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11 <h2><center>LinuxSampler for Windows &nbsp; <img src="gfx/logos/windows.png"> &nbsp; HOWTO by Benno Senoner&nbsp;</center></h2>
12 <br>
13 <center>December&nbsp;18th,&nbsp;2007</center><br>
14 <div style="background-color: #F4F4FF; margin: 1em 3em 1em 3em; padding: 1em 1em 1em 2.2em;">
15 <a href="#intro">1.&nbsp; Introduction</a><br>
16 <a href="#requirements">2.&nbsp; Requirements</a><br>
17 3.&nbsp; Installation ...<br>
18 <a href="#install_w_inet">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.a&nbsp; with Internet Connection</a><br>
19 <a href="#install_wo_inet">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.b&nbsp; without Internet</a><br>
20 <a href="#using">4.&nbsp; Using the Applications</a><br>
21 <a href="#setup_midi">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4.1&nbsp; Setting up MIDI Input</a><br>
22 <a href="#setup_audio">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4.2&nbsp; Setting up Audio Output</a><br>
23 <a href="#load_samples">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4.3&nbsp; Loading Samples</a><br>
24 <a href="#save_session">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4.4&nbsp; Saving a Sampler Session</a><br>
25 <a href="#sequencer_routing">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4.5&nbsp; Routing LinuxSampler Outs Into Sequencer</a><br>
26 <a href="#houston">5.&nbsp; Installation Troubleshooting</a><br>
27 <a href="#docs">6.&nbsp; Detailed Documentation</a><br>
28 <a href="#bugs">7.&nbsp; Bugs, Problems and Feature Requests</a><br>
29 <a href="#contact">8.&nbsp; Contact</a><br>
30 </div>
31
32 <a name="intro"></a>
33 <h3>1.&nbsp; Introduction</h3>
34 The LinuxSampler development team is happy to announce that
35 LinuxSampler, the most advanced free, open source sampler finally runs on
36 MS Windows too. More information will be added here soon, so check back frequently.<br>
37 <br>
38 For now the sampler supports the Windows Multimedia Extensions System (MME)
39 for MIDI input and ASIO for audio out. This means it currently runs only
40 as a standalone application. A VST interface will follow soon, along with
41 a network module to run multiple sampler slaves distributed on Windows or
42 Linux machines (Linux provides better performance) all controlled from a
43 Windows box i.e. running the VST sequencer.<br>
44 <br>
45 LinuxSampler is implemented as a client/server application. This means
46 the sampling engine (the server / backend) runs
47 independently from the GUI (the client / frontend). Sampling engine and
48 client can be run on the same box or on different machines too, connected
49 over the network.<br>
50 <br>
51 The MS Windows version provides all the features of the Linux version
52 (except of the instruments DB feature yet) since it is built from the
53 same source code base. This means when new features will come out the
54 Windows version will usually provide the same feature set as the Linux
55 version. This was made possible by the very modular design of both
56 low level, operating system functions and flexible audio / MIDI driver
57 system.<br>
58 <br>
59 The Windows version comes as a self extracting .exe file which will
60 install all the necessary modules to run both the server ( linuxsampler.exe )
61 and the GUI client. It installs 2 GUI clients:
62 <ul>
63 <li>One is <b>QSampler</b>, a light-weight frontend based on the
64 cross-platform Qt4 GUI toolkit with native OS GUI widgets</li>
65 <li>Another is <b>JSampler "Fantasia"</b>, a Java based GUI client called,
66 providing a modern skin-based user interface</li>
67 </ul>
68 At the moment JSampler is more advanced than QSampler as it implements all
69 the functionality present in the LinuxSampler engine. Due to the Java
70 virtual machine however it occupies a bit more RAM than the
71 QSsampler GUI (around 30MB or so) and takes a bit longer for startup,
72 but on a 1GB+ RAM box the difference should be negligible.
73
74 <a name="requirements"></a>
75 <h3>2.&nbsp; Requirements</h3>
76 <ul>
77 <li>Intel Pentium4 or recent AMD processor (use
78 <a href="#old_cpu_workaround">this workaround for older processors</a>)
79 <li>Windows 2000, ME, XP or Vista</li>
80 <li><a href="http://www.gtk.org/">GTK+</a> (<a href="http://downloads.sourceforge.net/gladewin32/gtk-2.10.11-win32-1.exe?modtime=1175123376&big_mirror=0">version 2.10.11</a>)</li>
81 <li><a href="http://www.gtkmm.org/">gtkmm</a> (<a href="http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/gtkmm/2.10/gtkmm-win32-runtime-2.10.11-1.exe">version 2.10.11</a>)</li>
82 <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_(Sun)">Java Runtime Environment</a> (<a href="http://www.java.com/getjava/">version 6</a>)</a></li>
83 <li>sound card with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Stream_Input/Output">ASIO</a> driver</li>
84 </ul>
85 <a name="asio_tip"></a>
86 <b>Tip:</b> For consumer audio cards which do not come with their own ASIO
87 drivers you can install <a href="http://www.asio4all.com/">ASIO4ALL</a> to be
88 able to use LinuxSampler with your soundcard.
