MIDI for Linux

I want to drive MIDI with my Ubuntu.

The context

I play MIDI with Atari since 1986; at first a STF (1MB RAM), now a STe maxed to 4MB. Four megabytes of RAM may seems ridiculous by today's standards, but MIDI is extremely compact and use very few memory. Moreover, on the Atari, the operating system is in ROM, which limits the footprint on RAM to variables; hence, 4MB is actually plenty of room.

The Atari has a built-in MIDI interface (1 In, 1 Out) driving 16 channels. However, in my case, 16 channels is not enough, so I purchased a MIDI interface (Soundpool MO4) which adds 4 outs, allowing to drive 80 channels.

Unfortunately, 2-3 years ago, the MO4 has stopped working: still recognized by the Atari, but no output. Ok, well, this is another topic...

In the past, I also got an old Toshiba Elite laptop running Windows XP. I tried to play MIDI with it. I first purchased a E-MU 2x2 interface (1 in, 1 out). Then I had the opportunity to buy a Midiman Midisport 4x4 (4 ins, 4 outs), and soon after, a MOTU midi timepiece AV (8 ins, 8 outs). The laptop is now gone, but I still have the interfaces.
My main computer is a HP workstation with plenty of computing power and memory, running Linux. Let's give a try...

Hardware

• Computer: HP XW6600 Workstation, 8-cores, 16 GB RAM
• Linux: Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS
• MIDI Interfaces:
  1. MOTU midi timepiece AV
  2. E-MU 2x2
  3. Midiman Midisport 4x4

MOTU midi timepiece AV

In short: forget about it, MOTU refuses to write a driver for Linux.

E-MU 2x2

I've done it quite a while ago because I had to write a score with Muse Score. Using the mouse only was challenging, so I tried to connect my main keyboard (Alesis Fusion 8HD) using an old E-MU 2x2. Unfortunately didn't take any note on what I had to do; all I remember is it was super easy to understand how Jack and Muse Score interact, but at last, it was a success.

Midiman Midisport 4x4

This is a 4-ins, 4-outs USB powered interface. As soon as I connected the interface, it was detected:

# dmesg
...
[ 2219.064121] usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0763 ...
...

USB vendor ID 0763 is M-Audio, formerly known as ... Midiman. The installation is super-easy:

1. Install the Midisport firmware

   # apt-get install midisport-firmware

2. Make sure udev is started

   # systemctl |grep udev
   systemd-udev-trigger.service  loaded active exited    udev Coldplug all Devices                                         
   systemd-udevd.service         loaded active running   udev Kernel Device Manager                                        
   systemd-udevd-control.socket  loaded active running   udev Control Socket                                               
   systemd-udevd-kernel.socket   loaded active running   udev Kernel Socket

3. Reload the rules

   # udevadm control --reload-rules && udevadm trigger

4. Unplug and replug the interface; the green USB LED start blinking and the interface is now visible

   # cat /proc/asound/cards
   0 [Intel]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
              HDA Intel at 0xf3100000 irq 29
   1 [M4x4 ]: USB-Audio - MidiSport 4x4
              M-Audio MidiSport 4x4 at usb-0000:00:1d.0-1, full speed
   

The Midisport was immediately recognized in Ardour as midi_capture_1 to 4 (MIDI ins) and midi_playback_1 to 4 (MIDI outs).

Conclusion

This was an easy one!