diff --git a/jack/Synthesizer/LLVM/Server/Option.hs b/jack/Synthesizer/LLVM/Server/Option.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jack/Synthesizer/LLVM/Server/Option.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+-- the options defined here overlap with the ALSA options
+module Synthesizer.LLVM.Server.Option (
+   T(..),
+   ClientName(ClientName),
+   get,
+   defaultChannel,
+   ) where
+
+import qualified Sound.MIDI.Message.Channel as ChannelMsg
+
+import System.Console.GetOpt
+          (getOpt, ArgOrder(..), OptDescr(..), ArgDescr(..), usageInfo, )
+import System.Environment (getArgs, getProgName, )
+import System.Exit (exitSuccess, exitFailure, )
+import qualified System.IO as IO
+
+import Control.Monad (when, )
+
+import Prelude hiding (Real, )
+
+
+data T =
+   Cons {
+      clientName :: ClientName,
+      channel, extraChannel :: ChannelMsg.Channel,
+      sampleDirectory :: FilePath
+   }
+   deriving (Show)
+
+
+deflt :: T
+deflt =
+   Cons {
+      clientName = defaultClientName,
+      channel = defaultChannel,
+      extraChannel = ChannelMsg.toChannel 1,
+      sampleDirectory = "speech"
+   }
+
+
+newtype ClientName = ClientName String
+   deriving (Show)
+
+defaultClientName :: ClientName
+defaultClientName =
+   ClientName "Haskell-LLVM-Synthesizer"
+
+defaultChannel :: ChannelMsg.Channel
+defaultChannel = ChannelMsg.toChannel 0
+
+
+
+exitFailureMsg :: String -> IO a
+exitFailureMsg msg =
+   IO.hPutStrLn IO.stderr msg >> exitFailure
+
+parseChannel :: String -> IO ChannelMsg.Channel
+parseChannel str =
+   case reads str of
+      [(chan, "")] ->
+         if 0<=chan && chan<16
+           then return $ ChannelMsg.toChannel chan
+           else exitFailureMsg "MIDI channel must a number from 0..15"
+      _ ->
+         exitFailureMsg $ "channel must be a number, but is '" ++ str ++ "'"
+
+{-
+Guide for common Linux/Unix command-line options:
+  http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/ch10s05.html
+-}
+description :: [OptDescr (T -> IO T)]
+description =
+   Option ['h'] ["help"]
+      (NoArg $ \ _flags -> do
+         programName <- getProgName
+         putStrLn
+            (usageInfo ("Usage: " ++ programName ++ " [OPTIONS]") description)
+         exitSuccess)
+      "show options" :
+   Option [] ["clientname"]
+      (flip ReqArg "NAME" $ \str flags ->
+         return $ flags{clientName = ClientName str})
+      "name of the JACK client" :
+   Option ['c'] ["channel"]
+      (flip ReqArg "CHANNEL" $ \str flags ->
+         fmap (\chan -> flags{channel = chan}) $
+         parseChannel str)
+      "select MIDI input channel (0-based)" :
+   Option [] ["extra-channel"]
+      (flip ReqArg "CHANNEL" $ \str flags ->
+         fmap (\chan -> flags{extraChannel = chan}) $
+         parseChannel str)
+      "select MIDI channel with effects" :
+   Option ['I'] ["sample-directory"]
+      (flip ReqArg "DIR" $ \str flags ->
+         return $ flags{sampleDirectory = str})
+      "directory for sound samples" :
+   []
+
+
+get :: IO T
+get = do
+   argv <- getArgs
+   let (opts, files, errors) = getOpt RequireOrder description argv
+   when (not $ null errors) $
+      exitFailureMsg (init (concat errors))
+   when (not $ null files) $
+      exitFailureMsg $
+         "Do not know what to do with arguments " ++ show files
+   foldl (>>=) (return deflt) opts
diff --git a/render/Synthesizer/LLVM/Server/Option.hs b/render/Synthesizer/LLVM/Server/Option.hs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/render/Synthesizer/LLVM/Server/Option.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,144 @@
+-- the options defined here overlap with the ALSA options
+module Synthesizer.LLVM.Server.Option (
+   T(..),
+   get,
+   defaultChannel,
+   defaultSampleRate,
+   ) where
+
+import Synthesizer.LLVM.Server.Common (SampleRate(SampleRate), )
+import qualified Data.StorableVector.Lazy       as SVL
+
+import qualified Sound.MIDI.Message.Channel as ChannelMsg
+
+import System.Console.GetOpt
+          (getOpt, ArgOrder(..), OptDescr(..), ArgDescr(..), usageInfo, )
+import System.Environment (getArgs, getProgName, )
+import System.Exit (exitSuccess, exitFailure, )
+import qualified System.IO as IO
+
+import Control.Monad (when, )
+
+import Prelude hiding (Real, )
+
+
+data T =
+   Cons {
