'll want to try this if one or any of the the following apply:
1) You don't want to have to install the entire QT toolkit for a single
program.
2) If you like the command line, use a console, but still use jack often
enough
3) You've used jack and 'jack_connect' through the command line before, but
hated having to type the full name of the jack ports.
4) You've noticed that 'qjackctl' introduces CPU overhead and xruns you
don't have when you use command-line jack, i.e. you are obsessed with the
lowest possible latency
5) You want a fast, simple interface to connect jack ports that is even
faster than a GUI---no need to point the mouse, just type two numbers and
go!
It's very simple. All you need is Python (and who doesn't have that on their
machine). You put the script in your PATH, or link it/rename it, making sure
it's exectuable. When you run it, you'll see a list of current numbered jack
ports, and you can connect them by typing two numbers separated by a space.
You can disconnect them by typing 'd' then the two numbers separated by a
space. No hassles, and a nice feature is that it will protect you from
making ear-blasting feedback connections. It's even quicker than qjackctl,
b/c it takes more time to point your mouse at the ports in the GUI and then
click 'connect' than it does to type two single-digit numbers and then hit
return, yes?
Let me know how you like it...I'm interested in reasonable feature requests.
One potential TODO would be to make this script have a user-friendly way to
start the jack daemon, but for now, I do that manually....
Enjoy, comments welcome!
--
Aaron Krister Johnson
http://www.akjmusic.com
http://www.untwelve.org
26 May
26 May
2:27 p.m.
Hello Aaron!
I like the tool. But I'd have a few suggestions.
I supose you get a list of all possible ports before printing them. Could
you compare them to the LIENS variable (offered by the shell and things like
curses). If there are more ports 5trhen lines, could you please use a pager?
Could you write a help command? It could be short.
A quit command would be handsome too. Something like "quit" or "q".
Now I
used ctrl-D which worked, but doesn't look as fancy and sleek as the rest.
Then I of course second the opinion of including ALSA MIDI ports in the
list.
Does your tool have a list command, which will reprint the list? If not, tat
might be nice as well.
I know, this sounds like a lot and it is. And probably it was never your
intention to get that elaborate, but it would certainly be nice.
Kindest regards
Julien
--------
Music was my first love and it will be my last (John Miles)
======== FIND MY WEB-PROJECT AT: ========
http://ltsb.sourceforge.net
the Linux TextBased Studio guide
======= AND MY PERSONAL PAGES AT: =======
http://www.juliencoder.de
4:58 p.m.
Hi Julien,
These are good suggestions. I will eventually get front-end functionality to
'aconnect' (for MIDI connections) going...'q' for quit and 'h' for
help
would be easy enough. The pager idea if it goes beyond the available lines
should be easily doable as well.
FYI, 'l' is already there as a 'reprint list of ports' command!!!
I have some debugging to do as well---it appears at least 2 people have
verbose versions of 'jack_lsp' which is messing with my elegant parsing
scheme....
AKJ
On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 7:27 AM, Julien Claassen <julien(a)c-lab.de> wrote:
Hello Aaron!
I like the tool. But I'd have a few suggestions.
I supose you get a list of all possible ports before printing them. Could
you compare them to the LIENS variable (offered by the shell and things like
curses). If there are more ports 5trhen lines, could you please use a pager?
Could you write a help command? It could be short.
A quit command would be handsome too. Something like "quit" or "q".
Now I
used ctrl-D which worked, but doesn't look as fancy and sleek as the rest.
Then I of course second the opinion of including ALSA MIDI ports in the
list.
Does your tool have a list command, which will reprint the list? If not,
tat might be nice as well.
I know, this sounds like a lot and it is. And probably it was never your
intention to get that elaborate, but it would certainly be nice.
Kindest regards
Julien
--------
Music was my first love and it will be my last (John Miles)
======== FIND MY WEB-PROJECT AT: ========
http://ltsb.sourceforge.net
the Linux TextBased Studio guide
======= AND MY PERSONAL PAGES AT: =======
http://www.juliencoder.de
--
Aaron Krister Johnson
http://www.akjmusic.com
http://www.untwelve.org
9:57 p.m.
Hi,
On Wednesday 26 May 2010 13:23:31 Aaron Krister Johnson wrote:
I want to announce my new and fun and useful python
script -- I call it
'jackctl' -- it basically is a frontend to the jack tools 'jack_lsp' and
'jack_connect'. It's like 'qjackctl' , but since it's command
line, no 'q'
!!!
