New MusE Release, A Step Toward The Linux Studio

spamatica writes "In these times when multimedia on Linux seems to be on a roll, it's my pleasure to break the news that one of the most powerful midi/audio sequencers on Linux, MusE, has just had a new release. This release is a major milestone featuring things such as Jack-transport and win32/VST-Instrument support. Moreover it has been much improved concerning usability, stability and functionality. The Linux-based studio is looming ever closer -- in fact, it's here!"

Re:still no vst support...

[Queuetue]

Why would the use of WINE prevent low latency use? One more time, WINE is an implementation of the same win32 spec as MS Windows is - not a slow emulator. It therefore can and often does run just as fast as windows - and in some cases, faster.

Is the latency an educated userspace vs kernel space issue you can expand upon, or just a personal bias against WINE?

Re:It looks fully functional but..

[Anonymous Coward]

Here it is: http://www.agnula.org/ [agnula.org] and here is the MuSE tutorial: http://www.agnula.org/documentation/dp_tutorials/m use/index_html/view [agnula.org]

Re:ardour?

[JohnWilliams]

Ardour is a hard disk recorder. Muse is a MIDI sequencer with some support for audio tracks. They are not competitive, but complementary.

Copies of the changelog

[djcapelis]

The slashdot effect is starting on the poor site and the database only allows 32 connections at one time... so I figured it would be best to post a copy of the news summaries that it digs out of the database: .7 and .7-PRE4 don't have much changed in the way of news. .7-PRE3

# Configuration and customization

* Shortcuts for 'arrowing around' in arranger added
* changed default start behaviour to open default.med template
* Lots of new icons ;-)
* A proposal for MusE logo (tell us what you think!)
* Autodetect of browser for help system

# MusE general:

* FluidSynth: added support for drum patches
* MusE now will not start if RTC is not available.
* show one more measure in pianoroll and drum editor
* list editor: implemented input mode for program change messages

# Fixed bugs:

* fixed: pitch bend handling and import fixed
* fixed: 'edit - delete track' hangs MusE - bug
* fixed: routing for stereo LADSPA plugins used in mono strips
* fixed: midi import problems
* auxSend chorusSend and reverbSend enabled in midi mixer strip if corresponding controllers are added
* implemented 'Add New Controller' in list editor / edit controller
* midi controller values now saved in .med file
* updated roland-XP30.idf instrument definition
* And a number of other bugs fixed (and added?)
* Also check the TODO for currently known issues. .7-PRE2

# Custom guis for plugins work again
# Splash screen
# LADCCA/LASH support updated
# Cleaned up shortcuts
# Single key shortcuts for edit tools
# Update marker list on tempo change
# Allow adding markers from the ruler with shift-click
# Metronom now sends proper note off events
# Clip list editor deaktivated
# After loading of template, treat current project as 'untitled'
# Song format changed due to bugfixes
# Shortcuts to bug reporting tool and homepage from help menu
# Updated AboutBox
# Fixed QT version check in m4/qt.m4
# And a number of other bugs
# Check the Changelog for a complete list of changes.
# Also check the TODO for currently known issues.

Re:Linux + Guitar

[ptaff]

In addition to the audio/MIDI editing stuff that Muse now has, I'm looking for some decent guitar-oriented analog effects

This would have to be pipelined in Jack. As you'd put your pedals between your guitar and your amp, you'd put a software soundeffect program between the input source and MusE, via Jack. One of the available pipeline filters is JACK Rack [arb.bash.sh], which does what you want.

Atari ST and Sequencing

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually the Atari ST is still pretty popular for MIDI sequencing ... something about the basic operating system providing for no unexpected behaviour when sequencing, unlike Windows that can decide to halt suddenly when it decides to mess with RAM, hard drive caching or another task messes up everything.

I've been waiting for MIDI...

[no longer myself]

I've missed messing around with MIDI since I left MS Windows, but this still looks a little too tricky for a convert like me...

~~~ Requirements (paraphrased)
- QT: Qt 3.2.0 or above
- ALSA 0.9.x or newer (cvs)
- gcc 3.x.x
NOTE: you _must_ compile MusE with the same compiler you used to compile QT
- libsndfile 1.0.1 (current 1.0.4)
- Linux kernel with rtc (RealTimeClock) driver (device /dev/rtc)
- JACK
- fluidsynth-1.0.3 (formerly known as iiwusynth)
- of course: a soundcard and/or some midi gear
- (if you compile from cvs:) automake 1.7 and autoconf 2.54
~~~~

I don't even know "JACK", and just looking over these things I'd have to update every single one of these requirements except for the ones I don't even have installed in the first place. I guess I won't be installing this for a while... :-(

Sadly all my boxes have that on-board AC97 audio, and it has no hardware MIDI support at all. Otherwise, ALSA does a great job, and I never needed to configure anything for wave output. Just no MIDI.

