Category Archives: Linux

Audioware For Linux

Euphonica ~ Advanced MPD Frontend

Posted by tom2tec on

An MPD frontend with delusions of grandeur.

It exists to sate my need for something that’s got the bling and the features to back that bling up.

Features:

  • Adaptive GTK4+libadwaita UI for most MPD features, from queue reordering and ReplayGain to crossfade and MixRamp configuration.
  • Practically zero-cost static background blur powered by libblur. Go ham with blur radius!
  • Customisable spectrum visualiser, reading from MPD FIFO or system PipeWire.
  • Automatic accent colours based on album art (optional).
  • Advanced client-side dynamic playlists.
    • Both query-based and sticker-based filtering rules are supported at the same time.
    • Multiple ordering clauses (or random shuffle on refresh).
    • Auto-refresh scheduling (hourly, daily, weekly, etc).
    • Optional fetch limit for things like top-10 playlists.
    • Graphical rules editor with live error checking.
    • Save a dynamic playlist’s current state as an MPD-side static playlist whenver you want.
    • JSON import/export for sharing & backing up dynamic playlist rules.
  • Fetch album arts, artist avatars and synced song lyrics from external sources (currently supports Last.fm, MusicBrainz and LRCLIB).
  • myMPD-compatible stickers handling.
  • Integrated MPRIS client with background run supported. The background instance can be reopened via your shell’s MPRIS applet, the “Background applications” section in GNOME’s quick settings shade (if installed via Flatpak) or simply by launching Euphonica again.
  • Rate albums (requires MPD 0.24+) and individual songs.
  • Audio quality indicators (lossy, lossless, hi-res, DSD) for individual songs as well as albums & detailed format printout.
  • Asynchronous search for large collections. The app as a whole should work with any library size (tested with up to 30K songs).
  • Configurable multi-artist tag syntax, works with anything you throw at it.
    • In other words, your artist tags can be pretty messy and Euphonica will still be able to correctly split them into individual artists.
  • Performant album art fetching & display (LRU-cached to both cut down on disk reads and RAM usage).
  • Volume knob with dBFS readout support (‘cuz why not?).
  • ncmpcpp-inspired keyboard shortcuts.
  • User-friendly configuration UI & GSettings backend.
  • MPD passwords are securely stored in your user’s login keyring.
  • Commands are bundled into lists for efficient MPD-side processing where possible.

github.com/htkhiem/euphonica

soundKonverter ~ KDE Conversion & Ripping

Posted by tom2tec on

soundKonverter is a frontend to various audio converters.

The key features are:

  • Audio conversion
  • Replay Gain calculation
  • CD ripping

github.com/dfaust/soundkonverter
github.com/nphantasm/soundkonverter
store.kde.org/p/1126634

GSonic ~ Stereo Redefined

Posted by tom2tec on

GSonic Reference is a high-quality speaker and room correction tool that generates precision FIR correction filters from in-room measurements. It combines spatial measurement averaging with advanced filter generation to deliver studio-grade correction for any stereo listening environment.

Features:

  • Integrated Measurement & Filter Generation — Measure and generate in a single application
  • Spatial Averaging — Multi-position measurement for robust, position-independent correction
  • Automatic Clock Drift Compensation — No need for loopback cables or synchronized clocks
  • Low Latency Filters — 32,768-tap FIR filters at 48 kHz (pure C++ codebase, 341 ms processing latency)
  • Stereo Balance — Perceptual loudness-based stereo balancing
  • Target Curve Support — Built-in presets or bring your own custom target curves
  • Multiple Output Formats — Mono (L/R) and interleaved stereo WAV filters for maximum compatibility
  • ASIO & WASAPI Support — Choose your preferred audio backend on Windows

github.com/ObsessiveCompulsiveAudiophile/GSonic
hydrogenaudio.org/index.php/topic,129351.0

KMix ~ Mixer & Volume Control

Posted by tom2tec on

KMix is a sound channel mixer and volume control.

apps.kde.org/kmix
github.com/kde/kmix
invent.kde.org/multimedia/kmix
docs.kde.org/trunk_kf6/en/kmix
userbase.kde.org/KMix

JuK ~ Audio Jukebox Application

Posted by tom2tec on

JuK is an audio jukebox application, supporting collections of MP3, Ogg Vorbis, and FLAC audio files. It allows you to edit the “tags” of your audio files, and manage your collection and playlists. Its main focus, in fact, is on music management.

Features:

  • Collection list and multiple user defined playlists
  • Ability to scan directories to automatically import playlists and music files on start up
  • Dynamic Search Playlists that are automatically updated as fields in the collection change
  • A Tree View mode where playlists are automatically generated for sets of albums, artists and genres
  • Playlist history to indicate which files have been played and when
  • Inline search for filtering the list of visible items
  • The ability to guess tag information based on the track’s file name
  • File renamer that can rename files based on the tag content
  • Tag reading and editing support for many formats including ID3v1, ID3v2 and Ogg Vorbis

apps.kde.org/juk
github.com/KDE/juk
invent.kde.org/multimedia/juk
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JuK

Audex ~ KDE CD Ripper

Posted by tom2tec on

Audex is a CD ripper application. It lets you extract the audio from your CDs to let you listen to them on your computer and your other devices. It includes CDDB and MusicBrainz integrations to fetch the metadata and covers for your CDs if available.

apps.kde.org/audex
github.com/KDE/audex
invent.kde.org/multimedia/audex
userbase.kde.org/Audex
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDE_Gear#Playback

K3b ~ KDE Disk Burner

Posted by tom2tec on

K3b was created to be a feature-rich and easy to handle CD and DVD burning application. It consists of basically three parts:

  • The projects: Projects are created from the file menu and then filled with data to burn
  • The Tools: The tools menu offers different tools like CD copy or DVD formatting
  • Context sensitive media actions: When clicking on the icon representing a CD/DVD drive K3b will present its contents and allow some further action. 

apps.kde.org/k3b
github.com/kde/k3b
sourceforge.net/projects/k3b
snapcraft.io/k3b
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K3b
K3b Themes

jamailmar ~ Multi-threaded Ogg Vorbis Decoder

Posted by tom2tec on

Linux code to decode Ogg Vorbis files with multi-thread support

sourceforge.net/projects/jamailmar

Pear Desktop ~ Desktop Client For YouTube Music

Posted by tom2tec on

Pear Desktop is an Electron-based desktop client for YouTube Music designed for Windows, Linux and macOS. The project keeps the standard YouTube Music interface while adding desktop integration, plugins, themes and additional playback features.

The application is open source and distributed under the MIT license.

Features:

  • Native desktop-style window and controls
  • Plugin framework
  • Ad blocker
  • Lyrics support
  • Last.fm scrobbling
  • Discord Rich Presence
  • Media key support
  • Custom themes and CSS
  • Audio compressor
  • Equalizer
  • Crossfade
  • Skip silences
  • SponsorBlock integration
  • Video/audio mode toggle
  • Notification support
  • Downloader plugin
  • OBS integration
  • System tray support
  • Global keyboard shortcuts

How It Works

Pear Desktop loads the standard YouTube Music web interface inside a desktop application window and extends it through plugins and Electron desktop integration. It is not a standalone music service and still requires a YouTube Music or Google account for normal use.

Basic Usage

  1. Download the correct installer for your operating system from the Releases page.
  2. Install and launch the application.
  3. Sign into your Google account.
  4. Use YouTube Music normally.
  5. Optional plugins can be enabled or disabled from the Plugins menu.

Platforms

  • Windows
  • Linux
  • macOS

Notes

Because Pear Desktop uses Electron, memory and CPU usage are generally higher than lightweight native audio players such as foobar2000 or AIMP. The project is intended primarily as a feature-enhanced desktop frontend for streaming music from YouTube Music rather than as a traditional local-library music player.

github.com/pear-devs/pear-desktop

cosmo-pd ~ Phase Distortion Synthesizer

Posted by tom2tec on

A monorepo for Casio CZ-101 phase distortion synthesis — including a preset manager web/desktop app, an in-browser phase distortion synthesizer, and a VST3/CLAP/AUv2 plugin.

github.com/fpbrault/cosmo-pd

PsalticTools ~ Byzantine Music Utilities

Posted by tom2tec on

A set of utilities for working with Byzantine sheet music.

PsalticTools includes:

• a set of utilities (plugins) for typing of Byzantine notes in parallel double notation (Byzantine and Western), based on MuseScore free music editor;
• the PsalticHelper program for searching for formulas of Byzantine music in music books.
• the UniPsaltica2 font with the characters of the musical Byzantine notation in Unicode.

Features:

  • MuseScore-based editor for creating scores in parallel double notation
  • Simple input neumes from the keyboard
  • Check typed notes for errors
  • PsalticHelper: Search by accents pattern or by musical phrase
  • A small collection of classic psaltic books

sourceforge.net/projects/psaltichelper

References:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_music
sourceforge.net/projects/byzorgan/

Groove ~ Cross-platform Music Player

Posted by tom2tec on

A cross-platform music player based on PyQt5, supports Win32, Linux and macOS.

github.com/zhiyiYo/Groove