Getting started

Download the install file and unpack it in /home/pi. If you have a keyboard with only 49 keys then look in the ombl (ombldemo) folder and rename the file config.txt to config61.txt and rename the file config49.txt to config.txt. Connect your piano or synthesizer with the Pi. New instruments can be connected with a normal USB cable, older instruments need a MIDI interface cable with round DIN plugs on one side and an usb plug on the other side. Your piano or synth must be setup to work with a computer and Local must be set to off. If you want to use a software synth like Qsynth, start it before you start One Man Band Live.

There is a desktop file include with the name ombl(demo).desktop in the file manager it is named One Man Band Live (Demo). Copy it to your Desktop folder, it will show up on the desktop, double click it. You can now play melody with the keys to the right of the middle C. When you press a chord with the keys to the left of the middle C, the accompaniment will start.

The highest key on a keyboard with 61 or 49 keys is the attention key, on a pianokeyboard it is the third C on the right of the middle C. While the attention key is pressed the other keys will not produce sound when pressed but do some predefined action. The 24 keys on the left of the middle C are defined to load a style. The 12 keys on the right of the middle C load multivoices. The next 24 keys (12 if you have only 49 keys) are assigned to functions. E.g. the G to the left of the attention key will stop the accompaniment. When the accompaniment stops a MIDI file with the recording is saved in the folder MidiFiles inside the ombl folder. Recording is always on, don't worry MIDI files are very small, they won't fill up your sdcard. By pressing the same start/stop key, the last recorded MIDI file will be played. Press start/stop again to stop.


Function of keys in attention mode
Black keys are shown in boldface. On a instrument with only 49 keys (using config49.txt) the functions 72-84 are overwriten with the functions 84-96.

36:AngelGroove.sty (lowest key on keyboard with 61 or 49 keys, will load this style)
37:Ballad.sty.
38:Bluegrass.sty.
39:BluesBallad.sty
40:CajunTwoStep.sty
41:CajunWaltz.sty
42:Chacha.sty
43:Country.sty
44:Dixieland.sty
45:Fiesta.sty
46:Jazz.sty
47:March.sty

48:HeavyMetal.sty
49:PopBallad.sty
50:Reggae.sty
51:Rock&Roll.sty
52:RockShuffle.sty
53:SlowBallad.sty
54:Soul.sty
55:SouthernRock.sty
56:SwedishPop.sty
57:Symphonic.sty
58:TirolerPolka.sty
59:Waltz.sty

60:Choir2h (middle C, wil activate this multivoice)
61:Church Orgn
62:Clarinet Sax
63:Flute Duet
64:Hamnd 2h
65:Organ Guitar
66:Piano
67:Piano Strings
68:Piano2h Oct
69:Polysyn
70:Rhodes 1h
71:Strings 2h

72:
73:
74:Transp down (Transpose 1 semitone lower)
75:Transp up (transpose 1 semitone higher)
76:
77:Drums vol dn (Turn down de volume of the drums in de accompaniment)
78:Drums vol up (Turn up de volume of the drums in de accompaniment)
79:Bass vol dn (Turn down de volume of the bass in de accompaniment)
80:Bass vol up (Turn up de volume of the bass in de accompaniment)
81:Other vol dn (Turn down de volume of other instruments in de accompaniment)
82:Other vol up (Turn up de volume of other instruments in de accompaniment)
83:Silence (Stop hanging notes)

84:Accomp vol dn (Turn the volume of the accompaniment down)
85:Accomp vol up (Turn the volume of the accompaniment up)
86:Melody vol dn (Turn the volume of the melody played with right hand down)
87:Melody vol up (Turn the volume of the melody played with right hand up)
88:Left on/off (Switch the instrument that plays when you press keys in the chord area on and off)
89:Tempo down (Increase the tempo of the accompaniment)
90:Tempo up (Decrease the tempo of the accompaniment)
91:Start/ Stop (Start or stop the accompaniment,starts with drums only).
92:Intro/ Ending (Play ending (when playing) or select intro for accompaniment that starts afterwards)
93:Var Down (Switch between stylevariation A, B, C, D downwards)
94:Var Up (Switch between stylevariation A, B, C, D upwards)
95:Fill In (Play a Fill In stylevarion for 1 bar, then proceed with main variation)
96:attention (When this key is pressed all other keys will trigger the actions defined above)


Using the Fluidsynth software synthesizer

OMBL will only use a very small percentage of the cpu, but with a software synth you need at least a pi2 to stay below 100% cpu and prevent distortion. Fluidsynth is not preinstalled in Raspbian, you need to install it yourself if you didn't do that yet. Open a terminal session and type:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install fluidsynth


After that you can always start ombl by openening a terminal session and typing:

./ombl/startWithFluidSynth

or

./ombldemo/startWithFluidSynth

If you have speakers attached to the 3.5 mm jack but no sound, then you may need to switch audio from hdmi to analogue jack. Start a terminal sesession and type:

sudo raspi-config

First choose "8 Advanced options" and then "A6 Audio" and then choose the mode you need.


Autostart One Man Band Live

OMBL is intended to be used without monitor, computer keyboard or mouse. To enable that it must start automatically at power on, because you have no way to start it manually. You can reverse the process when you want to use the Pi for other tasks. First edit the bashrc file in folder /home/pi. Open a terminal session and type:

sudo nano .bashrc

Scroll down to the bottom and add the line:

./ombl/start

You may need to replace the word ombl with ombldemo and start with startWithFluidSynth. Save and Exit: ctrl-X, Y, enter. Then choose to startup the Pi in console mode instead of desktop mode. Open a terminal session and type:

sudo raspi-config

Select "3 Boot Options" and then "B2 Console Autologin", after that select finish and reboot.