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MIDI configuration

Requirements#

MIDI support requires additional software to be installed on the server's system:

To install python-rtmidi, run pip install python-rtmidi (python 2) in a terminal or pip3 install python-rtmidi (python 3).

Why an additionnal dependency ?

Providing cross-platform MIDI support is not trivial, as it requires OS-specific compilation that cannot be automated within Open Stage Control's current packaging workflow. Using a python addon seems to be the best compromise so far : the core app remains easy to build, and the extra dependency is easy to install.

Configuration#

When running the app, the -m / --midi switch must be set; it accepts the following options (separated by spaces):

  • list: prints the available MIDI ports to the console; numbers in the first column may be used for input/output definition below
  • device_name:input,output: connect to midi ports input and output; osc messages sent to target midi:device_name will be processed as midi events; Multiple devices can be declared. If the device_name contains white spaces, the declaration must be enquoted (ie "spaced name:input,output"). device_name doesn't need to match the actual midi device name, it is just an identifier (see Widget settings).
  • sysex: parse incomming system exclusive messages (disabled by default)
  • pc_offset: send program changes with a -1 offset to match some software/hardware implementations
  • path=/path/to/python: indicates where to find python or python3 binary in case open stage control doesn't (Error: spawn python3 ENOENT)

Linux / Mac only:

  • device_name:virtual: creates a virtual midi device with one input port and one output port

Linux only:

  • jack: use JACK MIDI instead of ALSA. rtmidi must be compiled with --jack-midi flag for this to work.

Widget setup#

In order to send MIDI messages, a widget must have at least one target formatted as follows:

midi:device_name (where device_name is one of the declared midi devices)

Warning

Messages received from a MIDI port only affect widgets that send to this port.

Debug#

Enabling the server's debug options will print some extra informations (sent/received midi messages, midi setup informations, etc)