<snip>
It's very simple. All you need is Python (and who
doesn't have that on
their machine). You put the script in your PATH, or link it/rename it,
making sure it's exectuable. When you run it, you'll see a list of current
numbered jack ports, and you can connect them by typing two numbers
separated by a space. You can disconnect them by typing 'd' then the two
numbers separated by a space. No hassles, and a nice feature is that it
will protect you from making ear-blasting feedback connections. It's even
quicker than qjackctl, b/c it takes more time to point your mouse at the
ports in the GUI and then click 'connect' than it does to type two
single-digit numbers and then hit return, yes?
Sounds a bit similar to what I am writing locally.
Only my version is different :-)
I have a control-server and graphical clients. And they communicate via OSC so
they can be on different machines. I should do an early preview-release
sometime soon.
And I am using pyjack, so I don't have to run external apps. Maybe that is
something for your project too? It will save on cpu-cycles...
Have fun,
Arnold
28 May
28 May
6:16 p.m.
Hi all,
Thanks for your many comments on my 'jackctl' python script of a couple of
days ago. I have a new version:
http://www.akjmusic.com/software/jackctl20100528.py
New features include:
* paging the reported connections list when lines go beyond 22
* a 'MIDI' mode (hit 'm') to get you to access alsa-MIDI connections via
'aconnect'
* a help menu to show the few simple commands
I have not figured out how jack MIDI works---and I never use it (I don't
really see the point when there's ALSA MIDI, frankly, but maybe someone
knows better). I'm willing to add Jack-MIDI access as a feature, but someone
has to tell me how I can connect it and test it from the command line using
jackd (right now, 'jackd .... -X alsa' didn't work for me)
There are bound to be additional bugs that I cannot forsee due to differing
setups--I appreciate your testing and comments, and I hope you find this new
tool a viable, if minimal, alternative to QJackctl...
I recommend you use jack compiled without any additional verbosity. I
haven't yet put in an architecture that will handle spurious messages from
the various CL tools in the jack package.
AKJ
On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 6:23 AM, Aaron Krister Johnson
<aaron(a)akjmusic.com>wrote;wrote:
Hi linux-audio peoples,
I want to announce my new and fun and useful python script -- I call it
'jackctl' -- it basically is a frontend to the jack tools 'jack_lsp' and
'jack_connect'. It's like 'qjackctl' , but since it's command
line, no 'q'
!!!
get it here:
http://www.akjmusic.com/software/jackctl20100526.py
Why would I embark on writing such a script? Who would want to use this?
You'll want to try this if one or any of the the following apply:
1) You don't want to have to install the entire QT toolkit for a single
program.
2) If you like the command line, use a console, but still use jack often
enough
3) You've used jack and 'jack_connect' through the command line before, but
hated having to type the full name of the jack ports.
4) You've noticed that 'qjackctl' introduces CPU overhead and xruns you
don't have when you use command-line jack, i.e. you are obsessed with the
lowest possible latency
5) You want a fast, simple interface to connect jack ports that is even
faster than a GUI---no need to point the mouse, just type two numbers and
go!
It's very simple. All you need is Python (and who doesn't have that on
their machine). You put the script in your PATH, or link it/rename it,
making sure it's exectuable. When you run it, you'll see a list of current
numbered jack ports, and you can connect them by typing two numbers
separated by a space. You can disconnect them by typing 'd' then the two
numbers separated by a space. No hassles, and a nice feature is that it will
protect you from making ear-blasting feedback connections. It's even quicker
than qjackctl, b/c it takes more time to point your mouse at the ports in
the GUI and then click 'connect' than it does to type two single-digit
numbers and then hit return, yes?
Let me know how you like it...I'm interested in reasonable feature
requests. One potential TODO would be to make this script have a
user-friendly way to start the jack daemon, but for now, I do that
manually....
Enjoy, comments welcome!
--
Aaron Krister Johnson
http://www.akjmusic.com
http://www.untwelve.org
--
Aaron Krister Johnson
http://www.akjmusic.com
http://www.untwelve.org
6:21 p.m.
