How to use vmpq with Carla/jack?

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cleinias
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How to use vmpq with Carla/jack?

Post by cleinias »

I am trying to use a virtual piano keyboard like VMPQ with jack to take advantage of sfz sampled pianos as well as other piano plugins (i.e PianoTeq's physically modelled piano). But I can't find a way to have vmpq show up in Carla's patchbay or in Catia.
I saw this other discussion topic but I do not have the minimoog plugin and I fail to replicate the results.

Here is what I did:

1. Launched jack via cadence, with Alsa midi bridge selected
2. Launched Carla
3. Loaded a sfz plugin in Carla (i tried the free "Sid the 9000ft piano")
4. Launched vmpq
5. Switched to the patchbay pane in Carla
6. Connected the sfz plugin to my system output (playback)

At this point I would just need to connect vmpq's out port to sfz's in port and I'd be set---but I vmpq does not show up. I could not find a "jack" setting in vmpq preferences either. I guess I'm confused about the general problem: what do I need to set up to enable a midi application like vmpq to show up?
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LAM
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Re: How to use vmpq with Carla/jack?

Post by LAM »

Hi @cleinias,

I think VMPK use ALSA MIDI by default, if you are using JACK you should launch also a2jmidid to export ALSA MIDI ports into JACK, at that point you should have a MIDI out for VMPK that you can connect to Carla, like in the post you mentioned.

An alternative to VMPK is jack-keyboard (http://jack-keyboard.sourceforge.net/) or Mamba (https://github.com/brummer10/Mamba).

A brief explanation on how to launch a2jmidid in this post: viewtopic.php?t=18180

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cleinias
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Re: How to use vmpq with Carla/jack?

Post by cleinias »

Hmm, I do have the Alsa-jack bridge running, but I can't find a way to get Vmpq's output midi port to show up in jack's a2j. The vmpq midi input shows up correctly as soon as I select "Alsa" from the drop-down options of vmpq's "MIDI IN Driver" (from the MIDI Setup menu item).

The problem is that there is no "Alsa" option for the MIDI OUT Driver. I only get fluidSynth, OSS, Network and SonivoxEAS.

I'll try Mamba and jack-keyboard, thanks for the suggestions.

[Edit] Mamba works fine for my needs, as a matter of fact, and it is perfectly transparent to jack, so problem solved. Thanks!
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Re: How to use vmpq with Carla/jack?

Post by Musicteacher »

Hi,
as this topic is not yet very old I re-activate it.

I would also like to use vmpk with jack / alsa. I am on Arch Linux, and have the problem that vmpk crashes as soon as I change the midi out driver (which is sonivox by default).

I would like to know if this is an issue with my distro or if it is a general issue.

I also tried to build vmpk and drumstick myself, but got build-errors.

Mamba and jack-keybd are not really what I need, because i want to play the virtual keyboard on a touchscreen. vmpk is configurable to useful keysizes for that, and it is multitouch-capable , which jack-keyboard and mamba are not.

So my question: Can you use vmpk with alsa midi on your system?

Regards, Andreas
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LAM
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Re: How to use vmpq with Carla/jack?

Post by LAM »

Musicteacher wrote: Tue Oct 19, 2021 9:35 am I would also like to use vmpk with jack / alsa. I am on Arch Linux, and have the problem that vmpk crashes as soon as I change the midi out driver (which is sonivox by default).
I can confirm it crashes as you change any MIDI input or output.
I was able to make it work editing the config manually in the past, but was not able to do it again. :(

I'm not using VMPK anymore, but if you are needing it there is a "support request" page, maybe it's a good idea to report it there? https://sourceforge.net/p/vmpk/support-requests/

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Re: How to use vmpq with Carla/jack?

Post by Musicteacher »

Thank you! I will make a support request, I just wanted to make sure that the problem is not on my side.

Thanks,
Andreas
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Re: How to use vmpq with Carla/jack?

Post by Transit_of_Io »

Very tangential: I started with VMPK and moved to Jack Keyboard and still love them dearly, but then got obsessed with using more than one qwerty keyboard on the same computer. So I've made a Pure Data thing that does the job, and several other jobs as it gadually bloats. I will be glad to share it with anybody who is interested.

It's my beginner's quilt, and the earliest 'stitches' are sloppy. That's slowly getting cleaned up. Someday it will be on github.
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Re: How to use vmpq with Carla/jack?

Post by milkii »

If one is on Arch, the last years-old JACK version of VMPK is available via vmpk-jack-git

The developer apparently hates JACK so don't bother there

Make a feature request issue for Mamba?

they/them ta / libreav.org / wiki.thingsandstuff.org/Audio and related pages / gh

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