Provided by: qmidiarp_0.6.0-1_amd64 bug

NAME

       qmidiarp - MIDI arpeggiator and LFO

SYNOPSIS

       qmidiarp [OPTION] [file]
       qmidiarp { --help | --version }

DESCRIPTION

       QMidiArp  is  an  advanced MIDI arpeggiator, programmable step sequencer and LFO.  It runs
       with either JACK MIDI or ALSA MIDI. It can hold any number of arpeggiator or  LFO  modules
       running in parallel. The arpeggiator modules produce sequences depending on the notes sent
       to their input port, which is typically connected to a keyboard or another sequencer.  The
       step  sequencer  modules  allow  you  to  create  simple  linear,  monophonic and globally
       transposable sequences similar to the first analog sequencers. The MIDI LFOs independently
       produce  MIDI  controller  data  of  adjustable  waveform,  time resolution, amplitude and
       duration. For each module, an input note filter is available,  and  the  output  port  and
       channel  can  be  set independently.  Since the modules use a common sequencer queue, they
       are automatically in sync with each other. QMidiArp works with an internal tick resolution
       of 192 ticks per beat. The queue can be synchronized to an incoming MIDI realtime clock or
       as a JACK transport client. Most of the relevant control elements are accessible via  MIDI
       controller  through  a MIDI-learn infrastructure.  QMidiArp also has a log tool displaying
       the history of incoming MIDI events in colors depending on their type.  QMidiArp is  based
       on the Qt4 toolkit.

   General Operation
       When no commandline options are given, QMidiArp starts as a JACK MIDI client with an input
       port and two output ports. For starting QMidiArp as an ALSA client, use the -a option.   A
       new arpeggiator or LFO module can be created by clicking one of the Add Arp..., Add LFO...
       or Add Step Sequencer...  buttons, which will show a new tab with the chosen module in the
       main  area.  The modules can be renamed or removed using the corresponding buttons or menu
       functions. Modules can be detached from the main  window  to  control  and  view  them  in
       parallel. They can be brought back to the main window again by clicking on the icon on the
       left side of each module title bar. They can also be aligned side-by-side within the  same
       window  if  the  main  window  is  stretched sufficiently before reinserting a module. The
       entire setup containing all arps, sequences and  LFOs  in  the  tab  bar  along  with  the
       parameters  set  in the Settings window can be saved to or loaded from a QMidiArp XML file
       (.qmax). The tempo of the queue can be set in beats per minute and  affects  all  modules.
       The queue is started and stopped by the blue arrow button.

   MIDI Clock operation (ALSA MIDI only)
       In  ALSA  mode,  QMidiArp  runs  using  its own clock and tempo, but it can optionally use
       incoming MIDI clock events as clock and start/stop control  source.   If  the  MIDI  clock
       button  right of the tempo box is pressed, the running ALSA queue is stopped, and QMidiArp
       will wait for an incoming "MIDI Clock Start" event from an external  source  connected  to
       QMidiArp's  MIDI  input.  Once  this  event  is  received, the queue is started using MIDI
       realtime clock events as clock source. QMidiArp will best remain in sync with the incoming
       MIDI  clock  if  its internal tempo value (see above) approximately corresponds to that of
       the incoming clock. The MIDI clock tempo is, however, measured while the queue is running.
       Therefore,  if  the  tempos of the MIDI clock and that of QMidiArp differ, synchronization
       should become stable from the second queue start. The queue will stop when  a  MIDI  Clock
       Stop  event  is received. During MIDI Clock operation, QMidiArp's own clock start and stop
       functions as well as adding or loading new setups are disabled. They are enabled again  by
       unchecking the MIDI clock button.

   JACK Transport Client Operation
       When  the  Jack  Transport  Connect  button  is pressed, QMidiArp will try to connect to a
       running Jack server and then function as a Jack Transport client, i.e. set its  tempo  and
       remain  synchronized  to  a running Jack Transport master. Note that QMidiArp will restart
       its queue from zero whenever Jack transport is starting  regardless  of  Jack  Transport's
       position.  This  also  applies  in case of a looping Jack Transport queue. The Jack button
       will be released automatically if QMidiArp gets disconnected from Jack by a possible  Jack
       shutdown or if Jack is not available at connection time.

