qsynth(1)

📦
version 1.0.6 · 2 versions
, in arch rolling, fedora 43, fedora 44, nixpkgs unstable, ubuntu stonking

✨ qsynth — bestie edition ✨

okay so you opened the manual for qsynth, which lives in the General Commands Manual section of the man pages (section 1, the "run me from your terminal" section 💅). Buckle up, because this page is literally the whole vibe of the program.

🌸 NAME 🌸

Qsynth — a fluidsynth Qt GUI Interface 🎹✨

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

qsynth [options] [soundfonts] [midifiles]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So this manual page is documenting, like, briefly, the qsynth command-line options. That's the whole job. Short and sweet, no cap. 💅

Qsynth is a fluidsynth GUI front-end application, written in C++ around the Qt framework, using Qt Designer. It's giving ✨interface✨ energy.

The manual says that eventually it may evolve into a softsynth management application that would let you control and manage a variety of command line softsynths — but for the moment? For the moment it wraps the excellent FluidSynth. Obsessed. 🫶

And for context, bestie: FluidSynth is a command line software synthesiser based on the Soundfont specification. Iconic behaviour honestly.

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • -n, --no-midi-in — Don't create a midi driver to read MIDI input events. Default is yes, so by default it does make one. 🎹
  • -m, --midi-driver <label> — The name of the midi driver to use. Think alsa_raw, alsa_seq, jack, ... and friends. 💫
  • -K, --midi-channels <num> — The number of midi channels. Default = 16. 🎛️
  • -a, --audio-driver <label> — The audio driver. Like alsa, jack, pipewire, ... you get it. 🔊
  • -j, --connect-jack-outputs — Attempt to connect the jack outputs to the physical ports. Go get 'em. 🔌
  • -L, --audio-channels <num> — The number of stereo audio channels. Default = 1. 🎚️
  • -G, --audio-groups <num> — The number of audio groups. Default = 1. 🧚
  • -z, --audio-bufsize <size> — Size of each audio buffer. 📦
  • -c, --audio-bufcount <count> — Number of audio buffers. 📚
  • -r, --sample-rate <rate> — Set the sample rate. ⏱️
  • -R, --reverb <flag> — Turn the reverb on or off. Values are 1|0|yes|no|on|off, default = on. 🌀✨
  • -C, --chorus <flag> — Turn the chorus on or off. Values are 1|0|yes|no|on|off, default = on. 🌊
  • -g, --gain <gain> — Set the master gain. Range is 0 < gain < 2, default = 1. 📢
  • -o, --option <name=value> — Define a setting name=value. Very DIY of it. 🛠️
  • -s, --server — Create and start server. Default = no. 🖥️
  • -i, --no-shell — Don't read commands from the shell. Note: this one is [ignored]. 🙈
  • -d, --dump — Dump midi router events. 🗑️
  • -V, --verbose — Print out verbose messages about midi events. So chatty, love that. 💬
  • -?, --help — Displays help on command-line options. The classic. 🙋‍♀️
  • -v, --version — Show version information. 👑

🍓 FILES 🍓

Configuration settings are stored in:

~/.config/rncbc.org/Qsynth.conf

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

fluidsynth(1)

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Qsynth is written by Rui Nuno Capela, Richard Bown, Chris Cannam, Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas. Legends, all of them. 💜

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🦋 this qsynth(1) manual page from the General Commands Manual is dated April 16, 2026, so that's your version/date tea right there — go make some beautiful noise fr fr 💖🎀🌸

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