Hello from Denmark

[Frank Carvalho]

Hi!

I'm new on this forum. It is incredible that I haven't thought about registering here before, as I have been an avid fan of making music on Linux since 2007.

Long story:
I've been playing music since... (uoh!)... the late-70'ies, and I was always interested in the combination of music and computers. My first computer, the mighty C64, had the equally mighty SID chip built in, but even though I fully understood the potential of the chip, I never managed to make anything useful from it, as MIDI keyboards were not available to me back in 1984-5, and I didn't find the C64 keyboard useful as an instrument interface, so I stuck with real instruments.
I got a degree in computer science in 1993, but had already bought my first Mac, an SE running OS6 around 1990. With MOTU Performer installed and a Korg 05R/W module, I could increase compositional productiveness a lot. But this was still just MIDI-based experiences.
I got very interested in the whole concept of hard disc recording, and after a nasty incident with a rented "it will never fail you" ADAT, that ate an entire original recording, I took the plunge and replaced it with a brand new Power Macintosh 7200 running OS7 in 1996, coupled with Cubase VST 3.0, and entered hard disc recording for good. Later replaced with upgraded Cubase VST 3.5 and a Power Macintosh 8600 350MHz running OS9.
I managed to produce 2 albums on this setup, but around 2004-6 the old PowerMac-setup just couldn't cope anymore. I had to do something. The choice was clear:

a. Either I could upgrade to Mac OSX, and replace all the programs I had - quite an investment, or
b. I could buy a cheap Windows computer, and invest in a number of expensive programs.

Neither choice was acceptable. I always hated Microsofts business methods, and Windows was never (and probably never will be) a great OS in my opinion. On the other hand, the prospect of joining the Apple bandwagon again, and shelling out even more money for programs was just as bad. But I liked the idea of being able to buy and customize commodity PC hardware, and as I had a lot of experience of programming in AIX and Solaris, as well as running my own OpenSUSE server, I decided to go with

c. Buying a commodity PC and installing Linux to do music.

Best choice I have ever made. Starting with Ubuntu Studio 7.04 in 2007, I have been using Ubuntu Studio ever since, with Ardour 2, Rosegarden and JACK at the heart of my setup. To begin with I went with an M-Audio Audiophile 2496, but later I've added an M-Audio 1010, and they now run in a dual sound card setup. I will probably replace the 2496 with another 1010, to have full 20 in, 20 out capability as it uses the same asound configuration file.

I've been upgrading Ubuntu Studio incrementally ever since, and is now on Studio 12.04 LTS, wondering if I should upgrade to 12.10 or stick to the LTS.
I have also been installing Linux on several other laptops and notebooks, with audio applications. I usually prefer Xubuntu for its small footprint, to save CPU cycles for the fun stuff and am very pleased to see that the recent releases of Ubuntu Studio have decided to go with Xubuntu. I also use the notebooks as a wireless remote terminal when I record in another room, starting Ardour as an X11-application on the notebook. Combined with a wireless headset, I can record without an engineer.

I am also very interested in the NetJack daemon, to be able to build a more complex, networked setup, with slave servers to run effects during mixdowns.
I am also eagerly awaiting a proper release of Ardour 3.0, so I can finally get rid of the Ardour 2.8-to-JACK-to-Rosegarden combination.
And the fun in computing is back. With Linux I have the same joy as I used to have on the C64, so I've come full circle.

Frank Carvalho
Denmark

[steevc]

Welcome Frank. Always interesting to hear how people came to Linux. Many musicians don't realise there is an alternative to Win/Apple. We don't have as many apps and plug-ins to choose from, but there's probably enough for what many people need.

[Frank Carvalho]

I saw that equipment always interests people. So I modified my signature a bit.

[tux99]

Are you the Frank Carvalho mentioned on the Korgy Park Sounds page?
http://www.blosphere.net/~janne/KorgX5Sounds.html

Do you still have your Korg? Which one do you have? I have a X5DR but used to have a 05R/W before.

I'm just asking because I'm planning to write a Korg 05R/W X5 X5D X5DR patch editor for Linux, similar to the Yamaha RM50 patch editor that I have written: http://www.yamahaforums.co.uk/forum/vie ... f=9&t=5915

If you still have your Korg then you could be my beta-tester!

