Om
Modular Synthesizer and Effects Processor
Modular Synthesizer and Effects Processor
PLEASE READ THE MOST RECENT NEWS ITEM BELOW
Om is was a realtime modular synthesizer and
effects processor for GNU/Linux audio systems using the
Jack audio server and
LADSPA or DSSI plugins.
Its engine runs as an independent process controlled via the Open Sound Control (OSC) protocol, meaning many clients can control the engine simultaneously - even across a network.
Included is a GTK client (see screenshots), Python bindings, SuperCollider bindings, and a command line patch loading client, but Om can be controlled by anything that can send OSC messages.
Om is Free Software licensed under the GNU GPL.
If you would like to follow the progress of Ingen, there is now a Trac site (at my own domain) for browing the SVN tree, submitting bugs, etc. etc.
Check out the Timeline for a running log of all SVN activity with log messages and pretty diff output. Releases are getting closer, but there's only so many hours in the day...
Today I had the ..interesting experience of buying a real live paper magazine containing an article about myself! Much thanks to Dave Phillips for the exposure - and much apologies to everyone for having Om in such shambles at the least opportune time.
Om is being reborn as "ingen". The improvements are far too numerous to list here ("rewrite" sums it up), but the drawbacks mentioned in Dave's article are at the top of the list, particularly LASH support and reliability. Unfortunately (for Om anyway, not for me) the Google SoC program came around halfway through the task and left Om in a useless state for most of the summer.
Ingen doesn't have much of a public face yet, but if you're feeling adventurous you can check
out the code from SVN with the command svn co http://svn.drobilla.net/lad (which will
give you, among other things, flowcanvas and slv2 as well - build/install those first).
Bear with me, it will be worth it.
Buzzword-compliant features list:
Though there are more ideas in the books. I'm very interested to hear any ideas for Om's direction, feel free to email me with any thoughts, feedback, bug reports, feature requests, etc.
(All these demos are created exclusively using Om for sound creation, with no sample use whatsoever)
Please send me any good clips you make that would make a good demo.
The Om engine (which can be built by itself) requires:
And can optionally use:
Note: Om uses external (ie LADSPA) plugins for all signal processing. Without LADSPA plugins, this software is essentially useless. It is highly recommended that you get at least the swh, tap, blop, cmt, and vcf plugin packages (locations for all known LADSPA plugins are listed here on the Om Wiki.
The Gtk client requires:
And both clients (console patch loader and gtk) require:
Release tarballs are available in the Savannah Files directory.
If you want to keep up with development, tracking CVS is your best option. Om CVS is usually perfectly usable (usually..).
Om user documentation is in the form of a Wiki. Please contribute if you find it lacking.
If you're interacting with the engine via OSC, there is documentation for the Engine OSC Namespace and Client OSC Namespace.
There is full Doxygen documentation in the source tree (including the above OSC documentation) for you developer types, run 'make doc' in the top level directory.
Everything Om related can be access from the Savannah Project Page. Go there to file bugs, browse/checkout CVS, etc.
Atte Andre Jensen has kindly created an Om Wiki. This is officially the Om "end user documentation" for the time being - please check it out, and contribute wherever possible.
Related projects:
FlowCanvas is the canvas widget that Om requires.
Omins is a collection of LADSPA plugins that are useful with Om (among other things).
Patchage is a modular patch bay for Jack audio and Alsa MIDI. It uses the same patch bay widget as Om.
Smack is a drum synthesizer (by Loki Davison) that uses Om and Omins plugins for synthesis.
Lars Luthman (aka larsl) has a nice page of Om Patches.
Om has a single mailing list for everything (user requests, development, etc). You can subscribe here.
Discussion is probably best done on this list, but feel free to contact me (Dave Robillard) personally: drobilla (a.t) connect (d.o.t) carleton (d.o.t) ca.
I can also be found in the #lad IRC channel on irc.freenode.net more often than not (as "drobilla"). Keep in mind I am not a corporation - I'm a human being. I do find it annoying (and often personally insulting) when people (e.g.) publically dismiss my software without even having the common decency to tell me about their problems. The only users I care about are the ones I know about.
If you've found a bug PLEASE submit it on the bug reporting page. People often assume their problems are widespread and the developer "must" know about it. People are often wrong. :)
