31 Aug
2008
31 Aug
'08
7:26 a.m.
This is the first public release of Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard. It is a MIDI
event generator and receiver. It doesn't produce any sound by itself, but can
be used to drive a MIDI synthesizer (either hardware or software, internal or
external). You can use the computer's keyboard to play MIDI notes, and also
the mouse. You can use the Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard to display the played
MIDI notes from another instrument or MIDI file player.
VMPK has been tested in Linux and Windows, but maybe you can build it also in
Mac OSX and SGI Irix. If you can compile and test the program in those
systems, please drop me a mail.
The Virtual Keyboard by Takashi Iway (vkeybd) has been the inspiration for
this one. It is a wonderful piece of software and has served us well for many
years. Thanks!
VMPK is written in C++ using two free and platform independent frameworks: Qt4
(4.3 or newer is needed) and RtMIDI for MIDI input/output. It uses ALSA
sequencer in Linux, WinMM in Windows and CoreMIDI in Mac OSX, which are the
native MIDI systems in each supported platform. See:
http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~gary/rtmidi/
The alphanumeric keyboard mapping can be configured from inside the program
using the GUI interface, and the settings are stored in XML files. Some maps
for Spanish, German and French keyboard layouts are provided.
VMPK can send program changes and controllers to a MIDI synth. The definitions
for different standards and devices can be provided as .INS files, the same
format used by Qtractor, TSE3, Cakewalk and Sonar.
This software is in a very early alpha stage. Please feel free to contact me
to ask questions, report bugs, and propose new features. You can use the
tracking system at SourceForge project site.
Copyright (C) 2008, Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas
License: GPL v3
Web site:
http://vmpk.sourceforge.net
http://sourceforge.net/projects/vmpk
Download sources:
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/vmpk/vmpk-0.1.0.tar.bz2
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/vmpk/vmpk-0.1.0.tar.gz
Download openSUSE RPM packages:
http://software.opensuse.org/search?baseproject=ALL&p=1&q=vmpk
Regards,
Pedro
31 Aug
31 Aug
3:33 p.m.
On Sunday 31 August 2008 12:26:39 Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas wrote:
This is the first public release of Virtual MIDI Piano
Keyboard. It is a
MIDI event generator and receiver. It doesn't produce any sound by itself,
but can be used to drive a MIDI synthesizer (either hardware or software,
internal or external). You can use the computer's keyboard to play MIDI
notes, and also the mouse. You can use the Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard to
display the played MIDI notes from another instrument or MIDI file player.
VMPK has been tested in Linux and Windows, but maybe you can build it also
in Mac OSX and SGI Irix. If you can compile and test the program in those
systems, please drop me a mail.
The Virtual Keyboard by Takashi Iway (vkeybd) has been the inspiration for
this one. It is a wonderful piece of software and has served us well for
many years. Thanks!
VMPK is written in C++ using two free and platform independent frameworks:
Qt4 (4.3 or newer is needed) and RtMIDI for MIDI input/output. It uses ALSA
sequencer in Linux, WinMM in Windows and CoreMIDI in Mac OSX, which are the
native MIDI systems in each supported platform. See:
http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~gary/rtmidi/
The alphanumeric keyboard mapping can be configured from inside the program
using the GUI interface, and the settings are stored in XML files. Some
maps for Spanish, German and French keyboard layouts are provided.
VMPK can send program changes and controllers to a MIDI synth. The
definitions for different standards and devices can be provided as .INS
files, the same format used by Qtractor, TSE3, Cakewalk and Sonar.
This software is in a very early alpha stage. Please feel free to contact
me to ask questions, report bugs, and propose new features. You can use the
tracking system at SourceForge project site.
Copyright (C) 2008, Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas
License: GPL v3
Web site:
http://vmpk.sourceforge.net
http://sourceforge.net/projects/vmpk
Download sources:
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/vmpk/vmpk-0.1.0.tar.bz2
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/vmpk/vmpk-0.1.0.tar.gz
Download openSUSE RPM packages:
http://software.opensuse.org/search?baseproject=ALL&p=1&q=vmpk
Regards,
Pedro
Very nice.
However, I have seen these work much better. Pressing two keys simultaneously
yields a considerable delay between the two notes. So you might check how you
are getting the keys--might need a lower level call?
I have also seen things thing dual-manual. One is z ... like you have your
default layout. The second is from q .... Now one sets two voices :-)
The two programs like this I have used before:
If you have ever seen the good old (very old) vpiano windows applet? No voices
but the keyboard works very nicely.