(Side note: I never could get things like TiMIDIty to work right either... Guess, I'm just not quite geeky enough... yet.)

Re:Finally,

[LizardKing]

What's this Atari ST nonsense?

I still use Steinberg Pro-24 (the forerunner to Cubase) on an Atari ST. It is far more stable than any version of Cubase that I have used on a PC. I don't own a Mac, but I do hear that recent versions of Cubase have been rock solid on that operating system. So if I upgraded that would be they way I'd go. Then again by the time I can afford a decent Mac, Rosegarden (http://www.rosegardenmusic.com/) may have reached a stable release ...

As for the poster below who talks about booting from a 720Kb floppy, my ST has a SCSI hard drive, and boots in seconds.

Re:Exciting..

[abe ferlman]

My Delta 1010 works just fine, as does my Turtle Beach USB MIDI adapter.

Your Echo Darla, Gina, Layla or RME Hamerfall card would be supported by ALSA as well, among others. Linux audio may have issues, but a lack of professional sound cards that work is not one of them.

Re:Interesting

[Tarential]

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/lmuse/muse-0.7. 0.tar.bz2?download .tar.bz2 - good enough?

Re:This is where Apple has traditionally worked

[pesc]

After all ur working digitally, and can do all ur audio straight from what ur working on into a CD ISO.

You need a professional soundcard because:

1) You may want to record good quality audio. Maybe from several sources simultaneously.

2) You may want to listen to what you are doing before burning a CD.

3) You need a professional soundcard with latency of a few ms (and good drivers) so that you can play a note on a MIDI keyboard and not having to wait half a second to hear it from your softsynth and effects.

Re:Linux + Guitar

[ScottGant]

Also, for the couple dozen linux guitarists that are out there: what does everyone out there use to reduce hiss in the incoming guitar signal?

I'm a traditionalist and just mic it off my Twin Reverb and I'm really not standing anywhere near my monitor when I'm playing anyway. But then again, I'm usually playing the LP which has the buckers on it so there is no hum....but when I strap the Tele on I practically have to stand in the next room. But you can't beat that twang!

As I said, I'm a traditionalist and prefer tube to transistor and analog to digital. I just use digital for recording and mixing. But there are SO many different ways you can skin this cat to make the sound you want it's not even funny. I'm getting more and more into it, little by little because too much will blow my mind. I get side-tracked into tangents that go nowhere and waste time...so I try to keep it as simple as my simple mind can grasp.

Re:Exciting..

[Anonymous Coward]

The SW1000XG appears to have the same degree of support on Mac OS X as it does in Linux, ie none.

Maybe you should have bought a card with specifications that are open, or at least made available on reasonable terms, in order that it might continue to be supported after the vendor loses interest.

Re:VSTi support??

[wulfhound]

In theory this allows all Windows VSTs to work. In practice compatibility is somewhat less than 100% due to bugs in the VSTis themselves, or lack of support for nasty things like PACE copyprotection drivers which quite a few VSTs (including, I think, TC) use.

Editing music without a MIDI keyboard

[ElMiguel]

My problem with MusE is that it has a Steinberg-style interface. I'm not proficient enough with a MIDI keyboard to use it for any serious work and trying to write a song with Steinberg's and MusE's mouse-based note input facilities is a nightmare.

Trackers, on the other hand, were designed to be nicely usable with only a keyboard and mouse, but ever since Impulse Tracker died I haven't found one to my liking.

I know of many trackers for Linux and Windows, but all of them are too unstable, their development stopped years ago and can't be made to work with current hardware and software, or are seriously lacking in features and usability. Especially those trying to imitate Fast Tracker 2 seem to have a fondness for absolutely crammed interfaces with tiny letters and icons.

Can you recommend some software that does not require a MIDI keyboard to be usable and actually works for you?

Yamaha UX16 USB Midi works w/ Linux

[bach37]

This [music123.com] usb midi device to connect your midi keyboard works excellent in Linux. The module is snd-usb-audio. I've done all the midi-type applications (rosegarden, NoteEdit, etc) and this midi/usb works great. Plugged it in and it works.

Just wanted to make a post in case others might be interested.

Re:I've been waiting for MIDI...

[Anonymous Coward]

With regards to getting Timidity working, I only discovered fairly recently that you need to get your hands on separately-available "patches", or instrument files (unless they get automatically installed with your distro).

Using Gentoo, this turned out to be as easy as "emerge timidity++" followed by "emerge timidity-eawpatches" (and then a quick config-update to put the new instrument configuration in place). Under Debian, it looks like there is a package called "timidity-patches" which should do the trick.

This has worked just fine for me on at least two machines so far. I hope it helps!