       Note:  MIDI Clock and Jack Transport button states will be saved with the QMidiArp session
       file, and get active or inactive when a new session file is loaded.

   Arpeggiator Modules
       QMidiArp's arpeggiators can produce complex patterns derived from the notes  played  on  a
       MIDI  keyboard.  QMidiArp's  arpeggiator  modules  were  inspired  by  the  MAP1  hardware
       arpeggiator by Rudi Linhard.

       Input and Output panels

       Each arpeggiator has an Input and an Output panel. The Input panel defines the note  range
       and  the  MIDI channel to which the arp is assigned. Notes that pass this Input filter are
       sorted by pitch and added to the internal note buffer of the arpeggiator.  Incoming  notes
       that  do  not  match  any filter can either be discarded or forwarded to a selectable MIDI
       port (see Settings ). The Output panel holds settings for the MIDI channel and output port
       to which the arpeggiator notes will be sent.

       Arpeggiator Patterns

       Arpeggio  patterns  can  be selected and edited in the Pattern panel.  Pattern presets are
       selectable from a combo box. The currently active pattern is displayed  as  a  piano  roll
       type  screen  showing  the  base  notes  as  streaks.  The  y-scale of the graphics window
       corresponds to the index of the notes in the pattern. Octave changes (see Editing patterns
       )  are shown as additional horizontal lines.  The notes that are eventually sent depend on
       the input notes received by the arpeggiator. The received notes notes  are  attributed  in
       ascending  order  to the notes defined in the pattern. For example, a single streak on the
       bottom of the arp display ("simple" presets) means that at  the  first  pass  through  the
       pattern, the lowermost note played on the keyboard is played.  If a chord is played on the
       keyboard and only one note is present in the pattern, only the lowermost pressed  note  is
       output  at  the  first  pass  through  the  pattern.  For the following repetitions of the
       pattern, the chosen "repeat mode" is used  to  determine  the  following  notes.   If  the
       pattern contains stacked note streaks (chord mode), chords played on the keyboard are also
       output as chords with polyphony up to the number of notes defined in the stack.

       Repeat Mode

       This setting defines the behavior of the arpeggio over several repetitions of the  pattern
       when  the  number  of  notes  pressed  on  the keyboard is higher than the number of notes
       present in the pattern.  When Repeat Mode is "Up", the next  higher  note  played  on  the
       keyboard  is played at each repetition. With "Down", the next lower note is played. With a
       single note present in the arp pattern, this creates classical linear arpeggios. This  way
       even  simple  patterns  like  "01"  (or even "0") will generate a complete arpeggio.  When
       "Static" is selected, this classical arpeggio mode will be disabled, and the output  notes
       remain constant.

       Trigger mode

       QMidiArp's  arpeggiators  can  run in three modes. "No trigger" will cause the arp running
       continuously in synchronization with the internal or external clock source. Even when  new
       notes  are  played, they will be output quantized to the running queue. "Kbd restart" will
       cause a reset of the playhead position upon the next note to be  output,  but  the  output
       pattern stays quantized to the queue. When "Kbd trigger" is selected, each new note played
       in stakato will trigger the pattern with the timing of the played note.

       Editing Arp patterns

       Arp patterns are defined by a text sequence containing the  notes  themselves  as  numbers
       along  with  control  changes for chord, tempo, velocity and octave changes. When the Edit
       pattern button in the pattern panel is clicked, the current pattern preset  appears  as  a
       text  input  line.  The edited pattern can be stored in the preset list by clicking on the
       Store pattern button. The currently active pattern can be removed from the preset list  by
       clicking  on  the  Remove pattern button. All preset patterns are immediately saved in the
       .qmidiarprc resource file when a pattern is stored or removed, and the new pattern list is
       made  available to the other arps in the tab bar. Pattern presets are automatically loaded
       on each application start.

