vkeybd(1)

💖 vkeybd — the virtual keyboard on X 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because vkeybd(1) is a General Commands Manual page and it's lowkey iconic. it's the virtual keyboard on X, and yes, you're about to make music with your mouse and your crusty little laptop keyboard. it's giving main character energy fr fr.

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

vkeybd [-options]

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🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

so vkeybd is a virtual keyboard for AWE/OSS, MIDI/OSS and ALSA drivers. it's basically a simple fake of a MIDI keyboard living on your X-windows system. and the whole point? enjoy music with your mouse and computer keyboard :-) yes, the smiley is canon, i don't make the rules. 🎹✨

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

🌸 Common Options 🌸

• --device mode — pick which mode your output device uses. the argument is awe, midi or alsa, for AWE/OSS, MIDI/OSS and ALSA devices respectively. default is alsa. slay.
• --config file — use this file as the config file (go read the KEYBOARD section below, bestie).
• --preset file — use this file as the preset list file (peep the PRESET LIST FILE section, i gotchu).
• --channel num — the channel that gets played for normal instruments. only valid for MIDI and ALSA devices. default is 0.
• --drum num — the channel played for drum instruments. also only valid for MIDI and ALSA devices. default is 9.
• --octave num — how many octaves of keys to display. default is 3.

🦋 ALSA Device Option 🦋

• --addr destination — set the ALSA client and port numbers to be connected. if the argument starts with s or S, the port is opened as a subscription port, and events get sent to all connected subscribers. that port can then be connected to other ports via aconnect(1). otherwise, vkeybd connects directly to the port you specified. the argument has to look like client:port or client.port, where client and port are index numbers listed in /proc/asound/seq/clients. default is 's'.
• --name string — set the name of the client/port. some applications like tk707 check the client/port name to see whether it's a valid MIDI device port, so this option lets vkeybd "fake" being a real MIDI device. catfish energy, honestly. 🐟
• --bankmsb 0|1 — says whether the bank selection control is sent only to MSB or to both MSB/LSB. default is 0, which means it's sent to both MSB/LSB. heads up: this option exists only for compatibility with older versions.

🌈 OSS Sequencer Device Options 🌈

• --seqdev file — the device file path for sequencer access. as default, /dev/sequencer is used.
• --seqidx num — the synth device index for AWE32/64 WaveTable. if you hand it a negative value, the device is auto-probed. default value is -1.

💜 MIDI Device Option 💜

• --mididev num — the file path of the MIDI device. default value is /dev/midi.

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🍓 FILE MENU 🍓

Connection shows whether vkeybd is connected to the device. on OSS systems, only one application is allowed to access the sequencer device. so if you wanna play another program, even one using a different device, you have to disconnect vkeybd once. but on ALSA, or on OSS emulation running on ALSA, you don't have to switch vkeybd off, because multiple access is allowed. periodt. ✋

with Save Config, the current keymap and view configuration get saved into the ~/.vkeybdrc config file. and that file gets read again the next time you invoke it. so your setup literally remembers itself. obsessed. 💾

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🧚 VIEW MENU 🧚

this menu shows the check buttons that toggle the display of control buttons.

with the Key/Velocity button, a key scale bar and a velocity scale bar show up. the key scale indicates the lowest note value of the visible keyboard (as default, 48 = C4). the velocity scale bar is how you change the velocity of each note-on.

with the Control button, the controls for the current channel and for the MIDI continous-controls get enabled. the channel number goes up or down by clicking the right or left button around the shown channel number. the bank and preset are remembered for each channel. you can choose the CC to be adjusted with a pull-down menu, which shows ModWheel as default. then you change the parameter value with the scale bar on the right side.

with the Pitch button, you can adjust the pitch wheel. the pitch goes back to the center position when you click the Pitch Clear button on the left. cute little reset moment. 🎯

with the Program button, the selection list of playing instrument gets toggled. the presets shown there are read from the preset list file.

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🌟 KEYBOARD 🌟

each visible key is mapped onto your computer keyboard from 'z' to '\'. to use the computer keyboard, you should turn off auto repeat on your X display via xset(1):

% xset -r

the key assignment can be changed by editing the config file ~/.vkeybdrc. first save the current configuration via the File/Save Config menu. the config file is the Tcl source, and you may change the list of keymap however you wish. go off. 💅

the keymap is a list of elements consisting on the key symbol and the corresponding note offset. the key symbol is the X key symbol for the assigned key, and the note offset is the shifted note number from the note key of the beginning of the keyboard, which is changed by the Key scalebar. for example, when a pair of {a 8} is defined and the lowest MIDI key is 48, a MIDI note 56 will be turned on by pressing the key 'a'.

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👑 PRESET LIST FILE 👑

the preset list file is used to describe the list of MIDI preset names. if the command line option is omitted, the default preset list file ~/vkeybd.list, ~/.vkeybd.list and $vkblib/vkeybd.list are searched sequentially. the preset list will appear when the Program toggle button is on, and you can select a tone to be played from the list.

the preset list file can be converted from a SoundFont(tm) file via the sftovkb(1) utility. for example:

% sftovkb synthgm.sbk > vkeybd.list

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💀 SEE ALSO 💀

sftovkb(1), X(1), xset(1), aconnect(1)

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🫶 AUTHOR 🫶

Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de>

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! this was vkeybd(1) from the General Commands Manual, dated January 1, 2000 — yes, a Y2K icon, we stan a vintage queen. go make some music with your mouse. mwah. 💖🎹✨