2.1 Download and Startup

Ankang can be downloaded as binary package for GNU/Linux from its Github release page:

https://github.com/tim-janik/anklang/releases/

To test bleeding edge versions, "Nightly" builds are also available, but mileage may very with these. In particular stability or file format compatibility can be affected in the nightly versions.

The Debian package (.deb) can be installed with tools like gnome-software or via the command line:

# Install Anklang system wide
sudo apt install Downloads/anklang_[VERSION]_amd64.deb
# Start via system PATH
anklang

The AppImage package can be executed without an installation step. Once downloaded, it needs permissions for execution and can be run right away. This is done for instance as follow:

• Once downloaded, open ~/Downloads/ for instance via web browser → 'Show in Folder'
• Right click on the AppImage to open the file manager context menu
• Select 'Permission' → 'Execute' → [x] Allow executing file as program
• After that, the AppImage can be started directly from the file manager

Of course, the same can also be done via the command line:

# Enable execution of the AppImage
chmod +x ~/Downloads/anklang-[VERSION]-x64.AppImage
# Run Anklang via self contained AppImage
~/Downloads/anklang-[VERSION]-x64.AppImage

2.2 Driver Setup

Once Anklang is started, drivers and other settings can be adjusted in the Preferences. The 'File Menu' in the upper left includes an item to open the 'Preferences' dialog.

Depending on the system, a number of PCM and MIDI devices can be selected here. The "PulseAudio Sound Server" or "Automatic driver selection" should work on most systems out of the box. On systems with Jackd installed, the Jackd sound server needs to be running first:

# Suspend PulseAudio and run Jackd instead
# -r avoids realtime mode which requires special rights
# -d alsa uses the Jackd ALSA backend
pasuspender -- jackd -r -d alsa

The Jackd server should be running now, so in Anklang the "JACK Audio Device" can be selected. To verify Anklang does indeed use Jackd, the setup can be inspected as follows:

# List active Jack ports
jack_lsp
# The list should include 'AnklangSynthEngine'

# Start GUI to control Jackd
qjackctl
# Click on the "Graph" button to show connections
# The graph should include 'AnklangSynthEngine'

3.1 ANKLANG(1)

NAME

anklang - Music composition and modular synthesis application

SYNOPSIS

anklang [OPTIONS] [FILES...]

DESCRIPTION

Anklang is a digital audio synthesis application for live creation and composition of music and other audio material. It is released as free software under the MPL-2.0.

Anklang comes with synthesis devices which can be arranged in tracks and controlled via MIDI input devices or pre-programmed clips which contain MIDI notes.

The Anklang sound engine is a dedicated process which is controlled by a user interface based on web technologies that can be run in a special process (like electron) or modern browsers like firefox(1) or google-chrome(1).

OPTIONS

Anklang supports short and long options which start with two dashes ('-').

--

Stop argument processing, treat remaining arguments as files.

-h, --help

Show a help message about command line usage.

--fatal-warnings

Abort on warnings and failing assertions, useful for test modes.

--check

Execute internal tests and benchmarks.

--disable-randomization

Enable deterministic random numbers for test modes.

-v, --version

Print information about the program version.

SEE ALSO

Anklang Website

4.1 Reference for ui/host.js