Linux supported 8-port MIDI interface - which to buy?

[msepsis]

Any suggestions for a MIDI interface (8 in, 8 out) that works well with Linux?
What would be the best, most trouble-free interface?

Are there any made who's manufacturer actually supplies and maintains linux drivers?

I'm really beyond sick of wasting my life away trying to get my MOTU MTP AV (first a parallel now usb) working (anywhere near) properly in (any flavor of) linux.

[slowpick]

http://www.greenflymusicsupply.com/stor ... p4044.html

says it can have 3 daisychained for 9 midi i/o, or join them in a rack. You could try one, before getting
more. If it's Mac compatible, no driver should be needed. That's mainly a windows characteristic
for clammy hardware, and Edirol is usually pretty good.

[raboof]

I have a 'M-Audio MidiSport 2x2 Anniversary Edition', which is a USB device that works well out-of-the-box.

Some of the other M-Audio devices (such as the 'regular' 2x2) need specific firmware, which is available, see http://usb-midi-fw.sourceforge.net/ .

[msepsis]

I have a 'M-Audio MidiSport 2x2 Anniversary Edition'

I've got one too.. also the original M-Audio Midisport 2x2, and a MOTU pocket Express (POSflyer) but none of these are 8-in/8-out interfaces, nor is the suggested Edirol UM3G, which is a 3 port device. I appreciate the input from you both but it's not what I'm looking for.

I'm watching an auction on ebay for an Edirol UM-880, but the price is set at $440, about twice what I paid for a used Motu MTP AV USB several years back...

Does anybody have any stories to share about using a Edirol UM-880 in linux??

How about anybody with any stories to share about getting the Motu MTP AV USB (with brand new up to date ROM installed) working in Linux? The alsa driver is MTPAV.ko, I have it apparently by default in ubuntu studio 10.04 and AV Linux 5.02 but it is completely ignored or there is some step I need to do before getting the MOTU recognized in linux. I've tried configuring JACK to use raw and seq MIDI driver but no dice - the MTPAV does not show up as a connectable device in Jack's MIDI Connections tab..

All my googling on this device over the past several years has lead me down dead ends, SURELY there MUST be someone out there who's gotten the MTP-AV usb working in linux. Any pointers from anyone?

[msepsis]

If it's Mac compatible, no driver should be needed..

I've heard this before too.. but it is not the case with the Motu MTP-AV, apparently!!

[raboof]

I have a 'M-Audio MidiSport 2x2 Anniversary Edition'

I appreciate the input from you both but it's not what I'm looking for.

Oh, yeah, what I meant to say was that the 2x2 worked well for me so the 8x8 from the same line might be something to consider .

[slowpick]

I've tried configuring JACK to use raw and seq MIDI driver but no dice - the MTPAV does not show up as a connectable device in Jack's MIDI Connections tab..

All my googling on this device over the past several years has lead me down dead ends, SURELY there MUST be someone out there who's gotten the MTP-AV usb working in linux. Any pointers from anyone?

'None' should be chosen, not raw or seq. (Mentioned for future readers, you would know this.)
When my e-mu midi is plugged in, qjackctl input and output device shows it as

E-MU XMidi2X2

Output from bash-4.1$ cat /proc/asound/cards

1 [XMidi2X2 ]: USB-Audio - E-MU XMidi2X2
E-MU Systems, Inc. E-MU XMidi2X2 at usb-0000:00:0b.0-4, full speed

I would try to extrapolate a proper title from the output shown for your motu device.
Beyond that, try the widest variety of kernels in various distros, and you might get lucky.
liquorix kernel comes with http://www.remix-os.org/

The old and excellent 8.04 version of ubuntu studio, and dynebolic would also be off
the beaten path.

Perhaps some Ardour user on a Mac uses a motu device, and could provide
a .jackdrc file, and qjackctl, or other text containing system output strings. Ardour has
a mac forum, not sure if other mac-ardour forums exist.

http://ardour.org/forum/14

"SURELY there MUST" sadly does not apply to the tiny group of linux musicians, counted by
dozens and hundreds, while the outside world counts in millions. It's largely a
chicken vs egg dilemma, when seeking drivers for exotic hardware.

[raboof]

How about anybody with any stories to share about getting the Motu MTP AV USB (with brand new up to date ROM installed) working in Linux?

I don't have experience with that card, but perhaps we can help a bit in giving it another try. Might be good to split that out into another thread though?

When you insert the device, does anything show up in /var/log/messages? When it is connected, what does 'lsusb' output? What do 'aplay -l' and (as slowpick mentions) 'cat /proc/asound/cards' tell you?

The alsa driver is MTPAV.ko

How do you know? http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index. ... dule-mtpav doesn't mention anything about usb, might be it only supports PCI.

I've tried configuring JACK to use raw and seq MIDI driver but no dice - the MTPAV does not show up as a connectable device in Jack's MIDI Connections tab

Let's first try to have ALSA recognise the card - then Jack is the next layer.

[msepsis]

... perhaps we can help a bit in giving it another try. Might be good to split that out into another thread though?

Great, I'm ecstatic that there is someone here willing to help me out with this. Thank you!!

New thread started:
http://www.linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7693

Let's first try to have ALSA recognise the card - then Jack is the next layer.

It's a plan. good call. You'll read my post at the new thread and see how far I went chasing this last night.

[theshowmecanuck]

If it's Mac compatible, no driver should be needed. That's mainly a windows characteristic
for clammy hardware, and Edirol is usually pretty good.

