| 1 | =============================== |
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| 2 | Jackbeat - Audio Sequencer |
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| 3 | =============================== |
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| 4 | |
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| 5 | Introduction |
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| 6 | ============ |
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| 7 | |
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| 8 | Jackbeat is an audio sequencer running on Linux and Mac OS X, for musicians |
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| 9 | and sound artists: |
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| 10 | |
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| 11 | * Drummachine interface with animations for easy and playful editing |
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| 12 | * Built for both composition and live setups with high interactivity needs |
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| 13 | * Extremely easy to use but yet powerful by connecting with other |
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| 14 | applications and plugins using JACK and OSC |
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| 15 | * Loads and saves .jab files, Jackbeat's xml+tar open file format |
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| 16 | * Supports native audio devices, PulseAudio and JACK |
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| 17 | |
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| 18 | Requirements |
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| 19 | ============ |
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| 20 | |
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| 21 | Required dependencies |
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| 22 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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| 23 | |
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| 24 | * PortAudio (http://www.portaudio.com/) |
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| 25 | |
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| 26 | * Linux only: libasound (http://www.alsa-project.org) |
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| 27 | |
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| 28 | * GTK+-2.0 (gtk.org) |
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| 29 | |
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| 30 | * libsndfile (www.mega-nerd.com/libsndfile) |
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| 31 | |
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| 32 | * libxml2 (http://xmlsoft.org) |
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| 33 | |
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| 34 | * libsamplerate (http://www.mega-nerd.com/SRC) |
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| 35 | |
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| 36 | * liblo (http://liblo.sourceforge.net) |
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| 37 | |
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| 38 | Optional dependencies |
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| 39 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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| 40 | |
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| 41 | * JACK, the Jack Audio Connection Kit (http://jackaudio.org) : a running server |
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| 42 | as well as the API header files. Mac OS X users should see |
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| 43 | http://www.jackosx.com |
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| 44 | |
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| 45 | * PulseAudio (http://www.pulseaudio.org) |
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| 46 | |
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| 47 | Installation |
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| 48 | ============ |
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| 49 | |
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| 50 | Jackbeat uses autoconf and automake, so you should just need to type:: |
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| 51 | |
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| 52 | ./configure |
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| 53 | make |
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| 54 | make install |
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| 55 | |
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| 56 | This should be straightforward on Linux. |
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| 57 | |
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| 58 | For Mac OS X please check: |
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| 59 | http://jackbeat.samalyse.org/wiki/MacInstallation |
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| 60 | |
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| 61 | Developer/maintainer mode |
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| 62 | ========================= |
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| 63 | |
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| 64 | If you want to compile Jackbeat and run it without installation, you |
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| 65 | need to:: |
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| 66 | |
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| 67 | ./configure --enable-devmode |
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| 68 | make |
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| 69 | # run jackbeat from the current directory: |
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| 70 | src/jackbeat |
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| 71 | |
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| 72 | Usage |
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| 73 | ===== |
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| 74 | |
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| 75 | Jackbeat is pretty simple to use. Browse through the main menu, it is meant to |
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| 76 | be quite obvious. The Sequence and Track buttons at the bottom of the window |
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| 77 | open the corresponding properties panel where you'll find convenient functions. |
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| 78 | |
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| 79 | To begin, just a load a few samples using the track panel properties or the edit menu. |
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| 80 | Then by toggling some of the buttons on the drummachine and clicking Play you shall |
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| 81 | hear some music. Well... hopefully ;) |
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| 82 | |
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| 83 | Notes about export parameters |
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| 84 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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| 85 | |
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| 86 | When you export the current sequence as a WAV file, you are given a choice |
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| 87 | about how to handle samples that continue playing passed the end of the sequence: |
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| 88 | |
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| 89 | - loop: mix at the beginning. This is optimal for playing the exported |
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| 90 | WAV file as a loop in some external software. |
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| 91 | - truncate: don't play at all. This will sound like the initial sequence |
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| 92 | playback, before it has looped at least once. |
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| 93 | - keep: continue playing samples until they terminate. Beware that the |
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| 94 | exported file may thus be (much) longer than the sequence. |
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| 95 | |
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| 96 | The double function |
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| 97 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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| 98 | |
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| 99 | Available in the Edit menu, Double increases the beats number by a factor of 2, |
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| 100 | and duplicates the beats data. This feature allows you to increase your workspace |
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| 101 | size, while keeping the output unchanged. |
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| 102 | |
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| 103 | About track masking |
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| 104 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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| 105 | |
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| 106 | Track masks allow you to insert silences into a track interactively. |
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| 107 | |
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| 108 | Use Shift-Click (or press N) to toggle the mask for a given beat. The corresponding track |
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| 109 | will then get muted during the duration of that beat. |
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| 110 | |
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| 111 | Keyboard shortcuts |
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| 112 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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| 113 | |
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| 114 | You can learn about most of the keyboard shortcuts by looking at the main menu. |
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| 115 | |
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| 116 | There also are a few pattern editing shortcuts: |
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| 117 | |
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| 118 | - B or <return>: toggle beat |
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| 119 | - N: toggle mask |
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| 120 | - <up>/<down>/<right>/<left>/<home>/<end> : move |
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| 121 | |
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| 122 | Feedback and Support |
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| 123 | ==================== |
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| 124 | |
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| 125 | Please give me some feedback. Tell me if Jackbeat inspires you. |
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| 126 | |
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| 127 | For user support, mailing list and bug reports please see: |
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| 128 | http://jackbeat.samalyse.org/wiki/UserSupport |
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| 129 | |
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| 130 | You may also send me links to your musical productions so that I can include |
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| 131 | them on the musical examples page at: |
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| 132 | http://jackbeat.samalyse.org/wiki/MusicExamples |
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| 133 | |
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| 134 | Contact |
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| 135 | ======= |
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| 136 | |
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| 137 | Home page : http://jackbeat.samalyse.org |
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| 138 | |
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| 139 | Olivier Guilyardi <olivier {at} samalyse {dot} com> |
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| 140 | |
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| 141 | |
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