Re: [Denemo-devel] Newbie getting MIDI K/B to work with ALSA and qjackctl

[Richard Shann]

On Sat, 2014-01-18 at 02:48 +1100, Philip Rhoades wrote:
> People,
> 
> Googling found some previous posts trying to get this to work with 
> earlier versions of Denemo but they were no help for me so I hope it is 
> OK to request help here.

this is the right place to ask.

>   Prior to this exercise I have been able to set 
> timidity up as a daemon and play sounds and record stuff from the MIDI 
> K/B but qjackctl won't run with timidity running in daemon mode. 
? this is independent of running denemo?

>  So 
> this is what I have now:
> 
> "aconnect -i -o" gives:
> 
> client 0: 'System' [type=kernel]
>      0 'Timer           '
>      1 'Announce        '
> client 14: 'Midi Through' [type=kernel]
>      0 'Midi Through Port-0'
> client 20: 'AXIS-49 2A' [type=kernel]
>      0 'AXIS-49 2A MIDI 1'
> client 130: 'denemo' [type=user]
>      0 'midi_in         '
>      1 'midi_out        '
> 
> In Denemo Preferences - Audio/MIDI I have:

Have you built Denemo with JACK enabled, or is qjackctl being used
purely to manipulate the alsa connections (which is, I believe quite
ok)? What version of Denemo?

> 
> Audio Backend - Portaudio
> 
> Output device - ALSA: HDA Intel: 92HD73E1X5 Digital (hw:0,1)
> 
> MIDI Backend - ALSA
> 
> Rhythm entry for MIDI - checked
> 
> In the qjackctl connections dialog there are:
> 
> - System entries under the Audio tab
> 
> - No entries under the MIDI tab
> 
> - All the stuff that aconnect listed above under the ALSA tab
> 
> But:
> 
> - I still can't select "MIDI Input" from the Input menu

Do you have a MIDI controller connected?

> 
> - From the qjackctl connection dialog I can connect the "AXIS-49 2A MIDI 
> out" to the "Denemo MIDI in" - but nothing shows up in Denemo when 
> hitting the keys

Ah, yes, I see the AXIS-49 2A is MIDI controller. 

> 
> - If I try and select "MIDI Input" from the Input menu again - it 
> disconnects the  link in the qjackctl dialog box
> 
> I've run out of ideas . . suggestions?

What is it that you want to do? The only thing well attested is the
default out-of-the-box thing: no running of qjackctl, acconect etc.
Denemo (via PortMidi) scans for MIDI controllers and you choose the one
you have (it should be connected and switched on before starting Denemo
for simplest start up). On some installations the Audio out also needs
selecting (again Denemo - via PortAudio scans for audio devices and
offers a list in the Edit->Change Preferences->Audio/MIDI tab).

Something else I have seen: if another program is running using the
audio output then Denemo will not make sounds, and conversely if I try
and start a movie while Denemo is still open then it will wait until
Denemo is shut down before it starts to play. Similar things might
happen for MIDI input, but I have no experience of running other
programs that use MIDI input simultaneously with Denemo.

HTH

Richard

> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Phil.