[ubuntu_studio] Midi in Ubuntu Studio 9.10.....

[dawiba]

....really isn't that great, which is sadly the same as Jaunty in my experience.

Overall, I've found this version of Studio (9.10) to be really good. The kernel seems to be really stable, setting up and hooking up my firewire interface was very simple and the audio programs and plugins are great. If only midi was better!

I tend not to use softsynths like Hexter or ZynaddsubFX. I like to record midi as I play my external keyboard, then playback the midi to trigger it's sounds. I'm using a firewire interface and I use a2jmidi (nice to see it included in the install). Using midi through firewire i.e. the actual process of getting midi into and out of the computer is fine like this, it's the programs that are the let down.

I can only speak for myself here, but perhaps the programs for recording midi should be reviewed and those that don't come up to scratch taken out of the default install.

I tried SEQ24 first. The issue when you would select 'new' at the initial screen and the program would then disappear, has been resolved thanks to this version being later than the version in Jaunty. So that's good. I can get SEQ24 to record midi. So that's good. However, it seems to be completely random as to when or if it will play back the midi and trying to get it to sync with Ardour has proved impossible for me so far (frequently results in SEQ24 crashing). This is a shame as SEQ24 should be a good program for me and the way I use midi.

I tried Muse, but try as I might, I couldn't get it to record midi. I tried every connection possible in jack control and tried every different setting in Muse I could imagine, but nothing happened (apart from Muse crashing). Muse seems to cater for softsynths, but not external sounds. So I gave up.

In Jaunty I had tried Rosegarden, but it made my keyboard behave a bit erratically sometimes, and it became a pain having to constantly reset sounds and channels. Also it sometimes didn't sync too well with Ardour. So I didn't download it this time.

I have downloaded Qtractor and it seems to work fine for midi so far, including choosing (and remembering) channels as well as playing in sync with Ardour. Making connections was easy and it seems to work well with jack. So here's hoping it stays stable for me to use.

I realise this is only personal experience, but overall, trying to use midi in Ubuntu Studio with the default programs is a frustrating experience (as it was in Jaunty). This is even more true because I was able to find a perfectly good program in the repositories and also because the audio side is very well catered for in my experience.

So, does anyone know if Qtractor will be included in the default install in 10.04? If not, why not?

Does anyone have any other midi programs that they've used successfully?

[AutoStatic]

Hello Dawiba, you already mentionned Qtractor and I think it's the easiest and best tool to work with Midi. And it's in the repo's, version 0.4.2, so no need to download seperate debs, unless you want to use the latest version (0.4.3).