New subject: [LAU] like "qjackctl", but trimmed of all fat
On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 12:16 PM, Aaron Krister Johnson
<aaron(a)akjmusic.com>wrote;wrote:
I have not figured out how jack MIDI works---and I never use it (I don't
really see the point when there's ALSA MIDI, frankly, but maybe someone
knows better). I'm willing to add Jack-MIDI access as a feature, but someone
has to tell me how I can connect it and test it from the command line using
jackd (right now, 'jackd .... -X alsa' didn't work for me)
jackd .... -d alsa .... -X seq
the "point" is that it works just like audio, and provides sample-accurate
MIDI delivery with very, very little overhead.
10:18 p.m.
New subject: [LAU] like "qjackctl", but trimmed of all fat
Paul-
Thanks for the tip. I must have done some stupid mistake before, b/c I
didn't see the ports with 'jack_lsp', but now I do. Now that I have this
software, I'm actually going to use jack for MIDI from now on...not only is
the interface more elegant, you've convinced me of the technical virtues as
well.....
BTW, once it has all the features you'd want, perhaps you could distribute
my python script with each jack release? It is a convenient front-end to he
CL tools already there....some folks might like an alternative to a big GUI
with loads of dependencies, esp. those in a console environment, or those
who don't use KDE or many other QT-based programs.
Thanks again!
AKJ
On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 11:21 AM, Paul Davis <paul(a)linuxaudiosystems.com>wrote;wrote:
On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 12:16 PM, Aaron Krister Johnson <
aaron(a)akjmusic.com> wrote:
--
Aaron Krister Johnson
http://www.akjmusic.com
http://www.untwelve.org
I have not figured out how jack MIDI works---and I never use it (I don't
really see the point when there's ALSA MIDI, frankly, but maybe someone
knows better). I'm willing to add Jack-MIDI access as a feature, but someone
has to tell me how I can connect it and test it from the command line using
jackd (right now, 'jackd .... -X alsa' didn't work for me)
jackd .... -d alsa .... -X seq
the "point" is that it works just like audio, and provides sample-accurate
MIDI delivery with very, very little overhead.
10:25 p.m.
New subject: [LAU] like "qjackctl", but trimmed of all fat
Hi Aaron!
Thanks for this tool. I'm sure, as you continue to develop this, it will
become one of my favourites. There are a few feature pleas I would have, but
let them rest for the moment.
This is a really helpful tool, especially since I CAN't use qjackctl.
Warmly yours
Julien
--------
Music was my first love and it will be my last (John Miles)
======== FIND MY WEB-PROJECT AT: ========
http://ltsb.sourceforge.net
the Linux TextBased Studio guide
======= AND MY PERSONAL PAGES AT: =======
http://www.juliencoder.de
6:27 p.m.
Excerpts from Aaron Krister Johnson's message of 2010-05-28 18:16:16 +0200:
Hi all,
Thanks for your many comments on my 'jackctl' python script of a couple of
days ago. I have a new version:
http://www.akjmusic.com/software/jackctl20100528.py
New features include:
* paging the reported connections list when lines go beyond 22
* a 'MIDI' mode (hit 'm') to get you to access alsa-MIDI connections via
'aconnect'
* a help menu to show the few simple commands
I have not figured out how jack MIDI works---and I never use it (I don't
really see the point when there's ALSA MIDI, frankly, but maybe someone
knows better). I'm willing to add Jack-MIDI access as a feature, but someone
has to tell me how I can connect it and test it from the command line using
jackd (right now, 'jackd .... -X alsa' didn't work for me)
There are bound to be additional bugs that I cannot forsee due to differing
setups--I appreciate your testing and comments, and I hope you find this new
tool a viable, if minimal, alternative to QJackctl...
I recommend you use jack compiled without any additional verbosity. I
haven't yet put in an architecture that will handle spurious messages from
the various CL tools in the jack package.
AKJ
It already has jack midi support :)
It would be nice if it could be shown separately, same as alsa midi.
Anyway, I recently wrote something that might help you understand jack
midi:
http://murks.lima-city.de/serendipity/index.php?/archives/7-ALSA-and-JACK-M…
--
Regards,
Philipp
-----
"Wir stehen selbst enttäuscht und sehn betroffen / Den Vorhang zu und alle Fragen
offen." Bertolt Brecht, Der gute Mensch von Sezuan
6:30 p.m.
New subject: [LAU] like "qjackctl", but trimmed of all fat
Hello aaron!
I've just downloaded the new version and it looks fine. But "f"? :-)
Really...
Paul told you about the merits of JACKMIDI and how to start it.
About the ports themselves, they're simply included in the jack_lsp listing.
