tek

a music making program for 24-bit unicode terminals.

written in rust with ratatui on crossterm for jack and pipewire.

tek is available as source, statically linked binaries, and on the aur.

hmu on mastodon @unspeaker@mastodon.social or matrix @unspeaker:matrix.org

this codebase produces the following binaries:

tek_sequencer is a single-track, multi-pattern MIDI sequencer with properly tempo-synced pattern switch
tek_groovebox connects the sequencer to a sampler, so that you can sample while you sequence
tek_arranger is a multi-track sequencer based on a familiar clip launching UI
tek_transport is a JACK transport controller
tek_sampler is a MIDI-controlled sampler
tek_plugin is an audio plugin host.
tek_channel is a standalone channel strip
tek_mixer is an audio mixer.

some of these are currently work in progress.

the project roadmap is at https://codeberg.org/unspeaker/tek/milestones

getting started

requirements: linux; jack or pipewire; 24-bit terminal (i use kitty)
recommended: midi controller; samples in wav format; lv2 plugins.

arch linux

tek is available as a package in the AUR. you can install it using an AUR helper (e.g. paru):

paru -S tek

downloads

see the releases page.

building from source

you'll need a Rust toolchain and various system libraries.

you can obtain the former using rustup and the latter using nix-shell. there's a shell.nix provided with the project.

from there, use the commands in the Justfile, e.g.:

just arranger

note that tek > 0.2.0-rc.7 will require rust nightly for the unstable features type_alias_impl_trait and impl_trait_in_assoc_type. make some noise for lucky rust rfc2515 if you want to see this buildable with stable/beta.

design goals

lightweight

pop-up scratchpad for musical ideas
low resource consumption, can stay open in background
advanced toolset allows quickly expanding on compositions

flexible

inspired by trackers and hardware sequencers
able to record while playing!

programmable

human-readable project format
command architecture allows for scripting and remapping

Note

Your moral support means a lot to me. Feel free to contact me on Mastodon![^0]

Love, 🤫 (a rogue knowledge worker in a cyberpunk dystopia)

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tek