Synths

Jird can use Fluidsynth, Surge XT, and ZynAddSubFX to render music directly from the command line.

Specifying a synth

The –synth flag selects a synth to use (with a default patch). The possible choices are fluidsynth, zynaddsubfx, and surge_xt. For example running

$ jird --synth surge_xt

starts the interpreter using Surge XT for playback, and running

$ jird --synth zynaddsubfx music.txt

plays the music in music.txt with ZynAddSubFX.

Specifying an instrument

We can specify a patch with the -i flag. The corresponding synth is inferred from the patch filename. For example running

$ jird -i ~/surge/resources/data/patches_factory/Polysynths/Oiro.fxp

will start the interpreter using Surge XT with the Oiro patch for playback. To play music in music.txt with this patch we can run

$ jird -i ~/surge/resources/data/patches_factory/Polysynths/Oiro.fxp music.txt

The Surge repo containing the patches can be found on github.

To use Zyn, we can run for example

$ jird -i /usr/share/zynaddsubfx/banks/the_mysterious_bank/0031-wah_sine.xiz

The Zyn patches may be found in /usr/share/zynaddsubfx/banks if you have ZynAddSubFX installed. If not they can be found in the ZynAddSubFX instruments repo.

Using a config

More detailed synth configuration is done with a config file described below. Given a config in config.json and music in music.txt, the music can be played by running

$ jird -c config.json music.txt

The config allows specifying a different instrument for each jird part, as well as setting overall parameters like the basic time and frequency. For example, here is an example config with two parts:

{
    "t": 0.63,
    "f": 440.0,
    "synth": "surge_xt",
    "parts": [
        {
            "instrument": "~/surge/resources/data/patches_factory/Polysynths/Oiro.fxp",
            "volume": -8.25,
            "panning": 0.5
        },
        {
            "instrument": "~/surge/resources/data/patches_factory/Polysynths/Boss.fxp",
            "volume": -7.0,
            "panning": -0.5
        }
    ]
}

With this config, one beat lasts 0.63 seconds, the frequency ratio 1/1 sounds at 440Hz, and Surge XT is used for playback. The parts list contains patches, volume, and panning to use for the two parts (semicolon separated jird music).

Config fields

All config fields are described below.

class Config[source]

Overall config controlling jird.

t

Basic time in seconds. Real note durations are the jird duration multiplied by this basic time. For example the note 1:1 will have duration t when played back.

Type:: float

f

Basic frequency in Hz. Real note frequencies are the jird note frequency multiplied by this basic frequency. For example the note 1:1 will have frequency f when played back.

Type:: float

tuning_method

Method to use for tuning midi notes to the desired frequency. Choices are PITCH_BEND, which sends a pitch bend before each midi note to adjust its frequency, and SCALA, which uses Scala scl and kbm files to map each midi note onto its frequency.

Type:: TuningMethod

synth

Synth to use for playback. Choices are FLUIDSYNTH, ZYNADDSUBFX, and SURGE_XT.

Type:: Synth

volume

Overall volume for playback. Interpretation varies by synth; typical values are given in the example configs for each synth.

Type:: float

pitch_bend_range

Midi pitch bend range, in semitones, to assume when calculating bends. Defaults to two.

Type:: int

edo

If specified, music is tempered using edo equal divisions of the octave.

Type:: int, optional

sample_rate

Sample rate to use when rendering audio. Defaults to 44100

Type:: int

soundfont

Path of soundfont to use when using fluidsynth.

Type:: Path, optional

verbose

Whether to show logs and subprocess output. Defaults to False.

Type:: bool

parts

Part-specific config for each jird part. See PartConfig for details.

Type:: list of PartConfig

class PartConfig[source]

Config for each jird part.

volume

Volume for this part.

Type:: float

panning

Pan (position left/right in stereo image) for this part.

Type:: int

instrument

Path to instrument patch to use for this part. For ZynAddSubFX this is an xiz file. For Surge XT this is an fxp file. Not used by fluidsynth.

Type:: Path, optional

program

Midi program to use for this part. Used with fluidsynth to specify which instrument in the soundfont to use.

Type:: int, optional