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Ardour3 MIDI Out to Soft Synth (Yoshimi etc)
Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 8:23 pm
by Fire_String
Hi All,
First off, I have searched around but could not find a answer to my woe (feel free to correct me).
I am trying to use the MIDI function in Ardour 3 for the first time but have issues trying to connect Ardour MIDI out to a soft synth.
I have great success with Qtractor (amongst others) to fluidsynth via Qjackctl connections panel, all simple enough. However, Ardour doesn't appear to present a MIDI out to the ALSA connection tab in Qjackctl like all the other apps...
I have connecting (as far as I can tell) the MIDI through on the MIDI tab but still no MIDI to drive any other soft synth. Playing around with the MIDI Connection Manager in Ardour shows no synths present. Where am I going wrong? Do I need to get MIDI Aution Synth (LV2) working? I am using Debian Jessie/Sid fully Jack integrated.
Thanks, awesome site!
Re: Ardour3 MIDI Out to Soft Synth (Yoshimi etc)
Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 8:57 pm
by varpa
One confusing thing about midi on Linux is that it is handled by both Jack and alsa. Some programs use one or the other, some can be configured to use both. Ardour uses Jack midi and qtractor alsa midi. Yoshimi can be configured to use either.
Jack midi connections appear on the "MIDI" connection tab of Qjackctl->Connections and alsa midi appear on the "ALSA" tab.
To interconnect alsa/jack midi run "a2jmidid -e" which will cause the alsa midi devices to appear in the Jack midi tab where you can then make connections. Also, the latest jack1 (0.124.1) will automatically make alsa midi devices appear in the MIDI tab (except that currently it does not auto-detect new alsa devices, so the alsa devices must be running before jack1 is started). USB devices always appear in the ALSA tab, and firewire devices in the MIDI tab.
Re: Ardour3 MIDI Out to Soft Synth (Yoshimi etc)
Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 6:11 pm
by Fire_String
Thanks for your help. I have now installed a2jmidid program and it does indeed show Yoshimi input on the Qjackctl MIDI tab, along with Ardour. The Items in both Input Ports and Output Ports tabs show a2j, system and ardour. The Yoshimi MIDI input appears under a2j. Sadly, no combination tried (namely ardour to a2j) yielded success. Yoshimi sees no incoming MIDI.
Although no expert, I'm finding the greatness of Ardour to be too convoluted on what should be quite a simple goal.
Looks like I'll be sticking to Qtractor for now...
Maybe a full on 'Dummies Guide' Youtube video or pdf manual is needed. I'll take a look around.
Re: Ardour3 MIDI Out to Soft Synth (Yoshimi etc)
Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 7:43 pm
by varpa
Check out this video which goes over how to make midi connections in Ardour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIU9DguVrJQ. There are probably other use youtube videos too, if you do a search.
Re: Ardour3 MIDI Out to Soft Synth (Yoshimi etc)
Posted: Wed May 14, 2014 5:57 pm
by lazyklimm
- First, you can try Catia (it has repos for Debian, I successfully use them with Sid) instead of QJackCtl. It's looks much more usable for me.
- then you should make yoshimi use jack midi, as it does by default, so:
remove
Code: Select all
rm -rf ~/.config/yoshimi/yoshimi.config
backup
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mv ~/.config/yoshimi/yoshimi.config ~/.config/yoshimi/yoshimi.config.old
- run jack (via Qjackctl, Catia, or anything else)
- run yoshimi
- Look at your patchbay, there should be
"yoshimi:midi in" port
and 17*2 yoshimit audio output ports (but now you need only two - "yoshimi:left" and "yoshimi:right")
- Connect audio ports:
"yoshimi:left" to "system:playback_1"
"yoshimi:right" to system:playback_2"
- Now you should be able to play on yoshimi virtual keyboard and listen something (Menu:Instrument->Virtual Keyboard)
- Run ardour3: create or open a project, then add (or import) a midi track (Menu: Track->Add Track or Bus /hotkey is Shift+Ctrl+N/, choose "Midi Tracks" in combobox, all other default settings should be ok). There should appear a new midi out port in your patchbay "ardout:MIDI 1/midi_out 1" for example.
- Connect that port ("ardour:MIDI 1/midi_out 1") to "yoshimi:midi in" using patchbay or ardour midi connection manager (Sources - "Ardour Tracks" tab, Destinations - "Other" tab).
- Set your midi track height to largest and try to play on keyboard
- PROFIT
Re: Ardour3 MIDI Out to Soft Synth (Yoshimi etc)
Posted: Wed May 14, 2014 6:08 pm
by lazyklimm
btw, you don't need a2jmidid, if you do not want to use hardware device or software that use ALSA MIDI only, both fluidsynth(qsynth) and yoshimi can use Jack.
Also, there're lv2 versions of ZynAddSubFX (which is Yoshimi older brother) and fluidsynth, I'd advice you to use them (no need to use patchbays, external applications and session managers).
Just
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sudo apt-get install carla calf-plugins
and insert suitable plugin to your ardour midi track (mixer: new plugin->Instruments->...)
Re: Ardour3 MIDI Out to Soft Synth (Yoshimi etc)
Posted: Sat May 17, 2014 10:49 pm
by Fire_String
Ok, first off I appologise for a partly poor post at the start. I forgot to mention that I was using a imported MIDI file as the basis of a track, not a hardware or virtual controller. Sorry for that. Ultimately, each of the MIDI channel outputs from Ardour have to be manually connected to the soft-synth MIDI in (unless there's a quick option somewhere).
I have however progressed nevertheless. I have now ditched Qjackctl entirely and switched to the Cadence apps (post sources.list additions). This now makes drag and drop connections across all devices easier, as eluded to by lazyklimm.
The switch to Cadence took some working out but I now have similar desktop integration as I had with Qjackctl.
Firstly, to start Cadence minimised to the system tray and automatically start JACK, I ceated the launch script below:
#!/bin/bash
cadence-session-start --system-start &
sleep 2
cadence --minimized &&
exit
I then created a 'default-studio' list/snapshot with Claudia and set Cadence to load this at start-up by enabling 'Auto-start JACK or
LADISH at login' and selecting the 'default-studio' file created earlier. This allows simple baseline setup for quick demo working of
various apps (e.g. connecting controllers to MIDI inputs and stereo outputs that don't auto-connect).
Also, In order that only one icon remains in the system tray I disabled system tray options in Claudia.
For full loopback ALSA/JACK integration I deleted my /etc/asound.conf to let Cadence create its own when using 'Bridge Type: ALSA -> Loop -> JACK'. This means everything (including desktop volume/mixer apps) works through JACK. Phew...
Thanks all.