synth-frontend

This project aims to supply a lightweight frontend to FluidPatcher (https://github.com/albedozero/fluidpatcher).

Intro

FluidPatcher is a great way to setup an Rasberry Pi to run as a software synth and relies on performance patches that you create beforehand and switch between if you perform live. For my purposes I used it as a software synth where I wanted to be able to easily switch between different soundfonts without spending a lot of time creating performance patches beforehand. As the RPI lacks a display this is not ideal as you don't know which bank is selected and which patch of that bank is currently running. This solution consists of two parts:

1. A modified version of headlesspi.py which is what runs the synth on the RPI. The modifications mainly consists of adding an API built with Flask that can interact with the synth.
2. A very light Vue-based frontend that you need to run on the RPI.

Project setup

Setup for the synth:

1. Setup the RPI according to the instructions found at: https://github.com/albedozero/fluidpatcher
2. Replace headlesspi.py with the version from the fluidpatcher_mod directory in this repo
3. Restart the RPI
4. Make sure the synth produces sound when used with you midi controller (refer to https://github.com/albedozero/fluidpatcher for troubleshooting this part)
5. Find out the IP of your RPI and test to see if you can communicate with the API

curl -v <IP goes here>:5000/api/

It should return something like:

[[[1,". Abbey-Steinway"],[2,". UprightPianoKW"]],["Good GM.yaml","Pianos-Lite.yaml","Rhodes.yaml","bank2.yaml"],0,"Pianos-Lite.yaml",6]

Setup for the frontend:

1. Copy all the files from the dist folder in this repo to a location on your RPI
2. Serve that directory as a website using any webserver you like. The easiest solution is to use the built in python server which works ok as this is not a production website we are building. Make sure this starts every time the RPI is rebooted. For example by adding the following to an .sh file that is run at startup in the correct directory: sudo python -m http.server 8000

Now you should be able to access the frontend using your phone or other device at <IP goes here>:8000