MPE is a relatively new way to use MIDI, and almost no pre-existing MIDI receiver can use it correctly.

I have looked into what it would take to get Ardour to work well it, and concluded that I would put if off for a while. I actually Roger in Berlin last November and greatly enjoyed interacting with the Linnstrument and talking to him.

On Sun, Jul 17, 2016 at 11:33 AM, Thomas Poulsen <thomas@lha66.dk> wrote:

Dear list,

I recently bought a LinnStrument from Roger Linn Design: http://www.rogerlinndesign.com/linnstrument.html

It is a great isomorphic midi-controller, and as such it is immediately recognized on Linux.

The distinguishing feature of the LinnStrument is that it senses 3 degrees of freedom on each note: x-direction, y direction and z-direction (pressure). The x-direction is mapped to pitch-bend, and y-direction to CC74.
A cool feature is the "slide", where the pitch-bend is used to slide between all notes in a row.

To allow individual pitch and CC74 values for each note, it sends each note on a separate midi-channel ("MPE"): http://www.rogerlinndesign.com/implementing-mpe.html

Bitwig has added support for this, and there is 20 presets in version 1.3.11, where this is used (tag: linnstrument). The LinnStrument controller is not recognized automatically on Linux in version 1.3.11, but it can be configured manually, and then it works fine. Note that both midi-in and midi-out has to be configured, if not there is no sound! It should look like this: https://ibin.co/2msBJVgpKtf9.png

Now I would like to also use it with the free Linux synths.

Here's what I have been able to make work this far.

Synthv1:
PME works reasonably well: I can play polyphonic in MPE mode, but it tends to miss the "note off"s.
I can get the slide to work, by setting
 <param index="36" name="DEF1_PITCHBEND">2</param>
 <param index="78" name="DEF2_PITCHBEND">2</param>
is a preset.

Zynaddsubfx:
I can not get MPE to work.
Sending only on one channel, and setting PWheelB.Rng to 2400 cents, I cant get the sliding to work, but only when playing with one finger.
If I enable MPE on the LinnStrument there is only an occasional sound, when it happens to send on the channel, that Zyn is listening on.

I'll love to hear if other LinnStrument users have been able to do more with any of the free synths on Linux.

All the best,
Thomas
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