13 replies to this topic

[oscillator]

I've been searching for a music program to be able to compose music on my eeePC (model 701 with 1MB RAM, Xandros Advanced Desktop, running at 630 MHz). I tried to install Timidity and Seq24, and I got them running, but timing problems made them unusable.

Continuing my search I found this excellent solution. I can now run Muse (http://muse-sequencer.org/), an excellent multitrack MIDI/AUDIO workstation with several softsynths included.

Check out this screen shot where I have five softsynths (three instances of fluidsynth, a SoundFont player, one SimpleDrums drum machine and one FM synth) running while I'm editing on a piano roll layout.



This is how I did it.

1. Add Debian repos:

a. In /etc/apt/sources.list add

deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ etch main contrib non-free

using

sudo kwrite /etc/apt/sources.list

b. In your prefs file find

Package: *
Pin: release a=stable
Pin-Priority: 700

and change the "Pin-Priority" to 975.

using

sudo kwrite /etc/apt/preferences

Remember to save (but not exit).

2. Run Synaptic and reload the packages list.

3. Mark

jackd

muse

swh-plugins

for installation and do the installation. This will take some time depending on your internet connection, but the space taken shouldn't be too big (I don't remember the figures right now).

Jackis the software that connects the internal audio of the various modules, muse is Muse and swh-plugins is a very interesting collection of effects that you can route your softsynths or audio tracks through (swh-plugins is not necessary).

3. Reverse the changes made during step 1 above.

Ok, now you are ready to make some music.

4. Download some SoundFonts so you can use the fluidsynth sample player:

http://www.hammersound.net/

5. This is the startup sequence I use:

sudo modprobe snd-seq-midi

sudo jackstart --realtime --timeout 1000 -d alsa -r 44100 --period 256 -n 4

sudo muse

For more info on how to use Muse, visit the homepage http://muse-sequencer.org/.

Good luck!

[Cyclops]

Just what I have been after. So far I have only found stuff that requires Windows. How do you output the midi files? I have seen USB to MIDI adapters, presumably if the software outputs to a USB port one of these would drive an instrument, in my case an electronic organ.

[oscillator]

While I do own a USB > MIDI adapter (in reality a cable with a built-in MIDI interface), I haven't managed to get it to work on my eeePC. The solution described above is truly portable in the sense that it doesn't require anything besides your eeePC.

If you want to drive any external equipment I guess you have to find a USB > MIDI interface with drivers for Linux, and I'm afraid I can't help you with that. Sorry.

EDIT: I searched for "midi interface" on this forum and a couple of interesting threads came up. Do this search yourself and check them out! Good luck!

Edited by oscillator, 25 November 2008 - 09:12 PM.

[oupsemma]

http://hackaday.com/...ith-the-eee-pc/

[Cyclops]

@oscillator, over the past several months I have amassed quite a collection of references from searching on here, but none so far relate to driving an external midi device from composed MIDI files. I will be getting a USB to MIDI cable for use with my desktop machine in the meantime.

[KlaatuNinja]

I have set this up and can drive my external Yamha keyboard, but I cant get the soundfonts to work?

Can you tell me which soundfont you use and how you set it up?

[oscillator]

Quote

I have set this up and can drive my external Yamha keyboard, but I cant get the soundfonts to work?

Can you tell me which soundfont you use and how you set it up?

This is how I do it:

1. I have downloaded free Soundfonts (SF2) from http://www.hammersound.net and http://www.digitalsoundfactory.com.

We'll take the free HS Synthetic Electronic from Hammersound as an example. Download it from:
http://www.hammersou...ay;hs_se.zip;63

and extract the ZIP into a suitable folder (named "sf2").

2. Started Muse according to step 5 mentioned in my original post.

(I'm not sure the following menu commands are correct - I'm using a Swedish language version - but you should be able to follow the steps hopefully.)

3. Select Settings > Midi ports/softsynths

4. Click "Fluidsynth" in the Softsynth frame and click the "Add instance" button.

5. A "fluidsynth-1" window appears. Click the "Load" button and select the "HS Synthethic Electronic.sf2" file. In the "Channel setup" frame, for "Chnl" 01, select "HS Synthetic Electronic" in the drop-down in the "Soundfont" column. Close the window.

6. In the main Muse track window, a "fluidsynth-0" channel should have appeared.

7. Select Settings > Midi ports/softsynths once again. In the "Midi routings" frame (the big top frame), for "Port" 1, select "fluidsynth-0" in the drop-down in the "instrument" column. Select "fluidsynth-0" in the drop-down in the "Unit name" column. Close the window.

8. In the main Muse window, add a Midi track by right-clicking. In the "O-Port" column of the new track, you should see "1(fluidsynth-0)".

9. Add a bar in the new track, enter Piano-roll mode and press a few keys. You can select the sound from the "HS Synthetic Electronic" collection (this SF2 conains multiple sounds) in the track info strip (to the left in the window), by selecting the sound from the "drop-down button" just below the "Channel info" sub-title.

I hope this helps!

[KlaatuNinja]

Thanks!!

Got it working but the sound is so crackly and slow that I think it can't handle it. I was using it with an external keyboard which was OK but a little slow. With the softsynth it is much worse (unusable). oh well.

[oscillator]

That is strange, I have the same configuration as you (it seems), A 701 2GB Adv Xandros, non-overclocked, and I can easily run a couple of softsynths without problem. Have you tried starting jack with

sudo jackd -dalsa -r44100 -p2048 -n4

instead of the line above?

[KlaatuNinja]

Don't worry. I installed eexubuntu and the performance through the keyboard is much better.

I have ordered an eridol midi usb to try it with my real synths. :-)

[oscillator]

Great! Please report if the USB interface works. I have a Midimate Midi (interface) cable which doesn't. That's under Xandros. I have eeebuntu (great stuff) installed on a USB stick so I'm going to try it with that, too.

(And don't forget to update you sig :-)

[rickh]

Quote

Great! Please report if the USB interface works...

I can tell you the Edirol USB interface works fine, both in Xandros and in Ubuntu-Eee.

But really, if you want to make the Eee into a true, workable portable studio, you should recompile the kernel for real-time, a la JAD or Ubuntu Studio.

R.
==

[KlaatuNinja]

Quote

Great! Please report if the USB interface works. I have a Midimate Midi (interface) cable which doesn't. That's under Xandros. I have eeebuntu (great stuff) installed on a USB stick so I'm going to try it with that, too.

(And don't forget to update you sig :-)

Have done!!

I bought the UM-2EX USB MIDI Interface and it works straight out of the box. I set it up last night and connected it to my Alesis Fusion & microKORG. Worked straight away.

I think that it might have been jack that was causing the problems. I connected all the cables and then started Muse, but did not start jack. Muse complained about no jack, but started anyway. Once you are in you can select UM-2EX as the output/input without jack interfering.

I did some testing with some complicated midi files off the net and it seems to work fine. I also have SEQ24 and it also works fine.

This is exactly what I was looking for, I dont need soft synths, I just want to use the sequencer to drive my hardware.

eeXubuntu runs much snappier than Xandros did, I have not added anything else extra to the install apart from Muse, SEQ24 & VLC media player.

Edited by KlaatuNinja, 25 February 2009 - 08:23 AM.

[oscillator]

I'm glad to hear this! (And you can still use the softsynths in Muse when on the train etc). Good luck!