12 May
2010
12 May
'10
5:54 p.m.
On Wednesday, May 12, 2010, you wrote:
On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 9:56 AM, Pedro
Lopez-Cabanillas <
pedro.lopez.cabanillas(a)gmail.com> wrote:
MIDI and Audio are not directly related, either.
On Wednesday, May 12, 2010, Paul Davis wrote:
It would be nice if you make a similar public declaration about Jack MIDI
and
ALSA sequencer.
http://wiki.linuxaudio.org/faq/start#qwhat_is_the_difference_between_jack
-midi_and_alsa-midi
"The short answer:
Jack-Midi has been introduced to extend/replace alsa-midi
[...]
They currently co-exist."
Looks like somebody dreaming of world domination.
JACK MIDI, ALSA Sequencer and Pulse Audio are not related in any obvious
way. > IMHO, the obvious solution would be for them
to simply stop wasting
their
time on
PA and make an existing and better solution (JACK) better.
;-)
i don't think you are clear that JACK and PA are attempting to solve
different problems. It is indeed true that JACK MIDI is "intended to
extend/replace the ALSA
sequencer". The problems addressed by ALSA's sequencer API are, so the JACK
MIDI crew claim, better solved in user space in a manner substantially
similar to the way that JACK MIDI attempts to solve them. I personally
believe that the existence of the ALSA sequencer API is just a result of a
combination of the limits of (and ignorance about the possibilities of) the
Linux 2.2 kernel. If you don't believe you can do realtime stuff in user
space (which arguably was true in 2.2), then of course you put something
like ALSA sequencer in the kernel.
The ALSA sequencer API may be implemented in user space, offering a way to
existing applications to be used with the new sequencer in a transparent way.
That would be nice and consistent with our (Linux audio users) priced freedom
of choice. I know that it is not the easy path, but would be consistent with
the efforts of the ALSA people providing an OSSv3 compatibility API.
Not only that, but Jack MIDI forces to the MIDI applications to always be used
subordinated to an audio stream. Even when you don't want to use digital
audio at all, because your MIDI sources and receivers are all external
musical instruments.
Another drawback is that if you want to succeed replacing an existing API, you
need to provide at least every functionality provided by the old one, and do
it in a nice way that can be adopted easily by the developers. I understand
that the ALSA sequencer API is huge and cumbersome, but the minimalist
approach of Jack MIDI may be just another mistake in the opposite direction.
Regards,
Pedro