To seperate the listing of JACKMIDI ports from the audio ports, you have to
use the -P feature, to the best of my knowledge and pass the type, or as I
suggested earlier, use the -t option to only list ports of type audio or midi.
I guess you could list the jack ports with the alsa ports.
One thing, I'd be happy to see in a future version: If you could reformat
the output of the MIDI list, to be consistent with that of the audio list:
0) System timer
1) Announce
2) virmidi 1
...
It would be nice for not only the eye, but the finger as well. :-)
Eye-candied regards
Julien
--------
Music was my first love and it will be my last (John Miles)
======== FIND MY WEB-PROJECT AT: ========
http://ltsb.sourceforge.net
the Linux TextBased Studio guide
======= AND MY PERSONAL PAGES AT: =======
http://www.juliencoder.de
10:14 p.m.
New subject: [LAU] like "qjackctl", but trimmed of all fat
HI Julien, all--
I'm uploading a new version. I've implemented jack-midi and alsa-midi port
modes. One simply toggles with the 'm' input to switch between them.
http://www.akjmusic.com/software/jackctl20100528b.py
I still haven't implemented index numbers in alsa mode. Maybe in the future.
:) For now, one can simply use the alsa reference numbers e.g. '20:0 128:0'
or simple '20 128' which it also accepts.
Onward and upward!!!
AKJ
On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 11:30 AM, Julien Claassen <julien(a)c-lab.de> wrote:
Hello aaron!
I've just downloaded the new version and it looks fine. But "f"? :-)
Really...
Paul told you about the merits of JACKMIDI and how to start it.
About the ports themselves, they're simply included in the jack_lsp
listing.
To seperate the listing of JACKMIDI ports from the audio ports, you have
to use the -P feature, to the best of my knowledge and pass the type, or as
I suggested earlier, use the -t option to only list ports of type audio or
midi. I guess you could list the jack ports with the alsa ports.
One thing, I'd be happy to see in a future version: If you could reformat
the output of the MIDI list, to be consistent with that of the audio list:
0) System timer
1) Announce
2) virmidi 1
...
It would be nice for not only the eye, but the finger as well. :-)
Eye-candied regards
Julien
--------
Music was my first love and it will be my last (John Miles)
======== FIND MY WEB-PROJECT AT: ========
http://ltsb.sourceforge.net
the Linux TextBased Studio guide
======= AND MY PERSONAL PAGES AT: =======
http://www.juliencoder.de
--
Aaron Krister Johnson
http://www.akjmusic.com
http://www.untwelve.org
29 May
29 May
12:23 p.m.
New subject: [LAU] like "qjackctl", but trimmed of all fat
Hello Aaron and Jack-Team!
There seems to be a bug in my jack_lsp. I just started a2jmidid and
j2amidi_bridge. when I do a jack_lsp I get all the ports.
When I do: jack_lsp -t midi I only get one port from jack_midi_clock, but
none of the other ones.
When I type: jack_lsp -t, I can't see a difference between the
jack_midi_clock port and the others:
jack_lsp -t
[...]
a2j:Virtual Raw MIDI 0-0 [16] (capture): VirMIDI 0-0
8 bit raw midi
a2j:Virtual Raw MIDI 0-0 [16] (playback): VirMIDI 0-0
8 bit raw midi
a2j:Virtual Raw MIDI 0-1 [17] (capture): VirMIDI 0-1
8 bit raw midi
a2j:Virtual Raw MIDI 0-1 [17] (playback): VirMIDI 0-1
8 bit raw midi
a2j:Virtual Raw MIDI 0-2 [18] (capture): VirMIDI 0-2
8 bit raw midi
a2j:Virtual Raw MIDI 0-2 [18] (playback): VirMIDI 0-2
8 bit raw midi
a2j:Virtual Raw MIDI 0-3 [19] (capture): VirMIDI 0-3
8 bit raw midi
a2j:Virtual Raw MIDI 0-3 [19] (playback): VirMIDI 0-3
8 bit raw midi
a2j:M Audio Delta 1010LT [20] (capture): M Audio Delta 1010LT MIDI
8 bit raw midi
a2j:M Audio Delta 1010LT [20] (playback): M Audio Delta 1010LT MIDI
8 bit raw midi
j2a_bridge:playback
8 bit raw midi
a2j:j2a_bridge [129] (capture): capture
8 bit raw midi
Jack MIDI Clock:midi_out
8 bit raw midi
Or is the argument "midi" only seen as the start of a port_name?