From what I have heard, if you are willing to invest the time and buy specific hardware known to work with it, the JACK subsystem on Linux supports devices that make use of Core Audio when run on Apple. That is, it supports/emulates/implements Core Audio so devices that use Core Audio on Apple should be able to run on Linux if you install and use JACK (the devices you use on Apple that don't require a driver install almost always use Apple's built in Core Audio and its pre-installed kernel level audio drivers) . Free Firewire dot org has drivers and information to help you set up a range of audio devices (look under the list of supported devices in their menu). So this is probably what you are looking for. i.e. JACK + FFADO. Also search for "JACK and linux" and see what advice they have. But you will likely need to put in some time and effort to learn the ins and outs of sound on Linux. For example here is a thread about jack, ffado, and the MOTU Traveller (the folks on the thread say it will work with it, but only specific versions of it). I am sure there are others. JACK is a layer in the system that provides interoperability between audio subsystems and works with most of the GNU Linux based DAWS.

Now I just have to address the Linux misconception quoted above. It is almost as bad as the one that viruses can't hurt Macs or Linux Boxes (it's only because there aren't enough out there to make it profitable for hackers to attack them... people have written them as proof of concept).

This is completely incorrect information. Device Drivers are a fact of life for all devices operating on computer hardware. Computers have to know how to talk to the hardware, it isn't magic it is computer science. Drivers provide the way. This applies to Unix (which is what Mac OS/X is based on... not Linux) and with GNU Linux (which means all Linux, and GNU by the way is a recursive acronym (nerd humour) for "GNU's Not Unix"). Unix (including the OS/X subtype) and Linux work and look similar because they follow pretty closely the POSIX standard, not because they are the same thing.

Windows drivers sit more often, but not always, out in user space and talk via pipes/system calls to the kernel, and on *nix they are normally installed as modules directly on the kernel (user mode versus kernel mode drivers respectively). Kernel mode drivers, which are usual on *nix systems, usually provide better performance but ASIO on Windows is pretty fast.... sub 10 ms latency on good systems (and certainly < 20ms), and ASIO may be a driver that installs in kernel mode on Windows (Windows does support this). But in any case ASIO has very fast response and is much faster than the usual userland Windows drivers. In any case whether kernal or user mode, device drivers need to be installed, whether or not it is done when the operating system is installed or when you install a specific device. If you don't have to install a driver for your audio device on an Apple it means they built the device to work with native drivers/sound subsystem (normally Core Audio) built into the system (probably right into the kernel). But since Apple's software is non-free commercial stuff, this means these drivers/modules are likely not installed on Linux by default. Many audio digitial recording devices are built to work with Apple's Core Audio, but many still also require a driver whether installed or relying on the native Apple architecture.

And for what it's worth some stuff built for open source works on Apple OS/X because OS/X is based on open source software (free BSD for one) but often software built specifically for Apple won't work on open source systems (mostly because the open source systems licensing rejects commercial products from working with their APIs... stupid if you ask me... pretty controlling i.e. not all that open).

So don't make assumptions because you didn't have to install something. All devices require drivers. As a matter of fact, there are many devices you can plug into a Windows system and they will work without needed to install additional drivers. Keyboards, mice, digital cameras, mp3 players can generally all be accessed or used without needing a new driver install, but they all need some way for the operating system to know how to 'talk' to and use them. That way is drivers. If the drivers are already there, you don't need to install them. Apple has a notably good sound architecture and device manufacturers make use of it (and some still install additional driver support on top of that). So yes you WILL need driver support for Linux, or find something in Linux that will support a device that uses Core Audio.

FWIW, I don't use a Mac because I believe they are far too closed shop for my tastes that I'd rather use Microsoft. At it's worst Microsoft's execs were never as big tyrants and assholes as Steve Jobs. I'll not be slave to marketing and saffron robed worship. And now-a-days if you need performance, Windows are just as fast as Macs when you use ASIO. They both run on Intel so there is no hardware advantage to Macs. And in fact the advantage is to the Windows box since it is open enough for me to upgrade the hardware on my own terms without having to buy a whole new system. And I can buy two or three comparable performing Windows boxes for the price of one Mac/Apple. And I have NOT had a virus on a Windows machine for 17 years.

Regards,

BR

[msepsis]

here here, BR.
Thanks for the follow up. I was tempted to state what I thought I knew as fact and that is what you basically stated - all hardware needs a driver of some sort, whether you're aware of it or not from the user level.

Great follow up, I tend to agree with you on the win/mac stance - pretty well summed up w/ your Steve Jobs/asshole statement. I still use os x quite heavily along with windows and linux.

I pretty much put my project to get the mtpav working in linux on hold to tackle a number of other things but I'm looking at this again, just as i dual boot linux on my xp box.

I still have yet to buy an additional 8 port MIDI interface for linux specific use as I've just been using win XP for all operations w/ my MTPAV which gets the job done reliably. I'm using ctrlr quite heavily w/ my midi stuff which for now runs most smoothly on win xp, although ctrlr is cross-platform.

Cheers!

[meldianen]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and so I hope not to write too many dummies

I'm using an Edirol UM3G with Jack CTL without any issues. The Cakewalk UM3G is the successor of the Edirol but I'm not quite sure that the daisy-chain works within Linux, I'm going to try it soon, for I'm expecting to plug in 4 hardware synths with midi I/O.

For more info but of course Linux is not mentionned.
http://www.rolandus.com/products/produc ... rentId=436

[darsu]

http://www.esi-audio.com/products/m8uxl/

I don't have one but they themselves promise Linux compatibility.