JamesDSP for Linux

Open-source sound effects for PipeWire and PulseAudio

Features • Installation • Scripting/API • Contributors • License

Linux port developed by Tim Schneeberger (@thepbone) (Telegram)

JamesDSP was initially published as an audio effects processor
for Android devices and is written by James Fung (@james34602).

Feel free to join our Telegram group for support and updates

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Features

• Automatic bass boost
  • Frequency-detecting bass-boost. Automatically sets its own parameters, such as gain, bandwidth, and cut-off frequency, by analyzing the incoming audio stream
• Automatic dynamic range compressor
  • A highly automated multiband dynamic range adjusting effect
• Complex reverberation IIR network (Progenitor 2)
• Interpolated FIR equalizer with flexible bands
• Arbitrary response equalizer (also known as GraphicEQ from EqualizerAPO)
  • AutoEQ database integration (requires network connection)
• Partitioned convolver (Auto segmenting convolution)
  • Supports mono, stereo, full/true stereo (LL, LR, RL, RR) impulse response
• Crossfeed
  • Realistic surround effects
• Soundstage wideness
  • A multiband stereo wideness controller
• ViPER-DDC
  • Perform parametric equalization on audio
  • Create VDC input files using thepbone/DDCToolbox
• Analog modeling
  • An aliasing-free even harmonic generator
• Output limiter
• Scripting engine: Live programmable DSP
  • Write your own audio effects using the EEL2 scripting language
  • Auto-generate a basic user interface for your script to modify specific parameters/constants without editing the actual code
  • The scripting language has been extended using many DSP-related functions for easy access, for example, spectral processing, constant Q transform, multi-purpose FIR filter designer IIR sub-bands transformation, etc...
  • This app also includes a custom minimal scripting IDE:
    • Syntax highlighting
    • Basic code completion
    • Dynamic code outline window
    • Console output support
    • Detailed error messages with inline code highlighting

PipeWire vs PulseAudio

Designed for use with PipeWire. PulseAudio is only supported for backward compatibility.

PipeWire has a much lower latency compared to PulseAudio when injecting audio effects processors into the audio graph. I'm currently not planning to add more advanced support for Pulseaudio clients. Features such as selective app exclusion, changing the target audio device, and similar features will only be available to PipeWire clients.

Which one am I using?

Follow the instructions below if you don't know which one your Linux distribution is using. If you already know, skip to the 'Install dependencies' section.

Run LC_ALL=C pactl info | grep "Server Name:" in your terminal.

If you are using Pipewire the output should look similar to this:

Server Name: PulseAudio (on PipeWire 0.3.35)

If you are using Pulseaudio the output should look exactly like this:

Server Name: pulseaudio

Installation

Decide whether you need to install the PipeWire or PulseAudio version of this app!

If you don't know which version fits your Linux setup, go to the PipeWire vs PulseAudio section above.

• Debian/Ubuntu (PPA)
• Arch Linux (AUR)
• Fedora/openSUSE
• Build from sources

Debian/Ubuntu

Minimum system requirements:

• Distro based on Debian 11 or later OR
• Distro based on Ubuntu 21.10 or later

If you need to install this app on an older distro, you need to compile it manually with GCC 11.0 or later.

Add PPA Repo

sudo apt install -y curl
# thepbone’s PPA Repository key
curl -s --compressed "https://thepbone.github.io/PPA-Repository/KEY.gpg" -o thepbone_ppa.gpg

cat thepbone_ppa.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmour -o /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/thepbone_ppa.gpg
echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/thepbone_ppa.gpg] https://thepbone.github.io/PPA-Repository ./" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/thepbone_ppa.list
sudo apt update

Install from PPA

For PipeWire clients only:

sudo apt install jamesdsp-pipewire

For PulseAudio clients only:

sudo apt install jamesdsp-pulse

View PPA on GitHub

Arch

AUR packages are available:

For PipeWire clients only:

• Stable version

  

  yay -S jamesdsp
  

• Development version

  

  yay -S jamesdsp-git
  

For PulseAudio clients only:

• Stable version

  

  yay -S jamesdsp-pulse
  

• Development version

  

  yay -S jamesdsp-pulse-git
  

Fedora/openSUSE

Package maintained by @theAeon on Fedora COPR. Built for Fedora 34/35/Rawhide and OpenSUSE Tumbleweed.

For PipeWire clients only:

yum copr enable arrobbins/JDSP4Linux && yum update && yum install jamesdsp

If you are still using PulseAudio with your Fedora/openSUSE installation, refer to the 'Build from sources' section below instead.

Build from sources

Install dependencies

NOTE: Only execute the line that applies to your system configuration. If your distro is not included here, you need to research which packages to install by yourself.