Re:Finally,

[Anonymous Coward]

Timing on the ST had nothing to do with the OS. I'm not sure of the particulars, but the MIDI clock was a Integer mutiple of one of the base hardware clocks, that's why it's rock solid, no rounding of floating point numbers like you get these days.
The same chip is still being used in brand new broadcast timecode generators right now.

Re:Exciting..

[Unknown Lamer]

Ardour [ardour.org]

It certainly looks (and works since I use it) like a DAW to me.

Re:Rosegarden

[Chris Cannam]

> How does Muse compare to Rosegarden?

Well, they're both audio and MIDI sequencers for Linux. They both support outboard MIDI gear, native Linux ALSA soft synths, and audio and transport synchronisation through JACK. Both look and feel somewhat like the big sequencers for other platforms. Both use Qt for their GUIs, though Rosegarden also uses the KDE libraries. I happen to think Rosegarden has the more polished GUI, but I'm biased (see disclaimer at bottom).

Both support arbitrary numbers of MIDI and audio tracks, with audio mixing and routing capabilities. Both support LADSPA effects plugins, of which there are hundreds available free. Both can (with some work!) be made to use VST effects through vstserver [notam02.no]. MusE can host VST instruments with libfst using Wine; either of them can drive VST instruments hosted separately using jack_fst [linuxaudiosystems.com]. None of these VST solutions is currently at all easy to configure and build, but see here for more information [djcj.org]. Rosegarden is implementing the DSSI synth API [sf.net] and will probably ultimately use a DSSI wrapper for VST instruments. Rosegarden can also be run without audio support if you only want MIDI or score, whereas MusE always requires JACK.

My rather fuzzy impression of the difference in "feel" between them is that MusE feels like it came more from a studio/MIDI gearhead background, Rosegarden more from a composition background. MusE is a bit further ahead with things like instrument plugins, audio routing (send/returns etc) and automation. Rosegarden places a lot more emphasis on the score editor, whereas the one that used to be in MusE was actually removed completely for the 0.7 release.

Rosegarden is a somewhat bigger and more complicated program than MusE (c 200K lines of code vs 130K LOC), which you may see as good or bad depending on whether the extra code happens to do stuff you want or not. They're both written in C++, should you happen to care.

On the subject of soundcard support: the usual quick answer is "it's probably supported unless it's FireWire or made by MOTU". In particular the current M-Audio, Terratec and RME semi-pro gear mostly works fine, as well as most consumer cards. The lack of FireWire audio device support currently is a pain though. Anyway, see the ALSA soundcard matrix [alsa-project.org] for detailed information.

(Disclaimer: I am a Rosegarden developer and, although I track MusE CVS, I have never actually managed to get MusE 0.7 to build because I don't have the right libraries and autotools. So do take all this with a pinch of salt.)

Check out PlanetCCRMA

[theManInTheYellowHat]

There is a great deal of work that should be reviewed by anyone concidering Linux sound / video production and I am supprized that someone has not mentioned it yet.

Planet CCRMA [stanford.edu] is awesome! This is such a good start for everyone who says "I am not geeky enough to get {insert package here} working". I suspect that the FC2 iso's are close to coming out, the ones for FC1 are excelent. You basicly install FC and then there is a kernel iso and an app iso which installs most of the known linux sound apps. The mailing list is also quite active and the people very helpful.

Strong work from Fernando Lopez-Lezcano!!!

Re:Finally,

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly!

I have several 20 year old Synth sound modules that the local posers that work at Guitar Center try and ridicule me into buying a new roland or other sound module.

My old sound modules create the sounds that the newer ones try and "emulate" or play from samples.

only fools upgrade because something is "old" and in the pc world, there are lots and lots of fools.

Re:Close, but no cigar

[Lumpy]

I've had a few friends adventurous to consider playing around with Linux audio programs, but when they ask if their $200 (and up) interfaces don't work and the best I can do is point them to the O'Reilly book on writing Linux drivers, it's (understandably) a real turn-off.

Of course, you're being an ass to them by playing the elitest RTFM! game.

Linux supports a WIDE range of professional sound recording cards. if you would have actually searched instead of acting like a snide know-it-all to your friends you would have known this....

Here, I'll help you...

Alsa sound card matrix. [alsa-project.org]

it shows support for the Sonorus medi/o and studi/o professional 24 channel recording cards.

Oh look it supports the RME hammerfall card 52 recording channels at 24bit resolution.

There are lots more supported, I leave it up to you to find the rest in the link above.

I strongly suggest you actually learn about the ALSA support of professional soundcards and the PRO MIDI interfaces.... the midiman usb midi devices are also well supported and used extensively by professionals. Handing out advice to people when you do not know the facts only spreads bad information.

and as always, find out what is supported and then go buy it. buying something at random and then hoping it is supported is always a silly thing to do.