Pianoteq (stage) on ARM / Zynthian

The Pianoteq executable has some options for selecting prefs/presets etc. Use the --help option to list them all.

--no-prefs        : start Pianoteq STAGE without using any saved preference
--no-audio-prefs  : start Pianoteq STAGE with a clean audio/midi configuration
--prefs FILENAME  : stores the preferences in the specified file
--fxp FILENAME    : load an FXP file on startup
--preset NAME     : load a preset on startup
--list-presets    : display the list of all presets

It's not very to me clear how the headless prefs handling is meant, the "--prefs" options obviously writes a prefs file (something you cannot to from the GUI), but there is not mention about how to load a specific prefs file. I didn't try.

I had to install the raspian GUI only to set up Pianoteq, i.e. activating the product and selecting the audio output. But since the GUI seems to use about 25% of the cpu you should disable the GUI later using e.g. "sudo systemctl set-default multi-user.target" and only start Pianoteq headlessly.

Best
-- erik

Hi Holger --

yes, actually "--help" doesn't work with the ARM version of Pianoteq, but it does with the amd64 on my standard Linux laptop.

[erik@twenty ~]$ pianoteq --help
Pianoteq STAGE version 6.0.3/20171030 -- http://www.pianoteq .com
Copyright (c) 2017 Modartt.
Options from command-line:
 --help            : show this help, and quit
 --version         : show current version number and date, and quit
 --no-prefs        : start Pianoteq STAGE without using any saved preference
 --no-audio-prefs  : start Pianoteq STAGE with a clean audio/midi configuration
 --prefs FILENAME  : stores the preferences in the specified file
 --fxp FILENAME    : load an FXP file on startup
 --preset NAME     : load a preset on startup
 --list-presets    : display the list of all presets
 --midimapping NAME: load a midimapping preset on startup
 --midi FILENAME   : load a midi file, or a *.m3u playlist content. If filename is a folder, 
                     the midi files contained in that folder
 --wav FILENAME    : export midi file as WAV file, and quit
 --flac FILENAME   : export as FLAC
 --mp3 FILENAME    : export as MP3
 --rate FREQ       : change the sample rate for the exported wav
 --bit-depth D     : change the bit-depth for the exported wav (16,24 or 32)
 --dither ON/OFF   : turn dithering when exporting on or off
 --normalize       : turn on volume normalization for the exported wav
 --mono            : export the wav file as mono
 --headless        : do not show the graphical interface
 --fullscreen      : start in fullscreen mode
 --play            : immediately start playing the midi file
 --play-and-quit   : start playing the midi file, and quit when it ends
Example of use: Pianoteq STAGE --preset "U4 Small" --midi foo.mid --wav foo.wav

-- erik

Hi Holger,

What is your motivation to use Zynthian, the hardware or software part? My thoughts as standalone solution, without integration into Zynthian:

• On a PI there is an option to force output to HDMI even when no display is connected, so the gui version runs 'without a display' (or VNC client). Is that a viable alternative to running the "--headless" option?
  

• Switching between presets and instruments can be realized via midi buttons from the pianoteq options.
  

• Switching between a selection of presets should be possible using the preset manager and filtering the results.
  

• My impression was that "--headless" does not respect velocity custom velocity curve, but I didn't investigate that further.
  

• No success using the "--preset" option on arm as well, that is probably a bug of the still young arm version.
  

Lukas

Hey Holger,

I have to correct myself, there are no bugs, commandline parameters worked fine today on my Odroid using ssh (stage demo v6.03 arm, md5sum=1b339...). Moreover, the non-functioning of my velocity mapping was a misunderstanding of the concept from my side. It's stored as part of the preset and my custom curve is of course not included in the default presets, but only in the ones saved by me (e.g. preset 'my1').

All this worked for me today, as it should:
  pianoteq --help
  pianoteq --list-presets
  pianoteq --headless --preset "Steinway D 3 Mics"
  pianoteq --headless --preset "Steinway D Jazz"
  pianoteq --headless --preset "My Presets/my1"
  pianoteq  --headless --multicore max --internal-rate 22050 --jack-session "Pianoteq" --preset "MKI Tremo"

If Zynthian is able to call shell scripts, you can at least switch between some (custom) setups.

The Zynthian device looks like a nice little hardware box. Do you plan on using the buttons to modify pianoteq parameters for 'live-tuning' and creating new presets? How is Zynthian intended to realize the interface to pianoteq? Currently, Pianoteq does not expose all of its options to the commandline (e.g. for initially selecting the audio interface), and functionality is limited without the gui. X11 forwarding is another option for initial setup (and creation of the custom presets).

Maybe some X11 libraries are needed to run even in headless mode (just a guess, because I have an installed desktop environment)?

Best, Lukas

Hi Lukas,

thanks for testing. It seems that the binary has problems with headless mode on a Raspi. I have the same binary (thanks for the MD5!), but got this:

# ./pianoteq  --headless --multicore max --internal-rate 22050 --jack-session "Pianoteq" --preset "MKI Tremo"
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'std::bad_cast'
  what():  std::bad_cast
Loading preset MKI TremoAborted
#

Running with GUI works... strange.

BUT: If I install Minibian (old Raspi-Debian-Distribution from 2016, debian jessie) and I am using ALSA: it loads another sound! Now I am checking what happens if I install and use Jack2 to check if a newer distribution (libraries) are the problem or the newest Jack2 software I am using.

hmmm... strange again:

#  ./Pianoteq\ 6\ STAGE --list-audio-devices
No device type is currently selected.
Current preset: Steinway D Prelude, instrument: Grand Steinway D
#

I cannot see any audio device...

It seems that I cannot switch easily between ALSA and JACK on command line... I never get JACK ports created... Are you suing JACK as audio backend?

Regards, Holger