MIDI? particularly in GNU/Liinux?

[darwin]

I tried using my Kurzweil 2000 with OMPT MIDI.  The K2000 is automatically in MIDI output mode, and I have tried it successfully on some tracker in Windoze.  WINE documentation says ALSA can send & receive MIDI, and I set up WINE to use ALSA (which I use for everything else.)  However, when I followed the OMPT manual and selected the red dot button, a channel, and a sample, tried each MIDI devices in OMPT setup, played a pattern and some keys, nothing worked.  Has anyone got OMPT MIDI to work with a hardware synthesizer in WINE?

[Saga Musix]

the "red dot button" is just for general recording (i.e. including the PC keyboard"). Have you, as I have said it on IRC, actually enabled MIDI record from the main toolbar (below the main menu)? It's the 7th button there.

[darwin]

Well, I enabled it in the menu.  I thought you had said the red button did that, so I always had that on, and I tried every MIDI device with the record on and off in the menu.

I am pretty sure my synth is transmitting MIDI because it has mode combinations to both control itself and an output with MIDI, and when I only set it to out, it did not make any sound... so when it is on 'both' (itself and out) it had to have been sending something out.  I think it worked like that last time.  This is really weird.

[Louigi Verona]

Did you try to work with JACK? WINE can work with JACK, just go to WINE config and to Audio and set audio to JACK. Then start JACK (do you have it installed?) and go to Connect->ALSA and there you can connect your midi keyboard to WINE and work from there.

But this is in case you want low latency. If you don't, WINE should work ok with your midi keyboard.
Still, do consider a different tracker if you are on GNU/Linux. Using WINE for music software is almost always a bad idea. Try Renoise.

[darwin]

Did you try to work with JACK?[...]
But this is in case you want low latency. If you don't, WINE should work ok with your midi keyboard.

I do not have it and I do not know what latency I need; first I just want it to work.

Still, do consider a different tracker if you are on GNU/Linux. Using WINE for music software is almost always a bad idea. Try Renoise.

I have been looking at all the trackers for years and actually using Milkytracker a little, but Modplug is much better.  I do not want to use Renoise or any non-Free Software.

[Louigi Verona]

Ah! Good - a fellow free software enthusiast!

Well, then - do install JACK. Which distro are you using?

[darwin]

I use Slackware/Slackware64 and I like NetBSD and have used some others.  Ok, I will try JACK.

[losername1234]

Similar situation to Darwin, but with Debian 6 (main repository all the way). The sound is coming through beautifully, MIDI works with JACK without issue, and the WINE configuration shows the ALSA MIDI devices. What to do?

[losername1234]

Here are 5 or 6 steps to get openmpt with MIDI input running smoothly on avlinux 5.0.3 (a distro based mostly on relatively recent versions of Debian software) with the help of non-free software wineasio which is included with the distro. Estimated time commitment: 30 minutes. Further explanation may be due and is added below.

1. Install openmpt using wine.

2. In the "audio" menu of avlinux, set up the wineasio dll by clicking on wineasio .

3. Start openmpt with qjackctl not running and a new (or old) song. Click the red record dot and the MIDI keyboard input icon so that they are toggled on, which I believe appears as depressed.

4. Start qjackctl and select the onboard sound card, rather than a USB audio interface, in qjackctl's "Setup" menu, assuming you want to run other audio programs in tandem with openmpt.

5. You may have to run A2JMIDID in the "audio" menu of avlinux.

6. Repeat steps 3, 4, and possibly 5 once or twice. One or more of the programs may require restarting before settling (mostly automatically) into their final working states.



My laptop (a core 2 duo 1.6 ghz) with a USB MIDI interface on OPENMPT 1.20.02.00 running in wine is at least basically functional (I haven't tested aftertouch, etc, etc) at low latency under avlinux 5.0.3 booted from an external usb hard drive.

Certain live performance hold ups occurred previously in my main line Debian 6 install, probably involving challenges setting up wineasio, perhaps also because I have disabled onboard audio on that installation, thinking (correctly or incorrectly) that my external USB audio card would run everything faster. OPENMPT is still useable in "main" line Squeeze, but midi control may or may not function properly, and I will try that out later.

AVlinux 5.0.3, for its part, has a significant problem in that mounted disks are not automatically unmounted when you shutdown the system (at least when booting from USB). Despite using it in a couple of different modes, this has been a recurring problem for me, so I highly recommend vigilance when shutting it down. Trying to log out before shutdown is another dead end that will require lengthy disk checks the next time you boot from your main system. AVlinux should only be used in its "live" version and even then it is an iffy proposition if you are not well prepared to unmount all non system disks before shutdown.

Good tracking.

[losername1234]

With regard to main line Debian issues:

I have had no luck setting up wineasio for my Squeeze main install, and a2jmidid would "break" the main install, so that particular pursuit is out for now. One can guess that because it is at least basically functioning in avlinux, future versions of Debian will incorporate a2jmidid or some comparable tool.


Other avlinux issues:

I set up openMPT in AVlinux and confirmed my instructions above. Aside from the timing errors in MPT which have existed for years, and the disk unmounting errors (do not use AVlinux when tired or under the influence), the audio processing using MPT and other programs at the same time was smooth and MPT and the other programs were stable for 4 hours of late night work.

The only instability problem was when the whole system locked up when I clicked log out. The passwords that I thought I had set had not taken hold somehow, and no keyboard shortcuts could get me back into a prompt that would allow me shutdown the system properly!