On the linux side, there is jack-keyboard which has two manuals and everything
you have and no latency. This uses jack-midi. (Jack-midi seems to disable non-
jack-midi programs right now so yours might be a better alternative!)
3:44 p.m.
On 0831T2033, David Baron wrote:
On the linux side, there is jack-keyboard which has
two manuals and everything
Two and a half. ;-)
you have and no latency. This uses jack-midi.
(Jack-midi seems to disable non-
jack-midi programs right now so yours might be a better alternative!)
It shouldn't disable anything. However, JACK MIDI programs won't connect
to ALSA MIDI programs unless you run jackd with the "-X seq" option.
--
If you cut off my head, what would I say? Me and my head, or me and my body?
1 Sep
1 Sep
2:38 p.m.
On Sunday, August 31, 2008, Edward Tomasz Napierala wrote:
I agree. I've connected vmpk to jack-keyboard without problems using qjackctl,
sending events from one program to the other in both directions. The problem
reported by the user may be restricted to his computer, but without more
details it is very difficult to help him to fix it.
Regards,
Pedro
On 0831T2033, David Baron wrote:
The man page, the web site, and something else that counts as the half
one? ;-)
Seriously, I think he talks using the church organ terminology to describe the
four rows of keys mapped as notes in your jack-keyboard compared to vmpk,
where the default (built-in) key map uses only the two lower rows, like
vkeybd. Also like vkeybd, in vmpk the user can customize the alphanumeric
layout mapping the upper rows of keys if he wish so. Some provided map
layouts use all key rows. Being vkeybd (and vmpk) keyboard mappings
configurable by the user, I find it surprising your claim that jack-keyboard
has a "much better keyboard mapping", when it is hard-coded in the program.
Flexibility is not desirable for you?
On the other hand, the key event handling code in vmpk may be not very
time-efficient, and may be related to the observed delays. I will try to
measure and optimize it, although I think this problem may be neglected
compared to the big hardware problems of the alphanumeric keyboards that
prevent some key combinations to be pressed together at all. Anyway, the
piano keyboard emulators aren't real music instruments. Is anybody going to
perform a real concert with one of them?
On the linux side, there is jack-keyboard which
has two manuals and
everything
Two and a half. ;-) you have and
no latency. This uses jack-midi. (Jack-midi seems to disable
non- jack-midi programs right now so yours might be a better
alternative!)
It shouldn't disable anything. However, JACK MIDI programs won't connect
to ALSA MIDI programs unless you run jackd with the "-X seq" option.
4:09 p.m.
On 0901T1838, Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas wrote:
The man page, the web site, and something else that counts as the half
one? ;-)
I've misread 'manuals' as 'octaves'. I've never thought about
'two
manuals' in church organ terminology.
On the linux side, there is jack-keyboard which has
two manuals and
everything
Two and a half. ;-) Seriously, I think he talks using the church organ
terminology to describe the
four rows of keys mapped as notes in your jack-keyboard compared to vmpk,
where the default (built-in) key map uses only the two lower rows, like
vkeybd. Also like vkeybd, in vmpk the user can customize the alphanumeric
layout mapping the upper rows of keys if he wish so. Some provided map
layouts use all key rows. Being vkeybd (and vmpk) keyboard mappings
configurable by the user, I find it surprising your claim that jack-keyboard
has a "much better keyboard mapping", when it is hard-coded in the program.
Flexibility is not desirable for you?
Sure it is. But I prefer things that are simple and "just work", without
need for configuration. At the time I wrote the docs, jack-keyboard had
much better _default_ keyboard mapping.
On the other hand, the key event handling code in vmpk
may be not very
time-efficient, and may be related to the observed delays. I will try to
measure and optimize it, although I think this problem may be neglected
compared to the big hardware problems of the alphanumeric keyboards that
prevent some key combinations to be pressed together at all. Anyway, the
piano keyboard emulators aren't real music instruments. Is anybody going to
perform a real concert with one of them?
No. But they are useful if all you have with you is a laptop and you
are bored and want to experiment a little.
Also, an important purpose for jack-keyboard is testing if JACK works
properly. ;-)
[..]
--
If you cut off my head, what would I say? Me and my head, or me and my body?
1:33 p.m.
