|
This isn't exactly programming specific but I want to tap some MIDI tech from within a linux based OS but there are so many audio packages for linux I don't know which one is even the most popular in terms of install base (i'd want to target that one as a priority)
Does anyone here do any messing with MIDI from a linux box? What do you install to do it with?
Any recommendations or packages you know are popular would be helpful, i'm kind of treating this like an informal poll.
The internet is giving me 100 different opinions, but i figure i know where you all hang out so I can hold you to your suggestions 
Real programmers use butterflies
|
|
|
|
|
Not that I can help on the Linux front, but I'm not even sure what you're looking for. MIDI IN/OUT for Linux? An audio package for playing with samples?
|
|
|
|
|
audio drivers basically that let you use MIDI ports and the sound devices wavetable synthesizer
Real programmers use butterflies
|
|
|
|
|
Have you looked at ALSA ?
"We can't stop here - this is bat country" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
|
|
|
|
|
i am now, thanks to another comment. i appreciate it.
Real programmers use butterflies
|
|
|
|
|
If you are after a software MIDI synth, then you can use Yoshimi. It is installed with Ubuntu Studio (can also be installed separately). I have never used it (Yoshimi, but have used Ubuntu Studio). If you are trying to control events during a recording session, then use Ardour as the DAW and you can use MIDI to control events. If you are trying to use a MIDI keyboard to enter music notation, then I have no recommendations as I have not done it in a very long time. If you are looking for a software MIDI drum machine, then try Hydrogen.
I think the basic MIDI control is in Alsa, but you need a device that is supported by Linux...tricky to figure out, but there are various forums that discuss them (including the Ardour forums). It usually takes awhile for people to write the modules to drive new devices, so community support lags current devices by at least a few months, and often a year or two. Basic MIDI, however, is probably supported for many devices (it's usually the Alsa mixer portion that needs special driver modules).
|
|
|
|
|
Ahhh, brilliant! Your post is actually clarifying something for me. It looks like Alsa might be the way to go for targeting my MIDI code to.
Real programmers use butterflies
|
|
|
|
|
|
Quote: This is a very command-line-intensive tutorial.
Twenty-five years, and things haven't changed. 
|
|
|
|
|
i appreciate it but I'm trying to narrow my choices down - that has jack and alsa, and i'd like to know which one is better for me to target.
also that article is kind of old. Bookmarking it though
Real programmers use butterflies
|
|
|
|
|
A week or so ago I accidentally impulse-bought a MIDI keyboard, but instead of returning it, I installed Python3 packages and wrote a program to listen to the keyboard and play sounds. It's been fun.
The Python packages contain the fluidsynth.py, mido, and sf2utils modules.
mido reads MIDI notes from MIDI devices. The "o" at the end of the name is not a typo.
fluidsynth plays MIDI audio. I started it with fluidsynth.Synth().start(driver = "pulseaudio") not "alsa". fluidsynth makes sound from instrument recordings contained in "sound font 2" (.sf2) files. fluidsynth, itself, is a separate thing you apt install. The Python script is a wrapper around it. fluidsynth.py is at various places on GitHub. I'm using a very slightly tweaked version of one that has disappeared in the last week, but was a slightly tweaked version of pyfluidsynth/fluidsynth.py at feature/fluidsynth-2 · SpotlightKid/pyfluidsynth · GitHub[^] which is a modified version of the original somewhere else on GitHub.
sf2utils.sf2parse lets me read .sf2 files and list the instruments in them.
I found nice .sf2 files through a couple of URLs:
Soundfonts 4U[^]
SoundFonts and SFZ files | MuseScore[^]
The fluidsynth package, itself, contains a couple of OK .sf2 files.
I could not get LMMS to read my MIDI keyboard and/or make sound. Renoise hogged the CPU and, when running, whether idle or not, caused videos to not play in my browser and possibly not in VLC.
Good luck.
|
|
|
|
|
If you have simple needs ALSA may be sufficient. For more professional requirements you may want to consider jack (jackd). there is a front end Qjackctl. If your linux repo does not support them, try Fusion repos. Alsa can be bridged to jack with a2jmidi.
|
|
|
|
|
|
I saw that video in my recommended list last night.
Seems the video is getting more attention these days.
|
|
|
|
|
|
I see these medieval style videos a lot lately.
Hildegard von Blingin'
I vote to make the lute, lyre, hurdy gurdy and harpsichord popular again! 
|
|
|
|
|
Yeah, lots of artist doing medieval covers. This is not even the only medieval cover of "Somebody That I Used To Know". But most of the other artist only cover the music, not the lyrics...
Sander Rossel wrote: I vote to make the lute, lyre, hurdy gurdy and harpsichord popular again!
Thou meanest to say that they art not? 
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
-
The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
-
Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
Mark Twain
|
|
|
|
|
Sander Rossel wrote: I vote to make the hurdy gurdy popular again!
Your wish is my command! At over 3 million views, I've done pretty good!  (No, that's not me - I'm just pretending to take responsibility for someone else's accomplishment!)
|
|
|
|
|
Not bad at all!
However, I just searched for "Cardi B" and her latest videos have 73M, 35M, 330M (with Bruno Mars) and 895M(!) views.
The hurdy gurdy still has a long way to go 
Check out Patty Gurdy[^], she makes songs using the hurdy gurdy and promotes the instrument 
She's far more skilled than Cardi B and a lot nicer to look at, but her top songs "only" have 9M views 
|
|
|
|
|
Sander Rossel wrote: Check out Patty Gurdy[^]
Sander Rossel wrote: but her top songs "only" have 9M views
It's a pop world out there. I won't go into the dysfunctional recording industry / radio station buffoonery that keeps this system in place... 
|
|
|
|
|
thanks, that's delightful; i have listened to the original Gotye/Kimbra "art song" [^]
many times ... find it fascinating visually as well as audibly.
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
|
|
|
|
|
Was a big fan of Gotye's version, so was expecting to hate this, but....
This sounds more like the original version, than the original version! Loved it.
|
|
|
|
|
If you enjoy Medieval music, chekck out the playlist at Kalenda Maya - YouTube[^], and listen to those performed by the group Kalenda Maya. They are truly great, and try to do the music in the original style (as far as we can know what that is!) - the instrument builder of the group has been studying old stone sculptures of musicians playing instruments now forgotten, and made reconstructions. (Yes, they are truly professional guys!)
(I really should refer to Kalenda Maya in the past tense: They made their recordings in the 1980s and 1990s.)
The playlist includes other old music performances as well, but few of them as origial style and high quality as those by the Kalenda Maya group.
|
|
|
|
|
Why are they called "missiles" when you want them to hit?
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
|
Do projectiles ever hit their due date? Then why should missiles hit their targets?
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
