NAME
bristol - a synthesiser emulation package.
SYNOPSIS
startBristol -mini -jack -midi seq [options]
DESCRIPTION
bristol is a vintage synthesiser software emulator suite. The
application consists of an engine itself called bristol and a graphical
user interface called brighton. The graphical interface is a bitmap
manipulation library to present the diverse synth devices such as
potentiometers, buttons, sliders, patch cables and which generates the
messages to configure the synth emulator. The engine is an
infrastructure that hosts the emulator code that couples together the
different audio operators required to generate the audio. The engine
and GUI are started together with the startBristol script which sets up
the required environment for the two to connect together. It is not
generally envisaged that bristol and brighton be started outside of the
script however there are options to the script to only start one or the
other. Bristol also has a command line interface that can be used
rather than the GUI.
Currently following synthesizers are emulated:
Emulations
moog mini
moog explorer (voyager)
moog voyager electric blue
moog memory
moog sonic 6
moog/realistic mg-1 concertmate
hammond module (deprecated, use -b3)
hammond B3 (default)$
sequential circuits prophet-5
sequential circuits prophet-5/fx
sequential circuits prophet-10
sequential circuits pro-one
fender rhodes mark-I stage 73
fender rhodes bass piano
crumar roadrunner electric piano
crumar bit 01
crumar bit 99
crumar bit + mods
crumar stratus synth/organ combo
crumar trilogy synth/organ/string combo
oberheim OB-X
oberheim OB-Xa
arp axxe
arp odyssey
arp 2600
arp/solina string ensemble
korg polysix
korg poly-800
korg mono/poly
korg ms20 (unfinished: -libtest only)
vox continental
vox continental super/300/II
roland juno-60
roland jupiter-8
baumann bme-700
bristol bassmaker sequencer
yamaha dx-7
yamaha cs-80 (unfinished)
commodore-64 SID chip synth
commodore-64 SID polyphonic synth (unfinished)
granular synthesiser (unfinished)
ems synthi-a (unfinished)
16 track mixer (unfinished: -libtest only)
The connection between the engine and GUI is a TCP socket using a SYSEX
format message taken from MIDI. The GUI and engine do not need to be
resident on the same system if suitable parameters are given. The
engine can also accept requests from multiple brighton interfaces and
run all the emulators at the same time, multitimbraly, sharing voices
between them and pre-empting where necessary. If an emulator is started
in monophonic mode then it is preallocated a voice that will never be
pre-empted and which runs continuously, ie, it will continue to run
even when no piano keys are pressed. The polyphonic code will only run
the voice algorithms whilst the key gate is open, the gate being
derived from the voice envelope state. The engine supports minimally 32
voices per default, if an emulator requests less then its emulation is
configured with a soft limit. If more are requested then more voices
are created. A voice is an engine structure that allows for allocation
and executing, the actual code run by a voice can be any of the
emulator algorithms which is how multitimbral operation is supported.
The voice allocation process is 'last note precedence' and whilst
others are available for the monophonic instruments, this is the only
polyphonic assignment algorithm.