Am Sonntag, den 31.08.2008, 20:33 +0300 schrieb David Baron:
On Sunday 31 August 2008 12:26:39 Pedro
Lopez-Cabanillas wrote:
Hello
I get the same results, vmpk need's to much cpu power and it follow the
mouse to slow. When I send singnals from vkeybd or jack-keyboard to vmpk
input, it reflect the input on the gui, also to slow, and there is no
output. But anyway, it looks good and is welcome.
regards hermann
This is the first public release of Virtual MIDI
Piano Keyboard. It is a
MIDI event generator and receiver. It doesn't produce any sound by itself,
but can be used to drive a MIDI synthesizer (either hardware or software,
internal or external). You can use the computer's keyboard to play MIDI
notes, and also the mouse. You can use the Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard to
display the played MIDI notes from another instrument or MIDI file player.
VMPK has been tested in Linux and Windows, but maybe you can build it also
in Mac OSX and SGI Irix. If you can compile and test the program in those
systems, please drop me a mail.
The Virtual Keyboard by Takashi Iway (vkeybd) has been the inspiration for
this one. It is a wonderful piece of software and has served us well for
many years. Thanks!
VMPK is written in C++ using two free and platform independent frameworks:
Qt4 (4.3 or newer is needed) and RtMIDI for MIDI input/output. It uses ALSA
sequencer in Linux, WinMM in Windows and CoreMIDI in Mac OSX, which are the
native MIDI systems in each supported platform. See:
http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~gary/rtmidi/
The alphanumeric keyboard mapping can be configured from inside the program
using the GUI interface, and the settings are stored in XML files. Some
maps for Spanish, German and French keyboard layouts are provided.
VMPK can send program changes and controllers to a MIDI synth. The
definitions for different standards and devices can be provided as .INS
files, the same format used by Qtractor, TSE3, Cakewalk and Sonar.
This software is in a very early alpha stage. Please feel free to contact
me to ask questions, report bugs, and propose new features. You can use the
tracking system at SourceForge project site.
Copyright (C) 2008, Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas
License: GPL v3
Web site:
http://vmpk.sourceforge.net
http://sourceforge.net/projects/vmpk
Download sources:
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/vmpk/vmpk-0.1.0.tar.bz2
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/vmpk/vmpk-0.1.0.tar.gz
Download openSUSE RPM packages:
http://software.opensuse.org/search?baseproject=ALL&p=1&q=vmpk
Regards,
Pedro
Very nice.
However, I have seen these work much better. Pressing two keys simultaneously
yields a considerable delay between the two notes. So you might check how you
are getting the keys--might need a lower level call?
I have also seen things thing dual-manual. One is z ... like you have your
default layout. The second is from q .... Now one sets two voices :-)
The two programs like this I have used before:
If you have ever seen the good old (very old) vpiano windows applet? No voices
but the keyboard works very nicely.
On the linux side, there is jack-keyboard which has two manuals and everything
you have and no latency. This uses jack-midi. (Jack-midi seems to disable non-
jack-midi programs right now so yours might be a better alternative!)
3:17 p.m.
On Monday, September 1, 2008, hermann meyer wrote:
I get the same results, vmpk need's to much cpu
power and it follow the
mouse to slow. When I send singnals from vkeybd or jack-keyboard to vmpk
input, it reflect the input on the gui, also to slow, and there is no
output. But anyway, it looks good and is welcome.
regards hermann
Thanks for your comments. Being the first public alpha release of the program,
you may understand that the code is not yet very well optimised :)
You can get some compiler optimisation when building the program, but don't
expect too much improvement. There are two ways. First, using a predefined
configuration type:
$ cmake . -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
The CMake "Release" type uses the compiler flags: "-O3 -DNDEBUG".
Other
predefined build types are "Debug", "RelWithDebInfo", and
"MinSizeRel".
The second way is to choose the compiler flags yourself:
$ export CXXFLAGS="-O2 -m32 -march=i586 -mtune=i686 -DNDEBUG -fexceptions"
$ cmake .
The above CXXFLAGS are only a sample. You need to find the better ones for
your own system.
BTW, if you want to install the program at some place other than the default
(/usr/local) use the following CMake option:
$ cmake . -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr
The vmpk's input port is not routed to the output, which doesn't work as
a "thru" port. I don't see it as a need in Linux, but maybe this feature
will
be introduced for other platforms in the future (it is already in the TODO
list.)
Regards,
Pedro
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7 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
David Baron -
Edward Tomasz Napierala -
hermann meyer -
Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas