pianoterm

Run shell commands from your piano

Description

Linux CLI tool to assign shell commands to keys or knobs on a USB MIDI Keyboard/Controller

Usage

pianoterm <port>

Note:

• It will keep trying to connect until it finds the port, use ctrl+c to stop it
• You must have aconnect and aseqdump in your path
• You can use 'acconect -i' to find the port

Configuration

• path: ~/.config/pianoterm/config

Example Config

## Control audio playback
on_press
21 = playerctl previous # first key on an 88-key keyboard
22 = playerctl play-pause
23 = playerctl next

## Map directly to keyboard keys (Wayland)
on_press
107 = ydotool key 108:1
108 = ydotool key 103:1
on_release
107 = ydotool key 108:0
108 = ydotool key 103:0

## Run custom scripts
69 = /home/me/my_script.sh

## Assign multiple commands to run sequentially on the same key press
60 = notify-send "command 1"
60 = notify-send "command 2"

## Map controller events (pedal presses, knob switches, ...)
64 (127) = notify-send "Pressed pedal" # 127 in this case is the max pedal output
64 (0)   = notify-send "Released pedal"

Syntax Explanation

• Keys and buttons:

# Default - on_press
[on_press|on_release|on_hold]

key = command

• Controllers (pedals, knobs, etc.):

# Must include a trigger value
# A trigger is numeric value greater than 0. (usually the pressure on a pedal, the volume on a knob, etc.)

key (trigger) = command

Notes:

• A different key and controller can share the same key.
• You can use aseqdump -p to find keycodes and controller values.

Building

git clone https://github.com/vustagc/pianoterm.git
cd pianoterm && make

Dependencies

• C compiler
• alsactl (1.2.15.2)
• make (optional)

Playing Supertux on the Piano

supertux_piano_demo.mp4