89 We recommend to use version 2.7, perhaps on Vista 2.8beta1 works better but
90 we did not perform tests on Vista so we cannot tell it. Please let us know
91 about your results so we can share them here!
92
93 <a name="install_w_inet"></a>
94 <h3>3.a&nbsp; Installation with Internet Connection</h3>
95 Simply download the latest version of the LinuxSampler Windows installer
96 from the <a href="http://www.linuxsampler.org/downloads.html">LinuxSampler
97 Download Page</a>, execute the installer and follow the instructions. It will
98 automatically detect if the required software components are already installed.
99 If not, it will download them from the internet and install them on your
100 computer.
101
102 <a name="install_wo_inet"></a>
103 <h3>3.b&nbsp; Installation without Internet</h3>
104 First download the required components with a machine which has connection to
105 the internet:
106 <ul>
107 <li><a href="http://downloads.sourceforge.net/gladewin32/gtk-2.10.11-win32-1.exe?modtime=1175123376&big_mirror=0">gtk+ 2.10.11</a></li>
108 <li><a href="http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/gnome/binaries/win32/gtkmm/2.10/gtkmm-win32-runtime-2.10.11-1.exe">gtkmm 2.10.11</a></li>
109 <li><a href="http://www.java.com/getjava/">Java Runtime Environment 6</a></li>
110 <li>and of course the latest <a href="http://www.linuxsampler.org/downloads.html">
111 LinuxSampler Windows installer</a></li>
112 </ul>
113 Transfer the downloaded files to the computer where you want to install
114 LinuxSampler and install them in the following order:
115 <ol>
116 <li>gtk-2.10.11-win32-1.exe</li>
117 <li>gtkmm-win32-runtime-2.10.11-1.exe</li>
118 <li>jre-6u2-windows-i586-p.exe</li>
119 <li>linuxsampler_20071207_setup.exe</li>
120 </ol>
121 The order is important, since the components depend on each other and would
122 otherwise try to download the missing component from the internet.
123
124 <a name="using"></a>
125 <h3>4.&nbsp; Using the Applications</h3>
126 Now that we installed everything, let's get wet and start the applications:
127 <ol>
128 <li>First start the LinuxSampler backend: Click on <i>"Start" ->
129 "LinuxSampler" -> "LinuxSampler 0.5.1 (backend)"</i>. A black console
130 window should immediately popup. It does what you think it does:
131 nothing ... yet ... because this is "just" the raw sampler, without a
132 user interface.</li>
133 <li>Now start a "frontend" application to actually control the previously
134 started sampler. For beginners and / or unpatient people, we recommend
135 you to use JSampler: Click on <i>"Start" -> "LinuxSampler" ->
136 "JSampler 'Fantasia' 0.8a (frontend)"</i>. This usually takes about
137 20 seconds or so until the application finally appears on the
138 screens.</li>
139 </ol>
140 </div>
141
142 <a name="setup_midi"></a>
143 <h3>4.1&nbsp; Setting up MIDI Input</h3>
144 Once the GUI opens, click on the left round button in the MIDI devices
145 tab.
146 At this point a window will open where you can create a new MIDI device.
147 Press Create. The window will close and the MIDI device will be created.
148 (MIDI Device 0 MME).
149 Now click on the right arrow which points downwards.
150 You can see that a MIDI device with a single Port (Port 0) was created.
151 Under Windows MME LinuxSampler always creates MIDI devices which are
152 connected to a single MME port.
153 To select the MIDI input port you must click on the field located on
154 the left of PORT.
155 A combobox pops-up where you can select the Windows MIDI port.<br>
156 <br>
157 You can create an arbitrary number of MIDI input devices by repeating
158 the procedure above.
159 Each MIDI input device is connected to a single Windows MME MIDI port.
160 This means LinuxSampler has no limitation in terms of number of MIDI
161 ports.
