midi on ubuntu?

[Matt Price]

Hey folks:

sorry for hte long delay, fabio.  I figured out that the usb out was
actually just for power -- oops! -- and I needed to hook up a usb-midi
converter to get the midi signal out.  Did that, now it seems to be working
(see below)

Really all my daughter wants to do is some minimal practicing -- that is,
she wants ot be able to hear some notes when she presses the keys on the
keyboard.  More complex stuff may come after I guess.

So, the question:  what software should I install for her?  In rosegarden, I
can see the midi events on the midi transport, but I don't see how to hear
any sounds.  muse won't run, complains about a missing midi sequencer (and
anyway, the two use incompatible versions of jack on ubuntu).

I *don't* want to trash pulse -- if only because I've spent years fighting
with alsa & jack in the past, and now I mostly just want to be able to
listen to my music on banshee or amarok or gogglesmm without writing
.aconfrc files & such.  But I am certainly willing to run qjackctl under
pasuspender while my daughter's practicing. But surely there's a simple way
just to listen to the output of the keyboard in some straightforwardway?
I'm trying qsynth right now but it doesn't seem to be working.  Again, any
help appreciated!  thanks,
matt

On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 8:54 AM, Fabio FZero <fabio.fzero-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:

> Short answer: it will work, go ahead and install Jack. :-)
>
> Long answer: Most USB MIDI controllers these days are class-compliant
> devices. This means they don't really need drivers to work on all
> modern operating systems. This also applies to many USB soundcards
> (better saying: soundbricks, since they're external), although the
> number of supported features may vary - especially if you have a more
> professional one with several I/O options.
>
> As for software, you'll probably need Jack anyway. Also try to find a
> low latency or realtime kernel in the repository, as it will make the
> sound system much more responsive. And don't forget to trash
> PulseAudio immediately. It serves no purpose and WILL screw everything
> up sooner or later.
>
> - Fabio
>
> On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 21:22, Matt Price <moptop99-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> > Hi folks,
> >
> > My daughter has borrowed a midi keyboard -- the m-audio oxygen-8, which
> has
> > a usb out.  She wants to use it to do some basic composition.  I myself
> know
> > very little about music and less about MIDI, but would like to help her
> > connect to the family ubuntu box.  That box runs ubuntu 10.10, and so
> uses
> > pulseaudio for things like watching tv.  I'd rather not screw that up by
> > trying to install jack and all that but I'll do so in a clean profile if
> I
> > must.  Anyone out there have experience with MIDI, especially under a
> recent
> > ubuntu?  All I really need is for the keyboard to work as a kind of
> > mini-piano.
> >
> > Thanks as always, folks.  best,
> > Matt
> >
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