Drumstick is a set of MIDI libraries using C++/Qt idioms and style. Includes a C++ wrapper around the ALSA library sequencer interface: ALSA sequencer provides software support for MIDI technology on Linux. A complementary library provides classes for processing SMF (Standard MIDI files: .MID/.KAR), RIFF RMID (*.rmi) and Cakewalk (.WRK) file formats. A multiplatform realtime MIDI I/O library and a GUI Widgets libraries are also provided for Linux, Windows, and Mac OSX.
Currently, there are four libraries designed to work together if/when needed:
- Drumstick::ALSA is a Linux only C++/Qt wrapper around the ALSA Sequencer API. ALSA sequencer provides software support for MIDI technology on Linux.
- Drumstick::File provides easy multiplatform file I/O for Standard MIDI Files (.mid), RIFF RMID (.rmi) and Cakewalk (.wrk) file formats.
- Drumstick::RT is a realtime MIDI I/O library with pluggable backends. It uses Drumstick::ALSA on Linux, and other native frameworks on macOS and Windows.
- Drumstick::Widgets contains MIDI widgets, including a Virtual Piano used by VMPK among other programs.
Drumstick::ALSA was the first library developed under the Drumstick umbrella, and is available only on Linux, because ALSA Sequencer is an exclusive Linux technology. For realtime I/O applications you can use the Drumstick::RT library which is multiplatform, and only depends on Drumstick::ALSA in Linux for its ALSA Sequencer backend. Other multiplatform backends are: Network/ipMIDI and Fluidsynth. The Sonivox backend needs PulseAudio, which is available on most Unix systems.
There are ten examples in the source tree, under the utils/ directory:
- drumgrid: GUI program. Simple drum patterns. Depends on Drumstick::ALSA.
- dumpmid: CLI program. Prints received MIDI events. Depends on Drumstick::ALSA. See also kmidimon
- dumprmi: CLI program. Prints and converts RIFF MIDI files. Depends on Drumstick::File.
- dumpsmf: CLI program. Prints standard MIDI files. Depends on Drumstick::File.
- dumpwrk: CLI program. Prints Cakewalk/Sonar MIDI files. Depends on Drumstick::File. See also wrk2mid
- guiplayer: GUI program. Plays SMF and Cakewalk files. Depends on Drumstick::ALSA and Drumstick::File. See also dmidiplayer
- metronome: CLI program. Simple command line MIDI metronome. Depends on Drumstick::ALSA. See also kmetronome
- playsmf: CLI program. SMF player. Depends on Drumstick::ALSA and Drumstick::File.
- sysinfo: CLI program. Prints information about the ALSA sequencer subsystem. Depends on Drumstick::ALSA.
- vpiano: GUI program. A simple Virtual Piano Keyboard GUI application. Depends on Drumstick::RT. See also VMPK.
And you can also see independent applications using this library:
- dmidiplayer: Multiplatform MIDI file player with many features.
- VMPK: Multiplatform Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard.
- kmetronome: MIDI metronome for Linux.
- kmidimon: MIDI monitor for Linux.
- wrk2mid: Command line utility to convert WRK files to SMF.
Here is a diagram about the relationship between the libraries and applications:
Here is another view in table format of the relationships:
| Drumstick::ALSA | Drumstick::File | Drumstick::RT | Drumstick::Widgets | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utilities: | ||||
| drumgrid | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| dumpmid | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| dumprmi | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| dumpsmf | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| dumpwrk | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| guiplayer | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| metronome | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| playsmf | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| sysinfo | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| vpiano | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Applications: | ||||
| dmidiplayer | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| VMPK | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| kmetronome | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| kmidimon | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| wrk2mid | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
The main web site of this project is drumstick.sourceforge.io
See also: