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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 <p><center>
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46 </p>
47 <h3>1.&nbsp; Introduction</h3>
48 The LinuxSampler development team is happy to announce that
49 LinuxSampler, the most advanced free, open source sampler finally runs on
50 MS Windows too. More information will be added here soon, so check back frequently.<br>
51 <br>
52 For now the sampler supports the Windows Multimedia Extensions System (MME)
53 for MIDI input and ASIO for audio out. This means it currently runs only
54 as a standalone application. A VST interface will follow soon, along with
55 a network module to run multiple sampler slaves distributed on Windows or
56 Linux machines (Linux provides better performance) all controlled from a
57 Windows box i.e. running the VST sequencer.<br>
58 <br>
59 LinuxSampler is implemented as a client/server application. This means
60 the sampling engine (the server / backend) runs
61 independently from the GUI (the client / frontend). Sampling engine and
62 client can be run on the same box or on different machines too, connected
63 over the network.<br>
64 <br>
65 The MS Windows version provides all the features of the Linux version
66 (except of the instruments DB feature yet) since it is built from the
67 same source code base. This means when new features will come out the
68 Windows version will usually provide the same feature set as the Linux
69 version. This was made possible by the very modular design of both
70 low level, operating system functions and flexible audio / MIDI driver
71 system.<br>
72 <br>
73 The Windows version comes as a self extracting .exe file which will
74 install all the necessary modules to run both the server ( linuxsampler.exe )
75 and the GUI client. It installs 2 GUI clients:
76 <ul>
77 <li>One is <b>QSampler</b>, a light-weight frontend based on the
78 cross-platform Qt4 GUI toolkit with native OS GUI widgets</li>
79 <li>Another is <b>JSampler "Fantasia"</b>, a Java based GUI client called,
80 providing a modern skin-based user interface</li>
81 </ul>
82 At the moment JSampler is more advanced than QSampler as it implements all
83 the functionality present in the LinuxSampler engine. Due to the Java
84 virtual machine however it occupies a bit more RAM than the
85 QSsampler GUI (around 30MB or so) and takes a bit longer for startup,
86 but on a 1GB+ RAM box the difference should be negligible.
87
88 <a name="requirements"></a>
89 <h3>2.&nbsp; Requirements</h3>
90 <ul>
91 <li>Intel Pentium4 or recent AMD processor (use
92 <a href="#old_cpu_workaround">this workaround for older processors</a>)
93 <li>Windows 2000, ME, XP or Vista</li>
94 <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>
95 <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>
96 <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>
97 <li>sound card with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Stream_Input/Output">ASIO</a> driver</li>
98 </ul>
99 <a name="asio_tip"></a>
100 <b>Tip:</b> For consumer audio cards which do not come with their own ASIO
101 drivers you can install <a href="http://www.asio4all.com/">ASIO4ALL</a> to be
102 able to use LinuxSampler with your soundcard.
103 We recommend to use version 2.7, perhaps on Vista 2.8beta1 works better but
104 we did not perform tests on Vista so we cannot tell it. Please let us know
105 about your results so we can share them here!
106
107 <a name="install_w_inet"></a>
108 <h3>3.a&nbsp; Installation with Internet Connection</h3>
109 Simply download the latest version of the LinuxSampler Windows installer
110 from the <a href="http://www.linuxsampler.org/downloads.html">LinuxSampler
111 Download Page</a>, execute the installer and follow the instructions. It will
112 automatically detect if the required software components are already installed.
113 If not, it will download them from the internet and install them on your
114 computer.
115
116 <a name="install_wo_inet"></a>
117 <h3>3.b&nbsp; Installation without Internet</h3>
118 First download the required components with a machine which has connection to
119 the internet:
120 <ul>
121 <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>
122 <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>
123 <li><a href="http://www.java.com/getjava/">Java Runtime Environment 6</a></li>
124 <li>and of course the latest <a href="http://www.linuxsampler.org/downloads.html">
125 LinuxSampler Windows installer</a></li>
126 </ul>
127 Transfer the downloaded files to the computer where you want to install
128 LinuxSampler and install them in the following order:
129 <ol>
130 <li>gtk-2.10.11-win32-1.exe</li>
131 <li>gtkmm-win32-runtime-2.10.11-1.exe</li>
132 <li>jre-6u2-windows-i586-p.exe</li>
133 <li>linuxsampler_20071207_setup.exe</li>
134 </ol>
135 The order is important, since the components depend on each other and would
136 otherwise try to download the missing component from the internet.
137
138 <a name="using"></a>
139 <h3>4.&nbsp; Using the Applications</h3>
140 Now that we installed everything, let's get wet and start the applications:
141 <ol>
142 <li>First start the LinuxSampler backend: Click on <i>"Start" ->
143 "LinuxSampler" -> "LinuxSampler 0.5.1 (backend)"</i>. A black console
144 window should immediately popup. It does what you think it does:
145 nothing ... yet ... because this is "just" the raw sampler, without a
146 user interface.</li>
147 <li>Now start a "frontend" application to actually control the previously
148 started sampler. For beginners and / or unpatient people, we recommend
149 you to use JSampler: Click on <i>"Start" -> "LinuxSampler" ->
150 "JSampler 'Fantasia' 0.8a (frontend)"</i>. This usually takes about
151 20 seconds or so until the application finally appears on the
152 screens.</li>
153 </ol>
154 </div>
155
156 <a name="setup_midi"></a>
157 <h3>4.1&nbsp; Setting up MIDI Input</h3>
158 Once the GUI opens, click on the left round button in the MIDI devices
159 tab.
160 At this point a window will open where you can create a new MIDI device.
161 Press Create. The window will close and the MIDI device will be created.
162 (MIDI Device 0 MME).
163 Now click on the right arrow which points downwards.
164 You can see that a MIDI device with a single Port (Port 0) was created.
165 Under Windows MME LinuxSampler always creates MIDI devices which are
166 connected to a single MME port.
167 To select the MIDI input port you must click on the field located on
168 the left of PORT.
169 A combobox pops-up where you can select the Windows MIDI port.<br>
170 <br>
171 You can create an arbitrary number of MIDI input devices by repeating
172 the procedure above.
173 Each MIDI input device is connected to a single Windows MME MIDI port.
174 This means LinuxSampler has no limitation in terms of number of MIDI
175 ports.
176 Each MIDI device can be routed to arbitrary sampler channels.
177
178 <a name="setup_audio"></a>
179 <h3>4.2&nbsp; Setting up Audio Output</h3>
180 LinuxSampler currently only supports the ASIO driver model for audio output
181 on Windows. ASIO drivers ensure reliable low-latency operation and are
182 virtually available for any soundcard (see <a href="#asio_tip">
183 ASIO requirements tip</a>).<br>
184 <br>
185 Click on the left round button in the Audio Devices tab.
186 At this point a window will open where you can create a new MIDI device.
187 When creating the Audio device you can set several parameters:
188 <ul>
189 <li><b>CARD</b> : The name of the soundcard, in case you have multiple cards
190 installed. It will show the default value (first card found).</li>
191 <li><b>CHANNELS</b> : Number of audio output channels, can range from 1 to
192 maximum number of channels your soundcard supports. We recommend to
193 leave the default value which is the maximum number of channels your
194 soundcard supports.</li>
195 <li><b>FRAGMENTSIZE</b> : ASIO buffer size in samples. The card's default
196 value is shown. If you experience clicks and pops during audio
197 playback then initialize the audio output device with bigger values.
198 (better if it's always a power of 2:&nbsp; e.g. 256, 512, 1024)</li>
199 <li><b>SAMPLERATE</b> : Sets the samplerate. The default value is shown.<br>
200 </ul>
201 Now Press "Create". The window will close and the Audio device will be
202 created: "AUDIO DEVICE 0 (ASIO)" appears.
203
204 <a name="load_samples"></a>
205 <h3>4.3&nbsp; Loading Samples</h3>
206 In the middle of the screen below the volume slider, you see the sampler
207 channel strip pane. press on the round button located on the left.