This package should be started with the startBristol script. The script
will start up the bristol synthesiser binaries, evaluating the correct
library paths and executable paths. There are emulation, synthesiser
and operational parameters:
OPTIONS
Emulation:
-mini - moog mini
-explorer - moog voyager
-voyager - moog voyager electric blue
-memory - moog memory
-sonic6 - moog sonic 6
-mg1 - moog/realistic mg-1 concertmate
-hammond - hammond module (deprecated, use -b3)
-b3 - hammond B3 (default)
-prophet - sequential circuits prophet-5
-pro52 - sequential circuits prophet-5/fx
-pro10 - sequential circuits prophet-10
-pro1 - sequential circuits pro-one
-rhodes - fender rhodes mark-I stage 73
-rhodesbass - fender rhodes bass piano
-roadrunner - crumar roadrunner electric piano
-bitone - crumar bit 01
-bit99 - crumar bit 99
-bit100 - crumar bit + mods
-stratus - crumar stratus synth/organ combo
-trilogy - crumar trilogy synth/organ/string combo
-obx - oberheim OB-X
-obxa - oberheim OB-Xa
-axxe - arp axxe
-odyssey - arp odyssey
-arp2600 - arp 2600
-solina - arp/solina string ensemble
-polysix - korg polysix
-poly800 - korg poly-800
-monopoly - korg mono/poly
-ms20 - korg ms20 (unfinished: -libtest only)
-vox - vox continental
-voxM2 - vox continental super/300/II
-juno - roland juno-60
-jupiter - roland jupiter-8
-bme700 - baumann bme-700
-bm - bristol bassmaker sequencer
-dx - yamaha dx-7
-cs80 - yamaha cs-80 (unfinished)
-sidney - commodore-64 SID chip synth
-melbourne - commodore-64 SID polysynth (unfinished)
-granular - granular synthesiser (unfinished)
-aks - ems synthi-a (unfinished)
-mixer - 16 track mixer (unfinished: -libtest only)
Synthesiser:
-voices <n>
The selected emulator will start with this number of voices. The
engine will always create 32 voices but only allocate this
subset to the emulator. If the selected value is greater than 32
then the greater number of voices is allocated.
-mono Run the emulator in monophonic mode. This is not really an alias
for '-voices 1' as it additionally configures parameters such as
'-retrig -lvel -wwf -hnp'. These additional options can be
overridden if desired.
-lnp Select low note precedence logic. This only applies to
monophonic synthesisers and all of the note precedence affect
the legato playing style.
-hnp Select high note precedence logic. This only applies to
monophonic synthesisers.
-nnp Select no note precedence, this is the default and operates as a
last note precedence selection.
-retrig
Request a trigger event for each note that is played AND notes
that are released. The trigger will cause the envelopes to
cycle. They will not return to zero by default however some of
the emulations have that as a GUI control. Without this flag
triggers are only sent for the first pressed note of a sequence.
-lvel Configure velocity inheritance for all legato notes - the first
note of a sequence will have a velocity value that is applied to
all subsequent notes. This option is a toggle: applying twice
will disable the feature. This is important with regards to the
emulators as many of the mono synths with set lvel per default.
The following options may not work as expected:
startBristol -mini -lvel
The issue is that -mini enables legato velocity so the -lvel
switch will toggle it off again. The same applies to -retrig.
-channel <c>
Start the emulator to respond on this MIDI channel, default 1.
-lowkey <n>
Configure the lowest note for which the emulator should respond.
This defaults to '0' but can be used to define key splits and
ranges for different synths.
-highkey <n>
Configure the highest note for which the emulator should
respond. This defaults to '127' but can be used to define key
splits and ranges for different synths.
-detune <%>
Request the emulator run with a level of temperature
sensitivity. The default value is defined by the emulator,
typically 100 or 200. The detune is applied to a voice at note
on only and is a random value within the range defined here.
-gain <gn>
Output signal gain level for the emulator. These can be used to
normalise the signal levels from different synths when played
together. The default value is defined by the synth itself, this
is an override.
-pwd <s>
Pitch wheel depth in semitones, default 2.
-velocity <v>
Velocity curve for the emulator. Default is 520, an exponential
curve for a hard playing style. Value '0' is flat (no touch
sensitivity). Values up to 100 are linear scaled maps. Below 200
are then exponential maps, below 500 a quadratic maps from
linear and from 500 to 525 are soft through hard touch
exponential maps.
-glide <s>
Duration of nogte glide in seconds, default 5.
-emulate <name>
Search for the named emulator and invoke it, otherwise exit.
Invoking an emulation this was is currently the default, it
implies extra parameters for voicecount, gain, glide, pitchwheel
depth, detune, etc. The default is hammondB3. The -emulate
option also implies -register to the emulator name.
-register <name>
Use a specific name when registering with Jack and ALSA. By
default the engine will use the name 'bristol' however this can
be confusing if multiple engines are being used and this can be
used to override the default.
-lwf Select lightweight filters for the emulator.
-nwf Select normalweight filters, the default. These are about twice
as expensive as lightweight filters.
-wwf Select welterweight filters, this are again about double the CPU
load as the normal filters.
