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Drumstick Libraries

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Drumstick is a set of MIDI libraries using C++/Qt idioms and style. Includes a C++ wrapper around the ALSA library sequencer interface: ALSA sequencer provides software support for MIDI technology on Linux. A complementary library provides classes for processing SMF (Standard MIDI files:.MID/.KAR), RIFF RMID (*.rmi) and Cakewalk (.WRK) file formats. A multiplatform realtime MIDI I/O library and a GUI Widgets libraries are also provided for Linux, Windows, and Mac OSX.

Currently, there are four libraries designed to work together if/when needed:

  • Drumstick::ALSAis a Linux only C++/Qt wrapper around the ALSA Sequencer API. ALSA sequencer provides software support for MIDI technology on Linux.
  • Drumstick::Fileprovides easy multiplatform file I/O for Standard MIDI Files (.mid), RIFF RMID (.rmi) and Cakewalk (.wrk) file formats.
  • Drumstick::RTis a realtime MIDI I/O library with pluggable backends. It uses Drumstick::ALSA on Linux, and other native frameworks on macOS and Windows.
  • Drumstick::Widgetscontains MIDI widgets, including a Virtual Piano used by VMPK among other programs.

Drumstick::ALSAwas the first library developed under the Drumstick umbrella, and is available only on Linux, because ALSA Sequencer is an exclusive Linux technology. For realtime I/O applications you can use theDrumstick::RTlibrary which is multiplatform, and only depends onDrumstick::ALSAin Linux for its ALSA Sequencer backend. Other multiplatform backends are: Network/ipMIDIandFluidsynth.TheSonivoxbackend needs PulseAudio, which is available on most Unix systems.

There are ten examples in the source tree, under the utils/ directory:

  • drumgrid: GUI program. Simple drum patterns. Depends on Drumstick::ALSA.
  • dumpmid: CLI program. Prints received MIDI events. Depends on Drumstick::ALSA. See alsokmidimon
  • dumprmi: CLI program. Prints and converts RIFF MIDI files. Depends on Drumstick::File.
  • dumpsmf: CLI program. Prints standard MIDI files. Depends on Drumstick::File.
  • dumpwrk: CLI program. Prints Cakewalk/Sonar MIDI files. Depends on Drumstick::File. See alsowrk2mid
  • guiplayer: GUI program. Plays SMF and Cakewalk files. Depends on Drumstick::ALSA and Drumstick::File. See alsodmidiplayer
  • metronome: CLI program. Simple command line MIDI metronome. Depends on Drumstick::ALSA. See alsokmetronome
  • playsmf: CLI program. SMF player. Depends on Drumstick::ALSA and Drumstick::File.
  • sysinfo: CLI program. Prints information about the ALSA sequencer subsystem. Depends on Drumstick::ALSA.
  • vpiano: GUI program. A simple Virtual Piano Keyboard GUI application. Depends on Drumstick::RT. See alsoVMPK.

And you can also see independent applications using this library:

  • dmidiplayer:Multiplatform MIDI file player with many features.
  • VMPK:Multiplatform Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard.
  • kmetronome:MIDI metronome for Linux.
  • kmidimon:MIDI monitor for Linux.
  • wrk2mid:Command line utility to convert WRK files to SMF.

Here is a diagram about the relationship between the libraries and applications:

Drumstick ecosystem

Here is another view in table format of the relationships:

Drumstick::ALSA Drumstick::File Drumstick::RT Drumstick::Widgets
Utilities:
drumgrid
dumpmid
dumprmi
dumpsmf
dumpwrk
guiplayer
metronome
playsmf
sysinfo
vpiano
Applications:
dmidiplayer
VMPK
kmetronome
kmidimon
wrk2mid

The main web site of this project isdrumstick.sourceforge.io

See also: