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<div id="mainwindow"><img name="LinuxSampler" src="gfx/lsbackground.jpg" alt="LinuxSampler"> |
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<h1><span class="hidden">The LinuxSampler Project</span></h1> |
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<table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0><tr><th colspan=2 align=left> |
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<img name="h1about" src="gfx/h1about.png" alt="About"><span class="hidden">about</span></th></tr> |
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</td><td valign=top width="100%"> |
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<div id="contents"> |
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|
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<h2>The Project</h2> |
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<p class="default"> |
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The LinuxSampler project was founded with the |
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goal to produce a free, streaming capable open source pure |
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software audio sampler with professional grade features, |
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comparable to both hardware and commercial Windows/Mac software |
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samplers and to introduce new features not yet available by any |
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other sampler in the world. |
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</p> |
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|
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<h2>The Engine</h2> |
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<p class="default"> |
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<u><b>LinuxSampler</b></u> was designed very modular, especially |
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(and in contrast to other samplers) it was decoupled from any user |
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interface. LinuxSampler itself usually runs as own process in the |
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background of the computer and usually does not show up anything on |
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the screen, or at most it can be launched to show status |
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informations and debug messages in a console window:<br> |
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<br> |
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<a href="screenshots/ls_0_5_1_console.png"> |
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<img src="screenshots/ls_0_5_1_console_preview.png"> |
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</a><br> |
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<br> |
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That means LinuxSampler itself is the "engine" of the sampler, it |
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is the software component which performs all the heavy and time |
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critical computational tasks of handling MIDI events, calculating |
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the audio data and sending the final audio data to your sound |
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card(s). We call LinuxSampler the <i>sampler backend</i>. |
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</p> |
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|
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<h2>The Face(s)</h2> |
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<p class="default"> |
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Obviously you need some way to control the sampler. That's where a |
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2nd application comes into game, which we call a |
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<i>sampler frontend</i> application. A frontend is (usually) a |
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graphical application, visible on the screen, providing the user |
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a set of e.g. menus, buttons, sliders, dials, etc. to allow the |
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user to control the sampler in a convenient way. It merely sends |
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the user requests to the sampler engine (LinuxSampler) and in turn |
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shows the engine's status informations on the screen. A frontend |
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does not perform any signal processing tasks, so you can see it as |
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a "face" of the sampler.<br> |
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<br> |
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For luxury we already provide you two different frontends / "faces" |
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for LinuxSampler: |
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</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li> |
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<u><b>QSampler</b></u> is a light-weight frontend written in |
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C++, using straightforward native graphical controls of the |
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underlying operating system. That way the appearance of |
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QSampler on the screen is very fast and it only consumes very |
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little resources. Due to its utilization of the operating |
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system's common GUI controls, it looks slightly different on |
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every operating system (also dependent of the user's selected |
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theme on his OS):<br> |
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<br> |
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<a href="screenshots/qs_0_2_1_win.jpg"> |
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<img src="screenshots/qs_0_2_1_win_preview.jpg"> |
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</a> |
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<a href="screenshots/qs_0_2_1_ubuntu.png"> |
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<img src="screenshots/qs_0_2_1_ubuntu_preview.png"> |
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</a><br> |
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<br> |
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Note however, QSampler does not fully support all features of |
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the sampler engine (LinuxSampler) yet. Most notably the |
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engine's instruments database feature is not yet covered by |
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QSampler. But if you don't need that particular feature, |
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you're certainly fine with QSampler as well.<br> |
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<br> |
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</li> |
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|
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<li> |
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<u><b>JSampler</b></u> is a full-fledged frontend for |
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LinuxSampler, written in Java and currently comes in two |
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flavors: <b>JSampler "Classic"</b> offers straightforward GUI |
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controls whereas <b>JSampler "Fantasia"</b> provides a modern |
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skin based user interface:<br> |
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<br> |
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<a href="screenshots/fantasia.png"><img src="screenshots/fantasia-preview.png"></a> |
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<br> |
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JSampler supports all features currently available in the |
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sampler engine (LinuxSampler). Also note that even though |
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JSampler is written in Java and slightly more hungry |
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regarding resources (compared to QSampler), this usually |
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does not have any impact on the audio rendering performance |
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of the sampler, since the engine runs completely independently |
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and with much higher CPU priority than the frontend(s).<br> |
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</li> |
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</ul> |
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<p class="default"> |
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It's completely up to you which frontend to use. You could even use |
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both parallel at the same time for the same sampler engine |
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instance, really! ;-) You're concerned that your sampler frontend |
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might waste precious resources of your computer? No problem, just |
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setup the sampler session for your needs and then quit the |
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frontend application. The sampler engine doesn't care! It continues |
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to do its job. You need to change something? Start the frontend |
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again (or another frontend) and you see what you expect to see: the |
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current setup and state of the running sampler engine. |
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</p> |
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|
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<h2>The Format</h2> |
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<p class="default"> |
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It is planned to support all common sampler formats in |
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LinuxSampler, but at the moment we chose to concentrate on the |
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Gigasampler format, because when we started this project, the |
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Gigasampler format was (in our opinion) the most popular |
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and "best" sampler format in regards of quality and power, |
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especially for the synthesis of natural instruments like pianos, |
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brass and bowed instruments. But we already made good advance in |
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implementing this format, so we are optimistic to start with |
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adding other formats soon. Beside that we also planned to |
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design our own, sophisticated sampler format to introduce a more |
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powerful and more flexible sampler format compared to |
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any sampler format currently available in the world. Be encouraged |
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to share your ideas about such a new format with us! |
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</p> |
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|
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<h2>The Editor</h2> |
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<p class="default"> |
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<u><b>gigedit</b></u> allows you to edit and create instruments |
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for the Gigasampler format, which can be used with LinuxSampler |
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as well as with Tascam's Gigastudio. Following our line of |
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modularity we also made the instrument editors independent |
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applications. Because let's face it: every sampler format is |
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different, so in our opinion it is better to honor the specific |
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features of one format with its own instrument editor application |
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instead of trying to fiddle everything into one single bloated |
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application. So gigedit is our first editor, dedicated to the .gig |
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format:<br> |
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<br> |
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<a href="screenshots/gigedit_0_0_3.png"><img src="screenshots/gigedit_0_0_3_preview.jpg"></a> |
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<br> |
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You can use gigedit as stand-alone application or in conjunction |
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with LinuxSampler. For the latter case gigedit installs a plugin |
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into the sampler engine, so the engine (and with it the frontends) |
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knows that gigedit actually exists and can handle the .gig format. |
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So even though we decoupled the sampler's components into |
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independent applications, they all work seamlessly together. |
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<a href="http://download.linuxsampler.org/doc/gigedit/quickstart/gigedit_quickstart.html#live_editing"> |
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Just press the "Edit" button |
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</a> on a channel strip of a frontend and |
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gigedit will automatically popup on the screen and you're |
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immediately ready to edit your selected instrument, making all your |
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modifications audible in realtime. Even when editing huge |
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instruments of 1GB or more, tweak the instrument with gigedit and |
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immediately hear it while playing on the keyboard at the same time. |
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And the good thing: even with new sampler formats we're going to |
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add soon (and with it new editors), you don't have to remember |
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which instrument you loaded uses which format. Simply click on |
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"Edit" in a frontend and the sampler engine will choose the right |
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instrument editor application for the respective instrument for |
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you. |
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</p> |
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|
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<h2>The Technical Interface</h2> |
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<p class="default"> |
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As the components of the sampler are independent applications, |
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there must be a way to let the applications communicate with each |
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other. For this LinuxSampler provides a native C++ |
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_programming_interface">API</a> |
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as well as a network interface using an ASCII based protocol which |
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we call "<a href="http://www.linuxsampler.org/api/draft-linuxsampler-protocol.html" title="LinuxSampler Control Protocol">LSCP</a>" |
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for controlling the sampler engine and managing sampler sessions. |
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Our frontends support that network interface, which also allows to |
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control the sampler engine with the GUI frontend(s) remotely from |
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another computer, probably even running a completely different |
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Operating System. And compared to other remote control solutions, |
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the frontend won't feel sluggish, as the frontend is running on |
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your local machine.<br> |
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<br> |
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You can also configure your computer to automatically start the |
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sampler engine and loading your prefered sampler session without |
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any frontend, simply by using a <i>LSCP session file</i>. How do |
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you get such a "LSCP session file"? Both frontends write LSCP |
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session files for you when you request them to save your current |
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sampler session. And as those LSCP session files are ordinary |
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human readable text files, you can adjust them with any text |
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editor if you want. |
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</p> |
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|
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<h2>The Compatibility</h2> |
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<p class="default"> |
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LinuxSampler is available for the most popular operating |
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systems and already supports a variety of audio and MIDI driver |
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systems on each OS. It does not require any special dedicated |
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device drivers from the sound card manufacturers, so you can |
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also use it with cheap consumer cards. Due to its clean design |
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the sampler can be ported to other operating systems and |
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extended for further driver systems with a minimum of effort. |
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So we're prepared for the future! |
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</p> |
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|
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<h2>The Community</h2> |
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<p class="default"> |
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You need a helping hand? You certainly get the answers on your |
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personal questions on our |
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<a href="http://bb.linuxsampler.org/">web forum</a>.<br> |
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<br> |
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All applications are under active development. However we all work |
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on this project for fun in our spare time. There are still so many |
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things to do and our hands are limited. So don't hesitate on |
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participating to the project! You don't necessarily need to be a |
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skilled programmer to help the project. Testing the applications, |
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<a href="http://bugs.linuxsampler.org.">reporting bugs</a>, writing |
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documentation, providing artwork, themes for frontends, etc. helps |
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us and all users a lot! Simply subscribe to our |
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<a href="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linuxsampler-devel"> |
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developers mailing list |
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</a> and we'll of course take you by the hand in case you want to |
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participate with active source code development. Don't be afraid! |
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You have your own ideas and concepts for making the sampler better? |
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Great, share them with us!<br> |
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<br> |
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</p> |
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|
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</div> |
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</td></tr></table> |
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</div> |
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</body> |
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