-hwf Select heavyweight filters. These are roughly twice the
welterweight filter. Whilst their is a noticable audible
difference between -lwf and -nwf, it is debatable whether the
difference between -nwf, -wwf and -hwf is other than visible in
the CPU load. The default filter for any -mono synth is -wwf
which can be overridden with something line '-mini -mono -nwf'.
-blo <h>
Number of bandwidth limited harmonics to map. The value of zero
will select infintite bandwidth, default is 31.
-blofraction <f>
The engine uses precomputed tables for all frequencies where the
maximum harmonic does not exceed this fraction of the
samplerate. The default, 0.8, is already above nyquist as a
tradeoff betweeen content and distortion. Values tending towards
1.0 are heavily aliased at the higher frequencies naturally.
-scala <file>
The engine will read the given scala file and map it into its
frequency tables.
User Interface:
-quality <n>
The color cache depth will affect the rendering speed. The lower
values start showing loss of clarity, the higher values start
using thousands of colors which is where the performance is
affected, value is bpp, default is 6.
-scale <s>
Each of the emulators has a default window sisze, this size can
be scaled up or downwards if desired.
-width <n>
The pixel width defines the smaller of two sizees that can be
configured. It works with the -scale and -autozoom options for
flipping between different sizes on mouse Enter/Leave of the
window.
-autozoom
Minimise window on exit, maximise on enter.
-raise Automatically raise the window on Enter.
-lower Automatically lower the window on Leave. It is noted here that
the use of autozoom, raise and lower may have undesirable
effects with some window managers.
-rud Constrain the rotary controller tracking to mouse up/down
motion, not to actually track the mouse position. The value will
be a fraction of the current window size.
-antialias <%>
For some window sizes there will be pixelation of the rendered
imagas unless some antialias is applied. With large zoom values
this is automatically set up. Value is a percentage, default is
30.
-aliastype <pre/texture/all>
There are three antialiasing options, 'pre' will apply it to the
text silkscreens, 'texture' will apply it to the surface bitmaps
and 'all' will apply it everywhere including devices rendered.
The default is pre however this parameter is only applied if
-antialias has a value other than zero.
-opacity <%>
Brighton uses a transparency layer for some features such as the
ARP 2600 patch cables. This is the default transparency. It can
be adjusted later with the ^o/^O/^t control codes in the GUI.
Default is 50 percent.
-pixmap
Use the X11 pixmap interface rather than the default XImage
interface to the server.
-dct <ms>
Double click timeout for button events, etc, 250 ms.
-tracking
Prevent the GUI piano keyboard image from tracking MIDI events,
small reduction in CPU overhead.
-load <m>
Initial memory number to load at startup. Default is 0 for most
emulators.
-import <pathname>
Import a memory from a disk file to the active patch at start
time. This patch can then be saved to another location and
allows for interexchange of memories.
-mbi <m>
The master bank index allows for access to extra memory ID. This
value times 1000 is added to the memory ID saved/loaded by the
GUI so the GUI can access for example 8 banks of 8 memories but
using -mbi you can actually save multiple sets of 64 memories.
-activesense <ms>
The rate at which hello messages are sent from GUI to engine to
ensure it is still active. If the transmission fails then the
GUI will exit, if the engine does not receive updates it will
also exit. Zero will disable active sense.
-ast <m>
The engine timeout period on active sense messages.
-mct <m>
The MIDI cycle timeout is a busy waiting GUI timer for MIDI
events, used when the GUI takes a MIDI interface for direct
event tracking.
-ar|-aspect
All of the emulators will attempt to maintain an aspect ratio
for their windows so that they look 'normal'. This conflicts
with some tiling window managers so can be disabled. It may also
cause some excessive remapping of windows when they are resized.
-iconify
Open the window in the iconified state.
-window
Do not map any window.
-cli Enable the text based command line interface to the engine. This
can be used in connjuction with -window however if compiled
without support for any windowing system the -window option is
implied.
-libtest
Do not start the engine, nor attempt to connect to it, just post
the GUI for testing.
