Using an older pc as a sound module for my midi keyboard...

[MeX1Co]

Hi all,

I had this idea I want to try out and I could really use your experience... First off, let me tell you that I am a complete newbie when it comes to Linux...

My idea was to use an older pc made from parts I had laying around (a succesfully reborn P4 1.9 with 512mb of RAM and a 160Gb IDE Hdd) and use it as a soundmodule for my midi controller (CME UF-60).

I have managed so far to get the pc working, installed 64 studio 2.1 (I tried Ubuntu studio 13.10 first, but not succesfully) I plugged in the usb my cme and with qjack control and zynaddsubfx i can play with negligible latency...

Now comes the tricky part... What I want is when i perform Live, not to have to use keyboard mouse and screen... In other words, i want to just turn it on, (while having my controller plugged) and at startup to open zynaddsubfx, qjackctl and make the connection...

Do you think this is possible, or I am asking for too much??? I searched the forum with all the keywords I could think of, and didnt find anything that could help...

Thanks in advance for your time...

[DoosC]

I think you can simply do that with the help of Claudia and Cadence apps which are part of KXStudio.

With Claudia you can set up and save a "studio" in which you would have zyn and the connections saved.
With Cadence you can choose to start up jack automatically and then automatically loading a previously saved studio.

I you don't have either tools, you could do this manually using scripts to launch ladish_control to handle zyn and to make the connections.

More info on Claudia : http://wiki.linuxaudio.org/wiki/simple_ ... []=claudia
More info on Cadence : http://wiki.linuxaudio.org/wiki/cadence ... []=cadence
More info on ladish_control : just type ladish_control in a terminal window and it will display available commands

I think what you are trying to do is totally doable !
Hope this helps.

[AnthonyCFox]

I strongly suggest looking at AVLinux, if you haven't already. It's specifically set up for older hardware and I believe it has Cadence included that Doosc mentioned. I'm not sure about Claudia, but I'm sure there is a way to do what you're trying to do and you've come to the right place for help.

I'm looking forward to hearing how this works for you, it sounds like a great way to use Linux and FOSS tools. Good luck!

EDIT: This might work with Non-Session-Manager, well nsmd (non-session-manager-daemon) which comes with NSM. It has a command line option [--session-root path] that might start Zyn and with JackPatch (also comes with NSM) would automatically patch Zyn's midi and audio however you set it up. Then you could have nsmd --session-root path as an auto start an not need mouse or monitor for performances.

Maybe. I'm far from an expert. Hopefully, @male will see this and chime it. The NON tools are his.

REEDIT: I just tried it with one of my sessions. I don't know what that command does, but it isn't what I was saying. I filed an issue on non's github last week asking for a command line option that does exactly this, though for another reason. Maybe, someday.

[MeX1Co]

Thank you both for your answers... I will try both AVLinux and if the KXworks is in the 64studio later today...

I checked the info on claudia and cadence and they seem to do what I want, so i will keep you posted...

[male]

I strongly suggest looking at AVLinux, if you haven't already. It's specifically set up for older hardware and I believe it has Cadence included that Doosc mentioned. I'm not sure about Claudia, but I'm sure there is a way to do what you're trying to do and you've come to the right place for help.

I'm looking forward to hearing how this works for you, it sounds like a great way to use Linux and FOSS tools. Good luck!

EDIT: This might work with Non-Session-Manager, well nsmd (non-session-manager-daemon) which comes with NSM. It has a command line option [--session-root path] that might start Zyn and with JackPatch (also comes with NSM) would automatically patch Zyn's midi and audio however you set it up. Then you could have nsmd --session-root path as an auto start an not need mouse or monitor for performances.

Maybe. I'm far from an expert. Hopefully, @male will see this and chime it. The NON tools are his.

REEDIT: I just tried it with one of my sessions. I don't know what that command does, but it isn't what I was saying. I filed an issue on non's github last week asking for a command line option that does exactly this, though for another reason. Maybe, someday.

The session root path option just controls where nsmd expects to find your sessions (default is ~/NSM Sessions). Autoloading a session on startup is not currently a feature. *however*, you can use the included send_osc tool (or just about anything else that can send OSC messages) to control nsmd (e.g. to send it an open command with the name of the session you want to load). Sure, it's a little bit of scripting, but it's not *that* much harder than having a an --open-session commandline option or whatever.

[AnthonyCFox]

Autoloading a session on startup is not currently a feature. *however*, you can use the included send_osc tool (or just about anything else that can send OSC messages) to control nsmd (e.g. to send it an open command with the name of the session you want to load). Sure, it's a little bit of scripting, but it's not *that* much harder than having a an --open-session commandline option or whatever.

