30 Jan
2013
30 Jan
'13
2:47 p.m.
Hi,
tl;dr: is there a command line tool where I can give several midi files, and a jack input
port for each, and it plays them back in sync?
Preferably with a clean exit when the last file is finished.
long version what I tried so far:
I hacked together a quick python script around jack-smf-player a while ago but that was
sub-optimal since I either get a synched start (by using jack transport for all players
and sleeping a bit before playback) but no automatic exit, since jack-smf-player can't
do auto-exit with jack transport. So I had to loop over all open PIDs and kill them which
produced xruns and jack hiccups, it also took long.
Or I got a clean exit, using the play-and-exit mode, but then I got no sync since each
player just starts when it is ready. Even syncing them up with python did not help because
it is music and every ms delay counts.
Does such an sequencer without a GUI exist?
greetings,
Nils
http://www.nilsgey.de
6:19 p.m.
On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 03:47:17PM +0100, Nils Gey wrote:
Hi,
tl;dr: is there a command line tool where I can give several midi files, and a jack input
port for each, and it plays them back in sync?
Do the separate audio streams created by this process
ever get mixed together?
If so, is there a reason for the mixing to happen under
JACK, rather than within midi, where command line sequencer
such as midish can do the job?
Aloha,
Joel
Preferably with a clean exit when the last file is
finished.
long version what I tried so far:
I hacked together a quick python script around jack-smf-player a while ago but that was
sub-optimal since I either get a synched start (by using jack transport for all players
and sleeping a bit before playback) but no automatic exit, since jack-smf-player can't
do auto-exit with jack transport. So I had to loop over all open PIDs and kill them which
produced xruns and jack hiccups, it also took long.
Or I got a clean exit, using the play-and-exit mode, but then I got no sync since each
player just starts when it is ready. Even syncing them up with python did not help because
it is music and every ms delay counts.
Does such an sequencer without a GUI exist?
greetings,
Nils
http://www.nilsgey.de
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--
Joel Roth
9:45 p.m.
On Wed, 30 Jan 2013 08:19:56 -1000
Joel Roth <joelz(a)pobox.com> wrote:
On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 03:47:17PM +0100, Nils Gey
wrote:
Yes, there is a reason. Midi only knows 16 channels and also one port.
If you have 4 midi files, each with 16 channels and each to another port (one for
linuxsampler, one for fluidsynth, one for zynaddsubfy and one for aelous) you can't
mix the midi anymore.
If there was a super-midi (jackmidi .jmid :) ?) format with unlimited channels and several
ports per file and a player for that format you could think about mixing it before hand.
But if such a format would exist I would export directly to it instead of standard midi
anyway.
Nils
Hi,
tl;dr: is there a command line tool where I can give several midi files, and a jack input
port for each, and it plays them back in sync?
Do the separate audio streams created by this process
ever get mixed together?
If so, is there a reason for the mixing to happen under
JACK, rather than within midi, where command line sequencer
such as midish can do the job?
Joel 
10:37 p.m.
New subject: command line midi player for >1 files? (Ecasound for midi?)
On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 2:45 PM, Nils Gey <ich(a)nilsgey.de> wrote:
On Wed, 30 Jan 2013 08:19:56 -1000
Joel Roth <joelz(a)pobox.com> wrote:
There is a MIDI port sequence defined for SMFs. <FF 21 01 pp> which is
supposed to come at the start of a track. It specifies which port on
the computer the track is to be sent to. I've never tired using this
and don't even know if the alsa sequencer code supports it. Might be
worth looking at ... much easier than trying to sync 4 instances of a
player!
--
**** Listen to my CD at http://www.mellowood.ca/music/cedars ****
Bob van der Poel ** Wynndel, British Columbia, CANADA **
EMAIL: bob(a)mellowood.ca
WWW: http://www.mellowood.ca
On Wed, Jan 30, 2013 at 03:47:17PM +0100, Nils
Gey wrote:
Yes, there is a reason. Midi only knows 16 channels and also one port.
If you have 4 midi files, each with 16 channels and each to another port (one for
linuxsampler, one for fluidsynth, one for zynaddsubfy and one for aelous) you can't
mix the midi anymore.
