Installing Miditzer on Ubuntu 9.10 ?

[resolutionx]

Hi guys
I usually run windows xp ~Pro and have miditzer installed on my main machine with this
but my other maching is running Ubuntu 9.10 and i would like to find out how to install it on that
as ive only recently started with ubuntu and have not a lot of experience with it !!

I have miditzer downlaoded on the machine,but it wont install as simply as it does in Windows,can any guys on the forum please help and give me some basic advice as to how to go about it

Thanks guys

Chris

[greenfox]

Have a look for posts talking about WINE. WINE is a Windows emulation program that runs in Linux. I will see what links I can find. There are a couple of tricks in the settings.

[ggoode.sa]

Hi Chris,

Rick is correct in specifying WINE as the key to running Miditzer in Ubuntu. WINE is a windows compatability layer for linux, and works very well. You may, however, find that running Miditzer in WINE causes fluidsynth latency to increase beyond playability. If this is the case for you, then the solution is to run the soundfont from a linux-native version of fluidsynth (instead of the windows one embedded within Miditzer).

To do this you will need to install fluidsynth and Qsynth -a graphical front-end for fluidsynth, and the Jack Audio Connection Kit (aka QjackCtl). If you have Miditzer running on a Windows machine then grab the soundfont (sf2) file from that Miditzer installation in Program Files (if you only have linux then let me know and I'll take you through finding the file within the Wine directory) and copy it over to your My-Documents or some other place. Load and configure Jack (read up on this in other posts or ask some more questions), and once the Jack audio server is started run Qsynth. Load the Miditzer soundfont, configuring Qsynth to use Jack. Then run Miditzer and go to the Configure screen and re-configure the ranks from using the internal fluidsynth to using the external linux-run one. You should then be able to play with almost zero latency

This is just a very quick 'what to do', so take the first step and post your questions when you have some...

GrahamG

[buzzmcm]

I have found your post on LINUX/JACK/QSYNTH of interest. However, having downloaded the relevant programs, I am unable to get JACK to start up and stay running. Could you explain in more detail the setup requirements of Jack or point to where these questions may already have been answered. I have taken some guidance from the internet link about it, but I get the message "could not connect to JACK server as client", and I have no idea what this means.

I am trying to run these programs because of the latency issues you predicted when using WINE.
Thanks

[runbux]

Regarding the JACK audio/MIDI server for linux, It just DOESN'T WORK at all. Forget it!

It's really too bad that a really capable OS such as Linux should be burdened by such a badly concieved and incompetantly implemented package as JACK. Such is life and, in all fairness, we do get what we pay for! What Jack WILL DO is to get your MIDI system to choke in "REAL TIME" -- Come on, Is this really an IMPROVEMENT? Low-latency MIDI hash?

I just don't understand exactly why JACK just can't manage things I was always able to do as far back as Mac OS8 or Windows 98. It just doesn't make sense. It also doesn't help that various Linux OS developers don't realize what a tragedy this is to the Music/MIDI community. Even the specialty Audio/MIDI distributions can't manage to get JACK to work! And I've tried all of them.

JUST SAY NO TO JACK!!!!!

[moonskin]

I've never had any problem at all with JACK on any version of Linux I've used. Jack is incredibly powerful and has quite a complex set of parameters to optimise it. If you don't know what you are doing then it is easy to stuff it up.

(BTW there is a version of JACK for Windows which works very well but Windows lacks many JACK-aware apps)

For example, if you want to run in realtime, you have to have a realtime kernel installed.

Your hardware has to be decent and your soundcard competent.

A good (and short) overview is http://www.64studio.com/manual/audio/jack

[angelorgan]

Buzzmcm, if it makes you feel better, I've been getting the same error message. I have also been trying to run the Miditzer in a Linux environment and having trouble with negotiating so many new things, have been fiddling with the Puppitzer 0.2, booting from CD, thinking that I might have more success with something smaller and easier and already put together. It will start and jack and qsynth will run, but the sound will be bad- kind of crackles and delayed. When I go in to adjust the settings in jack to the recommended settings in the forum, I also get this message.

get the message "could not connect to JACK server as client", and I have no idea what this means.

I too have no idea what it means, but one of the errors references the 5000 value and when I change that to 2000, jack will then run, but I lose the sound. I'm also unclear what the connections, if any in jack should look like.
Thanks, Craig

[csw900]

Hi Linux lovers

I use Linux, Mac and Windows computers -- I like Windows best. I use Miditzer, Hauptwerk
and my own multiOrgan organs.

I have tried installing Miditzer on Linux without much success -- it just wasted effort. Even
if you get it installed and running with acceptable latency (doubtful) you will likely not be
able to open the M menu to set it up. If you are lucky Alt+space may work.

Linux has long had a bad reputation (deservedly) for its audio performance.

Everywhere you look there are snags.

If you don't like Windows you would be better off (organwise) with a Mac even an old
second hand one. At least you would be able to run Hauptwerk.

csw900

[bznewz]

Have a look for posts talking about WINE. WINE is a Windows emulation program that runs in Linux. I will see what links I can find. There are a couple of tricks in the settings.

[csw900]

Hi bznewz

Don't bother checking up on WINE - we have always used WINE to run Miditzer on Linux. Miditzer does not run well enough under WINE to be useable on Linux or Mac.

However - I would like to know about the tricks in the settings - if you think they do anything useful. One of the problems (from distant memory) was that you cannot open the settings dialogs under WINE.

csw900