Re: [fluid-dev] ALSA Raw connection (Re: Reading input from a MIDI device)

[David Henningsson]

On 12/26/2013 11:37 PM, Vesa Paatero wrote:
> Hi!  Getting back to the discussion:
>>>> Here is a command line whereby the system works with "noteon":
>>>>
>>>> fluidsynth -v -a alsa -o synth.gain=3.0 -o synth.verbose=yes
>>>> /usr/share/sounds/sf2/FluidR3_GM.sf2
>>> The easiest way is to use the alsa rawmidi driver. Find the card name by
>>> looking at the /proc/asound/cards file - find the row corresponding to
>>> the right sound card, and the label within brackets.
>>> In my case it's "Piano", so then the options I need to add are:
>>>
>>> " -m alsa_raw -o midi.alsa.device=hw:Piano"
>>>
>>> (of course in your case replace "Piano" with your card name)
>>>
>> Thanks for these hints, David. Raw MIDI without any mixer activity by
>> CPU sounds like a good choice to minimize latency.
>>
> 
> I tried the ALSA raw option but it seems that "aconnect" can only be
> used to connect the MIDI input device to FluidSynth when "-m alsa_seq"
> is given to FluidSynth because only then a suitable connection entry
> shown by "aconnect -lio" is created.
> 
> So, when using alsa_raw, what is the recommended way to connect a MIDI
> input device?

You shouldn't use aconnect at all in this scenario. Just let fluidsynth
read the raw ALSA input directly.

// David