eMDee is a live performance and rehearsal tool for musical directors which removes the need to have folders of tracks and media players open in order to play backing tracks for performance groups such as singers, choirs, and theatre-groups.

The MD can plan in advance the order of performance; later, eMDee will facilitate the playing of each track in the specfied order during the performance. The volume of each track can be adjusted, and tracks can be skipped etc.

eMDee runs on GNU Linux systems such as Mint, Debian, Ubuntu, etc. and Windows.

• eMDee Musical Director's Assistant
  • Core Features
  • Session Editing
  • Prerequisites
    • GNU/Linux
    • Windows
  • Installation
    • Install Executable
      • GNU/Linux
      • Windows
    • From Source Download
  • Usage
  • Changes

• Create 'session' of 'tracks'
• Tracks may be audio (FLAC, MP3, OGG, WAV) or MIDI files (played externally)
• Tracks may be re-ordered
• Tracks may be marked for skipping in performance
• Controls are provided to Play, Stop, Skip, etc.
• Audio tracks may have a volume modified
• Each track can have a specific silent lead-in
• Dummy or 'placeholder' tracks may be inserted to remind MD of a cappella pieces etc.
• Independently scalable interface, so you can have a nice big font for live use without reconfiguring your desktop

Third-party 'helper' applications are used to actually play the tracks, currently...

• ffplay for FLAC, MP3, OGG and WAV
• aplaymidi (Linux) or playsmf (Windows) for MIDI files on an external device such as a synthesizer, keyboard, organ, or digital piano

You must ensure those applications are installed on your system for eMDee to work, see below.

When a MIDI file is manually stopped from playing, an all-notes-off MIDI file is sent to the player to prevent stuck notes.

eMDee relies on well-known third-party applications to play audio and MIDI files, these must be installed for eMDee to function.

1. ffplay is part of the ffmpeg package on most systems derived from Debian (eg. Mint, Ubuntu). It should be installed via your usual package manager.
2. aplaymidi is part of the alsa-utils package on most systems derived from Debian (eg. Mint, Ubuntu). It should be installed via your usual package manager.

1. ffplay is a part of the ffmpeg package. A Windows binary is available at https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/#release-builds, you only need the essentials build for eMDee. If you are unsure how to install, see https://www.wikihow.com/Install-FFmpeg-on-Windows.
2. playsmf is part of "Div's MIDI Utilities" available here: http://public.sreal.com/~div/midi-utilities/.

You will neeed to ensure that both of these players are on your PATH so that eMDee can find them. There are clear instructions in the above FFmpeg installation guide on how to do this, follow the same steps for playsmf.

1. ffplay is a part of the ffmpeg package. A macOS binary is available at https://ffmpeg.org/download.html
2. playsmf is part of "Div's MIDI Utilities" available here: http://public.sreal.com/~div/midi-utilities/.

An AppImage file will normally be provided with each release. Install it in the usual manner.

TODO

Download and extract the latest release source code bundle from https://github.com/SMerrony/emdee/releases

Run the command go build ./cmd/emdee

The emdee executable will be in your current directory.

See our User Guide.

• 0.3.0(WIP) Rewrite in Go. Improvements to .toml file format, lead-in per track (not per session)
• 0.2.1 Fix case where last text field edited might not be saved
• 0.2.0 Add button to delete sound file from a track - Issue #2
• 0.1.1 Fix adding new tracks with no associated sound file - Issue #1
• 0.1.0 Initial release - runs OK on GNU/Linux and Windows