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Annotation of src/usr.bin/aucat/midicat.1, Revision 1.4

1.4     ! ratchov     1: .\"    $OpenBSD: midicat.1,v 1.3 2009/09/27 11:51:20 ratchov Exp $
1.1       ratchov     2: .\"
                      3: .\" Copyright (c) 2006 Alexandre Ratchov <alex@caoua.org>
                      4: .\"
                      5: .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
                      6: .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
                      7: .\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
                      8: .\"
                      9: .\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
                     10: .\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
                     11: .\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
                     12: .\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
                     13: .\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
                     14: .\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
                     15: .\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
                     16: .\"
1.4     ! ratchov    17: .Dd $Mdocdate: September 27 2009 $
1.1       ratchov    18: .Dt MIDICAT 1
                     19: .Os
                     20: .Sh NAME
                     21: .Nm midicat
                     22: .Nd MIDI server and manipulation tool
                     23: .Sh SYNOPSIS
                     24: .Nm midicat
1.4     ! ratchov    25: .Op Fl dl
1.1       ratchov    26: .Op Fl f Ar device
                     27: .Op Fl i Ar file
                     28: .Op Fl o Ar file
                     29: .Op Fl U Ar unit
                     30: .Sh DESCRIPTION
                     31: The
                     32: .Nm
                     33: utility is used to manipulate MIDI data.
                     34: It can send and receive MIDI data from MIDI ports,
                     35: or it can create software MIDI thru boxes,
                     36: allowing any MIDI-capable application to
                     37: send MIDI messages to MIDI hardware
                     38: or to another application in a uniform way.
                     39: .Pp
                     40: The options are as follows:
                     41: .Bl -tag -width Ds
                     42: .It Fl f Ar device
                     43: The
                     44: .Xr midi 4
                     45: device or
                     46: .Nm
                     47: socket to use for MIDI input/output.
1.2       ratchov    48: In server mode, devices are subscribed to the MIDI thru box.
1.4     ! ratchov    49: .It Fl d
        !            50: Do not daemonize.
        !            51: If this option is specified,
        !            52: .Nm
        !            53: will run in the foreground and log to
        !            54: .Em stderr .
1.1       ratchov    55: .It Fl i Ar file
1.2       ratchov    56: Send contents of this file to the device.
1.1       ratchov    57: If the option argument is
                     58: .Sq -
                     59: then standard input will be used.
                     60: .It Fl l
                     61: Listen for incoming connections on Unix domain sockets.
                     62: This allows clients to use
                     63: .Nm
                     64: instead of the regular
                     65: .Xr midi 4
                     66: device as a software MIDI thru box.
                     67: .It Fl o Ar file
                     68: Store received data from the device into this file.
                     69: If the option argument is
                     70: .Sq -
                     71: then standard output will be used.
                     72: .It Fl U Ar unit
                     73: Use the given unit number when creating a software MIDI thru box.
                     74: Only one
                     75: .Nm
                     76: process can expose a unit number at a given time.
                     77: The default is 0.
                     78: .El
                     79: .Pp
                     80: If
                     81: .Nm
                     82: is sent
                     83: .Dv SIGHUP ,
                     84: .Dv SIGINT
                     85: or
                     86: .Dv SIGTERM ,
                     87: then processing terminates.
                     88: .Sh SERVER MODE
                     89: .Nm
                     90: can be used in server mode
                     91: .Pq Fl l
                     92: to create MIDI thru boxes.
                     93: A MIDI thru box allows multiple receivers
                     94: to receive data from a single source.
                     95: Additionaly,
                     96: .Nm
                     97: software thru boxes allow multiple sources to be connected
                     98: to them; in this case MIDI byte-streams are merged,
                     99: preserving MIDI message integrity.
                    100: This feature is provided to allow multiple applications
                    101: acting as sources to keep their connection open while
                    102: idling; it does not replace a fully featured MIDI merger.
                    103: .Pp
                    104: It is generally not desirable to have multiple instances of
                    105: .Nm
                    106: running in server mode, so it is good practice to start it thus:
                    107: .Bd -literal -offset indent
                    108: $ pgrep -x midicat || midicat -l
                    109: .Ed
                    110: .Pp
                    111: Generally MIDI applications are real-time.
                    112: To reduce jitter, especially on busy machines, the
                    113: .Xr renice 8
                    114: command can be used to give a higher priority to the
                    115: .Nm
                    116: process.
                    117: Superuser privileges are required.
                    118: For example:
                    119: .Bd -literal -offset indent
                    120: $ midicat -l
                    121: $ sudo renice -n -20 -p `pgrep -x midicat`
                    122: .Ed
                    123: .Sh SEE ALSO
                    124: .Xr aucat 1 ,
                    125: .Xr midi 4 ,
                    126: .Xr sndio 7