If there was a super-midi (jackmidi .jmid :) ?) format with unlimited channels and
several ports per file and a player for that format you could think about mixing it before
hand.
But if such a format would exist I would export directly to it instead of standard midi
anyway.
Hi,
tl;dr: is there a command line tool where I can give several midi files, and a jack input
port for each, and it plays them back in sync?
Do the separate audio streams created by this process
ever get mixed together?
If so, is there a reason for the mixing to happen under
JACK, rather than within midi, where command line sequencer
such as midish can do the job?
Joel 
31 Jan
31 Jan
10:33 a.m.
New subject: command line midi player for >1 files? (Ecasound for midi?)
Bob van der Poel wrote:
There is a MIDI port sequence defined for SMFs. <FF
21 01 pp> which is
supposed to come at the start of a track. It specifies which port on
the computer the track is to be sent to. I've never tired using this
and don't even know if the alsa sequencer code supports it.
One ALSA sequencer port corresponds to a MIDI port. To support this,
the player application has to send the track to a different port.
(aplaymidi does this.)
Regards,
Clemens
11:28 a.m.
On Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:33:31 +0100
Clemens Ladisch <clemens(a)ladisch.de> wrote:
Bob van der Poel wrote:
But how to you specify the port? Is it hardcoded into the midi file or has the player some
saying in this?
Also: Alsa midi is fine and all, but is there a jack midi player that can handle ports?
Nils
There is a MIDI port sequence defined for SMFs.
<FF 21 01 pp> which is
supposed to come at the start of a track. It specifies which port on
the computer the track is to be sent to. I've never tired using this
and don't even know if the alsa sequencer code supports it.
One ALSA sequencer port corresponds to a MIDI port. To support this,
the player application has to send the track to a different port.
(aplaymidi does this.)
Regards,
Clemens
12:08 p.m.
New subject: command line midi player for >1 files? (Ecasound for midi?)
Nils Gey wrote:
But how to you specify the port? Is it hardcoded into the midi file or
has the player some saying in this?
The MIDI file specifies a port number, which ist just a number from 0
to N-1; it's the player's responsibility to map this to actual ports.
Because of this unpredictable mapping, the MMA has declared the port
number meta-event obsolete. Officially, one should now use the port
name meta event <FF 09 len text>, but the mapping of the MIDI file's
port names to the playback device's port names does not happen to be
any less unpredictable ...
Regards,
Clemens
There is a MIDI port sequence defined for SMFs. <FF
21 01 pp> which is
supposed to come at the start of a track. It specifies which port on
the computer the track is to be sent to. I've never tired using this
and don't even know if the alsa sequencer code supports it.
One ALSA sequencer port corresponds to a MIDI port. To support this,
the player application has to send the track to a different port.
(aplaymidi does this.) 
30 Jan
30 Jan
9:04 p.m.
On Wed, January 30, 2013 6:47 am, Nils Gey wrote:
Hi,
tl;dr: is there a command line tool where I can give several midi files,
and a jack input port for each, and it plays them back in sync?
Preferably with a clean exit when the last file is finished.
long version what I tried so far:
I hacked together a quick python script around jack-smf-player a while ago
but that was sub-optimal since I either get a synched start (by using jack
transport for all players and sleeping a bit before playback) but no
automatic exit, since jack-smf-player can't do auto-exit with jack
transport. So I had to loop over all open PIDs and kill them which
produced xruns and jack hiccups, it also took long.
Or I got a clean exit, using the play-and-exit mode, but then I got no
sync since each player just starts when it is ready. Even syncing them up
with python did not help because it is music and every ms delay counts.
Does such an sequencer without a GUI exist?
midish by itself does not do that, but I think if nama runs midish it
can... if not it is on the nama todo list. The nama author might be
willing to give hints on what needs to be done anyway.
--
Len Ovens
www.OvenWerks.net
4109
days inactive
4110
days old
linux-audio-user@lists.linuxaudio.org
8 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
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Bob van der Poel -
Clemens Ladisch -
Joel Roth -
Len Ovens -
Nils Gey -
Ralf Mardorf