       The syntax for the pattern text is as follows:

       0..9 : Note indices
          + : One octave up
          - : One octave down
          = : Reset to standard octave
          > : Double tempo
          < : Half tempo
          . : Reset to standard tempo
        ( ) : Chord, begin..end,
              e.g. (012) would be a chord of the
              lowermost three notes in the buffer
          / : Volume up by 20%
          \ : Volume down by 20%
          d : Double length
          h : Half length
          p : Pause

       Any token is valid until the end of a pattern is reached. The token > will e.g. double the
       tempo  for  all following notes of the pattern.  When the loop jumps back to the beginning
       of the pattern, the tempo is reset to its initial value, i.e. a quarter note.

       Random

       The timing, velocity and length of the output notes can be randomized using the sliders in
       the  Random  panel.  These  settings  can  be  used  to  make  the  arpeggiator sound less
       mechanical, but if they are set to higher values, they  add  interesting  accents  to  the
       patterns.

       Envelope

       QMidiArp  can  modulate the velocity of the arpeggios with an envelope function defined by
       Attack time and Release time. If an attack time is set, the velocities of the output notes
       are  ramped  up during the attack time defined in seconds. If a release time is set, notes
       released from the keyboard are continued to be output while their velocity is ramped  down
       linearly  and until the release time has reached its end. The envelope function only makes
       sense if the sound driven by the arp is velocity-sensitive.  It  works  best  with  highly
       polyphonic patterns such as "Chord Oct 16 A".

       Groove

       The  Groove sliders control a linear shift of timing, length and velocity within each beat
       of the output pattern. This can be used to create swing  timing  and  accent.  The  Groove
       settings are adjusted for all arps simultaneously.

   LFO Modules
       In parallel to the arps, QMidiArp can send MIDI controller data in form of a low frequency
       oscillator (LFO) to the assigned output. The LFO data consist of  controller  events  that
       are in sync with the arpeggiator queue. The queue has to be in running state to enable the
       LFO. Each LFO module has a waveform panel to define the shape of the outgoing data and  an
       output  panel  to define MIDI Channel, ALSA port and controller number to be produced. The
       waveform can currently be set to Sine, Saw Up, Saw Down, Triangle, Square and Custom.  The
       frequency  of  the  LFO  can  be  set in muliples and divisors of the arp tempo, such that
       frequency of 1 produces one full wave per beat. If frequencies lower than 1 are  selected,
       the length of the wavetable has to be adjusted correspondingly to produce a full wave. The
       time resolution of the LFO determines the number of events produced every beat and can  be
       adjusted  to  up  to  192  events  per  beat.  Amplitude and offset of the waveform can be
       adjusted from 0...127. Low resolutions lead to audibly discrete rythmic controller changes
       whereas higher resolution values lead to more continuous waves.

       Muting individual wave points

       Individual  wave  points can be muted/unmuted by clicking on the corresponding location in
       the wave display with the right mouse button.  A muted  wave  point  is  shown  in  darker
       color.

       Custom Waveforms

       When  Custom  is  selected,  the  waveform  can be drawn with the left mouse button in the
       waveform display. A calculated waveform is copied to the custom waveform  whenever  it  is
       being  modified  by  the  mouse. This will overwrite the previous custom waveform with the
       currently displayed waveform. As all LFO operations, drawing and muting can be done  while
       the queue is running, and becomes effective immediately.

       Play direction and looping

       The play mode can be switched between:

         ->_> : Forward and Loop
         <_<- : Backward and Loop
         ->_< : Forward and Bounce
         >_<- : Backward and Bounce
         ->_| : Forward Single shot
         |_<- : Backward Single shot

       The direction and loop settings apply immediately when changed on the fly.

       Recording

       The  LFO  records incoming controller data as selected in the Input panel, when the Record
       button is pressed. Note that the Record button itself can be attributed to a  MIDI  toggle
       controller  so that it provides a convenient implementation of a controller motion sampler
       and looper.

