[linux-audio-user] Any MIDI apps that don't suck?

Brian Redfern bredfern at calarts.edu
Sun Dec 1 03:53:01 EST 2002


Jazz++ is a really stable and easy to use sequencer. Muse has way more
features, and better note resolution, but is harder to install.


http://www.brianredfern.com

On Sat, 30 Nov 2002, Silvan wrote:

> I want to do some recordings for my grandmother.  Christmas music.  I want to 
> take a bunch of MIDI files, re-arrange them, add little intros to count me 
> in, then play the melody line while my synth does the accompaniment.
> 
> I could have gotten all of them done days ago on Windows, using my trusty 
> 10-year-old version of Cakewalk in conjunction with Noteworthy Composer.  I 
> need to arrange the parts for playing, and print a score to play my part from 
> on my flute.  None of the MIDI files I have are suitable off the shelf, and 
> arranging new versions from scratch is even more time consuming.  Either way, 
> I have to play with this a bit to get where I want to be.
> 
> I'm trying to get away from Windows.  Cakewalk doesn't run under Wine, and 
> Noteworthy Composer is useless, because Wine (or X) doesn't let it have its 
> dedicated font.  I don't _have_ Windows, and can't really re-install it, so 
> I'm finally having to suck it up and figure out how to do this from Linux.
> 
> Can someone point me at something I've missed?  So far the most promising 
> things I've played with, and my experiences with them are:
> 
> NoteEdit:  editing sucks because block functionality is really crude.  
> Printing music is tedious, since I can't just hit the print button.  I have 
> to export to lilypond format and fiddle with it from there.
> 
> Anthem:  editing is not possible.  I don't see a way to get into a notation or 
> matrix mode to alter the MIDI data.  It crashes frequently anyway, so I 
> haven't really dug into it deeply.
> 
> Rosegarden:  MIDI is still broken.  I compiled the CVS yesterday, and it's 
> working better, but it's still dropping notes at random and having other 
> unacceptable problems. It looks most suitable overall, but it can't 
> accurately record or play back MIDI, and the developers seem to have the 
> attitude that MIDI is something that's not particularly important to them.  
> 
> It's looking like my most reasonable chance of success at this point is to 
> hand edit some Lilypond stuff and go from there.  That seems like an enormous 
> PITA for what should be a simple project.
> 
> Why, with all the projects out there, is there nothing that can even remotely 
> approach the functionality of an ancient WIN16 version of Cakewalk?
> 
> Is it just me, or does the available software for this kind of stuff really 
> seriously suck?
> 
> -- 
> Michael McIntyre         USDA zone 6b in SW VA, USA
> Silvan Pagan [silvan at windows-sucks.com] Linux Druid
> ---------[ registered Linux user #243621 ]---------
> http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/index.html
> 
> 




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