162 Each MIDI device can be routed to arbitrary sampler channels.
163
164 <a name="setup_audio"></a>
165 <h3>4.2&nbsp; Setting up Audio Output</h3>
166 LinuxSampler currently only supports the ASIO driver model for audio output
167 on Windows. ASIO drivers ensure reliable low-latency operation and are
168 virtually available for any soundcard (see <a href="#asio_tip">
169 ASIO requirements tip</a>).<br>
170 <br>
171 Click on the left round button in the Audio Devices tab.
172 At this point a window will open where you can create a new MIDI device.
173 When creating the Audio device you can set several parameters:
174 <ul>
175 <li><b>CARD</b> : The name of the soundcard, in case you have multiple cards
176 installed. It will show the default value (first card found).</li>
177 <li><b>CHANNELS</b> : Number of audio output channels, can range from 1 to
178 maximum number of channels your soundcard supports. We recommend to
179 leave the default value which is the maximum number of channels your
180 soundcard supports.</li>
181 <li><b>FRAGMENTSIZE</b> : ASIO buffer size in samples. The card's default
182 value is shown. If you experience clicks and pops during audio
183 playback then initialize the audio output device with bigger values.
184 (better if it's always a power of 2:&nbsp; e.g. 256, 512, 1024)</li>
185 <li><b>SAMPLERATE</b> : Sets the samplerate. The default value is shown.<br>
186 </ul>
187 Now Press "Create". The window will close and the Audio device will be
188 created: "AUDIO DEVICE 0 (ASIO)" appears.
189
190 <a name="load_samples"></a>
191 <h3>4.3&nbsp; Loading Samples</h3>
192 In the middle of the screen below the volume slider, you see the sampler
193 channel strip pane. press on the round button located on the left.
194 This will create a new sampler channel. Click on "Load Instrument".
195 This opens a dialog which allows you to select an instrument to be
196 loaded in the sampler channel
197
198 (for information on how to use "orchestras" <a
199 href="http://www.linuxsampler.org/jsampler/manual/html/jsampler.html#USING_ORCHESTRAS">click
200 here</a>, but note: orchestras, a.k.a "instruments database" is not yet supported in this
201 first Windows version of LinuxSampler, but will certainly be on the next Windows release).
202
203 On the row&nbsp; "Select instrument from file" click on the orange icon
204 located on the right side. This opens a file dialog which allows you to
205 select a sample to be loaded
206 (currently only the GIG format is supported).
207 Select the sample to be loaded and then click on "Open".
208 At this point the fields Instrument file shows the filename.
209 You can click on the Instrument index and select the specific
210 instrument contained in the instrument file. Now press "OK".<br>
211 <br>
212 While it loads you see: "Loading" .. "90%" .. "100%" <br>
213 <br>
214 Once loaded, you see the Instrument's name: i.e.&nbsp;"FreePiano"<br>
215 <br>
216 On the left side of the sampler channel click on the arrow below
217 "Options".
218 This pane permits to set MIDI input device, port and channel and oudio
219 output channel.
220 Notice that under Windows MME the Port value is always 0.
221 So the only values you can change is "MIDI device" (normally 0 if you
222 created only a single
223 MIDI input device) and the MIDI channel (from 1 to 16).
224
225 <a name="save_session"></a>
226 <h3>4.4&nbsp; Saving a Sampler Session</h3>
227 Click on the 3rd icon from the left on the row where you see the round
228 icon with the LinuxSampler "S"-shape logo.
229 Now select the directory where you want to save the file to (extension
230 .lscp = <i>Linux Sampler Control Protocol</i>).
231 Enter the name and press save (add .lscp at end of file otherwise you
232 will not see it in the file-open dialog later, when you want to load it again).<br>
233 <br>
234 Next time you can load a sampler session by clicking on the second icon
235 from the left, then select a .lscp file in the file dialog and press "Open".
236 This will automatically set up the MIDI devices and audio devices,
237 create the sampler channels and load all the samples that were previously
238 loaded by you in the saved sampler session.
239
240 <a name="sequencer_routing"></a>
241 <h3>4.5&nbsp; Routing LinuxSampler Outs Into Sequencer</h3>
242 LinuxSampler currently lacks a VST interface so the only way to route LinuxSampler's outs into a sequencer
243 are either by using physical cables or internal routing via ASIO. Some audio cards offer this feature.
244 <br>
245 The <a href="http://www.reaper.fm">Reaper</A> sequencer allows ASIO routing by implementing a virtual
246 ASIO based driver independently from the soundcard type (ReaRoute). Basically in LinuxSampler you select the ReaRoute as ASIO output driver which
247 appear as input ports in Reaper. Coupled with the MIDI controllable FX sends in LinuxSampler you can use
248 Reaper's FX egine to add reverb, chorus etc to LinuxSampler instruments, fully MIDI controllable, similar to
249 other MIDI based modules.
