No sound from Midi Keyboard via USB

[Ralf Mardorf]

On Sun, 2011-09-18 at 22:27 +0100, Q wrote:
> Dennis Neumeier wrote:
> > Hello List,
> > 
> > I just have a Midi Keyboard here (M-Audio Axygen 8) and I am trying to get any 
> > sound out of it. Unfortunately, I have no Sound Card with Midi Support, so I 
> > connect the keyboard via USB (I am aware of the possible latency). As system, 
> > I am using Ubuntu Studio 8.04, because it was quite hard to get my sound card 
> > working (M-Audio Delta 66), so I did not dare to change to a newer version.
> > 
> > I can see the keys via Jack connector and I connected it to "record in" from 
> > rosegarden (http://www.bilder-hochladen.net/files/inr2-1-c4ca-png.html) in alsa 
> > tab. In rosegarden, I can see that a signal is coming in and that it records 
> > something (http://www.bilder-hochladen.net/files/inr2-3-eccb-png.html). But how 
> > do I now get the signal to the speakers? Nothing really works - 
> > http://www.bilder-hochladen.net/files/inr2-2-c81e-png.html shows that I have 4 
> > outputs from rosegarden. What I'd like to do is to connect the output from 
> > rosegarden to a channel from Ardour.
> > 
> > Can somebody please help?
> > 
> > Greets.
> > 
> Hi
> 
> MIDI isn't a protocol for sound and MIDI devices don't generate sound, 
> the Oxygen 8 is a controller keyboard.
> 
> MIDI is a protocol for controlling and interfacing musical instruments 
> -- Musical Instrument Digital Interface -- it doesn't transmit sounds, 
> just messages about note durations, note on, note off, note velocity etc.
> 
> If your Oxygen 8 isn't connected to a software synthesizer on your 
> computer (such as a DSSI synth or a soundfont engine in Rosegarden) or a 
> hardware synth or sound module, you'll never hear anything, whether 
> connected with a DIN connector or MIDI over USB.
> 
> It looks like you've managed to record the MIDI data you created by 
> playing the keyboard, but there is no instrument for the data to play 
> and make a sound. The M-Audio cards don't contain synthesizers so the 
> General MIDI Acoustic Grand Piano showing in RG isn't actually connected 
> to anything that can make a sound.
> 
> I hope this helps.
> 
> Best wishes
> 
> Q

Didn't read it myself, but it might be a help for you

http://rosegardenmusic.com/tutorials/supplemental/zyn/zyn.html

Btw. I prefer Qtractor to Rosegarden, but I suspect the best sequencer
could be Ardour3.

Don't worry about latency when using an USB MIDI device. The only issue
for USB MIDI devices is jitter when using them for MIDI out. I suspect
that you'll quantise MIDI events, hence jitter for input isn't a serious
issue. Internal Linux, when using soft synth, there's no MIDI jitter,
the MIDI hardware completely has no impact. Latency for audio isn't an
issue for your sound card, regarding to that you're equipment is ok, you
only need to follow the advice of Q.