+      channel, extraChannel :: ChannelMsg.Channel,
+      sampleDirectory :: FilePath,
+      sampleRate :: SampleRate Int,
+      chunkSize :: SVL.ChunkSize,
+      volume :: Float
+   }
+   deriving (Show)
+
+
+deflt :: T
+deflt =
+   Cons {
+      channel = defaultChannel,
+      extraChannel = ChannelMsg.toChannel 1,
+      sampleDirectory = "speech",
+      sampleRate = SampleRate defaultSampleRate,
+      chunkSize = SVL.chunkSize (128*1024),
+      volume = 0.2
+   }
+
+
+defaultChannel :: ChannelMsg.Channel
+defaultChannel = ChannelMsg.toChannel 0
+
+defaultSampleRate :: Num a => a
+defaultSampleRate = 44100
+
+
+
+exitFailureMsg :: String -> IO a
+exitFailureMsg msg =
+   IO.hPutStrLn IO.stderr msg >> exitFailure
+
+parseChannel :: String -> IO ChannelMsg.Channel
+parseChannel str =
+   case reads str of
+      [(chan, "")] ->
+         if 0<=chan && chan<16
+           then return $ ChannelMsg.toChannel chan
+           else exitFailureMsg "MIDI channel must a number from 0..15"
+      _ ->
+         exitFailureMsg $ "channel must be a number, but is '" ++ str ++ "'"
+
+parseNumber ::
+   (Read a) =>
+   String -> (a -> Bool) -> String -> String -> IO a
+parseNumber name constraint constraintName str =
+   case reads str of
+      [(n, "")] ->
+         if constraint n
+           then return n
+           else exitFailureMsg $ name ++ " must be a " ++ constraintName ++ " number"
+      _ ->
+         exitFailureMsg $ name ++ " must be a number, but is '" ++ str ++ "'"
+
+maxInt :: Integer
+maxInt =
+   fromIntegral (maxBound :: Int)
+
+{-
+Guide for common Linux/Unix command-line options:
+  http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/ch10s05.html
+-}
+description :: [OptDescr (T -> IO T)]
+description =
+   Option ['h'] ["help"]
+      (NoArg $ \ _flags -> do
+         programName <- getProgName
+         putStrLn
+            (usageInfo ("Usage: " ++ programName ++ " [OPTIONS] infile.mid [outfile.wav]") description)
+         exitSuccess)
+      "show options" :
+   Option ['r'] ["samplerate"]
+      (flip ReqArg "RATE" $ \str flags ->
+         fmap (\rate -> flags{sampleRate = SampleRate $ fromInteger rate}) $
+         parseNumber "sample-rate" (\n -> 0<n && n<=maxInt) "positive" str)
+      "sample-rate in samples per second" :
+   Option ['b'] ["blocksize"]
+      (flip ReqArg "SIZE" $ \str flags ->
+         fmap (\size -> flags{chunkSize = SVL.ChunkSize $ fromInteger size}) $
+         parseNumber "blocksize" (\n -> 0<n && n<=maxInt) "positive" str)
+      "block size as number of sample-frames" :
+{-
+   Option ['v'] ["volume"]
+      (flip ReqArg "FACTOR" $ \str flags ->
+         fmap (\x -> flags{volume = x}) $
+         parseNumber "volume" (const True) "any" str)
+      "block size as number of sample-frames" :
+-}
+   Option ['c'] ["channel"]
+      (flip ReqArg "CHANNEL" $ \str flags ->
+         fmap (\chan -> flags{channel = chan}) $
+         parseChannel str)
+      "select MIDI input channel (0-based)" :
+   Option [] ["extra-channel"]
+      (flip ReqArg "CHANNEL" $ \str flags ->
+         fmap (\chan -> flags{extraChannel = chan}) $
+         parseChannel str)
+      "select MIDI channel with effects" :
+   Option ['I'] ["sample-directory"]
+      (flip ReqArg "DIR" $ \str flags ->
+         return $ flags{sampleDirectory = str})
+      "directory for sound samples" :
+   []
+
+
+get :: IO (T, String, Maybe String)
+get = do
+   argv <- getArgs
+   let (opts, files, errors) = getOpt RequireOrder description argv
+   when (not $ null errors) $
+      exitFailureMsg (init (concat errors))
+   opt <- foldl (>>=) (return deflt) opts
+   case files of
+      [] -> exitFailureMsg "need MIDI input file"
+      [midiPath] -> return (opt, midiPath, Nothing)
+      [midiPath, wavePath] -> return (opt, midiPath, Just wavePath)
+      _ -> exitFailureMsg "too many file names given"
diff --git a/synthesizer-llvm.cabal b/synthesizer-llvm.cabal
--- a/synthesizer-llvm.cabal
+++ b/synthesizer-llvm.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:           synthesizer-llvm
-Version:        0.5.0.1
+Version:        0.5.0.2
 License:        GPL
 License-File:   LICENSE
 Author:         Henning Thielemann <haskell@henning-thielemann.de>
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@
   default:     True
 
