vkeybd - virtual keyboard on X
Contents
Description
vkeybd is a virtual keyboard for AWE/OSS, MIDI/OSS and ALSA drivers. It's a simple fake of a MIDI
keyboard on X-windows system. Enjoy a music with your mouse and computer keyboard :-)
Keyboard
Each visible key is mapped on your computer keyboard from 'z' to '\'. To use the computer keyboard, you
should turn off auto repeat on your X display via xset(1) :
% xset -r
The key assignment can be changed by editing the config file ~/.vkeybdrc. Once save the current
configuration via File/SaveConfig menu. The config file is the Tcl source, and you may change the list
of keymap as you wish.
The keymap is a list of elements consisting on the key symbol and the corresponding note offset. The key
symbol is the X key symbol for assigned key, and note offset is the shifted note number from note key of
beginning of keyboard, which is changed by Key scalebar. For example, when a pair of {a 8} is defined
and the lowest MIDI key is 48, a MIDI note 56 will be turned on by pressing the key 'a'.
Name
vkeybd - virtual keyboard on X
Options
CommonOptions--devicemode
Use the specified mode for output device. The argument are awe,midi or alsa, for AWE/OSS,
MIDI/OSS and ALSA devices, respectively. Default is alsa.--configfile
Use the specified file as config file (see section "KEYBOARD").
--presetfile
Use the specified file as preset list file (see section "PRESET LIST FILE").
--channelnum
Specify the channel to be played for normal instruments. Valid only for MIDI and ALSA devices.
Default is 0.
--drumnum
Specify the channel to be played for drum instruments. Valid only for MIDI and ALSA devices.
Default is 9.
--octavenum
Specify the number of octaves to display keys. Default is 3.
ALSADeviceOption--addrdestination
Set ALSA client and port numbers to be connected. If argument begins with 's' or 'S', the port is
opened as subscription port, and events are sent to all connected subscribers. The port can be
connected to other ports via aconnect(1). Otherwise, vkeybd connects directly to the specified
port. The argument must be a form like client:port or client.port, where client and port are
index numbers listed in /proc/asound/seq/clients. Default is 's'.
--namestring
Specify the name of client/port. Some applications like tk707 check the client/port name whether
it is a valid MIDI device port. This options makes vkeybd possible to "fake" as a real MIDI
device.
OSSSequencerDeviceOptions--seqdevfile
Specify the device file path for sequencer access. As default /dev/sequencer is used.
--seqidxnum
Specify the synth device index for AWE32/64 WaveTable. If negative value is given, the device is
auto-probed. Default value is -1.
MIDIDeviceOption--mididevnum
Speicfy the file path of MIDI device. Default value is /dev/midi.
Preset List File
The preset list file is used to describe the list of MIDI preset names. If the command line option is
omitted, the default preset list file ~/vkeybd.list,~/.vkeybd.list and $vkblib/vkeybd.list are searched
sequentially. The preset list will appear when Program toggle button is on, and you can select a tone to
be played from the list.
The preset list file can be converted from SoundFont(tm) file via sftovkb(1) utility. For example,
% sftovkb synthgm.sbk > vkeybd.list
See Also
sftovkb(1), X(1), xset(1), aconnect(1)
Synopsis
vkeybd [-options]