       LFO Input panel

       The input panel contains settings on which MIDI CC is to be recorded, how the LFO acts  to
       note  events received on the input. As the arpeggiators, the LFO can be restarted or (re-)
       triggered by notes played on the keyboard, and the wave output can be stopped or not  when
       Note Off events are received on the input Channel

       LFO Output panel

       The  LFO output panel contains the port, channel and controller number settings of the LFO
       data produced by each LFO tab. You can also mute each LFO wave.

   Step Sequencer Modules
       By clicking Add Step Sequencer...  in the control tool bar, a new Seq module can be  added
       to  the  tab  bar.  Each  of  these modules produce a simple linear (monophonic) sequence,
       similar to the first analog hardware sequencers. The Seq modules  are  controllable  while
       running, also in a similar way to analog step sequencers.

       Programming a sequence

       As  QMidiArp's  LFO  modules, the step sequencer can be programmed by adjusting notes with
       left mouse clicks on the sequence display. The octave range is fixed to 4. The lowest note
       is  C2 if the global transpose is set to 0. Notes can be muted with the right mouse click.
       The sequence length can be adjusted between 1 and 8 beats, and the time resolution can  be
       set  to  values between 1 and 16 per beat. A resolution of 4 means that 4 notes are output
       every beat, i.e. sixteenth notes.  The sequence can also be programmed  using  the  Record
       function.  When  the  Record  button  is pressed, notes received on the input port will be
       recorded step-by-step starting from the last modified note. Programming can be done on the
       fly also when the sequencer queue is running.

       Controlling the sequence globally

       There are sliders to adjust the global velocity (volume), note length and transpose of the
       sequence in semitones.

       Seq Input and Output panels

       The Seq Input panel determines how to handle incoming notes on the MIDI Channel set in the
       channel  box.  If  Note  is  checked,  the  sequence  will be globally transposed with the
       incoming note as transpose value. If Velocity is checked in addition,  the  sequence  will
       output  notes  with  the same velocity as that received on its input. The Input panel also
       determines how the sequence behaves when incoming notes are received. It can be restarted,
       triggered and stopped with the timing of received notes as the LFO modules.

       The Seq Output panel is equivalent to that of arpeggiator and LFO modules.

       Note  that  accents within a pattern can be produced by running LFO modules in parallel to
       the Seq module, and by sending to the same channel and port as the Seq module.

   Settings
       The Settings window allows one to configure if and to which port incoming events  that  do
       not  match any module's input filter are forwarded ( unmatched events). It also allows one
       to set whether incoming controller events are recognized for muting  and  controlling  the
       modules  separately.  If  this  option is set, QMidiArp will recognize MIDI control events
       that can be attributed to different parameters  (see  MIDI  Control  ).  By  checking  the
       compact  module style all new created modules will show with small GUI elements to be more
       economic in space when distributed as separate windows over the desktop.

       All settings in this dialog are stored along with the module  data  in  the  qmax  session
       file.

   MIDI control
       QMidiArp  supports  MIDI  control  events if the Modules controllable by MIDI CC option is
       checked in the Settings dialog.

       MIDI Learn

       Controllers can be attributed by right-clicking on the sliders or mute  checkbox  in  each
       module  and  selecting  MIDI  Learn.  QMidiArp will then wait for MIDI control events, and
       moving a MIDI controller connected to QMidiArp's input will attribute this  controller  to
       the  control  item.  It  is  possible to add several MIDI controllers to one item. If MIDI
       Forget is selected, all controllers for that item are removed. If Cancel MIDI learning  is
       selected, the learn process is stopped.

       Note that by default, mute controllers are interpreted as toggles, i.e.  the mute state is
       toggled on reception of a value of 127 from the attributed controller.

