music-production/README.md

Music Production Setup

This repository holds scripts, patch banks, sound resources, and notes for a Linux-based music production setup.

The current direction is a PipeWire-based system centered around Bitwig Studio. Older QJackCtl patchbay files, Jack Rack presets, and JACK startup/recording scripts are being removed from the working tree, but the migration is recorded below so the old setup can still be recovered from Git history.

Current Contents

• scripts/bitwig-studio-yabridge-9.21.sh - launcher for native Bitwig Studio that forces yabridge to use the local Wine Staging 9.21 wrapper.
• scripts/set-pipewire-latency.sh - helper for checking, forcing, and clearing PipeWire graph quantum/rate metadata.
• scripts/wine-staging-9.21.sh - isolated Wine Staging 9.21 wrapper for yabridge and VST maintenance without replacing the system Wine package.
• sounds.txt - notes about useful electric piano, piano, brass, pad, organ, string, mallet, and synth sounds.
• soundfounts/ - archived SoundFont resources.
• yoshimi-patches/ - archived Yoshimi banks and patch collections.

PipeWire And Bitwig Studio

The new setup should prefer PipeWire as the shared audio graph instead of manually starting JACK through QJackCtl profiles and wiring sessions with QJackCtl patchbays.

For standalone low-latency work outside the DAW, use:

scripts/set-pipewire-latency.sh status
scripts/set-pipewire-latency.sh on 128 48000
scripts/set-pipewire-latency.sh off

The script writes PipeWire settings metadata with pw-metadata -n settings. on defaults to a quantum of 128 at 48000 Hz, which is about 2.7 ms per block. off clears clock.force-quantum and clock.force-rate so PipeWire can return to normal behavior.

This override is not expected to be necessary when working in Bitwig Studio. Bitwig is the DAW for the new workflow, so latency should normally be handled inside that DAW/session rather than forced globally through this helper.

Windows VSTs With Wine And yabridge

Windows VST plugins should be installed into a dedicated Wine prefix and then exposed to Bitwig Studio through yabridge. The prefix itself should live on Linux-native storage, while large sample libraries can live on the larger NTFS music-production drive.

Use the native Bitwig Studio package for this workflow. The launcher below execs /usr/bin/bitwig-studio; Flatpak Bitwig installations should be avoided for yabridge-hosted plugins because they do not run in the same host filesystem and library environment.

Paths

Use these paths as the standard layout:

export VST_WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.local/share/wineprefixes/music-production-vst"
export VST_SAMPLE_LIBRARIES="/mnt/e/music-production/sample-libraries"

• VST_WINEPREFIX stores the Windows plugin installations, Wine registry, user profile, authorization tools, and plugin binaries.
• VST_SAMPLE_LIBRARIES stores large mostly-read-only sample content, such as the Keyscape/Spectrasonics libraries.
• yabridge-managed Linux plugin wrappers are created outside the prefix under the normal Linux plugin locations, such as ~/.vst/yabridge and ~/.vst3/yabridge.

Make sure /mnt/e is mounted and writable before installing or using plugins that depend on sample libraries from that drive.

Keep installers and downloads outside the prefix. A useful convention is:

mkdir -p "$HOME/Music/Production/Installers"
mkdir -p "$HOME/Music/Production/Backups"

Isolated Wine 9.21

This repo uses a local Wine Staging 9.21 wrapper for yabridge instead of replacing the system Wine package. The wrapper expects Wine to be extracted at:

$HOME/.local/opt/wine-staging-9.21

Verify the wrapper before using it:

scripts/wine-staging-9.21.sh --version

Expected output:

wine-9.21 (Staging)

The system Wine package remains independent:

/usr/bin/wine --version

The wrapper defaults to wine64, which matches the current 64-bit yabridge setup. Override paths only when testing or moving the local Wine install:

WINE_STAGING_921_ROOT="$HOME/.local/opt/wine-staging-9.21" \
  scripts/wine-staging-9.21.sh --version

WINE_STAGING_921_LOADER=wine64 \
  scripts/wine-staging-9.21.sh --version

First-Time Prefix Setup

Create the prefix and sample-library directory:

export VST_WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.local/share/wineprefixes/music-production-vst"
export VST_SAMPLE_LIBRARIES="/mnt/e/music-production/sample-libraries"

mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/share/wineprefixes"
mkdir -p "$VST_SAMPLE_LIBRARIES"
WINEPREFIX="$VST_WINEPREFIX" WINEARCH=win64 \
  scripts/wine-staging-9.21.sh wineboot -u