GUI Shortcuts:
<Ctrl> 's' - save settings to current memory
<Ctrl> 'l' - (re)load current memory
<Ctrl> 'x' - exchange current with previous memory
<Ctrl> '+' - load next memory
<Ctrl> '-' - load previous memory
<Ctrl> '?' - show emulator help information
<Ctrl> 'h' - show emulator help information
<Ctrl> 'r' - show application readme information
<Ctrl> 'k' - show keyboard shortcuts
<Ctrl> 'p' - screendump to /tmp/<synth>.xpm
<Ctrl> 't' - toggle opacity
<Ctrl> 'o' - decrease opacity of patch layer
<Ctrl> 'O' - increase opacity of patch layer
<Ctrl> 'w' - display warranty
<Ctrl> 'g' - display GPL (copying conditions)
<Shift> '+' - increase window size
<Shift> '-' - decrease window size
<Shift> 'Enter'- toggle window between full screen size
UpArrow - controller motion up (shift key accelerator)
DownArrow - controller motion down (shift key accelerator)
RightArrow - more control motion up (shift accelerator)
LeftArrow - more control motion down (shift accelerator)
Operational options:
General:
-engine
Do not start a new engine. The GUI will attempt to connect to an
existing engine on the host and port configuration (cq). If the
connection is built then the engine will operate both emjulators
and voice allocations will be shared amongst them. All of the
emulator outputs are folded back onto the same stereo output,
excepting where extra Jack control inputs are used.
-gui Do not start the GUI, only the engine. The GUI will attempt to
connect to the engine on the configured host and port values. If
it does not respond then the GUI will exit with some rather
terse messaging.
-server
Start the engine as a permanant server that does not exit with
the last emulator.
-daemon
Run the engine as a daemon with disconnected controlling
terminal. This does not imply the -server option, nor does it
imply the -log option for logging to the file system, nor
-syslog which might also be applicable to a daemon.
-log Redirect logging output to a file. The default file is
/var/log/bristol.log and /var/log/brighton.log and if they are
not available then $HOME/.bristol/log directory is used. The
selection is to prevent logging to root in the event that the
engine is invoked by this user.
-syslog
Redirect logging output to syslog.
-console
Maintain the controlling terminal as output for logging
messages, remove the timestampes for readability purposes. This
can also be configured with the environment variable
BRISTOL_LOG_CONSOLE=true.
-exec The final process to be requested by the startBristol script
will be called as an exec such that it maintains amongst other
things the PID of the parent. This option will override the exec
and leave the script waiting for the processes to exit.
-stop Stop all the running bristol engines. This will indirectly
result in termination of any GUI due to active sensing although
that can be disabled. The use case is to stop any -server
-daemon engines running in the background. The back end to the
option is pkill.
-exit Stop all the running bristol engines and GUI.
-kill <-emulator>
Stop all the running bristol engines and GUI that have been
associated with the given emulator. If bristol was started with
'-mini' it can now be killed with -mini so that other emulators
are not terminated. If there are multiple mini running they will
naturally die also. If the engine is running multitimbral GUI
then the other associated GUI will also exit in addition to the
mini.
-cache <pathname>
The default location for new memories and emulator profiles, the
default is ~/.bristol and it will be searched before the
system/factory default directory /usr/local/share/bristol when
emulators are started and memories are loaded. If the pathname
does not exist then it is created if possible.
-debug <1-16>
Debug level, values above 12 can be very verbose and only the
value 0 is arguably realtime safe as it avoids printf() in the
engine compute thread.
-readme [-<e>]
Display the program readme information. Show the readme for just
a single emulator if desired.
-glwf Only allow the use of '-lwf' for all emulators, no overrides.
-host <hostname>
Connect to the engine on the hostname, default is localhost.
This is used in conjuction with -engine to distribute the GUI.
The hostname should accept syntax such as hostname:port as per
the next option.
-port <p>
Connect to the given TCP port for GUI/engine messaging, default
5028. If the port is alreeady in use then the startup with fail.
For starting multiple bristols with GUI then this option should
be discarded and the script will look for a free port number for
each invocation.
-quiet Redirect debug and diagnostic output to /dev/null.