208 This will create a new sampler channel. Click on "Load Instrument".
209 This opens a dialog which allows you to select an instrument to be
210 loaded in the sampler channel
211
212 (for information on how to use "orchestras" <a
213 href="http://www.linuxsampler.org/jsampler/manual/html/jsampler.html#USING_ORCHESTRAS">click
214 here</a>, but note: orchestras, a.k.a "instruments database" is not yet supported in this
215 first Windows version of LinuxSampler, but will certainly be on the next Windows release).
216
217 On the row&nbsp; "Select instrument from file" click on the orange icon
218 located on the right side. This opens a file dialog which allows you to
219 select a sample to be loaded
220 (currently only the GIG format is supported).
221 Select the sample to be loaded and then click on "Open".
222 At this point the fields Instrument file shows the filename.
223 You can click on the Instrument index and select the specific
224 instrument contained in the instrument file. Now press "OK".<br>
225 <br>
226 While it loads you see: "Loading" .. "90%" .. "100%" <br>
227 <br>
228 Once loaded, you see the Instrument's name: i.e.&nbsp;"FreePiano"<br>
229 <br>
230 On the left side of the sampler channel click on the arrow below
231 "Options".
232 This pane permits to set MIDI input device, port and channel and oudio
233 output channel.
234 Notice that under Windows MME the Port value is always 0.
235 So the only values you can change is "MIDI device" (normally 0 if you
236 created only a single
237 MIDI input device) and the MIDI channel (from 1 to 16).
238
239 <a name="save_session"></a>
240 <h3>4.4&nbsp; Saving a Sampler Session</h3>
241 Click on the 3rd icon from the left on the row where you see the round
242 icon with the LinuxSampler "S"-shape logo.
243 Now select the directory where you want to save the file to (extension
244 .lscp = <i>Linux Sampler Control Protocol</i>).
245 Enter the name and press save (add .lscp at end of file otherwise you
246 will not see it in the file-open dialog later, when you want to load it again).<br>
247 <br>
248 Next time you can load a sampler session by clicking on the second icon
249 from the left, then select a .lscp file in the file dialog and press "Open".
250 This will automatically set up the MIDI devices and audio devices,
251 create the sampler channels and load all the samples that were previously
252 loaded by you in the saved sampler session.
253
254 <a name="sequencer_routing"></a>
255 <h3>4.5&nbsp; Routing LinuxSampler Outs Into Sequencer</h3>
256 LinuxSampler currently lacks a VST interface so the only way to route LinuxSampler's outs into a sequencer
257 are either by using physical cables or internal routing via ASIO. Some audio cards offer this feature.
258 <br>
259 The <a href="http://www.reaper.fm">Reaper</A> sequencer allows ASIO routing by implementing a virtual
260 ASIO based driver independently from the soundcard type (ReaRoute). Basically in LinuxSampler you select the ReaRoute as ASIO output driver which
261 appear as input ports in Reaper. Coupled with the MIDI controllable FX sends in LinuxSampler you can use
262 Reaper's FX egine to add reverb, chorus etc to LinuxSampler instruments, fully MIDI controllable, similar to
263 other MIDI based modules.
264 <br>
265 Our forum user moonskin (thanks Graham!) has described the steps needed to perform in order to set up the routing.
266 <a href="http://bb.linuxsampler.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=111&sid=d745353791f6cb1ef46946af4168aada&start=10#p944">
267 See here</a>
268
269
270 <a name="houston"></a>
271 <h3>5.&nbsp; Installation Troubleshooting</h3>
272 <ul>
273 <li>
274 <div style="background-color: #FFF2F2;">
275 <u>Problem:</u> The LinuxSampler backend application
276 (<i>linuxsampler.exe</i>) fails to start with an error message that
277 claims that a DLL file is missing (e.g. <i>libatkmm-1.6-1.dll</i>)
278 </div>
279 <div style="background-color: #F2FFF2;">
280 <u>Reason / Solution:</u>
281 It could happen that due to previous installations of Gtk+ and gtkmm
282 DLLs even after deinstallation leave some stale keys in the windows
283 registry which could fool the installer into believing that the needed
284 DLLs are already installed therefore skipping its installation which
285 will cause the sampler not being able to start due to the missing
286 DLLs. We recommend in this case to install gtk+ and gtkmm manually as
287 described above in "<a href="#install_wo_inet">Installation without
288 Internet</a>". Just install those mentioned Gtk+ and gtkmm versions
289 and then LinuxSampler should work correctly.
