mx44 (1)

NAME

mx44 - polyphonic, multichannel midi realtime software synthesizer

SYNOPSIS

mx44 [VOICES]

DESCRIPTION

The Mx44 is a polyphonic multichannel midi realtime software synthesizer. It is written in C and hand optimized for the (Intel) MMX instruction set. It runs under Linux, using any kernel modified for realtime performance. The sourcecode is licensed under GPL.

The core algorithm is a 4 x 4 crossmodulating matrix (phase and amplitude) with individual envelopes for each oscillator. Oscillators have individual frequency intonation, can emphasize any of the eight first harmonics and even do some internal crossmodulation. Envelopes can be switched between VCA and VCF modes (ehrm, actually wawe-shaping, but it will quack like a duck by any other name.) The sustainloop of the envelope can be brought into oscillation in the audible spectre as well as provide slow LFO sweeps. There is also a minor load of key and velocity related modifications for wowie zowie realtime ecstacy emulation.

It is very good for esoteric pads and ultra electric leads. I use it all the time together with the Rosegarden sequencer or some of my old Atari toys (like M!). I don't think you can make it sound like a realistic grand piano though, but then again: Somebody out there, please prove me wrong. ;-)

A 166 Mhz Pentium will provide you with 20 simultanious voices, whereas a 400 Mhz Pentium II can with ease provide you with 88 simultanious voices. My current 1.1Ghz Celery occasionally runs 200 voices (800 oscillators). That ought to be enough for most people. Write any number after the command to change the 48 voice default.

OPTIONS

VOICES

Sets the maximum number of voices. Default is 48.

FILES

Mx44's only data file is stored in /usr/share/mx44, and is copied to $HOME/.mx44/ when the user launches the wrapper script. This allows users to make changes to the patches.

SUGGESTIONS AND BUG REPORTS

Any bugs found should be reported to the upstream author and/or package maintainer.

OTHER INFO

The project homepage is at hem.passagen.se/ja_linux

AUTHOR

Mx44 was written by Jens M Andreasen <dev.null@chello.se>.
This manual page was written by Dana Olson <mx44@ubuntustudio.com>, for the Ubuntu project (but may be used by others).