Re: [gentoo-user] Zynaddsubfx connected to Rosegarden WITHOUT Jack?

[Michael Schreckenbauer <grimlog@gmx.de>]

Hi Meino,

Am Donnerstag, 11. August 2011, 14:15:32 schrieb meino.cramer@gmx.de:
> Hi Michael,
> 
>  I will try (again) to be a friend of Jack (NOT "Daniels" ;) )...
>  What I dont understand: Why all this hassle with Jack if Rosegarden
>  has the ability to connect directly to Zynaddsubfx without any
>  other gadget (see Studio->Manage Midi Devices, start Zynaddsubfx
>  first)??? And if instructed so, why does this dialog still pops
>  up and reminds me of a non existing Jack connection?

afaict rosegarden relies on jack for it's audio processing. If no jackd is 
running this window pops up.

>  I tried the masked version 11.06 of rosegarden: The same effect.
>  I removed the "jack" USE-Flag from make.conf temporarily and
>  rebuild rosegarden: No change.

I sort of expected this. See above.

>  Ok, I will try jack...again...sigh.

There are some other sequencers in the pro-audio overlay.
http://svnweb.tuxfamily.org/filedetails.php?repname=proaudio/proaudio&path=%2Ftrunk%2Foverlays%2Fproaudio%2F00-
DETAILED-PACKAGES-LIST
has a list of all packages. You could search this page for midi sequencers and 
try to find one that does not depend on jack.
And as suggested before there's media-sound/seq24 in portage, that only needs 
alsa to talk to synths.
jackd is really cool, if you are doing audio work. For MIDI stuff only, it adds 
nothing to pure alsa afaik.

