Jack MIDI vs. ALSA

The crackling issue in Zynaddsubfx that I described earlier is supposed to be solved in Yoshimi, a Zynaddsubfx fork/derivative. There is even a package for it in the Ubuntu repositories, so I gave it a try.

However, I could not connect my MIDI controller (the AKAI MPK mini) to it. Why? Because the controller shows up in Qjackctl's ALSA tab, while Yoshimi is in the MIDI tab. Patchage and a2jmidid don't help, either. Apparantly the exact same problem goes for Bristol, simulator of classic organs and synths.

My MIDI controller is connected through USB, my audio interface is connected through Firewire. Thus I use the firewire driver in jack. I wonder if there is any way of making the controller work with Jack MIDI clients. I mean, OK, Jack MIDI is the new thing and ALSA midi may become obsolete. In any case it would be nice to still be able to use my USB MIDI controller, and I figure there has to be a solution.

EDIT: Starting Bristol with the "-midi alsa" option, or Yoshimi with the "-a" option does the trick. The apps will then show up in Qjackctl's ALSA tab.

Follow-up - Midi controllers!

Of course, I didn't quite do what I planned to do. This is what I have done, though:

• I've recorded song ideas using Hydrogen, Ardour and Qsynth. Nothing new or exciting here, except maybe for some LV2 plugins that I've tried. I might get back to them in another blog post.
  
• I've tried Rakarrack a bit. There are some horrid presets on there, but there are also some nice ones and I think this app might come in handy later on.
  
• I have bought an AKAI MPK mini!
• I've learned how to map MIDI control signals to seq24, to toggle loops (with the help of this thread and this chart of MIDI status codes). I've also learned how to map midi signals in Sooperlooper, which is considerably easier.
  
• I've learned how to route my "vintage" Nobels MF-2 midi foot controller to seq24 and Sooperlooper using a2jmidid and Patchage (see this page). One step closer to using my PC as a loop station!
• I have finally donated some money to the Ardour project. I'll donate to Hydrogen as well.
  

I might write in more detail later about my midi controllers and how to map them to seq24, Sooperlooper and so on.

I am also trying out Ableton Live again (in Windows, although it reportedly works with Wine). At this point, I need to figure out a workflow that works for me, no matter what platform - and although I think Live is fantastic, perhaps Linux will still be my primary choice. After all effort I've put into it, I feel quite at home with it and I know my preferred applications quite well. Setting things up is happily no longer such an issue. We'll see where it goes...

P.S. One thing I'd like to investigate is how Zynaddsubfx actually works (ie. how to customize instruments in detail) and why it makes noise that sounds like xruns when there are none (it was discussed in this old thread, also here with what looks like a possible solution - OK, so maybe there are still things that need to be tinkered with).

Krater - an album-a-day

So, that supposedly useful post I promised you will just have to wait. I will post it some time during the next decade or so...

Irony aside, I have recently recorded an album-a-day. It's called Krater and can be downloaded here. Most of it was done within 12 hours, with a minimal amount of mixing done the next day. I don't really know what to tell you about the music itself, there's some pop music with shaky vocals in Swedish and some instrumental tracks of different genres. I still love the sounds of the Roland TR-808 drum machine.

Stuff used:

Hardware
* Edirol FA-66
* Boss ME-50
* ADK A-51
* Fender Telecaster (thanks Caspar!)
* Peavey Cirrus 4

Software
* Ubuntu Studio (Hardy)
* Ardour
* Hydrogen
* seq24
* ZynAddSubFX
* Qsynth (with Fluid R3 sound font)

Jack crashed a couple of times during recording, but otherwise there were no issues from what I can remember.

What's next then? I still haven't installed Jaunty, but I will do it soon. Apparently there are still problems with the realtime kernel, but there is help!