[linux-audio-user] Generating drones, take 2

[S. Massy]

On Tue, 09 Sep 2003, mawali at news.icns.com <mawali at news.icns.com> wrote:

> Hi
> According to the responses to my previous post. There does not seem to be 
> a way in linux to send MIDI command from my shell to a MIDI output 
> interface. 
> 
> The closest response I got was to use a MIDI controller (keyboard) press 
> the note and then pull the keyboard cable so it cannot send a stop (it 
> works but, I do believe there is a better way in linux).
> 
> For reference I want to be able to generate drone tones on my MIDI. I am 
> looking for a simple application (MIDI shell??) that would let me turn a 
> particular note on. I already have a sound card with the wavetable, this 
> sound card understands midi. Alsa is supposed to have a good midi api, so 
> how so I insert a midi event into my souncards midi output interface!!
> FT
Hi,
Why not try Midge, a text-to-midi converter?
http://www.dmriley.demon.co.uk/code/midge/

One of the many features of Midge's own small language is the ability to
generate note-on/off events at a given time in a midi file. From here I
see two approaches you might choose:
1) You might create a midi file containing timed note-on/off events to
suite your needs. (This would be a non-interactive approach)
2) You might create two files, one containing a single, immediate
note-on event and another containing its note-off counterpart and play
them whenever you want to trigger the desired event. (That would be the
interactive approach)

I must add, however, that I have never tried this myself and cannot
guarantee that it will work properly once put to the test; I just
thought that it might be worth trying.

Hope this helps,
S.M.
>