FAQ
Is it free?
Section titled “Is it free?”Yes. OpenRig is free software under the GNU General Public License, version 3 or later. The images, the app and the source are on GitHub.
What latency should I expect?
Section titled “What latency should I expect?”With the default buffer, 128 frames × 2 at 48 kHz, the buffer adds about 5 ms each way, plus the conversion time of your interface. Neural and impulse response blocks add no latency of their own.
How many blocks can it run?
Section titled “How many blocks can it run?”It depends on the blocks. A full A2 neural capture uses about 12 % of one Raspberry Pi 5 core at 128 frames, and its Light quality about a quarter of that. Since 0.10.0 a heavy rig is spread over all four cores of the Pi 5: split branches play on their own cores and long chains are cut into stages, with no added latency. The top bar shows the load as you build: see Performance.
Does it use all the cores of the Pi 5?
Section titled “Does it use all the cores of the Pi 5?”Yes, since 0.10.0. The four Cortex-A76 cores share a heavy rig; on an x86_64 test machine with 4 cores, 8 neural captures in series went from 935 to 417 µs per period. Settings → Processing sets how many cores the effects may use (Auto by default). See Multi-core DSP.
Which mini PC can I use?
Section titled “Which mini PC can I use?”One that boots in UEFI, has Intel graphics and a CPU with AVX2: an Intel N100 or a Core i from
Haswell (2013) on, for instance. Celerons and Pentiums such as the J4125 or N4020 lack AVX2 and
cannot start the x86_64 image. grep -o avx2 /proc/cpuinfo tells. See
What you need.
What if a plugin crashes?
Section titled “What if a plugin crashes?”The pedalboard keeps playing. A plugin that crashes while processing the sound is caught: the dry signal plays on while the chain is built again, and the log says what happened. If the chain keeps failing, the dry signal stays until your next change (removing the block, loading another preset). Broken presets, impulse responses, plugin bundles or downloads are skipped with a line in the log instead of stopping the app.
Do I need a TONE3000 account?
Section titled “Do I need a TONE3000 account?”No. You can copy your own .nam captures and .wav impulse responses to the pedalboard. A free
TONE3000 account lets you download captures on the pedalboard itself.
Can I use my Raspberry Pi 4?
Section titled “Can I use my Raspberry Pi 4?”Not with the release images, which are built for the Pi 5 and the Pi 500. The app itself builds on any Linux; on older boards, expect fewer neural blocks.
Does it work with my audio interface?
Section titled “Does it work with my audio interface?”If it works on Linux without a driver (class compliant), most likely. It was tested with a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. Sound HATs work on the Pi with their overlay.
Can I run it on my computer?
Section titled “Can I run it on my computer?”Yes: the release has the app for Linux (x86_64 and aarch64), which needs JACK. It builds on macOS and Windows too, see Build from source.
Will updates erase my presets?
Section titled “Will updates erase my presets?”No. Updates from Settings keep everything on the data partition. Only writing a new image to the card erases it.
Is OpenRig affiliated with TONE3000?
Section titled “Is OpenRig affiliated with TONE3000?”No. OpenRig is an independent project that uses the TONE3000 API. TONE3000 is a trademark of TONE3000.
How can I help?
Section titled “How can I help?”Try it and report what does not work, send a pull request, or test the x86_64 image on a real mini PC. See Contributing.