Open Wine configuration once to finish initialization and review settings:

WINEPREFIX="$VST_WINEPREFIX" scripts/wine-staging-9.21.sh winecfg

If an installer asks for a sample-library location, point it at the NTFS sample library path through Wine's Z: drive:

Z:\mnt\e\music-production\sample-libraries

For vendor-specific libraries, prefer a subdirectory:

Z:\mnt\e\music-production\sample-libraries\Spectrasonics

If an installer insists on putting a large library inside C:\, install the plugin first, then move the library to VST_SAMPLE_LIBRARIES and replace the original location with a symlink from the prefix to the real library path. Do not move Wine registry files, authorization tools, or plugin binaries this way.

Initializing A Maintenance Shell

For plugin installation and maintenance, start a shell with the dedicated prefix variables set:

export VST_WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.local/share/wineprefixes/music-production-vst"
export VST_SAMPLE_LIBRARIES="/mnt/e/music-production/sample-libraries"
export WINEPREFIX="$VST_WINEPREFIX"

Then run installers from that shell:

scripts/wine-staging-9.21.sh "$HOME/Music/Production/Installers/Plugin Installer.exe"

Common maintenance commands should also go through the wrapper:

scripts/wine-staging-9.21.sh winecfg
scripts/wine-staging-9.21.sh regedit
scripts/wine-staging-9.21.sh winepath 'C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3'

After installing, removing, or updating plugins, sync yabridge:

yabridgectl add "$VST_WINEPREFIX/drive_c/Program Files/Common Files/VST3"
yabridgectl add "$VST_WINEPREFIX/drive_c/Program Files/Steinberg/VstPlugins"
WINELOADER="$PWD/scripts/wine-staging-9.21.sh" yabridgectl sync
yabridgectl status

Only the add commands need to be repeated when a new plugin directory should be managed by yabridge. For normal plugin updates, run the installer in the maintenance shell and then run:

WINELOADER="$PWD/scripts/wine-staging-9.21.sh" yabridgectl sync
yabridgectl status

Launching Bitwig With yabridge

Launch Bitwig through the repo wrapper when using bridged Windows plugins:

scripts/bitwig-studio-yabridge-9.21.sh

That script sets:

WINELOADER=/absolute/path/to/this/repo/scripts/wine-staging-9.21.sh

and then execs the native Bitwig launcher at /usr/bin/bitwig-studio. It also unsets WINEPREFIX before launching Bitwig so the DAW itself does not impose a global Wine prefix on plugin scanning. yabridge should use the prefix implied by the managed plugin paths.

Override the launcher paths only for testing:

BITWIG_STUDIO=/usr/bin/bitwig-studio \
YABRIDGE_WINELOADER="$PWD/scripts/wine-staging-9.21.sh" \
  scripts/bitwig-studio-yabridge-9.21.sh

Close Bitwig before installing, removing, updating, or syncing bridged plugins. After syncing, reopen Bitwig and rescan plugins if it does not pick up the changes automatically.

Legacy JACK Migration Notes

The mainline branch in this checkout is named main. At the time these legacy files were staged for deletion, the current main / origin/main commit was:

ee169b0e013496b177195a6719295b40f9c932dd

That commit is the last mainline commit where the old QJackCtl, Jack Rack, and script-based JACK workflow is available. To inspect one of the removed files:

git show ee169b0e013496b177195a6719295b40f9c932dd:<path>

Files Staged For Deletion

jack-rack-presets/home/fender-jazz
jack-rack-presets/home/headphones
jack-rack-presets/home/sr505zw
jack-rack-presets/newlife/bass2
jack-rack-presets/newlife/drums
jack-rack-presets/newlife/headphones
jack-rack-presets/newlife/headphones2
jack-rack-presets/newlife/m48-mix
jack-rack-presets/newlife/yamaha-trb
jack-rack-presets/onboard/headphones
jack-rack-presets/onboard/sg200
jack-rack-presets/onboard/sr505zw
jack-rack-presets/onboard/yamaha-trb
qjackctl-routing-settings/FastTrack-Practice.xml
qjackctl-routing-settings/K6-Bass+System.xml
qjackctl-routing-settings/church-eq-bass-with-synth.xml
qjackctl-routing-settings/church-eq-mix-ears-only.xml
qjackctl-routing-settings/church-eq-mix-splitchannel-with-headphone-mix.xml
qjackctl-routing-settings/church-eq-mix-splitchannel.xml
qjackctl-routing-settings/church-eq-mix.xml
qjackctl-routing-settings/church-eq-two-bass-setup.xml
qjackctl-routing-settings/keyboard-qsynth.xml
qjackctl-routing-settings/maudio-fasttrack.xml
qjackctl-routing-settings/onboard.xml
qjackctl-routing-settings/studio.xml
scripts/nl-prepare-raw-files-synth.sh
scripts/nl-prepare-raw-files.sh
scripts/nl-rec
scripts/nl-rec-1
scripts/nl-rec-service
scripts/nl-rec-service-synth
scripts/nl-split-rec
scripts/start-church-session
scripts/start-church-session-bass-with-synth
scripts/start-church-session-two-bassists
scripts/start-home-session
scripts/start-onboard-session

