Paul Davis: > > >what is the 'easiest' MIDI interface to get working under the average > >Linux kernel? what sort of experiences do folks have with getting > >MIDI working (on a programming level) using API's such as (but not > >limited to) ALSA, and MidiShare? > > > >for me so far, MidiShare seems to offer the most direct and usable > >approach .. while ALSA is wraught with complexity and dependencies > >which often seem out of control. i'd like to know what your > >experience, as developers, has been with getting a working MIDI > >subsystem under Linux ... > > i can speak up as someone who has avoided any interactions with the > ALSA sequencer for years because of a similar perception. i recently > converted Tim Thompson's KeyKit from its raw MIDI port-based > implementation under Linux to one that uses the ALSA sequencer (and > adding multiport support along the way). it was suprisingly easy and > obvious, given a simple example (in this case, the "ALSA sequencer > MIDI Port object" that someone contributed to Ardour). even more > gratifying was comparing the code to the keykit implementations for > win32 and CoreMidi. the ALSA sequencer one was smaller, more logical > and less bogged down in details. >
Yepp, same experience as you. Before using the alsa seq api myself, it seemed to be horrible complicated. But it really wasn't. Tip: the source for jack-rack by bob ham has some clean alsa-seq code to look at. --