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NAME

       siggen.conf - the siggen configuration files

SYNOPSIS

       siggen.conf

DESCRIPTION

       As  from  siggen  version  2.3  onwards  a versatile configuration file
       scheme has  been  introduced.  It  allows  parameters  for  the  siggen
       programs  to  be specified either across the board, or specifically for
       particular programs.

       Three possible configuration files can be used:  a  LOCAL  config  file
       (usually  in  current  directory),  a  HOME config file in user’s $HOME
       directory and a GLOBAL config file.

       All the programs are compiled with the names of the config files  built
       in.   The  filenames  are  set  in  the config.h header file and can be
       changed. The LOCAL  and  GLOBAL  config  files  are  specified  by  the
       settings of:

       LOCAL  #define DEF_CONF_FILENAME ".siggen.conf"

       GLOBAL #define DEF_GLOBAL_CONF_FILE "/etc/siggen.conf"

       And  can  be  set  to any file name or to NULL to disable the file. The
       HOME config filename is created using the  $HOME  environment  variable
       and  the  DEF_CONF_FILENAME  together,  i.e.  using the above, the HOME
       config file for a user whose home directory is at /home/jj, would be

       HOME   /home/jj/.siggen.conf

       The config files do not have to exist. If they exist and  are  readable
       by the program they are used, otherwise they are simply ignored.

       The  config  files  are always searched for configuration values in the
       order LOCAL, HOME, GLOBAL. This allows a scheme where the sysadmin sets
       up  default  config values in the GLOBAL config file, but allows a user
       to set some or all different values in their own HOME config file,  and
       to set yet more specific values when run from a particular directory.

       If  no  configuration  files  exist,  the  programs  themselves provide
       builtin default values (see config.h etc), and most of these values can
       be set by appropriate command line switches and flags.

CONFIGURATION VALUES

       A  configuration  value  has  a  name  and  a value, and values for all
       programs are set by simply entering a line in  the  appropriate  config
       file   where  the  first  word  is  the  name,  followed  by  arbitrary
       spaces/tabs, followed by the value. The value is all the rest  of  that
       line.  e.g.  to  set the global default samplerate of 44100 samples per
       sec, the following line would be entered in the GLOBAL config file:

       SAMPLERATE     44100

       Config value names are case insensitive.

       A config value can be set for a  specific  program,  by  prefixing  the
       config  value  name  with the program name and a ’:’. e.g. to specify a
       samplerate of only 8000 samples per sec for the tones program enter

       TONES:SAMPLERATE    8000

       in the relevant config file. If both lines above  were  in  the  config
       file,  all  programs  except tones would use a samplerate of 44100, and
       tones would use 8000.

       You do not have to specify  all  configuration  values  in  the  config
       files.   If a particular value is missing, the programs will simply use
       their builtin defaults (see config.h etc).

       Configuration values  set  by  command  line  switches  or  flags  take
       precedence over values in any of the config files.

       Beware the programs do not have their ’name’ built-in, but use the name
              they were invoked by. So if you change the name  of  a  program,
              remember  to  change  the config file entries. However this does
              means that by using links to a program, it can be made  to  pick
              up  a  different  set  of configuration values, depending on the
              name it is invoked by.

EXAMPLE CONFIGURATION FILE

       A sample config file is provided in ".siggen.conf" in the distribution.
       This  may  also  be  at  /etc/siggen.conf  .  Any line whose first non-
       whitespace character is a ’#’, is a comment line and is ignored.

WHAT CONFIGURATION VALUES ARE THERE?

       Not all of the siggen programs use all the values described here.   See
       the relevant man page for which values are used by which programs.

       CHANNELS
              In  all programs except tones and fsynth, channels specifies the
              number of output channels to use, i.e. 1  for  Mono  and  2  for
              Stereo.

              For  tones,  channels  specifies the number of ’voices’ on which
              tones can generate different waveforms before mixing  them  into
              the one output channel.

              For   fsynth,  channels  specifies  the  numbers  of  seperately
              configurable oscillators used to mix the single output  channel.

