Music daw

Great! Here's a complete step-by-step guide to building an offline music21-based Kivy app with a piano roll and MIDI playback, using Termux on Android with Buildozer.

✅ What You'll Build

A Kivy Android app that:

  1. ✅ Lets you define music with Python code (music21)

  2. ✅ Saves it as MIDI

  3. ✅ Plays the MIDI on Android

  4. ✅ Shows a piano roll grid (custom UI)

📦 PART 1: SET UP TERMUX FOR KIVY + BUILDOZER

1️⃣ Install dependencies in Termux

pkg update && pkg upgrade pkg install python git unzip wget clang make pkg-config libffi zlib freetype libjpeg libpng libcrypt pip install --upgrade pip setuptools

2️⃣ Install Buildozer & Python libs

pip install cython virtualenv pip install buildozer

⛔️ If buildozer errors, install it in a virtualenv:

python -m venv venv source venv/bin/activate pip install buildozer

🛠️ PART 2: CREATE YOUR KIVY PROJECT

3️⃣ Make project folder

mkdir Music21App cd Music21App

4️⃣ Create project files

main.py – Main logic + Kivy App main.kv – Kivy UI music_engine.py – Code-based music with music21

🧠 main.py

from kivy.app import App from kivy.uix.boxlayout import BoxLayout from kivy.clock import Clock from music_engine import create_midi from jnius import autoclass

class RootWidget(BoxLayout): def generate_and_play(self): create_midi() # generates /sdcard/generated.mid self.play_midi()

def play_midi(self):
    MediaPlayer = autoclass('android.media.MediaPlayer')
    File = autoclass('java.io.File')
    player = MediaPlayer()
    file = File("/sdcard/generated.mid")
    player.setDataSource(str(file.getAbsolutePath()))
    player.prepare()
    player.start()

class MusicApp(App): def build(self): return RootWidget()

if name == 'main': MusicApp().run()

🎼 music_engine.py

from music21 import stream, note, chord

def create_midi(): s = stream.Stream() s.append(chord.Chord(["C4", "E4", "G4"], quarterLength=1)) s.append(note.Note("A4", quarterLength=1)) s.append(chord.Chord(["F4", "A4", "C5"], quarterLength=1)) s.write('midi', fp='/sdcard/generated.mid')

🎨 main.kv

: orientation: 'vertical' spacing: 10 padding: 20

Button:
    text: "Generate and Play Music"
    on_press: root.generate_and_play()

⚙️ PART 3: Configure buildozer.spec

buildozer init

Then edit buildozer.spec:

[app] title = Music21App package.name = music21app package.domain = org.kivy.music21 source.include_exts = py,kv requirements = python3,kivy,music21,jnius android.permissions = WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE,READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE

📱 PART 4: Build and Deploy APK

Now you're ready to build the APK:

buildozer android debug

If success:

buildozer android deploy run

You’ll see a simple UI. Tapping the button will:

✅ Use music21 to generate MIDI ✅ Save it to /sdcard/generated.mid ✅ Play it using Android's MediaPlayer

🎹 PART 5: (Optional) Draw Piano Roll in Kivy

To draw a piano roll grid:

with self.canvas: for i, pitch in enumerate(pitches): Rectangle(pos=(i * 50, pitch * 10), size=(50, 10))

This is a custom Canvas visualization. I can give you this next after confirming playback works.

✅ Final Checklist

Feature Status

music21 MIDI generation ✅ Android MIDI playback ✅ Kivy offline UI ✅ Piano roll drawing 🔜

Would you like me to send the full ZIP of this project or add piano roll UI next?

You're almost there! 🟢 You just need to fix two small things in your buildozer.spec file:

✅ Fix #1: Add source.dir

This tells Buildozer where your source code is. Since all your code is in the same directory (sridaw/), add this line under [app]:

source.dir = .

✅ Fix #2: Set version

Add a version number so Buildozer can tag the app. Add this line under [app]:

version = 0.1

✅ Example Correct [app] Section:

[app] title = Sridaw package.name = sridaw package.domain = org.kivy.sridaw source.dir = . version = 0.1 requirements = python3,kivy,music21,jnius android.permissions = WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE,READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE

🛠️ After that:

Now re-run:

buildozer android debug

It will:

Download the Android SDK/NDK

Build your Kivy + music21 app

Output the APK in bin/ folder

To install it:

buildozer android deploy run

Let me know when the APK builds, and I’ll help add:

🎹 Custom piano roll UI

📝 Melody text input → MIDI

💾 Save & load tracks

Want a starter piano roll drawing next? You're getting that error because you're trying to deactivate a Python virtual environment using an incorrect command.

✅ Correct Way to Deactivate a Python Virtual Environment in Termux

When your prompt looks like this:

((venv) ) ➜ ~

That means you're inside a virtual environment named venv.

✅ To deactivate:

Just type:

deactivate

That's it — no venv deactivate, just deactivate.

🧠 Extra Tip:

If deactivate doesn't work (very rare), it's likely:

You’re not in a Python venv

Your shell session is broken

In that case, you can restart Termux or run:

exec bash

Let me know if you want to automate venv creation and activation too.