If so, Aaron, you must rewrite this part of jackctl (I guess you do what I
described, because I get exactly your output). You should rewrite it using:
jack_lsp -t
And then parse the type info underneath each name. I think a simple grabbing
for "audio" or "midi" will do. But I guess, that in the long run,
using the
python module for jack, will be more efficient and easy to use.
Kindly yours
Julien
--------
Music was my first love and it will be my last (John Miles)
======== FIND MY WEB-PROJECT AT: ========
http://ltsb.sourceforge.net
the Linux TextBased Studio guide
======= AND MY PERSONAL PAGES AT: =======
http://www.juliencoder.de
2 p.m.
New subject: [LAU] like "qjackctl", but trimmed of all fat
Hi Julien, Hey Aaron,
read 'jack_lsp --help'.
'-t' does not take any arguments; it just makes jack_lsp print the type.
the filter-string only acts on the port-name (BTW, not only the
beginning of the port-name; but it's case-sensitive: strstr() )
Anyway I can reproduce the problem, some jack-midi ports show up in the
audio-tab of jackctl20100528b.py.
jackctl20100528b checks for lowercase 'midi' in the port-name instead of
looking up the port-type. So a2jmidi for example with an upper-case M
"Midi.." ends up in the audio-panel.
Your suggestion to parse the output of 'jack_lsp -t -c' is spot on.
the (currently 2) possible return values are (indented by tab):
#define JACK_DEFAULT_AUDIO_TYPE "32 bit float mono audio"
#define JACK_DEFAULT_MIDI_TYPE "8 bit raw midi"
..or as you suggest using the python-module for JACK may also simplify
things and make jackctl easier to maintain.
Cheers!
robin
PS. Oh, and which of qjackctl's features makes it 'fat'? it's not
bloated in any way. I'd rather put it the other way 'round and say that
jackctl is 'slim'. Sorry could not resist.
On 05/29/2010 12:23 PM, Julien Claassen wrote:
Hello Aaron and Jack-Team!
There seems to be a bug in my jack_lsp. I just started a2jmidid and
j2amidi_bridge. when I do a jack_lsp I get all the ports.
When I do: jack_lsp -t midi I only get one port from jack_midi_clock,
but none of the other ones.
When I type: jack_lsp -t, I can't see a difference between the
jack_midi_clock port and the others:
jack_lsp -t
[...]
a2j:Virtual Raw MIDI 0-0 [16] (capture): VirMIDI 0-0
8 bit raw midi
a2j:Virtual Raw MIDI 0-0 [16] (playback): VirMIDI 0-0
8 bit raw midi
a2j:Virtual Raw MIDI 0-1 [17] (capture): VirMIDI 0-1
8 bit raw midi
a2j:Virtual Raw MIDI 0-1 [17] (playback): VirMIDI 0-1
8 bit raw midi
a2j:Virtual Raw MIDI 0-2 [18] (capture): VirMIDI 0-2
8 bit raw midi
a2j:Virtual Raw MIDI 0-2 [18] (playback): VirMIDI 0-2
8 bit raw midi
a2j:Virtual Raw MIDI 0-3 [19] (capture): VirMIDI 0-3
8 bit raw midi
a2j:Virtual Raw MIDI 0-3 [19] (playback): VirMIDI 0-3
8 bit raw midi
a2j:M Audio Delta 1010LT [20] (capture): M Audio Delta 1010LT MIDI
8 bit raw midi
a2j:M Audio Delta 1010LT [20] (playback): M Audio Delta 1010LT MIDI
8 bit raw midi
j2a_bridge:playback
8 bit raw midi
a2j:j2a_bridge [129] (capture): capture
8 bit raw midi
Jack MIDI Clock:midi_out
8 bit raw midi
Or is the argument "midi" only seen as the start of a port_name?
If so, Aaron, you must rewrite this part of jackctl (I guess you do
what I described, because I get exactly your output). You should rewrite
it using:
jack_lsp -t
And then parse the type info underneath each name. I think a simple
grabbing for "audio" or "midi" will do. But I guess, that in the
long
run, using the python module for jack, will be more efficient and easy
to use.
Kindly yours
Julien
5242
days inactive
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days old
linux-audio-dev@lists.linuxaudio.org
12 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
Aaron Krister Johnson -
Arnold Krille -
Julien Claassen -
Paul Davis -
Philipp Überbacher -
Robin Gareus