Do you mean python or java?

Code: Select all

tony@HYDRA:~$ send_osc
bash: send_osc: command not found

Unfortunately, shell scripts are my limit and I'm not seeing anything relevant in Google for "bash osc".

If it's only "a little bit of scripting" maybe you toss out an example that we could tweak to our own purposes? Preferably in python, I don't think I've installed java for anything.

[j_e_f_f_g]

when i perform Live, not to have to use keyboard mouse and screen

As a guy who has gigged with a computer for almost 10 years, I strongly recommend you not use a computer live without a workable input system. Computers are generally not as turnkey and rugged as something like a Roland or Yamaha musical instrument. It can happen at some gig that the computer will boot with an error message you'll have to resolve. You can't without a monitor/keyboard. I use a small (9") usb (displaylink) touchscreen monitor to control my computer live. (But I use Windows because displaylink monitors are not very useable on linux). No keyboard needed with a touchscreen, but I do carry a mini usb keyboard and usb mouse in my gig backpack in case of emergency.

[tatch]

this thread might have some information on running a headless box. It's about the rpi but I think the headless stuff should generally be the same (I may be wrong).

[MeX1Co]

First off, let me thank you for all the answers...

DoosC, the KX is not part of the 64studio, is it possible to install it??? (remember, i am a newbie in Linux)

AnthonyCFox, i am downloading AVlinux... i will run it on live tommorow and see how it goes...

j_e_f_f_g, tell me about it... I know how to do what i want on windows... the only reason i am trying to set it up on Linux is to be more stable... I just dont trust windows on a live setting, unless i have a very powerful machine (which i dont)... And be certain that a monitor (or at least an lcd screen) a mouse and a keyboard will be in my case... i just dont want to use them if i dont have to...

tatch, i am halfway through reading this thread... thank you for that...

[tatch]

DoosC, the KX is not part of the 64studio, is it possible to install it??? (remember, i am a newbie in Linux)

MeX1Co, to me it looks like the last stable release of 64studio was released over 5 years ago. If you want to more thoroughly explore your options in linux audio today I highly recommend playing around with KXStudio or AVLinux, I think both of them provide more accurate representations of what's available in linux audio right now. AVLinux is debian-based like 64studio and KXStudio is ubuntu-based, so they should be very similar to 64studio but much more updated and easier to use. I think it'd help if you started with one of these distros and see what you can do from there.

[MeX1Co]

To be honest, i thought that since i have an older pc (i think it must be at least 12 years old) it would be a good thing to have an older linux distribution...

And is KXStudio a Linux distribution??? I thought it was just an application that you can install on ubuntu and debian distributions...

[tatch]

To be honest, i thought that since i have an older pc (i think it must be at least 12 years old) it would be a good thing to have an older linux distribution...

And is KXStudio a Linux distribution??? I thought it was just an application that you can install on ubuntu and debian distributions...

I'm not sure if it works like that. And yes, it is: http://kxstudio.sourceforge.net/

[AnthonyCFox]

To be honest, i thought that since i have an older pc (i think it must be at least 12 years old) it would be a good thing to have an older linux distribution...

And is KXStudio a Linux distribution??? I thought it was just an application that you can install on ubuntu and debian distributions...

It's the kernel that interacts with the hardware and the latest stable kernel will be as good, if not better, than an older kernel. With older computers it's more about the desktop environment. KDE and Gnome 3 don't use a significant percentage of the available cpu/gpu resources of a computer with newer, more powerful hardware, but with your computer they would. So, you would want to find a distro that uses LXDE/Openbox, Fluxbox, XFCE, etc. AVLinux uses LXDE which is why I suggested it, plus it's pro-audio oriented with jack and wine already configured for that purpose. You can also come here and get pretty good support.

[MeX1Co]

Quick update...

First of all, let me thank you again for your suggestions...

I tried both KXstudio and AVlinux, and ended up with the latter... KX was probably to much for my (10 year old) P4 1.9, but AV run really really smooth.. I got a small scare when it didnt recognise my video card, but the manual was really helpful with that as well, and problem solved...

What i am trying to do now, is get the KX repositories to work to get Claudia and Cadence as DoosC suggested, but when i download the .deb file and run it, with sudo, it doesnt show on the package manager... I will work on that too, but if you have any suggestions on that one too, let me know...

[AnthonyCFox]

You might try the AVLinux forum http://www.remastersys.com/forums/index.php#7 if you don't get an answer here.