       Control Editor

       The Control Editor is accessible from the View  menu.  Controls  can  be  edited  by  MIDI
       control  number,  channel, and the minimum and maximum values that are sent to the control
       item. Mute controllers have a special behaviour. If minimum and  maximum  are  equal,  the
       controller  acts as toggler upon reception of the adjusted value.  If minimum is different
       from maximum, the corresponding module will be muted upon reception of minimum and unmuted
       upon reception of maximum as values.

       If Remove is pressed, the currently selected line will be removed, pressing Revert reloads
       the current controller settings. Pressing Cancel quits the control editor without applying
       changes, and only if OK is pressed, the edited control list becomes active.

   Global Storage
       There is another dock window available for storing and restoring most of the parameters of
       all modules at once. In this window, each module and its storages appear as a column,  the
       first  column  representing switches for all modules globally. When the small Store button
       on the left is clicked, all modules will store their parameters in a location given by the
       current  row,  and  the  next  available  storage location appears. Module storages can be
       recalled by clicking on the buttons  of  each  individual  module  or  globally  (numbered
       buttons  in  the  first column). Storage locations can be removed again by clicking on the
       "arrow" button on the bottom of the list.  When a new module  is  added  at  a  time  when
       storage  locations  already  exist  for  other  modules, the storage locations for the new
       module will be empty and can be filled by using Store again at this location.

       When QMidiArp is running, the switch behavior will depend on the  selection  made  in  the
       comboboxes in the first row of the window.

       End  of  will  cause  parameter  switches  to occur when the module in the second combobox
       reaches its pattern end. When individual switches are done the module in the column of the
       clicked module determines the switch time.

       After  will do parameter switches at the end of the number of beats selected in the second
       combobox after the restore button is clicked.

       The switch can be done by MIDI controller assigned by the MIDI Learn context menu  of  the
       top  button  of  each column. Note that it is the the controller value that corresponds to
       the storage location, and that you may want to adjust the range  of  controllers  to  your
       needs using the MIDI Control Editor With the Global Storage handler, QMidiArp can act as a
       simple but handy live sequencer tool.  But the Golbal Storage button in the View menu  and
       in the main toolbar toggles visibility of the Global Storage window.

   Event Log
       The  Event  Log  displays  incoming  MIDI  events.  It  is displayed in the bottom area by
       default, but can be hidden if not needed or set floating as  a  top-level  window  on  the
       desktop. Logging can also be disabled generally or for MIDI Clock events only.

   Example Files
       There  are  currently three demo arpeggios.  The demo.qma arpeggio was intended to be used
       with the following sound types: Ch 1: Marimba, Ch 2: Celesta, Ch 3: Acoustic Bass, but you
       can get interesting results if you use other instrument settings.

       The  demo_seqlfo.qmax  setup shows the use of the new sequencer and LFO modules playing in
       parallel. The sequencer outputs should be routed to percussive synthesizer sounds. The LFO
       data  is  intended  to  act  on  filter  cutoff,  which has the standard controller CC#74.
       ZynAddSubFX by Paul Nasca reacts on these filter cutoff  controllers.  The  "Bass  1"  and
       "Plucked 3" presets from this synthesizer work well with this demo file.

OPTIONS

       --portCount <num>
              Set the number of available ALSA output ports to <num>. The default is 2.

       --help Print possible command-line options and exit.

       --version
              Print version information and exit.

       --alsa Use the ALSA MIDI backend

       --jack Use the JACK MIDI backend (default)

       file   Name of a valid QMidiArp (.qmax) XML file to be loaded on start.

FILES

       *.qmax
              QMidiArp XML files containing session data in XML text format.

EXAMPLES

       Example QMidiArp files can be found in /usr/share/qmidiarp or in /usr/local/share/qmidiarp

NOTES

       Errors and warnings are written to stderr(3).

SUPPORT

       qmidiarp-devel@lists.sourceforge.net

AUTHORS

       Frank  Kober,  Nedko  Arnaudov,  Guido  Scholz  and Matthias Nagorni. This manual page was
       written by Frank Kober <emuse@users.sourceforge.net>.

                                            2011-11-07                                QMIDIARP(1)