[LAU] Electiric wind instrument on linux

[Lorenzo Sutton]

Hi MRP,

On 28/10/21 01:53, M.R.P. zensky wrote:
> Hello I have a Yamaha WX5 midi wind controller and a steinberg UR22C. Runnng Ubuntu Linux. It  recognizes the steinberg but I am new to pro music and am wondering what is the simplest way to be able to hear the instrument. Someone hhtold me that I need to use virtual instruments for this instrument. Is it neccessary to install a daw in order to install the virtual instruments? Again I am new so anyone that can explain to me  how to just
> Hear the instrument would be great.

The general idea is as follows:

[ MIDI Controller ] -> [ MIDI Interface ] -> [ SoftSynth ]

In your case:
[ Yamaha WX5 ] -> [ UR22C ] -> [ SoftSynth ]

So you don't strictly need a DAW to use a virtual instrument / 
softsynth, although some DAWs provide ways to incorporate softsynths.

A couple of softsynths ideas for quick testing of your controller could be:

- qsynth (soundfont player GUI for fluidsynth)
- yoshimi (an actual synth)
- Carla (not strictly a synth, it's a plugin host but supports both midi 
plugins and a bunch of 'virtual instrument' formats such as SF2 and SFZ)

I'm assuming the above are quite easily available for Ubuntu.

Then, familiarize yourself with Jack audio, jack midi and alsa midi 
(there's lots of material online, but if in need ask specific questions 
here). qjackctl is also a good piece of software to install.

Then, what instruments to actually use, their 'quality' etc. really 
depends on the type of music you want to make, your use case etc.
Unfortunately I'm totally inexperienced with wind controllers, so not 
sure what works best.

Hope this helps.
Lorenzo