Outsider

This software provides a GUI for controlling the Blackstar ID range of amplifiers, and is an alternative to Blackstar's own Insider software. It is primarily written for Linux, as the Blackstar Insider software is not available for that platform, but since it is written in Python it should work on any platform. Patches to support other platforms would be gratefully received.

Screenshot

Current status

This software is usable, but still under heavy development.

Currently implemented:

• Control of amplifier front panel controls
• Control of amplifier effects

To be implemented:

• Selection of amplifier presets/patches [Work in progress]
• Saving of amplifer presets/patches [Work in progress]
• Uploading of presets/patches to amplifier [Work in progress]
• Control for effects loop on/off [Not started yet]
• Control for super-wide stereo on/off [Not started yet]
• Control for noise gate setting [Not started yet]
• Tuner [Not started yet]

Out of scope:

• Firmware updating

Pre-requisites

This software is written using Python 3.4. It requires PyQt5 and PyUSB. Python 2 isn't supported at present, but if you have a real need for Python 2 support, email me and I'll consider adding it.

Fedora 22

The following command should install all necessary pre-requisites:

dnf install python3-setuptools python3-qt5 python3-pyusb

Ubuntu 14.04

apt-get install  python3-setuptools python3-qt5 python-usb

Other distributions

Please help me to add instructions for other distributions here - please send patches against this file.

Installation

The following command, ran from the root directory of the sources, will install the software:

python3 setup.py install

If you prefer to install the software only for your current user, rather than system wide, the following command will do that:

python3 setup.py install --user

The following command will display more options:

python3 setup.py --help

Installation of udev rules

The file blackstar-id.rules contains udev rules to allow the user at the active seat to access the blackstar hardware. This file needs to be copied to the directory /etc/udev/rules.d/ eg.

cp -a blackstar-id.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/69-blackstar-id.rules

and then the rules need to be reloaded:

udevadm control --reload-rules

Running the program

If you installed the package system wide, simply typing the following should launch the GUI:

outsider

On the other hand, if you installed the package using the --user option (see above), then the program will be located under your user directory in the directory .local/bin which may or may not be on the PATH, depending on what distribution you're using. If it's not on the PATH, you can type:

~/.local/bin/outsider

Contributors

The program was written by Jonathan Underwood (jonathan.underwood@gmail.com), and the following people have made valuable contributions:

• Rhys Yarranton

License

The software is made available under the GPLv3 license , which includes this Disclaimer of Warranty:

THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

Full details of the license can be found in the COPYING file.