Conceptual Overview

Yoshimi is a software synthesizer, a live software-DSP audio signal generator. It receives MIDI signals as input either from ALSA or JACK, performs huge collections of programmed computations to generate signals per each MIDI command it receives and combinations thereof, and sends digital audio out via either direct ALSA output or through JACK. It does not use soundfonts or samples, but instead calculated generates all of its signals on the fly. It is therefore a direct descendant of all live synthesizers, including the RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer and the earliest Moogs, on through the Oberheims and others, all the way up through the modern Korgs, Rolands, Yamahas and many more. It contains many different algorithms, ranging from some relatively recent to the originals, all of them easily controllable by GUI knobs, sliders, value entries, et cetera.

It comes with several collections of patches, some of them quite large, and there are more for download elsewhere. All of its patches can be edited immediately in GUI. Groups of 16, 32, and 64 patches can be loaded and run at any one time; the 16 MIDI channels can be assigned to any; and configurations of the whole can be saved in files. Some Yoshimi patches are extremely complex and/or require extraordinary computations, and so Yoshimi is designed to enable multiple entire setups to be run as independent instances, to take fullest advantage of multiple CPUs, larger contingents of RAM, Jack2, and other situations of heavy demand.

Yoshimi is a "fork" of ZynAddSubFX, which was created by Nasca Octavian Paul and now maintained by Mark McCurry with others; it is itself a project of profound excellence continuing with extraordinary strength. Since the fork there has been considerable code exchanged between the two projects, and many patches designed for one, work with the other in the same way or similarly. However, Yoshimi is not ZynAddSubFX, they are two major tools with different strengths and foci thereof. You may well find that you should try them both!

Do remember to have fun!!!!!