LinuxSampler
Encyclopedia
LinuxSampler is a music sampler
under active development, aiming to provide a pure software audio sampler with professional grade features, comparable to both hardware and commercial Windows or Mac software samplers and to introduce new features not yet available by any other sampler. Much of LinuxSampler is free software
but some, such as the backend, is non-free, as described below.
as well as a network interface using an ASCII based protocol called LSCP for controlling the sampler and managing sampler sessions. Also, there are already two convenient frontends for LinuxSampler, QSampler and JSampler.
Due to the decoupled design the sampler can be controlled with the GUI frontend(s) even from another computer, probably even running another OS like Windows or Mac OS X. SMP
and cluster support is planned for future releases. There is a graphical instrument editor called gigedit, based on the GUI library GTK+
, which can be used to edit and create Gigasampler format instruments and can either be used as a stand-alone application or in conjunction with LinuxSampler. The latter case allows to play and edit instruments at the same time, making all modifications with gigedit immediately audible, without having to reload the instruments into the sampler.
.
The Windows version of LinuxSampler currently can work in standalone mode providing ASIO audio output and MME MIDI input and as a VSTi plugin providing full integration with VST sequencers. The Mac OS X version currently supports jackd audio output and CoreMIDI input. The Audio Unit interface (AU plugin) is in beta.
There is a feature list with more information about the current development plans available.
, under either the GNU General Public License
or the GNU Lesser General Public License
. However, the licence of the sampler backend prohibits commercial use. For commercial use, permission and terms must be sought from the developers. The backend is thus not free software. The ban on commercial use does not however include banning LinuxSampler's use for commercial music production. This is explicitly allowed.
Software sampler
A software sampler is a piece of software which allows a computer to emulate the functionality of a sampler.In the same way that a sampler has much in common with a synthesizer, software samplers are in many ways similar to software synthesizers and there is great deal of overlap between the two,...
under active development, aiming to provide a pure software audio sampler with professional grade features, comparable to both hardware and commercial Windows or Mac software samplers and to introduce new features not yet available by any other sampler. Much of LinuxSampler is free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
but some, such as the backend, is non-free, as described below.
Concept
LinuxSampler was designed as a sampler backend, decoupled from any user interface. It provides a native C++ APIApplication programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
as well as a network interface using an ASCII based protocol called LSCP for controlling the sampler and managing sampler sessions. Also, there are already two convenient frontends for LinuxSampler, QSampler and JSampler.
Due to the decoupled design the sampler can be controlled with the GUI frontend(s) even from another computer, probably even running another OS like Windows or Mac OS X. SMP
Symmetric multiprocessing
In computing, symmetric multiprocessing involves a multiprocessor computer hardware architecture where two or more identical processors are connected to a single shared main memory and are controlled by a single OS instance. Most common multiprocessor systems today use an SMP architecture...
and cluster support is planned for future releases. There is a graphical instrument editor called gigedit, based on the GUI library GTK+
GTK+
GTK+ is a cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces. It is licensed under the terms of the GNU LGPL, allowing both free and proprietary software to use it. It is one of the most popular toolkits for the X Window System, along with Qt.The name GTK+ originates from GTK;...
, which can be used to edit and create Gigasampler format instruments and can either be used as a stand-alone application or in conjunction with LinuxSampler. The latter case allows to play and edit instruments at the same time, making all modifications with gigedit immediately audible, without having to reload the instruments into the sampler.
Platforms
LinuxSampler, as the name indicates, was originally conceived to run on Linux, but thanks to the abstraction of audio and MIDI drivers and platform dependent functions, the sampler was successfully ported to Windows, Mac OS X and FreeBSDFreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
.
The Windows version of LinuxSampler currently can work in standalone mode providing ASIO audio output and MME MIDI input and as a VSTi plugin providing full integration with VST sequencers. The Mac OS X version currently supports jackd audio output and CoreMIDI input. The Audio Unit interface (AU plugin) is in beta.
Goals
It is planned to support all common sampler formats in LinuxSampler, but at the moment the work is concentrate on the Gigasampler format. Beside that, the goal is to design a new, sophisticated sampler format, more powerful and more flexible compared to any sampler format currently available in the world.There is a feature list with more information about the current development plans available.
Licensing
Most components are distributed as free softwareFree software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
, under either the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
or the GNU Lesser General Public License
GNU Lesser General Public License
The GNU Lesser General Public License or LGPL is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation . It was designed as a compromise between the strong-copyleft GNU General Public License or GPL and permissive licenses such as the BSD licenses and the MIT License...
. However, the licence of the sampler backend prohibits commercial use. For commercial use, permission and terms must be sought from the developers. The backend is thus not free software. The ban on commercial use does not however include banning LinuxSampler's use for commercial music production. This is explicitly allowed.
See also
- List of free software for audio (although note that LinuxSampler itself is not wholly free software)
External links
- LinuxSampler project's website
- Article about LinuxSampler on LinuxJournal
- List of sample libraries compatible with LinuxSampler
- LinuxSampler for Windows HOWTO
- LinuxSampler for Mac OS X HOWTO
- LinuxSampler for Debian GNU/Linux HOWTO
- QSampler - based on the cross-platform C++ GUI library Qt
- JSampler - Java based, thus platform independent