[linux-audio-user] Midi recording

Hi guys. Hope you can help me figure this all out ... I've been reading this list for awhile and, even though I figure I'm a not-so-bad musician and fairly computer literate ... I have to admit that half the comments/questions I read here just turn to jelly in my brain. Anyway, what I want to do is to create some decent recordings using MMA backing tracks and me playing sax. So, what I'm doing right now is to play the MMA midi file though a keyboard and record that onto a little multi-track recorder. Then, I listen to the background track and record myself playing sax. Next, I transfer the tracks to the computer and do some rudimentary mixing with Audacity. Honestly, it doesn't sound all that awful (for my latest effort, http://mellowood.ca/music/recordings/). Biggest problem I see with this is that I can't tweak just the (for example) bass or piano in audacity since all the background is "mixed" into a stereo track. But, I'd like to do better :) So, I see a need to be able to split the MMA track into several audio tracks ... one for each MIDI track. So, question 1: what linux software will act as a synth which will split the midi out into separate audio tracks? I looked at timidity, and it doesn't appear to have that feature. If I've missed something there, I still have a problem with the quite awful default sounds it has ... so if I need to use timidity, where would I get better sounds. Or would I be better off to play/record the background multiple times though the hardware synth ... But I don't see how I'd ever get that synchronized. Question 2: Assuming that I have recorded a decent multi-track background, can I use audacity to record my sax playing off a mixer board? I've got a ICE1712 - M Audio Audiophile 24/96 audio card. Question 3: what questions have I forgotten to ask? Thanks. -- Bob van der Poel ** Wynndel, British Columbia, CANADA ** EMAIL: bob(a)mellowood.ca WWW: http://www.mellowood.ca