[PlanetCCRMA] Trying MIDI for the first time

[Fernando Pablo Lopez-Lezcano]

>    I've got an external synth hooked to the MIDI input of my AP2496 card.
> The machine is dual boot, and I've checked that the synth, cables and AP2496
> card are working under Windows using GigaStudio. I then boot into Linux.
> What do I do next?

In the past I have used pd to test midi. Just start it with "pd -alsa
-mididev 1" and see what happens (it should not complain about not being
able to open the midi ports). This assumes the card is the first soundcard
in the system. Pd uses oss emulation and the raw interface. 

If pd does not complain go to "Help" and the "Test audio and midi", a 
panel will pop up that you can use to test both. Clicking on the small 
square below "MIDI OUT" should start sending notes (one a second, I 
think). Playing on the keyboard should generate numbers in the boxes below 
the "MIDI IN" legend. You can also send an audio test tone and verify 
audio input. 

>    I looked at http://www.djcj.org/ at the MIDI HOWTO. It talked about doing
> 'cat /dev/sndstat', but that tells me 'No such device'. (/dev/sndstat does
> exist...)

That is for oss and under alsa it is in /proc/asound/oss/sndstat

You can also fire up muse and use it to test midi in and out. 

>    Are there any simple answers here? I don't want to just load apps, but
> would rather understand how this basically works.

Ooops, too late :-) "cat /proc/asound/devices" should show you what you
have as native alsa devices, I don't have a midi interface here at home to
show you how it looks like. Poking around in /proc/asound/oss will show
you what you have in the oss emulation world.

-- Fernando