290 </div>
291 </li>
292 <li>
293 <div style="background-color: #FFF2F2;">
294 <u>Problem:</u> The LinuxSampler backend application
295 (<i>linuxsampler.exe</i>) fails to start with the error message
296 "<i>The application failed to initialize properly (0xc000001d). Click
297 on OK to terminate the application.</i>"
298 </div>
299 <div style="background-color: #F2FFF2;">
300 <u>Reason / Solution:</u><a name="old_cpu_workaround"></a>
301 This first Windows release of LinuxSampler requires at least an Intel
302 Pentium4 processor or a recent AMD processor. If you have an older
303 processor and get the error message from above, you can use the
304 following workaround for now:
305 <ol>
306 <li>Download and extract
307 <a href="http://download.linuxsampler.org/dev/win32_probs/ls686_20071207.zip">
308 these replacement binaries.
309 </a>
310 </li>
311 <li>Copy the 3 binaries manually in your LinuxSampler installation
312 directory (default installation directory:
313 "C:\Program Files\LinuxSampler"), that is overwrite the existing
314 binaries in the LS installation directory with the 3 ones from the
315 zip file.
316 </li>
317 </ol>
318 Use this workaround only if you got the mentioned error message,
319 because the replacement binaries will otherwise decrease runtime
320 efficiency! This is of course just a temporary workaround. We'll
321 address this issue with the next release of LinuxSampler (see also
322 <a href="https://bugs.linuxsampler.org/cgi-bin/show_bug.cgi?id=67">
323 bug report #67</a>).
324 </div>
325 </li>
326 </ul>
327
328 <a name="docs"></a>
329 <h3>6.&nbsp; Detailed Documentation</h3>
330 You find more detailed documentation about our software, i.e. about JSampler
331 or gigedit on our official <a href="http://linuxsampler.org/documentation.html">
332 LinuxSampler documentation site</a>.
333
334 <a name="bugs"></a>
335 <h3>7.&nbsp; Bugs, Problems and Feature Requests</h3>
336 Our Forum is a good place to ask for help:<br>
337 <br>
338 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://bb.linuxsampler.org">https://bb.linuxsampler.org</a><br>
339 <br>
340 We have a dedicated forum section for
341 newbies and support.<br>
342 <br>
343 Since the Windows port of LinuxSampler is very young, there could be several
344 bugs which we hope to root out soon.
345 Please report them using our bug tracking system:<br>
346 <br>
347 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://bugs.linuxsampler.org/">http://bugs.linuxsampler.org/</a><br>
348 <br>
349 Some bugs and problems I discovered so far:
350 <ul>
351 <li>when adding a channel there noises could occur while playing on other
352 channels</li>
353 <li>if you overload the sampler (CPU overload or disk overload) it
354 produces noises</li>
355 <li>when editing an instrument using gigedit, after saving it, it could
356 happen that LinuxSampler does not accept commands from the GUI anymore.
357 if this happens close the GUI and the LinuxSampler console window and
358 restart both.</li>
359 </ul>
360
361 <a name="contact"></a>
362 <h3>8.&nbsp; Contact</h3>
363 If you have questions or want to help us to improve the sampler,
364 subscribe to the <a href="http://www.linuxsampler.org/developers.html">
365 LinuxSampler Developer's mailing list</a>. Alternatively, since I did most
366 of of the Windows porting, you can write me (Benno) directly about Windows
367 related issues. You can find my email address here:<br>
368 <br>
369 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.linuxsampler.org/developers.html">http://www.linuxsampler.org/developers.html</a>
370 <br><br>
371 That's it, enjoy!<br>
372 <br>
373
374 </body>
375 </html>

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