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Creating and Playing Music Scores
JACK is an application for Windows and OS X that allows you to route audio and MIDI from one application on your computer to another. Relevant to RobOrchestra, it allows you to route MIDI data from any audio application to your computer's USB port.
JACK can be downloaded here: http://www.jackaudio.org/downloads/. For both Windows and OS X, download JACK2. Once you have installed JACK on your machine, you should be able to launch an application called "jackPilot." This is the application you will use to route audio from Musescore to RobOrchestra.
Before being able to route MIDI using JACK, you need to make a change in the preferences. Launch the jackPilot application, and in the top toolbar navigate to JackPilot->Preferences. Check the 'Activate MIDI' box and save your changes.
(If Preferences is grayed out, it probably means you have an active JACK session running. Stop the session and you should be able to activate the Preferences menu.)
Musescore is a free, open source music notation software. It can be downloaded here: https://musescore.org/en. Using musescore, you can notate a song to be played by the orchestra. For SnareBot, create an instrument staff that plays rhythm on the note C2. For TomBot, create an instrument staff that plays rhythm on the note C#2. For Xylobot, create an instrument staff that plays in the range C4-E5.
In order for RobOrchestra to read a score properly, do not include any miscellaneous markings(dynamics, accents, etc). The first staff(routes to channel 0) should be the Xylobot line. The second staff(routes to channel 1) should include BOTH the snareBot and tomBot lines
To play your Musescore score on RobOrchestra, we will need to use JACK. In the Musescore menu navigate to Musescore->Preferences->I/O. Uncheck the box next to PortAudio and check the box next to JACK audio server. Apply the settings and restart musescore.
Next, open the jackPilot application(it is a small window) and click start to boot up the server. Once the JACK server has started, you can now click the routing button. Under send ports you should see an option for "mscore." Click this option, and you should now see "mscore-midi-1" listed as a send port. On the receive port side, click on "system_midi" to reveal the MIDI outputs for your device, labeled "playback_1-4"
Double click on "mscore_midi_1" then double click on "playback_1" Both ports should now appear red, indicating that you have connected them. Now, when you play your musescore file you should hear it played by the Orchestra!