Minicomputer v. 1.41
Industrial Grade Digital Synthesizer

by Malte Steiner

email: steiner@block4.com
for this version
email: marc.perilleux@laposte.net

Minicomputer is a standalone Linux software synthesizer for
creating experimental electronic sounds as its often used 
in but not limited to Industrial music, Glitch, IDM and other electronic genres.

Note from Malte Steiner:
This may contain some bugs but already worked in studio for my project 'Akustikkoppler' 
and live for 'Notstandskomitee'.
Take care, it can be harsh! Use it on your own risk, you have been warnend!

Minicomputer is free open source software under the GPL3 license.

------------------------ installation steps for mint and ubuntu ------------------------

Debian users may want to try the package install:
    su -c"dpkg -i minicomputer_1.5.0-1_amd64.deb"
    ./installpresets.sh

Otherwise, you need to compile from source.
The steps below were tested on a fresh linuxmint-18.3-xfce-64bit install,
on debian 8.6 and 9.4, and on ubuntu 18.04
Other distributions may slightly vary.
If you use a different distribution, please share any change you had to apply!

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get upgrade
    sudo apt-get install build-essential scons liblo-dev libclthreads-dev libasound-dev libfltk1.3-dev gettext
    # For debian 9.4.0
    # su -c "apt-get install g++ scons liblo-dev libasound-dev libfltk1.3-dev gettext"

    sudo apt-get install libjack-dev
OR (depending on your distribution and jack version)
    sudo apt-get install libjack-jackd2-dev

BEWARE!
If apt-get prompts you about uninstalling some packages,
don't accept, this is an indication of jack version mismatch,
use the other library!


    wget https://github.com/vloop/minicomputer-virtual-synth/archive/master.zip
    unzip master.zip
    cd minicomputer-virtual-synth-master/
    scons native=1
    sudo scons install native=1
    ./installpresets.sh

At this stage, the binaries and presets are in place.
Of course, you still need jack 1 or 2 to actually use the synth!
For jack 1:
    sudo apt-get install jackd1
    # For debian 9.4.0
    # su -c "apt-get install jackd1"
For jack 2:
    sudo apt-get install jackd2 qjackctl
For both, with your user name instead of "test":
    sudo usermod -aG audio test
Beware that jack 2 installation removes libjack-dev, and that causes scons to fail.

------------------------ Launching ------------------------ 
Launch jack first
    pasuspender -- jackd -d alsa &

Launch the synth editor
    minicomputer

NB Use minicomputer --help to show usage
The synth editor automatically launches the synth engine
The synth engine automatically connects to jack
You may add custom connections, for example
    jack_connect "Minicomputer7771:mix out left" "system:playback_1"
    jack_connect "Minicomputer7771:mix out right" "system:playback_2"

or you may use qjackctl to start jack and setup the connections.
Notice that the name in jack includes the port number.
This is specially useful if you use several instances of minicomputer.

----------------------------- Installation notes ------------------------

Cleaning the build files (and removing the program files from the build folder) is done by typing

	scons -c

Installation as root into /usr/local/bin can be done with 

	sudo scons install

deinstallation is done as root:

	sudo scons -c install

So far the target directory is hardcoded in SConstruct file, it's the last lines.
Data is kept in .miniComputer/ directory in your home folder.
Run the installpresets.sh script as the user who'll launch the synth (NOT as root).
Be careful this overwrites any previous settings.
The previous settings are backed up automatically.

The buildprocess accept parameters for refining architecture optimization:

 64bit=1
forces a build for 64bit platforms with the -m64 option

 k8=1
optimizes for AMD K8 cpus, giving the compilers the -march=k8 -mtune=k8 settings

 k7=1
optimizes for AMD Athlon XP cpus

 native=1
sets the native target (recommended)

So a k8 64bit build looks like

scons 64bit=1 k8=1

further optimization can be switched in common.h but it's experimental and results vary


----------------------------- TROUBLESHOOTING -----------------------------

- 'I have library xyz installed but scons complains about not finding xyz'
make sure that you have the developer version of the library installed which comes extra and additionally.
Usually looks like libxyz.dev
scons sometimes also gives message about libraries for apparently unrelated reasons such as wrong compiler options in the sconstruct file.


----------------------------- Credits -----------------------------
Additional sounds by jmechmech

----------------------------- A word to package maintainers -----------------------------

I welcome the inclusion of Minicomputer in repositorys.
If you encounter any difficulties please contact me at the email address seen above and we work out a solution.