Installing the realtime kernel and the Jack audio daemon

[2011 warning : this pst is pretty much old and probably no longer really accurate]
[2011 update 2 : As far as I know realtime has now been merged into the main Linux kernel, so there's no longer a need to install any special linux-rt package to have it installed on your Ubuntu box]

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If you want to make music under Linux, you need a realtime kernel along with jackd and it's user control GUI. Here's how to install them :

In a terminal, enter

sudo apt-get install linux-rt jackd qjackctl

Then reboot your computer. You can now stop the PulseAudio service :

/etc/init.d/pulseaudio stop

and launch qjackctl

qjackctl &

Then go to setup, in parameters, check the Real Time checkbox. Click Ok. You can then click on the Start button to start jackd. Your linux station is now set up to play music.

You may now want to read this post on how to make a song using Seq24, Hydrogen and Zynaddsubfx.

Happy music making !

Mx44

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Mx44 is as software synth with a small footprint. You can install it with

sudo apt-get install mx44

Then run it with

mx44 &

Read this post on how to connect a synth to Seq24, or this one to connect it to Muse, if you have not already done so.

To choose a Mx44 patch, select a bank with the two combo boxes on the left, then select a patch with the radio buttons.

Happy music making !

Lash

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Lash is a tool for audio session saving and restoring.

To install it, run the command :

sudo apt-get install lashd lash-bin

Then (assuming jackd is started) launch the Lash Panel :

lash_panel &

now start Seq24 and Zynaddsubfx :

seq24 --manual_alsa_ports & zynaddsubfx -r 48000 -b 128 &

You may now write a song. You no longer need to save your song in Seq24 or your settings in Zynaddsubfx. Simply save your Lash session using the Save Project button in the Lash Control Panel. Then if you click on Close Project, you can reload it later and your Seq24 and Zynaddsubfx parameters will be restored, along with your jackd midi connections.

Hydrogen is supposed to be Lash-aware, but it doesn't seem to work on Ubuntu 8.04 for now. So you'll have to launch Hydrogen and route its midi manually. Don't forget to close it before you save your lash session, or it will start to load (and fail) the next time you'll load the session. UPDATE : I tried this and all my Lash clients closed along when I closed Hydrogen ! I didn't disconnected Hydrogen's midi input from Seq24, this may have caused the crash. But besides this I discovered Lash was way to much resource-consuming to record to Ardour on my hardware. I had then to give up Lash, but you may find it useful if you got a powerful machine.

Here's a list of Lash-aware applications.

Happy music making !

Ams

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Ams is a modular software synth. You can install it with

sudo apt-get install ams

Then, assuming that jack is started, you can run it with

ams --jack &

Then go to File>Load Patch to load an ams patch.

You may want now to read this post if you don't know how to connect ams to seq24, or this one to do so with Muse.

Happy music making !

Hexter

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Looking for documentation on the audio on Linux subject, I found this thread on Ubuntuforums that's a valuable source of information on the subject. It mentions, among other softwares, Hexter.

Hexter is a Dssi plugin that emulates the DX7 circuit, which's a FM synth like Reason's Subtractor.

You can install it by entering :

sudo apt-get install hexter

That will install the Dssi framework too.

Then (assuming that jackd is started) you can start Hexter with :

jack-dssi-host /usr/lib/dssi/hexter.so &

Look at this post on how to connect a virtual instrument to the Seq24 sequencer (or this post to do so with Muse). The output volume is very low by default, you'll have to set it correctly. You can now enjoy the 70 Hexter patches.



Happy music making !

amSynth

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If you've been googling around for "seq24 tutorial" you sure read Dave Phillips' paper on LinuxJournal. It mentions QSynth and amSynth. I tried QSynth but was unable to find real free .sf2 soundfonts for it. But amSynth ran nice. To install it, enter the command :

sudo apt-get install amsynth

Then run it with just

amsynth &

If you have read this previous post, you shouldn't have problems connecting amSynth and Seq24 (Read this post to do so with Muse). You can now enjoy amSynth's virtual instruments.



Happy music making !

Licensing

Each post that contains a 'License of this post' link that links to this post's page, is licenced under the term of the Creative Commons cc-by-sa license. The author and copyright owner is Nicolas Chartoire.

This mean you can redistribute this work, and adapt it providing you mention the author and that your adapted work is distributed under the terms of the same license.