-gmc Open a MIDI interface in the GUI. Per default the engine will
own the only MIDI interface for bristol and will redistribute
events to the GUI. It is possible to disable the forwarding and
attach both GUI and engine to midi devices if necessary.
-forward
Disable MIDI event forwarding globally. Per default the engine
opens a MIDI interface and is connected to the physical
keyboards, control surfaces and/or sequencers. It will forward
MIDI events to the GUI for tracking. This option disables the
feature. When disabled the GUI will not reflect the piano
keybaord state, nor will it track CC motion unless the options
'-gmc' is given to open a MIDI connection in the GUI and that
the user connects the same control surfaces to the GUI via this
alternative channel. This option is logically identical to
'-localforward -remoteforward'.
-localforward
This will prevent the GUI from forwarding MIDI messages to the
engine. This is not to prevent MIDI message loops as the
forwarding only ever occurs from MIDI interfaces to TCP
connections between GUI and engine. This option will prevent
messages from any surfaces that are connected to the GUI from
forwarding to the engine.
-remoteforward
This will prevent the engine from forwarding to the GUI but
still allow the GUI to forward to the engine. If the GUI is
given a MIDI connection with the -gmc option, and control
surfaces are applied to both processes then the -forward option
should be used to globally prevent event redistribution. Failure
to do so will not result in loops, just one-for-one duplication
of events. It is possible to connect the control surfaces just
to the GUI when the -gmc option is used, this gives the
possibility to have a local keyboard and GUI but drive an engine
on a remote systems. Their is admittedly additional latency
involved with handling the MIDI messages from the GUI to the
remote engine over TCP.
-oss Configure OSS defaults for audio and MIDI interfaces
-alsa Configure ALSA defaults for audio and MIDI interfaces. The MIDI
interface is an ALSA SEQ port.
-jack Configure Jack defaults for audio and MIDI interfaces. At the
time of writing this option causes some issues as it selects
Jack MIDI which currently requires a bridging daemon to operate.
The options '-jack -midi seq' would be a more typical
configuration.
-jsmuuid <UUID>
This is for sole use of the Jack Session Manager
-jsmfile <path>
This is for sole use of the Jack Session Manager
-jsmd <ms>
Jack session manager delay before session events are distributed
internally. Event execution is delayed in the GUI by a default
of 5000ms.
-session
Disable all session management including JSM and LADI.
-sleep <n>
Stall the initialisation process for 'n' seconds. This is to
work around what appears to be race a condition when using a
session manager to initialise multiple bristol clients as they
all vie for the same TCP port identifier.
-jdo Jack Dual Open: let the audio and midi threads register as
independent clients with Jack. Per default the audio thread will
open as a jack client and the MIDI connection is piggypbacked as
another port rather than as another client.
-o <filename>
Generate a raw audio output of the final stage samples to a
file. The format will be 16bit stereo interleaved.
-nrp Enable support for NRP events in both GUI and engine. This is to
be used with care as NRP in the engine can have unexpected
results.
-enrp Enable NRP support in the engine only.
-gnrp Enable NRP events in the GUI. This is required to allow the GUI
(and hence the engine) to be driven from some MIDI control
surfaces.
-nrpcc <n>
Maximum number of NRP to map. The default is 128, seen as
sufficient for any of the current emulators but the mixer will
require more if it is every released.
Audio driver:
-audio [oss|alsa|jack]
Audio driver overrides. Depending on the order of the switches
it is possible to set a group of global defaults
(-jack/oss/alsa) then have specific re-selection of components.
-audiodev <dev>
Audio device name. For Jack, this will be the name registered
with the Jack daemon.
-count <samples>
Number of samples/frames in processing period.
-outgain <gn>
Output signal normalisation level, per emulator default 4.
-ingain <gn>
Input signal normalisation level, per emulator default 4.
-preload <periods>
Number of audio buffers to prewrite to the audio output on
start. This is not active with the Jack drivers.
-rate <hz>
Sampling rate, defaults to 44100.