250 <br>
251 Our forum user moonskin (thanks Graham!) has described the steps needed to perform in order to set up the routing.
252 <a href="http://bb.linuxsampler.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=111&sid=d745353791f6cb1ef46946af4168aada&start=10#p944">
253 See here</a>
254
255
256 <a name="houston"></a>
257 <h3>5.&nbsp; Installation Troubleshooting</h3>
258 <ul>
259 <li>
260 <div style="background-color: #FFF2F2;">
261 <u>Problem:</u> The LinuxSampler backend application
262 (<i>linuxsampler.exe</i>) fails to start with an error message that
263 claims that a DLL file is missing (e.g. <i>libatkmm-1.6-1.dll</i>)
264 </div>
265 <div style="background-color: #F2FFF2;">
266 <u>Reason / Solution:</u>
267 It could happen that due to previous installations of Gtk+ and gtkmm
268 DLLs even after deinstallation leave some stale keys in the windows
269 registry which could fool the installer into believing that the needed
270 DLLs are already installed therefore skipping its installation which
271 will cause the sampler not being able to start due to the missing
272 DLLs. We recommend in this case to install gtk+ and gtkmm manually as
273 described above in "<a href="#install_wo_inet">Installation without
274 Internet</a>". Just install those mentioned Gtk+ and gtkmm versions
275 and then LinuxSampler should work correctly.
276 </div>
277 </li>
278 <li>
279 <div style="background-color: #FFF2F2;">
280 <u>Problem:</u> The LinuxSampler backend application
281 (<i>linuxsampler.exe</i>) fails to start with the error message
282 "<i>The application failed to initialize properly (0xc000001d). Click
283 on OK to terminate the application.</i>"
284 </div>
285 <div style="background-color: #F2FFF2;">
286 <u>Reason / Solution:</u><a name="old_cpu_workaround"></a>
287 This first Windows release of LinuxSampler requires at least an Intel
288 Pentium4 processor or a recent AMD processor. If you have an older
289 processor and get the error message from above, you can use the
290 following workaround for now:
291 <ol>
292 <li>Download and extract
293 <a href="http://download.linuxsampler.org/dev/win32_probs/ls686_20071207.zip">
294 these replacement binaries.
295 </a>
296 </li>
297 <li>Copy the 3 binaries manually in your LinuxSampler installation
298 directory (default installation directory:
299 "C:\Program Files\LinuxSampler"), that is overwrite the existing
300 binaries in the LS installation directory with the 3 ones from the
301 zip file.
302 </li>
303 </ol>
304 Use this workaround only if you got the mentioned error message,
305 because the replacement binaries will otherwise decrease runtime
306 efficiency! This is of course just a temporary workaround. We'll
307 address this issue with the next release of LinuxSampler (see also
308 <a href="https://bugs.linuxsampler.org/cgi-bin/show_bug.cgi?id=67">
309 bug report #67</a>).
310 </div>
311 </li>
312 </ul>
313
314 <a name="docs"></a>
315 <h3>6.&nbsp; Detailed Documentation</h3>
316 You find more detailed documentation about our software, i.e. about JSampler
317 or gigedit on our official <a href="http://linuxsampler.org/documentation.html">
318 LinuxSampler documentation site</a>.
319
320 <a name="bugs"></a>
321 <h3>7.&nbsp; Bugs, Problems and Feature Requests</h3>
322 Our Forum is a good place to ask for help:<br>
323 <br>
324 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://bb.linuxsampler.org">https://bb.linuxsampler.org</a><br>
325 <br>
326 We have a dedicated forum section for
327 newbies and support.<br>
328 <br>
329 Since the Windows port of LinuxSampler is very young, there could be several
330 bugs which we hope to root out soon.
331 Please report them using our bug tracking system:<br>
332 <br>
333 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://bugs.linuxsampler.org/">http://bugs.linuxsampler.org/</a><br>
334 <br>
335 Some bugs and problems I discovered so far:
336 <ul>
337 <li>when adding a channel there noises could occur while playing on other
338 channels</li>
339 <li>if you overload the sampler (CPU overload or disk overload) it
340 produces noises</li>
341 <li>when editing an instrument using gigedit, after saving it, it could
342 happen that LinuxSampler does not accept commands from the GUI anymore.
343 if this happens close the GUI and the LinuxSampler console window and
344 restart both.</li>
345 </ul>
346
347 <a name="contact"></a>
348 <h3>8.&nbsp; Contact</h3>
349 If you have questions or want to help us to improve the sampler,
350 subscribe to the <a href="http://www.linuxsampler.org/developers.html">
351 LinuxSampler Developer's mailing list</a>. Alternatively, since I did most
352 of of the Windows porting, you can write me (Benno) directly about Windows
353 related issues. You can find my email address here:<br>
354 <br>
355 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.linuxsampler.org/developers.html">http://www.linuxsampler.org/developers.html</a>
356 <br><br>
357 That's it, enjoy!<br>
358 <br>
359
360 </body>
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