---
name: "hydrogen"
section: "9"
platform: "linux"
package: "hydrogen"
version: "1.2.2+dfsg-2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/hydrogen/9"
---

# hydrogen(9)

a simple drum machine/step sequencer.

## NAME

hydrogen - a simple drum machine/step sequencer.

## SYNOPSIS

**hydrogen** \[*-v*\] \[*-h*\] *-s file*

## DESCRIPTION

Hydrogen 1.2.2 \[http://www.hydrogen-music.org\]. Copyright 2002-2008 Alessandro Cominu, Copyright 2008-2023 The hydrogen development team.

Hydrogen is an advanced drum machine for GNU/Linux. It's main goal is to bring professional yet simple and intuitive pattern-based drum programming.

Hydrogen comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions. See the file COPYING for details.

## OPTIONS

**-P**, **--data** PATH - Use an alternate system data path

**-d**, **--driver** AUDIODRIVER - Use the selected audio driver (jack, alsa, oss)

**-s**, **--song** FILE - Load a song (\*.h2song) at startup

**-p**, **--playlist** FILE - Load a playlist (\*.h2playlist) at startup

**-k**, **--kit** drumkit\_name - Load a drumkit at startup

**-i**, **--install** FILE - install a drumkit (\*.h2drumkit)

**-n**, **--nosplash** - Hide splash screen

**-V\[Level\]**, **--verbose**\[=*Level*\] - Print a lot of debugging info

-

  Level, if present, may be None, Error, Warning, Info, Debug or 0xHHHH

**-v**, **--version** - Show version info

**-h**, **--help** - Show this help message

## FILES

- **hydrogen.conf**

  Defaults and startup settings for Hydrogen.

- **data/\***

  Can contains user's data such as drumkits, patterns, playlists, songs, ...

## ENVIRONMENT

**LADSPA\_PATH**

Path to LADSPA plugins.

## BUGS & FEATURES REQUEST

If you find any bug or if you would like to propose a new feature, please report it to https://github.com/hydrogen-music/hydrogen/issues

## AUTHORS

The hydrogen development team. See complete list at Hydrogen's "About" Dialog. You can contact them at \<hydrogen-devel@lists.sourceforge.net\>.

- Subscription to the mailing list can be done here :

  http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hydrogen-devel .

## MISC

This manual page was written by Olivier Humbert \<trebmuh@tuxfamily.org\> as a part of the Hydrogen project.