       DACFILE
              The  Digital  to  Analogue  Converter  (or PCM or DSP) device on
              which to output the generated samples. This must be a  real  OSS
              PCM device, otherwise the ioctls used will fail.

       FRAGMENTS
              The number of Audio Buffer fragments to configure in the driver.
              The interactive programs respond to changes made  to  parameters
              from  the keyboard immediately, but data will be buffered in the
              driver in the buffer fragments. If the amount of  data  buffered
              is  too  much  then  there will very noticable delays before the
              output sound is altered. Against  that,  insufficient  buffering
              may  mean  that  there is not enough data buffered for output to
              cover the time  when  other  processes  are  being  run  by  the
              scheduler. The programs set the buffer size to the nearest power
              of 2 to give aprox. 100millisecs of sound. Hence if FRAGMENTS is
              set  to 3, there will be aprox. 0.3 secs worth of sound buffered
              for output. On a lightly loaded fast machine this, or 2,  should
              be  sufficient.  To  cover  periods  of  heavy load or on a less
              powerful machine use 4  or  5.   But  remember  the  interactive
              programs  will  appear  sluggish  in responding to the keyboard.

       SAMPLERATE
              The number of samples per second to use. If output is to the DAC
              then the DAC device is set to output samples at this rate.
              BEWARE: not all cards can support all samplerates. SoundBlasters
              are fairly flexible in this respect.  Other  cheaper  cards  are
              not.  Indeed some cards can only handle a very restricted set of
              related samplerates e.g. 11025,  22050,  44100  &  8000,  16000,
              32000,  48000. When writing to DACFILE all programs will attempt
              to set the samplerate given, but use the actual  samplerate  the
              device  used.  Use the verbose command line flag to check actual
              samplerates used.

       Some common samplerates used are:

           8000
              is the samplerate used in the phone system with 8  bit  samples,
              and is adequate for voice range frequencies.

           44100
              is the samplerate used in audio CDs

           48000
              is  the  samplerate  used  in DAT systems, I think, and for much
              professional kit.

           32000
              is also used, but I forget where, minidisc?.

              In general, the higher the samplerate the larger the memory  and
              processing  requirement,  but the higher the frequency range and
              the more accurate the signals generated.

       SAMPLESIZE
              Number  of  bits  per  sample.  Only  two  values  are   allowed
              currently, 8 or 16.

           8  bit  samples  are  unsigned,  with  decimal  value 128 being the
              ´zero´ level.

           16 bit samples are signed little  endian  values,  i.e.  the  least
              significant  byte  comes before the most significant byte either
              in a file, or in the byte stream to an output device.

              If samplesize if left completely unspecified, then all  programs
              will  attempt to do 16 bit samples to DACFILE, and if that isn’t
              possible will do 8 bit samples. Or if writing to a file, 16  bit
              samples will be written.

       VERBOSE
              sets verbosity level.

           0  is quiet

           1  is be a bit verbose  (equiv. to -v  switch)

           2  is be very verbose   (equiv. to -vv switch)

       VI_KEYS
              if  set  to  a  non-zero  value,  then the VI cursor moving keys
              "HJKL" are enabled.

SEE ALSO

       sgen(1), swgen(1)

BUGS

COPYING

       Copyright 1995-2008 Jim Jackson

       The software described by this manual is covered  by  the  GNU  General
       Public License, Version 2, June 1991, issued by :

              Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
              675 Mass Ave,
              Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

       Permission  is  granted  to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
       manual provided the copyright notice and  this  permission  notice  are
       preserved on all copies.

       Permission  is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
       manual under the conditions for verbatim  copying,  provided  that  the
       entire  resulting  derived  work  is  distributed  under the terms of a
       permission notice identical to this one.

       Permission is granted to  copy  and  distribute  translations  of  this
       manual  into  another language, under the above conditions for modified
       versions, except  that  this  permission  notice  may  be  included  in
       translation instead of in the original English.

AUTHOR

       Jim Jackson

       Email: jj@franjam.org.uk