jMax documentation
Configuration
Disclaimer
The configuration functionnalities described in this document
are based on the current implementation that uses Tcl as a scripting language.
Future versions of jMax will probably provide configuration functionnality
in a completely different way by mean of configuration patches.
As a result, the functionnalities described here will change, will be implemented
with a different language and/or syntax, or will simply vanish.
Introduction
The system configuration is based on system parameters that
can be set
- either by setting a TCL variable in the .jmaxrc file
- or by giving a command line argument when running jMax
Since a patch can be used on different platforms, platform specific information
should not be included in the patches themselves, but specified in site, user or
project configuration files.
Host Parameters
Since jMax has a client/server architecture the host parameters are to be set
in order to specify the host on which the jMax server should be run.
By default this is the local host where jMax is launched (and so the client is started up).
- jmaxHost
-
Specifies the host where to run the server.
The value can be either local (default) to specify the host where the client run,
or a complete canonical internet name for an other host, like mymachine.mycompany.com.
Beware that jMax currently uses the rsh Unix command to run
the server remotely, so in order to work you must set your .rhosts
file correctly (see the rsh and rhosts man page for details).
- jmaxHostType
-
Sets the type of the host running the server.
The host type determines the hardware architecture.
See the index of supported host types.
- jmaxArch
-
Sets the hardware architecture of the host running the server.
It is used to choose the proper binaries for the given architecture.
This parameter is set automaticaly and derived from the jmaxHostType
parameter, so it must not be set by the user.
Miscellaneous Parameters
- jmaxConnection
-
Choose the kind of connection between the Java client and the server;
Supported values are currently udp (default) for an UDP based connection,
and client for a TCP based connection.
UDP will give a better real time response for controllers.
Use TCP only if your network is complex and you need the reialability of a TCP connection.
- jmaxSplashScreen
-
If this value is hide the splash screen will not be shown during startup.
The deafault value is show.
- jmaxFastFileBox
-
If the value is true, the file selection box used by
jMax will not shown specific icons for known file types, and
will always show all the files in a directory, and not only the files
of a known file type, so it's use will be substantially faster.
Depending on your installation, the default speed can be ok, or you
may need to specify this option.
- jmaxDefaultFont
-
Specify the default font used in the patch editor.
Default to SansSerif.
Audio Configuration
The following set of commands handles the audio configuration.
The first two of them are used to set the audio configuration parameters
and should be used before the others.
- jmaxSetSampleRate sr
-
Set the jMax global sampling rate.
(Note: For now, the user himself must keep the sampling rate
given for jMax consistent with the settings of the physical
device using the utillities provided by the operating system, like
the SGI audiopanel application.)
- jmaxSetAudioBuffer buf
-
Set the length of the audio buffer used, i.e. the length, in samples,
of the output FIFO used to compensate the variation of load in jMax.
Typical values are between 256 and 1024, can be more
or less depending on the application.
Lower values cause lower i/o latencies, while higher values reduce possible
audio clicks caused by system overloads.
- defaultAudio audioPortClass arguments...
-
Open the default audio port:
audioPortClass is the class of the audio port
arguments... are the instanciation arguments
The audio port class is architecture-dependant.
Current values are:
- on Linux:
ossaudioport, located in package oss or
alsaaudioport, located in package alsa
- on SGI: sgiaudioport, located in package sgi
Refer to the summary patches of these packages for further information
on audio port's arguments
MIDI Configuration
These commands handle the MIDI configuration:
- defaultMidi midiPortClass arguments...
-
Open the default MIDI port, i.e. the port used by all the MIDI objects without a MIDI port argument:
midiPortClass is the class of the MIDI port
arguments... are the instanciation arguments
The MIDI port class is architecture-dependant.
Current values are:
- on Linux:
rawmidiport, located in package midi or
alsarawmidiport, located in package alsa or
midishareport, located in package midishare
- on SGI: sgimidiport, located in package sgi
Refer to the summary patches of these packages for further information
on MIDI port's arguments
Host type
Following host types are defined:
jmaxHostType | machine | CPU | jmaxArch |
o2r5k | SGI O2 | R5000 | r5k-irix6.5 |
o2r10k | SGI O2 | R10000 | r10k-irix6.5 |
octane | SGI Octane | R10000 | r10k-irix6.5 |
origin | SGI Origin 200/2000 | R10000 | r10k-irix6.5 |
linuxpc | PC | Pentium | i686-linux |
The file .jmaxrc
The user can customize the jMax environment including the configuration parameters
in the .jmaxrc file in his home directory:
The configuration parameters set in the .jmaxrc file overwrite the site specific
default values (see down) and they are overwritten by values set via the command line.
NOTE:
In the current release the system and i/o configuration
must be set in the .jmaxrc file.
The file is loaded at startup and can contain any TCL code.
It is possible to declare declare a number of hooks.
These hooks contain TCL code that will be executed at precise points during the initialization process.
In particular, the start hook is executed after server start and must be used for I/O,
environment and package loading purpose.
A template .jmaxrc file is the following:
# Lines starting with # are comments
# --- beginning of .jmaxrc
set jmaxFastFileBox "true"
when start {
if {$jmaxHost == "astor.ircam.fr"} {
# SGI Origin
jmaxSetSampleRate 44100
jmaxSetAudioBuffer 1024
defaultAudio sgiaudioport "RAD2.ADATIn" 8 "RAD2.ADATOut" 8
} elseif {$jmaxHost=="lipari.ircam.fr"} {
# Linux box with a Hammerfall card
jmaxSetSampleRate 44100
jmaxSetAudioBuffer 512
defaultAudio alsaaudioport "hw:0,0" 18 18 S32_LE mmap_noninterleaved
}
}
# --- end of .jmaxrc
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