>  Best regards,
>  mcc

Hth,
Michael

> Michael Schreckenbauer <grimlog@gmx.de> [11-08-11 14:00]:
> > Hi Meino,
> > 
> > Am Donnerstag, 11. August 2011, 13:04:13 schrieb meino.cramer@gmx.de:
> > > Hi Michael,
> > > 
> > > Thank you for your help ! :)
> > > 
> > > Here are the versions:
> > > media-sound/rosegarden 11.02
> > > media-sound/zynaddsubfx 2.4.1
> > > media-sound/jack-audio-connection-kit 0.118.0
> > 
> > looks ok to me. No idea, why it doesn't work for you.
> > 
> > > I did a aconnect -lio, which says:
> > > 
> > > client 0: 'System' [type=kernel]
> > > 
> > >     0 'Timer           '
> > >     1 'Announce        '
> > > 	
> > > 	Connecting To: 15:0, 128:0
> > > 
> > > client 14: 'Midi Through' [type=kernel]
> > > 
> > >     0 'Midi Through Port-0'
> > > 
> > > client 28: 'Virtual Raw MIDI 3-0' [type=kernel]
> > > 
> > >     0 'VirMIDI 3-0     '
> > > 	
> > > 	Connecting To: 128:0
> > > 	Connected From: 128:3
> > > 
> > > client 29: 'Virtual Raw MIDI 3-1' [type=kernel]
> > > 
> > >     0 'VirMIDI 3-1     '
> > > 
> > > client 30: 'Virtual Raw MIDI 3-2' [type=kernel]
> > > 
> > >     0 'VirMIDI 3-2     '
> > > 
> > > client 31: 'Virtual Raw MIDI 3-3' [type=kernel]
> > > 
> > >     0 'VirMIDI 3-3     '
> > > 
> > > client 128: 'rosegarden' [type=user]
> > > 
> > >     0 'record in       '
> > > 	
> > > 	Connected From: 0:1, 28:0
> > > 	
> > >     1 'sync out        '
> > >     2 'external controller'
> > >     3 'out 1 - General MIDI Device'
> > > 	
> > > 	Connecting To: 28:0
> > > 
> > > Then I started rosegarden, which - as expereinced before - pops up
> > > 
> > > a dialog, saying:
> > >     The JACK Audio subsystem has stopped Rosegarden from
> > >     processing audio, probably because of a processing
> > >     overload.  An attempt to restart the audio service has been
> > >     made, but some problems may remain.  Quitting other running
> > >     applications may improve Rosegarden's performance.> > 
> > > (no jackd was running)
> > > 
> > > When clicking [OK] the dialog disappears only to take a very very
> > > short
> > > rest an return again and again and again....
> > > 
> > > In one of these short tiemes of peace and slumber I open the
> > > preference dialog and switched off jackd transport, quit rosegarden
> > > and start it again only to play another fresh match between me and
> > > this damned dialog... ;-/
> > 
> > Looks like rosegarden cannot work with pure alsa. I did not know this.
> > There's seq24 in portage, which seems to be a step sequencer that works
> > without jack. You could try this one instead of rosegarden. I don't know
> > anything about it though.
> > 
> > > How can I prevent to scratch my skin by the roses of this garden
> > > over
> > > and over again.....?
> > 
> > We could try to solve your problems with jack :)
> > I recommend qjackctl for jack-server handling.
> > How do you start it? What use-flags are set for it?
> > Another option is to try the versions from the pro-audio overlay (that's
> > what I use for rosegarden, jack, ardour and some other audio related
> > stuff). Did you try other synths with jack and rosegarden? Maybe
> > there's a bug in zynaddsubfx. You could try eg hydrogen to test this.
> > 
> > > Best regards,
> > > mcc
> > 
> > Regards,
> > Michael
> > 
> > > Michael Schreckenbauer <grimlog@gmx.de> [11-08-11 12:12]:
> > > > Hi,
> > > > 
> > > > Am Donnerstag, 11. August 2011, 11:13:21 schrieb meino.cramer@gmx.de:
> > > > > Hi Michael,
> > > > > I had * experiments with jack and nothing works...
> > > > > Sometimes there was no connection at all, sometimes after a
> > > > > short time rosegarden crashes and/or reports taht the
> > > > > connection
> > > > > has gone, and so on....
> > > > 
> > > > this is strange. It simply works for me (tm).
> > > > 
> > > > > May be I has simply combined the wrong things...
> > > > 
> > > > What versions did you try? (jackd, rosegarden...)
> > > > 
> > > > > I have no midi hardware in the sense of keyboards, external
> > > > > synths and such.
> > > > 
> > > > I see.
> > > > 
> > > > > What I want is to set up a melody in rosegarden and to play
> > > > > it via Zynaddsubfx.
> > > > 
> > > > That's what I was thinking :)
> > > > 
> > > > > A midi step sequencer (not sure if this this correct
> > > > > terminus
> > > > > technicus, though) were also fine...
> > > > > Any ideas?
> > > > 
> > > > I think, aconnect (part of media-sound/alsa-utils) is the tool
> > > > you want to try.
> > > > Start both rosegarden and zynaddsubfx, then use aconnect -lio to
> > > > see,
> > > > what in- and out-ports were created on your system. After that
> > > > use
> > > > aconnect to connect the rosegarden out-port with the zynaddsubfx
> > > > in-port.
> > > > http://alsa.opensrc.org/Aconnect has some details.
> > > > I never tried this for myself, so I have no practical experience
> > > > with
> > > > it.
> > > > 
> > > > > best regards,
> > > > > mcc
> > > > 
> > > > Hth,
> > > > Michael
> > > > 
> > > > > If this will become too OT simply use my PM :)
> > > > > 
> > > > > Michael Schreckenbauer <grimlog@gmx.de> [11-08-11 10:52]:
> > > > > > Hi Meino,
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Am Donnerstag, 11. August 2011, 03:02:33 schrieb 
meino.cramer@gmx.de:
> > > > > > > Hi Michael,
> > > > > > > thank you for your info ! :)
> > > > > > > What do I need for a midi connection (sorry, I am
> > > > > > > at the very beginning of exploring these kind of
> > > > > > > tools and jack is everywhere... ;) )
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > do you have midi-ports in your soundcard? In some cases
> > > > > > they are
> > > > > > implemented as 5-pol Din plugs (MIDI-standard plugs), in
> > > > > > other
> > > > > > cases
> > > > > > they are implemented via the gameport. Most built-in
> > > > > > soundhardware has none.
> > > > > > If you have those ports, the most simple (but not best)
> > > > > > solution
> > > > > > is to connect midi in with midi out, have rosegarden
> > > > > > play
> > > > > > through midi out and the synth listen to midi in.
> > > > > > Afaik(!) alsa has virtual midi-ports, you can use, if
> > > > > > you have
> > > > > > no hw
> > > > > > ports (and which would be more elegant to use), but I
> > > > > > have no
> > > > > > experience with them. May I ask, why you don't want to
> > > > > > use jack?
> > > > > > I use it for everything in my studio and I am very happy
> > > > > > with
> > > > > > it. There's a reason jack is everywhere in this area :)
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > > Best regards,
> > > > > > > mcc
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Hth,
> > > > > > Michael
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > > Michael Schreckenbauer <grimlog@gmx.de> [11-08-11 02:45]:
> > > > > > > > Hi Meino,
> > > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > Am Dienstag, 9. August 2011, 21:13:42 schrieb 
meino.cramer@gmx.de:
> > > > > > > > > Hi,
> > > > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > >  may be this is a RDQ(tm) (real dumb
> > > > > > > > >  question),
> > > > > > > > >  but....
> > > > > > > > >  Is it possible to connect rosegarden and
> > > > > > > > >  ZynAddSubFX
> > > > > > > > >  without using jack ???
> > > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > you could use a MIDI connection. But imho jack
> > > > > > > > is the
> > > > > > > > way to go
> > > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > :)
> > > > > > > > :
> > > > > > > > >  Thank you very much for any help in
> > > > > > > > >  advance!
> > > > > > > > >  Best regards,
> > > > > > > > >  mcc
> > > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > Hth,
> > > > > > > > Michael