188 lines
7.5 KiB
Plaintext
188 lines
7.5 KiB
Plaintext
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! title The Non Mixer
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! author Jonathan Moore Liles #(email,male@tuxfamily.org)
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! date February 1, 2010
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! extra #(image,logo,logo.png)
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-- Table Of Contents
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: Overview
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:: Description
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The Non Mixer is a powerful, reliable and fast modular Digital Audio
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Mixer, released under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It
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utilizes the JACK Audio Connection Kit for inter-application audio
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I\/O and the FLTK GUI toolkit for a fast and lightweight user
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interface.
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Please see the #(url,MANUAL.html,Manual) for more information.
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:: Why write another one?
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At the time work began on Non Mixer, there was no other powerful,
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fast, and light stand-alone free-software JACK mixer available.
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There was (and is) LiveMix, however LiveMix is neither fast nor
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light, and it wasn't able to accept the necessary external control
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data. SpiralSynthModular, strangely enough, was the closest thing
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the author could find to the tool he needed (it has gain\/mix
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modules and all modules accept Control Voltage input). SSM is truly
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an excellent, if neglected, program, but the modules-on-a-canvas
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model with manual routing is far too cumbersome of an arrangement
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for real world mixing tasks. Instead of creating another monolithic
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DAW with built-in routing and mixing, the author choose to follow
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the time tested Unix design philosophy of one tool per task. The
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most obvious point of division is between the timeline and the
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mixer. Drawing the line here allows routing and mixing to actually
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occur within JACK, which is an infinitely more flexible arrangement
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than the alternative.
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:: Features
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Non-Mixer shares many features in common with other, similar
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projects. However, Non-Mixer's unique architecture permits
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surprising new functionality.
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::: Stand-alone Implementation
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The Non Mixer is a stand-alone application. It is a complement to Non
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DAW, but neither program requires the other in order to function.
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Implementing the mixer functionality in a separate program, connected
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to Non-DAW via JACK presents a number of advantages:
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* Eliminates the need for an internal connection management interface
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* Improves overall system stability
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* Increases parallelism (utilizes multiple cores)
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* Adds flexibility
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* Eliminates the need for cumbersome concepts and interfaces such as 'sends', 'groups', 'inserts' and 'busses'.
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Multiple instances of the mixer can be run together in order to
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organize groups of channels and manage them with your preferred
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window manager.
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Each mixer strip runs as a separate JACK client. In JACK2, this can
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translates into the DSP workload being spread across multiple CPU
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cores.
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Since the Mixer is an entirely separate unit, you may use any JACK
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capable mixer client you want instead of, or in myriad combination
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with, the Non-DAW Mixer. The one called LiveMix works well, but
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lacks many features of Non's mixer. All operations on the mixer
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affect the current mix set state only and are not journaled.
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The mixer's design is modular, with all DSP occurring in discrete
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modules. One module hosts LADSPA plugins and the mixer is capable of
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receiving control (automation) data for any module parameter from
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Non-DAW (or another program) via JACK.
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Control data is expressed as Control Voltage (CV).
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::: Modular Signal Processing
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All signal processing in Non Mixer occurs in /Modules/. This
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includes input and output from\/to JACK. The modular design helps to
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restrain the total program complexity, and this in turn increases
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flexibility and reliability. Even the built-in gain stage and meter
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are modules (and you can place as many meters as you like, wherever
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you like, in the signal chain, eliminating the post\/pre concept).
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::: Parallel Processing
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Because each mixer strip in Non Mixer runs as a separate JACK client
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(in its own thread), JACK has the opportunity, upon analysis of the
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connection graph, to execute some or all strips in parallel. This is
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a highly desirable behavior for those having multi-CPU and\/or
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multi-core configurations.
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::: Multiple Instances
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Because Non Mixer is stand-alone, it is possible to run multiple
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instances. One reason you might want to do this is so that you can
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group sets of strips out of a large total number of strips. For
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example, you might want to keep all of your drum strips together. By
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using multiple Non Mixer instances, you are able to manage these
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groups of strips with the familiar navigation facilities of your
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chosen window manager. Once again, a modular design allows us to
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maintain a good balance of complexity across user interface levels
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without duplicating and internalizing the functionality already
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available at a higher level.
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::: LADSPA Plugins
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LADSPA plugins are hosted by the /Plugin/ module and can be inserted
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anywhere in the signal chain (contingent on compatibility of the
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I\/O configuration at that point).
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::: Unlimited Strips
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There is no limit imposed by Non Mixer on the total number of strips
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or Mixer instances you can create.
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::: Automation
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Any module parameter may be bound to a /control/. The control may be
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controlled via the GUI, or externally via a Control Voltage signal,
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such as is output by a Non-DAW control sequence.
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; What does freedom have to do with this software?
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Non is /free software/. This means, briefly, that you are free use
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it as *you* wish, free to examine and adapt the source code, free to
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share it with your friends, and free to publish your changes to the
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source code. Furthermore, Non is /copyleft/, which means that you
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are free from the threat of some other entity taking over and
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denying you the above freedoms. The /free/ part of /free software/
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doesn't refer to price any more than the /free/ in /free speech/
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does.
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To learn why free software is so important to us (and why it should be
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important to you), please see the Free Software Foundation's website:
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#(url,http:\/\/www.fsf.org\/licensing\/essays\/free-sw.html,What is Free Software?)
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#(url,http:\/\/www.fsf.org\/licensing\/essays\/copyleft.html,What is Copyleft?)
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; Donations
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Donations can take many forms. You can donate your time in code, either by
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sending it to me for review or cloning the git repository and publishing one
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containing your changes. You can donate your time in testing, documentation,
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artwork, indexing, etc. Or, if you don't feel that you possess the time or
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skills required for the above forms of donation, you can donate money
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instead. Money donated will help to ensure that I have the free time, good
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nutrition and enthusiasm required to implement new features. It can also be
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a more palpable way of saying "Thanks for caring." or "Job well done!"
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If you don't love this software, don't feel guilty about not contributing.
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If you do love it, then please help me improve it--in whatever manner you
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think is appropriate.
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#(url,http:\/\/non.tuxfamily.org\/donation.html,Make a donation)
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; Distribution
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Development of the Non-DAW and Non-Mixer can be followed with Git:
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> git clone git://git.tuxfamily.org/gitroot/non/daw.git
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There are no pre-compiled binaries available.
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; Requirements
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The following libraries are required to build Non DAW and Non Mixer
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* FLTK >= 1.1.7 (with `fluid`)
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* JACK >= 0.103.0
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* liblrdf >= 0.1.0
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; Community
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Feel free to drop by the `#non` channel on irc.freenode.net.
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There is a mailing list `non-mixer@lists.tuxfamily.org`.
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To subscribe, send a message with the subject 'subscribe' to
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#(email,non-mixer-request@lists.tuxfamily.org).
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You can also browse the #(url,http:\/\/listengine.tuxfamily.org\/lists.tuxfamily.org\/non-mixer\/,archive).
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