 Source-Repository this
-  Tag:         0.5.0.1
+  Tag:         0.5.0.2
   Type:        darcs
   Location:    http://code.haskell.org/synthesizer/llvm/
 
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@
     -- llvm must be imported with restrictive version bounds,
     -- because we import implicitly and unqualified
     llvm-tf >=3.0 && <3.0.1,
-    tfp >=0.7 && <0.8,
+    tfp >=0.7 && <0.9,
     vault >=0.1 && <0.3,
     synthesizer-core >=0.6 && <0.7,
     synthesizer-midi >=0.6 && <0.7,
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@
 
       llvm-extra >=0.4.1 && <0.5,
       llvm-tf,
-      tfp >=0.7 && <0.8,
+      tfp,
       synthesizer-core >=0.6 && <0.7,
       synthesizer-midi >=0.6 && <0.7,
       midi >=0.2.1 && <0.3,
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@
 
       llvm-extra >=0.4.1 && <0.5,
       llvm-tf,
-      tfp >=0.7 && <0.8,
+      tfp,
       synthesizer-core >=0.6 && <0.7,
       synthesizer-midi >=0.6 && <0.7,
       midi >=0.2.1 && <0.3,
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@
 
       llvm-extra >=0.4.1 && <0.5,
       llvm-tf,
-      tfp >=0.7 && <0.8,
+      tfp,
       synthesizer-core >=0.6 && <0.7,
       synthesizer-midi >=0.6 && <0.7,
       midi >=0.2.1 && <0.3,
@@ -310,6 +310,8 @@
     Default-Extensions: CPP
   Hs-Source-Dirs: jack
   Main-Is:        Synthesizer/LLVM/Server/JACK.hs
+  Other-Modules:
+    Synthesizer.LLVM.Server.Option
 
 Executable synthi-llvm-render
   If flag(buildExamples)
@@ -318,7 +320,7 @@
 
       llvm-extra >=0.4.1 && <0.5,
       llvm-tf,
-      tfp >=0.7 && <0.8,
+      tfp,
       sox >=0.2.1 && <0.3,
       synthesizer-core >=0.6 && <0.7,
       synthesizer-midi >=0.6 && <0.7,
@@ -352,6 +354,8 @@
     Default-Extensions: CPP
   Hs-Source-Dirs: render
   Main-Is:        Synthesizer/LLVM/Server/Render.hs
+  Other-Modules:
+    Synthesizer.LLVM.Server.Option
 
 Executable synthi-llvm-test
   If flag(buildTests)
@@ -360,7 +364,7 @@
 
       llvm-extra >=0.4.1 && <0.5,
       llvm-tf,
-      tfp >=0.7 && <0.8,
+      tfp,
       synthesizer-core >=0.6 && <0.7,
       storablevector >=0.2.6 && <0.3,
       numeric-prelude >=0.3 && <0.5,