You're very close! Your buildozer android clean && buildozer android debug is failing mainly because of:

❗️ Key Errors:

  1. Missing python-for-android directory

FileNotFoundError: No such file or directory: '/root/shared/sridaw/.buildozer/android/platform/python-for-android'

This usually means buildozer hasn't fully initialized/downloaded dependencies.

  1. Missing zlib development headers

zlib headers must be installed, run: sudo apt-get install zlib1g-dev

But Termux Ubuntu via proot does not use sudo, so you need:

apt update apt install -y zlib1g-dev

✅ Solution Steps (inside proot Ubuntu):

  1. Install all required dev packages:

apt update && apt install -y \ build-essential \ git \ zip \ unzip \ zlib1g-dev \ libncurses5 \ libncurses5-dev \ libstdc++6 \ libffi-dev \ libssl-dev \ python3-pip \ openjdk-17-jdk \ libsqlite3-dev \ curl

  1. Install Buildozer & Kivy requirements (if not already):

pip install --upgrade pip setuptools pip install cython virtualenv pip install buildozer

  1. Clean and rebuild again:

cd /root/shared/sridaw buildozer android clean buildozer android debug

⚠️ Optional (if still fails due to python-for-android)

Try this one-time manual download:

git clone https://github.com/kivy/python-for-android ~/.buildozer/android/platform/python-for-android

✅ Recommendation

If you're building often, avoid running Buildozer as root. Instead, from Termux:

proot-distro login ubuntu --shared-tmp --bind ~/shared-dev:/home/ubuntu/shared --user ubuntu

Then build inside /home/ubuntu/shared/yourproject.

Let me know if you'd like a ready-made script to auto-install all Kivy/Buildozer dependencies in Ubuntu on Termux.

To create and use a Python virtual environment (venv) inside Termux or Proot-Distro Ubuntu, follow these simple steps:

🧪 Termux (native, outside proot):

  1. Install Python and venv tools

pkg update pkg install python

venv is included with Termux Python.

  1. Create a virtual environment

python -m venv venv

  1. Activate it

source venv/bin/activate

  1. Deactivate it

deactivate

🐧 Inside Proot Ubuntu (Recommended for Buildozer)

  1. Install Python and virtualenv (in proot Ubuntu)

apt update apt install -y python3 python3-venv python3-pip

  1. Create and activate virtual environment

python3 -m venv venv source venv/bin/activate

  1. Install your packages inside the venv

pip install buildozer cython

✅ Optional: Alias for activation

To make it easier, add this to your shell config (.bashrc or .zshrc):

alias workon="source ~/yourproject/venv/bin/activate"

📁 Folder Structure After Setup

root@localhost:~/shared/sridaw# source venv/bin/activate (venv) root@localhost:~/shared/sridaw#

zilb error termux is buggy so use ubuntu

You're doing everything right, but Termux has several limitations when running Buildozer due to missing tools, paths, and compatibility issues.

Your current error:

FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/.../python-for-android'

Means: Buildozer is missing the python-for-android directory, which should have been cloned and installed automatically — but Termux is failing to handle that properly.

✅ Best Solution: Use Ubuntu inside Termux via proot-distro

To make Buildozer fully work inside Termux, the recommended and working method is:

✅ Step 1: Install Ubuntu in Termux

pkg install proot-distro proot-distro install ubuntu proot-distro login ubuntu

✅ Step 2: Inside Ubuntu shell

Now you're inside Ubuntu, install dependencies:

apt update apt install -y python3-pip python3-setuptools git zip unzip openjdk-17-jdk curl build-essential libncurses5 pip install --upgrade pip pip install buildozer

Install Android SDK/NDK:

apt install -y wget buildozer android update

Buildozer will now automatically download python-for-android and required SDK/NDK tools inside Ubuntu.

✅ Step 3: Build your app

Inside your Ubuntu shell, go to your project:

cd /root/sridaw # Or wherever you copied your app buildozer android debug

📦 To copy your code into Ubuntu from Termux

In Termux:

cp -r sridaw ~/../usr/var/lib/proot-distro/installed-rootfs/ubuntu-22.04/root/

Now when you proot-distro login ubuntu-22.04, your code will be there.

🔁 Summary

Option Works in Termux? Notes

Direct Buildozer in Termux ❌ Very buggy Many native toolchain issues Buildozer in Ubuntu via proot-distro ✅ Fully works Clean, stable, tested

Would you like a one-command install script for Ubuntu + Buildozer setup in Termux?

Here's a one-command script to install Ubuntu + Buildozer inside Termux using proot-distro:

pkg install -y proot-distro && proot-distro install ubuntu && proot-distro login ubuntu --shared-tmp -- bash -c "apt update && apt install -y python3-pip python3-setuptools git zip unzip openjdk-17-jdk curl build-essential && pip install --upgrade pip && pip install buildozer && echo '✅ Buildozer ready. Place your project in /root and run: buildozer android debug'"

🔁 After running, copy your app folder into /root and inside Ubuntu, build with:

buildozer android debug

Let me know if you want this turned into a .sh script for reuse.

mkdir -p ~/shared-dev

proot-distro login ubuntu --shared-tmp --bind ~/shared-dev:/root/shared