Other Software running on the pi-Stomp hardware

pi-Stomp is intended to be a platform. MOD is the current recommended software for audio processing and configuration.

But…

There is a good chance that other audio software which uses Jack will “just work”. Below are few that have been tried, and work! You can install them “on top” of patchbox OS and switch between them.

Unlike MOD which has a webui for plugin control/configuration, the UI for other tools generally renders in an application window. Thus, you'll either need to connect a display, keyboard, mouse, etc. (not recommended) or connect remotely via VNC.

To enable VNC

patchbox boot environment desktop

And enable/start the VNC server (disabled by default to save resources when not needed), then reboot

sudo systemctl unmask vncserver-x11-serviced.service
sudo systemctl enable --now vncserver-x11-serviced.service
sudo reboot

Download VNC Viewer to your computer if you don't have one https://www.realvnc.com/en/connect/download/viewer/

Install and run VNC Viewer

To connect to the pi-Stomp enter the IP assigned to pi-Stomp or patchbox.local. User: patchbox, Password: the one you assigned or the default: 'blokaslabs'

A successful connection should result in display of your raspberry pi desktop.

To free up Jack (and some CPU) for your other host, shut down the MOD and mod-ala-pi-stomp services:

sudo systemctl stop modep-mod-host modep-mod-ui

To keep these services shut down thru reboots, disable them:

sudo systemctl disable modep-mod-host modep-mod-ui

If you don't plan to use the pi-Stomp hardware, add mod-ala-pi-stomp to that service list

If you Do plan to use pi-Stomp hardware (footswitches, controls, etc.) restart mod-ala-pi-stomp with an extra command line option.

/home/patch/pi-stomp/modalapistomp.py --host generic

If you want that to persist thru reboots add the –host generic option to ExecStart in service file

sudo vi /usr/lib/systemd/system/mod-ala-pi-stomp.service

Rakarrack is a super cool set of guitar oriented effects with a rich set of presets.

It appears to run just fine when installed on top of Patchbox OS.

MIDI events triggered by the pi-Stomp hardware (footswitches, Tweak Knob, Expression Pedal, MIDI in (USB or DIN) and touchOSC) can be mapped to any effect control in Rakarrack. So it really can be a viable alternative to MOD on pi-Stomp. The LCD display doesn't work yet but we'll probably work on that soon.

A few of the effects are rather CPU hungry (specifically the Convolotron convolution loader). If you experience buffer overruns or drop outs, I recommend reducing your jack sample rate to 44.1kHz and the buffer size to 256 or greater. Do that via the jack menu in patchbox.

sudo apt-get install rakarrack

Run VNC Viewer and attach to pi-Stomp

Pop a terminal (upper right of toolbar)

At the Terminal prompt

rakarrack

Carla is a fully-featured modular audio plugin host, with support for many audio drivers and plugin formats (LADSPA, DSSI, LV2, VST2, VST3 and AU, plus SF2 and SFZ sound font files). So with Carla you're not limited to just LV2 plugins!

Here it is running a “rack” of effects including a mix of an internal plugin (ZynChorus), LV2 plugins (GxBajaTubeDriver, GxCabinet) and a VST plugin (MVerb).

This was super easy to install on top of Patchbox OS. Switching between MOD and Carla plugin hosts seems to work just fine.

Download the Carla packages. The exact links below might change. If they don't work, find the updated links here. Make sure to use the 'armhf' links.

wget http://ppa.launchpad.net/kxstudio-debian/apps/ubuntu/pool/main/c/carla/carla-data_2.2.0+git20201005_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i carla-data_2.2.0+git20201005_all.deb

wget http://ppa.launchpad.net/kxstudio-debian/apps/ubuntu/pool/main/c/carla/carla_2.2.0+git20201005_armhf.deb
sudo dpkg -i carla_2.2.0+git20201005_armhf.deb

Run VNC Viewer and attach to pi-Stomp

Pop a terminal (upper right of toolbar)

At the Terminal prompt