[Techtalk] MIdi, QjackCtl etc.

[David Sumbler]

Thanks for the help you gave me regarding getting jack etc. working on
my machine.  I also had some help from the Linux Audio Users list, which
you pointed me to.

The main thing was getting rid of PulseAudio.  I had installed the
packages which are supposed to solve this problem, but had no success in
getting things to work.  Eventually I used Carla's instructions on Linux
Planet to get rid of PulseAudio altogether when I want to use the MIDI
editor.

I can now input music from my electric piano into Qtractor, hear what I
am doing, and edit it to my heart's content.

Thanks for all the help.

David


On Tue, 2015-09-08 at 19:20 +0300, Maria Pinjanainen wrote:
> ke, 2015-09-09 kello 01:00 +1000, Miriam English kirjoitti:
> > Hi David,
> > 
> > Have you tried adding a synthesiser in the chain?
> > 
> > The keyboard is commonly used to send MIDI signals to control something. 
> > Jack simply connects things together. Try using Jack to link the 
> > keyboard to a synthesiser program like Qsynth or FluidSynth. Make sure 
> > there are jack graphical connections between the keyboard and the 
> > synthesiser. Jack has 3 different kinds of connections (at least on my 
> > version): Audio, MIDI, and ALSA. It is a bit confusing because the MIDI 
> > inputs and outputs can be in jack's ALSA panel or the MIDI panel. It can 
> > be a bit frustrating at first to get the hang of the logic, but when you 
> > do, it will kinda seem obvious in retrospect.
> > 
> > The synth should let you select different voices (piano, harpsichord, 
> > violin, trumpet, etc). It may take a little while to find your way 
> > around the synth program -- music programmers seem to be a different 
> > breed from other programmers.
> > 
> > Let us know how you go.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > 
> > 	- Miriam
> > 
> > 
> > On 09/09/15 00:00, David Sumbler wrote:
> > > On Sat, 2015-09-05 at 10:14 -0700, Terry wrote:
> > >> On 05/09/2015 09:12, David Sumbler wrote:
> > >>
> > >> <snipped>
> > >>
> > >>> Cannot lock
> > >>> down 82246176 byte memory area (Cannot allocate memory)
> > >>
> > >> <snipped>
> > >>
> > >> According to
> > >> http://askubuntu.com/questions/166126/unable-to-start-jack-cannot-allocate-memory,
> > >> the fix is to:
> > >>
> > >> 1.  usermod -a -G audio theusername
> > >>
> > >> 2.  Logout then login again as group membership is only updated on login.
> > >
> > > The error I mentioned was just one of the problems.  The link you gave
> > > was useful, but having followed its suggestions I still have no sound on
> > > either computer when using jackd.
> > >
> > >
> > > On Sat, 2015-09-05 at 23:39 +0530, A. Mani wrote:
> > > On Sat, Sep 5, 2015 at 9:42 PM, David Sumbler <david at aeolia.co.uk>
> > > wrote:
> > >>> I wonder if somebody can point me in the right direction for sorting
> > > out
> > >>> a midi system.  Search as I might, I can't seem to find any *basic*
> > >>> information about how to set things up, or how things fit together.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Join http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-dev , related
> > >> mailing lists and have a look at their site.
> > >
> > > The users group and the documentation here will be very useful if and
> > > when I can get the sound working on my computers.  But unfortunately it
> > > does not cover difficulties in actually getting sound to work!
> > >
> > > Thanks to both of you for your suggestions.
> > >
> > > I can play a midi file using Timidity, and sound generally works OK on
> > > both my computers.  The problem I have is that once I have Qtractor or
> > > Muse running, with QjackCtl too, although everything appears to be
> > > working I get no sound.  This is after experimenting endlessly with
> > > different software connections.  It is the same on both computers,
> > > although they undoubtedly have very different hardware from each other.
> > >
> > > David
> 
> I have played midi too. Have seen same kind of messages, and have a
> feeling that jack-system not work well. when you play, you like to play
> realtime, without any lag, and this jack does fine. Usually jack uses
> Alsa, and connect midi and the synths to soundcards with it. But when
> for example Pulseaudio is allready using audiodevices, it fails. So,
> either skip the pulseaudio, like I did with that comp. or try to use the
> pulseaudio with jack and play with a little lag. 
>