Bitwig

rvega · Post by **rvega** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 5:10 pm

Hi,

I'm trying out the 1.07 demo in Debian 7. Works well with Jack except for MIDI...
I am trying to control a software instrument (Yoshimi or PD) with a MIDI output from Bitwig but I havent been able to do so. There is never anything listed as a MIDI connection on Bitwig's interface (Hardware instrument plugin or controller settings).

I've tried creating controlers, starting a2j before bitwig, 2 different soundcards that have physical MIDI inputs, starting ALSA sequencer and ALSA raw midi drivers, starting the softsyntsh before BW, restarting the audio engine, I also followed the instructions in the first post here: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... i#p5702127

Is this working for anyone? What am I missing?

Thanks!

schef · Post by **schef** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 7:23 pm

I have the same issue..! Which OS are you using although i dont think that it has anything to do with it..I use archlinux.

rvega · Post by **rvega** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 11:21 pm

I'm on Debian 7 (stable). I had to manually install libc6 from Debian 8 (testing) so that BW would run.
jackd2 is version 1.9.10 and kernel is 3.2.0-4-amd64. Not sure how to check ALSA version...

dkasak · Post by **dkasak** » Thu Apr 17, 2014 11:50 pm

MIDI doesn't work with Jack

If you use the ALSA backend you get some basic functionality. If you use Tom's Generic Keyboard ( or something like that ) you can also get MIDI control knobs working.

rvega · Post by **rvega** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 12:53 am

Here's hoping that someone @ Bitwig reads this:

That's real bad news and a deal breaker for me.... Without a way to send control data to PureData and get audio back to Bitwig, I can't move away from MacOS + JACK + Ableton + PD for music production. Bummer.... still on dual boot and on expensive apple hardware

Also, an idea for a plugin developer: JACK audio and midi inputs and outputs that you can insert as "effects" into any channel in Bitwig

pc999 · Post by **pc999** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 2:16 pm

Midi on Linux is quite strange and buggy it seems.

Launchpad doesnt work on Ubuntu 13.10 here

rvega · Post by **rvega** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 3:07 pm

The thing with MIDI on Linux is that there are two implementations (ALSA and JACK) and this is not evident to some people. There is a program called a2j that acts as a bridge between the two systems allowing you to make MIDI connections between them using a JACK patchbay.

I have used MIDI in Linux with many programs with no problems, with devices that have a physical MIDI connector and with USB devices that are "class compliant", meaning that they don't need special drivers to work.

This does seem like a Bitwig issue.

StudioDave · Post by **StudioDave** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 4:57 pm

Greetings,

I have MIDI input to BWS working with an Akai LPK25. I wrote a very basic script for it, it gets autodetected and works fine.

I have MIDI output from BWS working with a MidiSport 2x2. It's a hack, but it works. I wrote a script to expose the ports on the MidiSport, then I use a Hardware Instrument router to send the output to In A on the unit. In QJackCtl (or Patchage or whatever) I connect the MidiSport's Out B port to my external softsynth of choice (or Csound or PD or whatever). Here's the hack: I have to physically connect the MidiSport's Out A port to its In B port to create a loopback device, so if you have a 1-in/1-out device you're probably out of luck with this solution. Finally, I set the Hardware Instrument Audio In to Stereo and make sure that the softsynth's audio output is routed to Bitwig in QJackCtl's audio connections tab.

My BCF2000 is a multiport device, the same trick might work with it too. Alas, I've failed so far to create a software-only solution. I tried a script for ALSA's virtual MIDI ports but got no joy. Still learning the API though.

Of course it also works perfectly without the loopback when connecting to external hardware. I tested it by running a cable from the MidiSport's Out A to a port on a Yamaha MJC8 and from there to a desktop machine in the next room. Bitwig on the laptop drove an instance of Yoshimi on the desktop, no problems.

I agree it's a hack, not a real solution, but for now it works. The real solution has been noted many times, i.e. to more transparently expose JACK and/or ALSA MIDI connectivity. Happiness would reign.

BWS 1.0.7 on Fedora 19 with Planet CCRMA extras

Best,

dp

StudioDave · Post by **StudioDave** » Sun Apr 20, 2014 5:00 pm

rvega wrote:... an idea for a plugin developer: JACK audio and midi inputs and outputs that you can insert as "effects" into any channel in Bitwig

A great idea, I wonder how easy/difficult it would be to write such a thing ? I want one !

Best,

dp

48cube · Post by **48cube** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 8:10 am

Confirming that MIDI is not properly exposed neither to ALSA MIDI nor to JACK MIDI. Only selected USB MIDI controllers seem to be supported OOB. I.e. Novation SL25 MKII is not detected.

BitWig, please, we really need proper Linux MIDI implementation!!!

My Linux Mint XFCE:
Linux 3.11.0-19-lowlatency #13-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT Tue Mar 18 22:32:21 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

After the MIDI issue is solved, I'll happily buy BWS. It's the only thing that keeps me back.

Symdeb · Post by **Symdeb** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 12:02 pm

Tested with Ubuntu 13.10 64 bit with a Roland TR-8 on USB without any drivers (thus seems USB MIDI class compliant) and also via an external USB class compliant DIY MIDI interface. Works fine. No Bitwig read/write ports show up in QjackCtrl however. If I am not wrong, believe Bitwig utilizes ALSA raw MIDI ports. (not the ALSA sequencer)

OldFuzzface · Post by **OldFuzzface** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 2:46 pm

try to disable the midi driver in qjackctl settings and don't use a2j. there will be no exposed ports, but midi data is incoming/outgoing as it should. took me a while to figure this out ... tested with 1.0.7 and some crappy midi keyboards via usb and fast track pro midi IO.

aprzekaz · Post by **aprzekaz** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 4:26 pm

I have the same problems. I actually got it working somehow by accident once with the factory script for my AKAI MPK25. It was cool. I could even use the knobs and play/stop buttons. But sadly I havn't been able to reproduce this. It seems like it's a Bitwig issue to me since MIDI (including CC messages /knobs /transport control) is fully functional with Tracktion5 /Ardour /LMMS/ and others. For some of these I do use the A2J bridge but it's still pretty straight forward and most or all functionality is there.

gretchen · Post by **gretchen** » Mon Apr 21, 2014 11:25 pm

OldFuzzface wrote:try to disable the midi driver in qjackctl settings and don't use a2j. there will be no exposed ports, but midi data is incoming/outgoing as it should. took me a while to figure this out ... tested with 1.0.7 and some crappy midi keyboards via usb and fast track pro midi IO.

thanks! that made it work, so far.

strange... tell the computer you don't want midi to get midi;)

Symdeb · Post by **Symdeb** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 3:32 am

Never used A2J, assume it's this tool ? http://wiki.linuxaudio.org/apps/all/zita-ajbridge. If A2J opens the raw MIDI port to expose it, then this could be logical A2J must be disabled since a raw midi port, unlike ALSA sequencer ports, are not sharable, and thus can only be use by one client application.

Bitwig

KVR Audio

No MIDI on Linux?