Midisport Firmware installed now what?

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Soup=n-Sandwich
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Midisport Firmware installed now what?

Post by Soup=n-Sandwich »

Hi guys. I'm using Ardour 6.6 with the latest version of Ubuntu Studio with KDE.
I have an M-Audio 2496 audio card with midi and a M-Audio Midiman/Midisport 8X8 rack mounted midi interface.

Although I have used all of this hardware before with a older version of Ardour I can't recall what had to be done to actually use any of it.
So the audio portion of the M-audio 2496 is working great. The midi is not but I wasn't really planning on using the midi on this care only the midi on the Midisport 8x8.

I installed the "midisport-firmware" package from the Ubuntu repositories and restarted the machine (not that this should be necessary). It also installs "fxload" package as it's only dependencies.
I can't for the life of me see any midi devices anywhere on the system. I open Ardour under the Midi setup. I don't see the Midisport there either. I'm assuming it's me. Maybe I missed a step but I can't seem to even find any reference to the Midisport device never mind configure it.

Is there anyone out there that might point me in the right direction? I would truly appreciate it very much.
Thanks guys,
Soup
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Michael Willis
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Re: Midisport Firmware installed now what?

Post by Michael Willis »

Are you using ALSA or JACK when you start Ardour?

Here are a couple of things you can do in the terminal to diagnose your problem.

Use amidi to list alsa midi devices:

Code: Select all

amidi -l
If that doesn't show anything related to your midisport interface, try this to find out if the operating system at least recognizes the interface:

Code: Select all

lsusb
Soup=n-Sandwich
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Re: Midisport Firmware installed now what?

Post by Soup=n-Sandwich »

Ahh thank you!
Ok it looks like all the hardware is in fact detected as this is the results:
studio@studio-pc:~$ amidi -l
Dir Device Name
IO hw:0,0 M Audio Audiophile 24/96 MIDI
IO hw:1,0,0 MidiSport 8x8 MIDI 1
IO hw:1,0,1 MidiSport 8x8 MIDI 2
IO hw:1,0,2 MidiSport 8x8 MIDI 3
IO hw:1,0,3 MidiSport 8x8 MIDI 4
IO hw:1,0,4 MidiSport 8x8 MIDI 5
IO hw:1,0,5 MidiSport 8x8 MIDI 6
IO hw:1,0,6 MidiSport 8x8 MIDI 7
IO hw:1,0,7 MidiSport 8x8 MIDI 8
IO hw:1,0,8 MidiSport 8x8 Control

studio@studio-pc:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 048d:1336 Integrated Technology Express, Inc. SD/MMC Cardreader
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05e3:0702 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB 2.0 IDE Adapter [GL811E]
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0763:1033 M-Audio MidiSport 8x8/s
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Thanks very much for that. That makes me hopeful.
So in Ardour the "Audio System" is set to JACK and the "Driver" is set to ALSA
Thanks for your help so far
Soup
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Re: Midisport Firmware installed now what?

Post by Michael Willis »

That is encouraging, at least the OS is aware of your USB device, and ALSA is aware of its midi ports.

Is there a reason that you're using JACK as the Audio System in Ardour? JACK enables some more advanced use cases, like routing midi and audio between different apps. If you don't need that, then you can have Ardour use ALSA as the Audio System. I don't know if that will help with the problem you're working on, but it will simplify the setup if you are not using the more advanced features of JACK.

Either way, in Ardour add a midi track, then right-click on the track and select "inputs...", and you'll get a dialog that allows you to route a midi signal to your track. On the left, hopefully there is a tab that says "Hardware", pick it and see it shows you the inputs from your midi interface.

If "Hardware" doesn't show up, then we need to figure out why Ardour isn't aware of your MIDI interface. In the "Window" menu, pick "Audio/MIDI Setup". Look at what "MIDI System" options are available, and report back here. In fact, do this for both JACK and ALSA as the Audio System, and tell us what MIDI System options you get under both of those.
Soup=n-Sandwich
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Re: Midisport Firmware installed now what?

Post by Soup=n-Sandwich »

Thanks Michael,
"Hardware" doesn't show for some reason.
Only "Ardour Tracks" and "Ardour Misc" under the Source section
Same thing when I go into Windows/MIDI Connections

Under the Source and Destination sections there is no "Hardware" or "Other" tabs.
I'm using a template. When I opened this template I got a warning that it's in READ ONLY mode and that recording or saving wasn't possible.
I'm starting to think I may have a permission issue on the Template file. I wonder what else this is causing. All of my old Ardour files are on an internal USB based drive separate from the OS. That would make sense for a Read Only file but not why I wouldn't see the midi hardware right?

Oh the reason why I was using Jack as my audio is because I thought Jack would allow more than one audio source on the computer rather than letting Ardour take over where no other apps can use the sound card.
If I do change the audio system I do see the M-Audio 2496 card available in the drop down but this is only for audio and the audio on this care seems to be working well right now. What's your thoughts on this?
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Re: Midisport Firmware installed now what?

Post by Soup=n-Sandwich »

AHHH
Micheal
Ok I switch the Audio System to ALSA and now at the bottom of that dialog I have MIDI device setup.
I go in there and both the Midisport ports and the M Audio 2496 card's midi port are there!
Hmm I'm confused because what does the "Audio System" have to do with the midi config button being available??
Now I can't actually record as the record button within the track is disabled/greyed out. Could this now be a permission issue?
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Re: Midisport Firmware installed now what?

Post by khz »

Is a2jmidid installed?
If not install a2jmidid, it will merge ALSA and jack MIDI. (If it is not installed you will only see jack MIDI).

In qjackctl setup:
Setup >> Options > [X] Run script after startup: "sleep 5 && a2jmidid -e &"
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Soup=n-Sandwich
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Re: Midisport Firmware installed now what?

Post by Soup=n-Sandwich »

Thanks KHZ!
the package a2jmidid was in fact installed already.
I'm not sure what I just did but it's done. I took the quote text for the scrip and pasted into the text box.

So should I now set my audio system perimeter back to JACK?
Soup=n-Sandwich
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Re: Midisport Firmware installed now what?

Post by Soup=n-Sandwich »

s a2jmidid installed?
If not install a2jmidid, it will merge ALSA and jack MIDI. (If it is not installed you will only see jack MIDI).

In qjackctl setup:
Setup >> Options > [X] Run script after startup: "sleep 5 && a2jmidid -e &"
I'm not clear how all this is suppose to work. So after I just pasted the command you gave me in the GUI of JACK under the Run script after startup text field does JACK need to be started manually?

So when I start Ardour does it start JACK upon start up and if so what should the setting in Ardour in regards to the Audio System perimeter?
When I start Ardour and look at the JACK GUI (qjeckctl) it's not running. Should it be?
Thanks for your guidance. This is very new to me.

Also right now if I change the setting in Ardour for the Audio System the midi no longer works. Is this a setting that also needs to be tweaked in qjackctl?
Last edited by Soup=n-Sandwich on Tue Jul 13, 2021 6:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Midisport Firmware installed now what?

Post by khz »

There are many possibilities under GNU/Linux with all its advantages and disadvantages, so no idea. :-)
Read what is in my signature times through - there I tried to collect EVERYTHING because I myself also much not overview / can remember - as well as the advice of other users e.g. here in the forum and take what works best for you.

Image

First start qjackctl (In qjackctl setup: Setup >> Options > [X] Run script after startup: "sleep 5 && a2jmidid -e &"), qjackctl uses ALSA.
After that start Ardour which again uses jack (qjackctl GUI).
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. . GNU/LINUX@AUDIO ~ /Wiki $ Howto.Info && GNU/Linux Debian installing >> Linux Audio Workstation LAW
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