[Frank Carvalho]

Yep, that's me! And indeed I still have my Korg 05R/W.
I play in a early Genesis tribute band, and the 05R/W is still a centerpiece of my setup, providing stereo pianos, string machine sounds, vibraphone sounds and more.

I would love to beta-test a Linux editor for this unit. I think the 05R/W and X5DR are close enough that you can use the same editor, right? I kept an ancient Windows 95 computer alive, solely to be able to control patches with the native Korg X5 editor, but of course it eventually had to go.

Since then I have used a small eee PC 704, with Ubuntu Netbook Remix, to control the 05R/W. The way I do it is by using the original Korg X5 editor under Wine. It actually works... sort of. It reports memory configuration error upon startup, and data reception does not work.
I am able to send program and combi changes to the 05R/W though through the Wine-to-aLSA/MIDI adaption, but receiving data from the unit fails, so I can not fully use it as an editor. I actually can't remember if sending a complete patch set also works, but in theory it should. The Korg X5 editor under Wine will read my old patch sets and I can also edit parameters and save them.

But a native Linux editor would be really cool, and I would love to test it.

I'm new here, but there must be an area on this forum to carry a thread about native Linux sound editors for different units?

[tux99]

I would love to beta-test a Linux editor for this unit. I think the 05R/W and X5DR are close enough that you can use the same editor, right?

Yes, AFAIK the 05R/W and X5DR are compatible at sysex level. I will let you know once I have something to test for you, most likely in a few months though as currently I'm still working on the Yamaha RM50 editor.

[tux99]

Just to let you know, since my RM50 Manager application is now completed I have started to work on the Korg X5 family editor.
It will take a while until I have something ready to test, but at least I have started working on it!

[Frank Carvalho]

Great! I'll look forward to see what you come up with.

/Frank

[tux99]

Here is a first screenshot:
http://www.linuxtech.net/files/xserieseditor01.png

The program is not usable yet, but for anyone curious the latest development source code is always hosted here:
https://github.com/tux99/xseries_editor

Development is fairly quick as I'm reusing a lot of code of the 'RM50 Manager' application.

[Frank Carvalho]

That looks very promising indeed!
It is nice that you have a code base to work from. It definitely gives you a head start.
When you get to the effects editing, things will probably be a little more difficult. There are 47 effects, and each effect has its own unique set of parameters, and will require a unique parameter layout. Quite a bit of tedious work required there.

And BTW, for saving and loading sound patches, may I suggest that you keep the original X5 format, so your editor will be compatible with files for the old Korg X5 editor? That would be really nice. I used to use my 05RW module to convert from sysex to x5 format by sending sysex to the module, reading to editor and then save to x5 format. There might have been a small converter script too back then, but it is simply too long ago.

Best

/Frank

[tux99]

That looks very promising indeed!

Thanks!

There are 47 effects, and each effect has its own unique set of parameters, and will require a unique parameter layout. Quite a bit of tedious work required there.

Yeah, I know it will be a bit tedious to create all those 47 layouts, but technically it's not a problem I already know how to implement it.

And BTW, for saving and loading sound patches, may I suggest that you keep the original X5 format, so your editor will be compatible with files for the old Korg X5 editor?

I will try to support all file formats out there, but initially it will only support the plain binary sysex dump format, I will add other formats later once everything else is working.

[Frank Carvalho]

I will try to support all file formats out there, but initially it will only support the plain binary sysex dump format, I will add other formats later once everything else is working.

Well, I suspect that the x5 file format is nothing more than the sysex, anyway - probably wrapped in a header with a bit of meta-information. The sysex is fine to begin with.

/Frank

[Frank Carvalho]

I decided to have a look at the difference between x5 or .05r format and sysex. It is true that .05r looks a lot like the sysex, but there are some, so far to me incomprehensible differences. The sysex-format seems to operate with bytes of 8 characters, while the .05r format operates with only 7 characters. Removing every 8 character from the sysex and mapping x2A to xAA, makes it look very much like the .05r format. But there are still other differences, and they following a pattern I have not yet understood. I think the differences are related to the meaning of the section of the file. The differences begin when the sysex starts to define combis. As if combis follow a slightly different layout than the header.

So I must agree that file formats definitely represent a bit of work.

Edit: I found the reason for the big differences. A linefeed seemed to reset my character counter, corrupting everything that came after....