Hi there, I am not sure if I qualify for the "power user" status, but I do have a comment regarding this feature:
I prefer using the jack MIDI handling (I start jackd with the -X seq option). Right now, I have to manually connect jack MIDI ports and make sure the ALSA MIDI connections are killed. And the latter is not obvious as Rosegarden keeps reconnecting the ALSA ports together in some cases (I use RG 1.7.3). It is not a critique, don't get me wrong, I just think that it would be great (eventually) to have rosegarden configured to use jack MIDI should the user choose to use the jack MIDI handling when starting jackd. Thanks for a great piece of software :) J. --- On Tue, 3/24/09, D. Michael McIntyre <[email protected]> wrote: > From: D. Michael McIntyre <[email protected]> > Subject: [Rosegarden-user] First-time experience with MIDI playback > To: [email protected] > Cc: [email protected] > Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2009, 10:45 PM > On Tuesday 24 March 2009, [email protected] > wrote: > > > * DISABLE THE AUTOMATIC DEVICE DETECTOR/CREATOR!! > Let it DIE, DIE, DIE! > > > > We need to think of some way to hook "General > MIDI Device" in the default > > autoload up to something sensible, but we DON'T > need to create new devices > > beyond that. If a user has need for more than one > playback device, they > > will be well aware of that. > > There has been a fair amount of discussion over the past > year or so about the > automatic device detector, and how irritating it is. I > don't remember who > participated in all of these discussions, but we reached a > firm and certain > concensus that the automatic device detector was garbage, > and it needed to go > away. > > I took the first step in this direction in revision 10104 > of the qt4/ branch > (shortly to become trunk/) > > I removed the code that used to iterate through all the > available ALSA MIDI > ports and create devices for them on the fly (at startup > for sure, and > possibly at other times.) These devices had names that > attempted to reveal > something about the nature of the port detected (eg. MIDI > external synth, > MIDI software synth, etc.) but these devices were always > created with no > banks or programs, and only a basic set of controllers, > leaving the user to > have to configure them in order to use them productively. > > Let's compare the before and after experience on my own > setup. > > Before: > > I'd start off for the first time with "General > MIDI Device" connected to the > wrong ALSA MIDI output, and "MIDI hardware synth" > connected to the correct > ALSA MIDI output, but devoid of banks or controllers. I > would > connect "General MIDI Device" to the correct > output, leaving "MIDI hardware > synth" connected to that output as well, which used to > lead to all kinds of > weird problems I chased for years. Upon loading a file, my > non-default > initial controllers would be getting sent to "General > MIDI Device" but > then "MIDI hardware synth" would send the same > controllers to the same ALSA > MIDI port, except using generic values (center pan, volume > 100, etc.), and > bam, my custom controllers were reset, and I'd have to > jiggle the knobs to > fix them. WTF? They were sent, and then they were sent > again. WTF?! Even > using KMidiMon, it literally took me several YEARS to > figure out why that was > going on, and in the end it was a fairly new user who > finally pointed it out > to me. Talk about a DOH!! moment. > > After: > > I start for the first time with "General MIDI > Device" not connected to > anything, and no sound. I have no extra devices beyond the > one. In order to > get MIDI playback working, I have to go into the MIDI > device manager, > select "General MIDI Device" from the list on the > left, and find an > appropriate button to double click on the right. > > Hopefully if I already have something hooked up and > it's configured correctly, > if I try all those buttons one by one, one of them will > eventually work. The > one big exception I can imagine to that scenario is if I > have an old emu10k1 > (less and less likely in the field these days) and it > doesn't have a > soundfont loaded into it. This is one case we might want > to try to address > with some clever pop-up idea box, but honestly I think it > would be best to > skip that for "power users" to figure out later, > and just funnel everyone > down the same road. The vast majority of people who > don't already know what > they're going to use to play MIDI don't actually > have ANYTHING to play MIDI, > and they need to reach for QSynth. > > So let's pretend none of the buttons on the right side > of this dialog made > noise work, or there just weren't any buttons there at > all. What I'd have to > do is go start QSynth. > > I just did that. QSynth was detected, and one of the > QSynth ALSA MIDI ports > slotted straight into "General MIDI Device" and I > had MIDI playback > instantly. > > My conclusions: > > The only thing I don't like about this new world is the > way everybody is > absolutely compelled to use the MIDI device manager the > very first time, even > if they do have QSynth or TiMidity++ or something else > running. They're also > compelled to save their default studio, lest they have to > repeat that step > again and again. > > I do like the automatic detection code that still works > when I start QSynth or > Hydrogen or whatever. This code has never annoyed me the > same way as having > this great huge heaping list of hardware inputs and outputs > that mostly don't > do anything. (My personal box is a bit unusual in that I > have three > soundcards plus a USB MIDI dongle, but I see user files all > the time that > have random unconfigured devices in them, so I know I'm > not alone in this, > and my situation isn't that uncommon, although I am at > the extreme end of > it.) > > In a way, even though I don't quite like the way > everybody is compelled to > start off with the MIDI device manager when starting out > the very first time, > even if they have QSynth, a properly configured SB Live! or > a working > external hardware synth (I happen to have all three at the > moment) the one > thing about this is at least everybody, no matter what > their setup, has to do > the SAME thing. > > If I start the MIDI device manager, highlight "General > MIDI Device," and I > start double clicking the buttons on the right from where I > sit now, several > of them are going to get my MIDI noise going strong. This > same procedure > would work for everyone, with the tail end of the procedure > being "if you > tried all the buttons, or there were no buttons, run > QSynth." (Or maybe we > should make that "Run TiMidity++, just because > it's generally simpler to get > that to work, and it has lower overhead, though it > doesn't sound nearly as > good.) > > I'm really interested what others think about this one. > I'm not saying I have > definitely decided to not even try to guess at which ALSA > MIDI port leads to > noise, and I am not sure how the idea of everyone > absolutely having to start > off for the first time with the MIDI device manager would > go over, but I do > have to say as somebody who has been dealing with the > hideous sound question > and someone who has been helping rank newbies with these > issues for years, I > really do like the idea of everyone having the SAME steps > to follow, even if > it does introduce a new complication. > > Configure your sound, save your default studio, and live > happily ever after. > I'm sure we could come up with a way to walk you > through it, expanding on the > first time dialog, and having clickable internal links that > would launch the > device manager, and save the resulting default studio. > > Discuss. > > And developers, try revision 10104 or newer and do tell me > what you think. > One way or the other, I have no intention of ever > un-commenting that code > from here. We might come up with something different, but > that code AIN'T > what the doctor ordered at all. Good riddance to something > that has been > grating on my nerves for a very long time! > -- > D. Michael McIntyre > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Apps built with the Adobe(R) Flex(R) framework and Flex > Builder(TM) are > powering Web 2.0 with engaging, cross-platform > capabilities. 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