[LAU] MIDI hardware with Linux

[Brent Busby]

On Mon, 21 Apr 2014, Kevin Cosgrove wrote:

> On 21 April 2014 at 2:30, <gnome at hawaii.rr.com> wrote:
>> Did you try a USB<>MIDI connector?

> Not yet.  I don't own one.  If a USB<>MIDI device is the correct way 
> to get MIDI hardware communication to work, then I'll get such a unit. 
> But, I don't want to buy one for troubleshooting, if it's not needed. 
> Is it generally agreed that a USB<>MIDI unit is needed?

Not always -- I now have a RME Multiface II, and the built in Midi port 
on that works fine in Alsa and Jack Midi.  However, before that, I had a 
Delta 1010, and I was never able to get the built in Midi port to pass 
data uncorrupted.  Others may not have had the same experience, but at 
least for me, I found that while the Delta 1010 worked fine for audio, 
the Midi function seems to be broken (driver bug?).

I also have an Edirol 3in/3out USB Midi interface that works great.  So 
in summary, my experiences:

Compliant USB interfaces:	OK
RME Multiface II:		OK
Delta 1010:			Midi doesn't work in Linux

> The last time I did this I used a Soundblaster card which had a 
> game/MIDI port and that worked fine to communicate over MIDI. Now I 
> have a Delta 1010 with MIDI ports.  But, that's the only MIDI 
> connected within my computer.  I haven't been able to get that to work 
> for me.  So far, nobody suggested that this shouldn't work, nor how to 
> get it to work, if it's supposed to work.

I've tried SoundBlaster Midi too, and I can say it works in just about 
any OS...though obviously they don't make very good recording cards.