Installing and Using the Humdrum "perform" Command under Linux

How to Use the "perform" Command in Linux

These directions are intended to help users install and use the revised Humdrum "perform" version 2.0 command. These directions are for Red Hat 6.0 Linux, although they may be somewhat similar for other versions of Linux.

Author: Craig Stuart Sapp
Date: Tue Aug 31 13:21:36 PDT 1999

1. Install the soundcard. You will have to check the list in Appendix A to see if the soundcard you have will work in Red Hat Linux 6.0.
   
   To install the soundcard, first turn off the computer and put the soundcard into one of the expansion slots of the computer.
   
   Now start the computer under Linux, and run the program /usr/sbin/sndconfig as root.
   
   If you have a recognized PCI interfaced soundcard, the installation should be completely automatic. If you have an ISA interfaced soundcard, the you will have to manually set the IRQs, DMAs, and I/O Ports. You can figure out these manual settings in two ways: (1) log into Windows 95/98/NT, go to the control panel system icon and click on the devices tab. Then go to the Multimedia entries and search for the soundcard entry. Double click on the soundcard entry and then select the resources tab. On the resources page, the IRQs, DMAs, and I/O Ports which are used for the the soundcard are listed: copy these settings and try them in /usr/sbin/sndconfig. Manual setting method (2) is: try all possible permutations of the settings for the soundcard until one of them works. The /usr/sbin/sndconfig program will play an audio file and a MIDI file to test the sound configuration. It is also possible to mix methods (1) and (2) together for manually setting the soundcard.
   
   
2. Running the perform command.
   
   The perform command understands **MIDI humdrum spines in input files. **MIDI spines can be generated from **kern data with the "midi" humdrum tool. See note 3A below however.
   
   Here are some important setup options for the perform command:
   
   "perform -l" lists all possible MIDI output ports. By default MIDI information will be sent out port 0 unless otherwise specified with the "perform -p X" option where X is another port number. For example on the CCARH lab computer, there are three possible MIDI output ports to send MIDI to:

   0:	Sound Blaster 16 (MIDI Out)
   1:	AWE Midi Emu (MIDI Out)
   2:	AWE32-0.4.3 (RAM4096k) (Wavetable)

   There are two MIDI output ports (0 and 1) and one internal MIDI output port which sends the MIDI to the internale soundcard synthesizer, so to play MIDI output through port 1, you would use the option setting "perform -p1". See note 3C however.
   
   Other interesting arguments to the perform command:
   
   "perform -t X" sets the tempo scaling to X, for example to play a file twice as fast, try "perform -t 2.0". The "<" and ">" keys can be used to control the tempo while the performance is occurring.
   
   "perform --memory 1000000" sets the storage area to 1 Mb. This is the default size of the memory. Large orchestral works will need more memory, such as 8000000. In the newest (and as yet unfinished version of perform), there will be no need of this option.
   
   "perform --options" will list all command line arguments, including hidden/undocumented options if present.
   
   "perform -h" will give a short help message on using the perform command.
   
   The options to perform can occur in any order. For example if you are performing the file zzz.hmd, then both of these calls to perform are valid and equivalent: perform -t2 zzz.hmd perform zzz.hmd -t2
   
   Most command-line options have aliases. The default velocity setting can be accessed with either "-v" or "--velocity": perform -v 64 zzz.hmd perform --velocity 64 zzz.hmd The "perform --options" will list all options aliases.
   
   
3. Known bugs/quirks in the perform command for Linux.
   
   
   • The perform command cannot be used in a command pipeline. There is some strange terminal setting problem that needs to be worked with to get this working. Currently you must write an intermediate file with the "midi" humdrum tool and then run the "perform" command as a separate
   • Not all of the performance commands have been implemented.
   • On the internal MIDI in the soundcard at CCARH, only a monophonic voice is played at any given time. So if you are playing a symphony, you only hear one part. This seems to be a problem with the Linux driver for the soundcard. The external MIDI port output of perform works properly in the CCARH lab.
   • If you have a very large file to perform you may have to increase the memory size of the internal storage space if directed to do so by an error message. Use perform with the --memory X option where X is the number of bytes to store the data in. The default setting is 1000000 bytes.

Appendix A: Soundcards that can be used in Red Hat Linux 6.0:

Here is a list of the soundcards that work with Linux Red Hat 6.0. This list was extracted from the binary program /usr/sbin/sndconfig which is the program to use to install a soundcard in Red Hat 6.0 Linux.

/usr/sbin/sndconfig v 1.77 1999/04/19 15:29:04

Module to use	Description of Soundcard
ad1816	AD1816 (Acer FX-3D, HP Kayak)
ad1848	CMI8330 sound chip (Cyrix MediaGX, many motherboards)
ad1848	Compaq Deskpro XL Sound
ad1848	Ensoniq SoundScape VIVO
ad1848	Windows Sound System (AD1848/CS4248/CS4231)
adlib_card	AdLib
amd7930	AMD7930 (sun4c) & cs4231 CS4231 (some sun4m, sun4u)
cs4232	Crystal CS423x sound chip
es1370	* Ensoniq AudioPCI 1370 (SoundBlaster 64/128 PCI)
es1371	Creative/Ensoniq AudioPCI
gus	Gravis UltraSound
gus	Gravis UltraSound MAX
gus	Gravis UltraSound PnP
mad16	MAD16 Pro (OPTi 82C929/82C930)
mad16	Mozart/MAD16 (OPTi 82C928)
mad16	miroSOUND PCM12 opl3sa OPL3-SA1 sound chip
msnd_classic	Turtle Beach MultiSound Classic/Monterey/Tahiti
msnd_pinnacle	Turtle Beach MultiSound Pinnacle/Fiji
opl3sa2	OPL3-SA2/3/x sound chip
pas2	Pro Audio Spectrum/Studio 16, Logitech SoundMan
pss	PSS (Orchid SW32, Cardinal DSP16) sonicvibes S3 SonicVibes
sb	ACER Notebook sound
sb	Advance Logic ALS-007
sb	Advance Logic ALS-100/110
sb	ESS1688 AudioDrive
sb	ESS1868 AudioDrive
sb	ESS688 AudioDrive
sb	Logitech SoundMan Games (not SM16 or SM Wave!)
sb	MediaVision Jazz16 (ProSonic, SoundMan Wave)
sb	Sound Blaster
sb	Sound Blaster 16
sb	***,* Sound Blaster AWE32/64
sb	Sound Blaster Pro
sgalaxy	Aztech Sound Galaxy Waverider Pro 32-3D, Washington
sscape	Ensoniq SoundScape
trix	** MediaTrix AudioTrix Pro

*	CCRMA has this sound card installed in Linux and both
	the audio and MIDI works with it.
**	CCRMA has this sound card installed in Linux and only the
	audio works (MIDI internal is the only part of MIDI that works,
	external MIDI is not possible).
***	CCARH has this soundcard in ccarh-lab-1
****	Sound Blaster PCI soundcards currently do not have a
	working driver for MIDI, but someone at EMU (owned by SoundBlaster)
	is writing the driver.