Debian/Ubuntu-based distros

Debian/Ubuntu + PipeWire clients only:

sudo apt install build-essential libarchive-dev qtbase5-private-dev qtbase5-dev libqt5svg5-dev libglibmm-2.4-dev libglib2.0-dev libpipewire-0.3-dev 

Debian/Ubuntu + PulseAudio clients only:

sudo apt install build-essential libarchive-dev qtbase5-private-dev qtbase5-dev libqt5svg5-dev libglibmm-2.4-dev libglib2.0-dev libpulse-dev libgstreamer1.0-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev

Fedora

Fedora 34 + PipeWire clients only:

sudo dnf install libarchive-devel qt5-qtbase-devel qt5-qtbase-private-devel qt5-qtsvg-devel glibmm24-devel glib2-devel pipewire-devel

Fedora 34 + PulseAudio clients only:

sudo dnf install libarchive-devel qt5-qtbase-devel qt5-qtbase-private-devel qt5-qtsvg-devel glibmm24-devel glib2-devel pulseaudio-libs-devel gstreamer1-devel gstreamer1-plugins-base-devel 

Arch Linux

Arch Linux + PipeWire clients only:

sudo pacman -S gcc make pkgconfig libarchive qt5-base qt5-svg glib2 glibmm pipewire

Arch Linux + PulseAudio clients only:

sudo pacman -S gcc make pkgconfig libarchive qt5-base qt5-svg glib2 glibmm libpulse gst-plugins-good gstreamer 

Build application

Clone git repositories and submodules:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/Audio4Linux/JDSP4Linux

Prepare build environment

cd JDSP4Linux
mkdir build
cd build

Compile application - PipeWire clients only:

qmake ../JDSP4Linux.pro
make -j4

Compile application - PulseAudio clients only:

qmake ../JDSP4Linux.pro "CONFIG += USE_PULSEAUDIO"
make -j4

Execute compiled binary

./src/jamesdsp

Optional: Manual installation + menu entry

Copy binary to /usr/local/bin and set permissions

sudo cp src/jamesdsp /usr/local/bin
sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/jamesdsp

Create a menu entry

sudo sh -c 'sudo cat <<EOT >> /usr/share/applications/jamesdsp-test.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=JamesDSP
GenericName=Audio effect processor
Comment=JamesDSP for Linux
Keywords=equalizer;audio;effect
Categories=AudioVideo;Audio;
Exec=jamesdsp
Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/jamesdsp.png
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Type=Application
EOT'

Download icon

sudo wget -O /usr/share/pixmaps/jamesdsp.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Audio4Linux/JDSP4Linux/master/resources/icons/icon.png -q --show-progress

Scripting & IPC APIs

Since 12th May 2023, this app supports IPC via D-Bus and is also configurable via a CLI. These new features are not yet included in a stable release.

Remote control via CLI

You can list all supported commands using jamesdsp --help. Currently, these commands for remote-controlling JamesDSP's audio engine are available:

  --is-connected               Check if JamesDSP service is active. Returns exit code 1 if not. (Remote)
  --list-keys                  List available audio configuration keys (Remote)
  --get <key>                  Get audio configuration value (Remote)
  --set <key=value>            Set audio configuration value (format: key=value) (Remote)
  --load-preset <name>         Load preset by name (Remote)
  --save-preset <name>         Save current settings as preset (Remote)
  --delete-preset <name>       Delete preset by name (Remote)
  --list-presets               List presets (Remote)
  --status                     Show status (Remote)

The options should be fairly self-explanatory. For example, jamesdsp --set reverb_enable=true would enable the reverberation setting. Have a look at the audio configuration file at ~/.config/jamesdsp/audio.conf to learn more about possible setting keys and their syntax.

Note: These commands try to connect to an active JamesDSP instance. If no instance is currently online, they will fall-back to modifying the audio configuration file directly on disk. The --is-connected option can be used to check whether one is currently online.

D-Bus IPC

This app also exposes a D-Bus service on the session bus which can be used by other developers or users:

Service name: me.timschneeberger.jdsp4linux

• GUI-related interface:
  • Path name: /jdsp4linux/gui
  • Interface name: me.timschneeberger.jdsp4linux.Gui
• Audio service-related interface:
  • Path name: /jdsp4linux/service
  • Interface name: me.timschneeberger.jdsp4linux.Service

If you want to test it out, you can use an app like D-Feet to interact with the D-Bus services.

The D-Bus introspection XML is available here: https://github.com/Audio4Linux/JDSP4Linux/blob/master/src/utils/dbus/manifest.xml.

Troubleshooting

• Your CPU may be too slow to process the audio sample in time; try to disable some effects (especially resource-hungry ones like the convolver)
• Set JamesDSP's process to real-time or high priority using a task manager of your choice
• [Pipewire] Try out the workaround mentioned in issue #47

Screenshots

Contributors

• James Fung - Developer of the core library 'libjamesdsp'
• yochananmarqos - AUR packages
• theAeon - RPM packages
• PipeWire/Pulse implementation based on EasyEffects by Wellington Wallace

Translators

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License

This project is licensed under GPLv3.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, 
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. 
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, 
WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR 
THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.