Jack Rack Presets

The jack-rack-presets/ files were gzip-compressed Jack Rack XML presets at 48 kHz. They store LADSPA plugin IDs, enabled/disabled state, wet/dry settings, and raw control values.

• home/ contained home practice chains for Fender Jazz bass, SR505ZW bass, and headphones.
• onboard/ contained onboard audio chains for headphones, SG200, SR505ZW, and Yamaha TRB bass.
• newlife/ contained New Life church chains for Yamaha TRB bass, a second bass, M48 mix, drums, and one or two headphone mixes.

The bass presets were mono chains for instrument tone/level processing. The headphone, M48, and drum presets were stereo or monitor-oriented chains used by the old patchbay and session launcher scripts.

QJackCtl Patchbays

The qjackctl-routing-settings/ XML files were QJackCtl patchbay definitions. They described JACK and MIDI clients, expected ports, and cables to restore session routing.

• FastTrack-Practice.xml routed a FastTrack practice setup with bass through Jack Rack, Hydrogen, QSynth, PulseAudio JACK sink/source, and meters.
• K6-Bass+System.xml routed a Komplete Audio 6 setup with Jack Rack, PulseAudio JACK, zita-at1, bridge meters, and MIDI control.
• maudio-fasttrack.xml routed FastTrack bass/headphones/QSynth practice use, including zita-at1, meters, and a JACK-to-ALSA MIDI bridge.
• keyboard-qsynth.xml connected Oxygen 61 and jack-keyboard MIDI into QSynth, with system and PulseAudio JACK audio routing.
• onboard.xml connected QSynth, MDA ePiano, jack-keyboard, Alesis Recital, LPK25, a2j/ALSA MIDI, PulseAudio JACK, and headphone routing.
• studio.xml routed a studio setup with bass, mic, MDA ePiano, Alesis Recital, LPK25, meter ports, and system outputs.
• church-eq-mix.xml, church-eq-mix-ears-only.xml, church-eq-mix-splitchannel.xml, church-eq-mix-splitchannel-with-headphone-mix.xml, church-eq-two-bass-setup.xml, and church-eq-bass-with-synth.xml described New Life church routings for bass, M48 mix/drum feeds, monitors, meters, tuner input, second-bass variants, and synth/MDA ePiano variants.

Legacy Scripts

The removed scripts were tightly coupled to JACK client names, QJackCtl profiles, Jack Rack session names, and specific capture/playback ports.

• start-home-session started QJackCtl profile Onboard48K, loaded home bass and headphone Jack Rack presets, and started j2amidi_bridge.
• start-onboard-session started QJackCtl profile Onboard48K and loaded onboard Yamaha TRB and headphone Jack Rack presets.
• start-church-session started QJackCtl profile Church48K, loaded New Life bass, M48 mix, drums, and headphone Jack Rack presets, started meterbridge, and ran devilspie.
• start-church-session-bass-with-synth extended the church session with yoshimi, a2jmidid, and separate bass/M48 meter bridges.
• start-church-session-two-bassists extended the church session with second bass and second headphone Jack Rack chains plus separate meters.
• nl-rec recorded three JACK capture ports with jack_capture.
• nl-rec-1 recorded the sermon channel from system:capture_3.
• nl-rec-service recorded worship, sermon, and altar files from the church capture ports.
• nl-rec-service-synth recorded the same service files while also capturing Yoshimi left/right outputs.
• nl-split-rec split one .wavex file into M48, drums, and bass WAV files.
• nl-prepare-raw-files.sh split worship.wavex and altar.wavex into M48, drums, and bass WAV files with ffmpeg.
• nl-prepare-raw-files-synth.sh did the same split while also extracting synth left/right WAV files.

These files document the old JACK-era workflow but are no longer the active direction for this repository.