calfjackhost(1)

📦 version 0.90.9, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, debian bookworm, debian trixie, fedora 43, fedora 44, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

👑 calfjackhost — the JACK wrapper for Calf plugins 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to calfjackhost(1) — this is the manual page for the Calf JACK host, and I am obsessed. grab a snack, we're doing this. 🍓

✨ NAME ✨

calfjackhost — a JACK wrapper for Calf plugins. that's it, that's the whole vibe. 🦋

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

calfjackhost [options] plugin[:preset] [!] ...

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so the Calf JACK host application is literally the way to use Calf plugins directly, no external host application required, no middleman, no drama. 🫶

and it also gives you the best GUI functionality — it's using the GTK+ 2 widget set, because there is no restrictive plugin standard getting in the way between the GUI and the audio processing code. iconic behaviour honestly. no cap, that's the actual reason and it's a good one. 👑

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • -c, --client name — sets the JACK client name (this is the name calfjackhost uses when it registers itself in JACK). your whole identity in the patchbay, basically. 💫
  • -i, --input name — name prefix for audio inputs.
  • -o, --output name — name prefix for audio outputs.
  • -m, --midi name — name prefix for MIDI inputs.
  • -c, --connect-midi client:port — automatically connect all MIDI ports to client:port.
  • -M, --connect-midi !n — automatically connect all MIDI ports to system:midi_capture_n.
  • -v, --version — prints a version string (calf some.version.number).
  • -l, --load session — Loads the session state from a file.
  • -s, --state session — Loads the session state from a file, if such a file exists. lowkey the shy version of -l. 🙈
  • -L, --list — List all available plug-ins.
  • -h, -?, --help — prints a help text.
  • -t, --no-tray — disable the tray icon on start.
ok so yes, -c shows up twice in this list — once for --client and once for --connect-midi. that is literally what the page says, so I'm telling you exactly what the page says. iykyk. 💀

🌈 the ! situation 🌈

An exclamation mark (!) in place of a plugin name means automatic connection. here's the whole tea:

  • If ! is placed before the first plugin name, the first plugin has its inputs connected to system:capture_1 and system:capture_2.
  • If it's placed between plugin names, those plugins are connected together (first plugin's output is connected to second plugin's input).
  • If it's placed after the last plugin name, that plugin's audio outputs are connected to system:playback_1 and system:playback_2 (first output pair).

main character energy for a punctuation mark, honestly. ✨

🧚 Plugin names 🧚

should be self-explanatory, but here they all are anyway because we do NOT gatekeep:

  • pulsator (autopanner/tremolo)
  • ringmodulator
  • tapesimulator
  • vinyl
  • compdelay (compensation delay)
  • reversedelay
  • compressor
  • sidechaincompressor
  • multibandcompressor
  • monocompressor
  • deesser
  • gate
  • sidechaingate
  • multibandgate
  • limiter
  • multibandlimiter
  • sidechainlimiter
  • transientdesigner
  • filterclavier (keyboard-controlled tunable filter)
  • emphasis
  • vocoder
  • eq5, eq8, eq12, eq30
  • saturator
  • crusher (bit crusher)
  • exciter
  • bassenhancer
  • stereo
  • haasenhancer
  • multispread
  • mono
  • xover2, xover3, xover4 (speaker crossovers)
  • analyzer (spectrum analyzer / spectrogram plugin)
  • flanger
  • filter
  • reverb
  • vintagedelay
  • monosynth
  • multichorus (chorus effect with multiple voices)
  • compressor (Thor Harald Johansen's dynamic compressor)
  • organ (polyphonic synthesizer emulating tonewheel or solid state organs)
  • rotaryspeaker (not a faithful emulation, not even close)
yes compressor is in there twice with two different meanings. we don't ask questions, we just list. 💜

😭 BUGS 😭

Please send bug reports to <wdev@foltman.com>. be nice, they're doing great. 🫶

🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

To start monosynth with automatic connection to first system audio output, and no automatic MIDI connection, use:

calfjackhost monosynth !

(! means "connect", last ! means "connect to output")

Other examples:

calfjackhost monosynth ! vintagedelay ! flanger ! -M 2

(runs monosynth into vintagedelay and vintagedelay into flanger, then to output; connects monosynth's MIDI input to JACK's system:midi_capture_2)

calfjackhost "monosynth:Fat Bass"

(runs monosynth with a Fat Bass preset into monosynth, does not autoconnect)

calfjackhost ! reverb !

(takes signal from system:capture_1 and _2, puts it through reverb, and then sends to system:playback_1 and _2)

Note: none of the automatic connection features will work if autoconnection is disabled for session management purposes. fr fr, don't come for the autoconnect when the autoconnect was turned off. 💀

💖 SEE ALSO 💖

calf(7) — go read it, bestie. 🌸

and that's a wrap on calfjackhost(1), from the General Commands Manual — this edition is dated 2019-03-21, so if you're reading it from the future, hi, you look amazing. 💜 stay slaying, keep your buffers small and your connections intentional. bye bestie! 🎀✨

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