-priority <p>
Realtime priority requested by the engine audio thread, default
75. Zero will disable RT processing.
-autoconn
Automatically connect the engine input and output to the first
Jack IO ports found. This can also be achieved with the
environment variable BRISTOL_AUTOCONN=true
-multi <c>
Multiple IO port requests, only works with Jack and currently
only the ARP 2600 gives access to these ports.
-migc <f>
Input signal normalisation level for the multi IO ports.
-mogc <f>
Output signal normalisation level for the multi IO ports.
Midi driver:
-midi [oss|[raw]alsa|jack]
Audio driver overrides. Depending on the order of the switches
it is possible to set a group of global defaults
(-jack/oss/alsa) then have specific re-selection of components
such as in '-jack -midi seq'. The default MIDI driver is '-midi
seq' but that can be overriden with compile time options such as
--enable-jack-default-midi to ./configure.
-mididev <dev>
MIDI device namee to be opened (OSS/ALSA).
-mididbg
Request MIDI level 1 debuging.
-mididbg2
Request MIDI level 2 debuging. Both can be selected for level 3.
-sysid <0xXXXXXXXX>
Configure an alternative SYSEX identifier for the engine. The
default is the value 0x534C6162 for historical reasons, this is
not a free development ID but it is not assigned so should not
cause conflict.
LADI driver (level 1 compliant):
-ladi brighton
Execute LADI messages in the GUI only
-ladi bristol
Execute LADI messages in the engine only
-ladi <memory>
The LADI state memory for save operations. This should be unique
for each LADI session.
EXAMPLES
startBristol -mini
Run a minimoog using ALSA interface for audio and midi (seq).
The emulator will default to monophonic, high note precedence
with retrigger and legato velocity.
startBristol -alsa
Run a hammondB3 using ALSA interface for audio and midi. This is
equivalent to all the following options: -b3 -audio alsa
-audiodev plughw:0,0 -midi seq -mididev plughw:0 -samplecount
256 -preload 4 -port 5028 -voices 32 -channel 1 -rate 44100
startBristol -explorer -voices 1
Run a moog explorer as a monophonic instrument, using ALSA
interface for audio and midi.
startBristol -prophet -alsa -channel 3
Run a prophet-5 using ALSA for audio and midi (on channel 3).
startBristol -b3 -samplecount 512 -preload 2
Run a hammond b3 with a 512 samples in a period, and preload two
such buffers before going active. Some Live! cards need this
larger buffer size with ALSA drivers.
startBristol -oss -audiodev /dev/dsp1 -vox -voices 8
Run a vox continental using OSS device 1, and default midi
device /dev/midi0. Operate with just 8 voices out of the 32
available.
startBristol -b3 -audio alsa -audiodev plughw:0,0 -seq -mididev 128.0
Run a B3 emulation over the ALSA PCM plug interface, using the
ALSA sequencer over client 128, port 0.
startBristol -juno &
startBristol -prophet -channel 2 -engine
Start two synthesisers, a juno and a prophet. Both synthesisers
will will be executed on one engine (multitimbral) with 32
voices between them. The juno will be on default midi channel
(1), and the prophet on channel 2. Output over the same default
ALSA audio device. The 32 voices will never all get used as
these emulators will run per default with a lower soft limit.
They can be run with more voices however that would require
suitable values to the -voices option.
startBristol -juno -jack -register juno -voices 32 &
startBristol -prophet -jack -register prophet -channel 2 -voices 32 &
Start two synthesisers, a juno and a prophet5. Each synth is
totally independent with its own GUI and own engine. Each engine
will register separately with the jack daemon. They will
respectively register the names 'juno' and 'prophet' with Jack
and ALSA so that they can be differentiated in the respective
control programmes such as aconnect and qjackctl. The outputs
will be visible separately in these control programs and can
thus be routed independently. Each synth can use up to 32 voices
and there will only be CPU contention - these are separate
engine process with 32 voices each.
AUTHOR
Written by Nicholas Copeland <nickycopeland@hotmail.com>
REPORTING BUGS
Bugs and enhancement requests can be submitted to the bristol project
page on SourceForge:
<https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=157415>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1996,2010 Nick Copeland. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3
or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>. This is free software: you
are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the
extent permitted by law.
May 11, 2010 BRISTOL(1)