Quick note changes are lost, notes in chords are lost, and some notes hang

[kgabris]

Hello!

I recently bought a usb-midi adapter to experiment with sounds on a computer program (I would use Ardour, under ubuntu studio).

Quick note changes result in the second note lost, that is, it is very low volume level, or not played at all (like in trills). Notes from a chord are lost. And some notes hang.

If I play slowly a melody, it is ok, but as soon I speed up, or use chords, it is unusable.

II have a casio celviano digital pianino, not sure of the model, it's an older one.

The thing is, that the adapter is a cheap chinese, the one with the music staff on it, perhaps you're familiar with it.

I don't know if it's the older piano model incompatible, or probably the adapter is a crap? I tried with different synths under ubuntu, and it is the same.

Please help, I would not invest in a better adapter (like a roland) if it is not that the problem............. thanks!

Krisztian

 

[happyrat1]

The problem is probably not the adapter. I have used cheap adapters with Linux under KXStudio and they all work fine.

What you may have to do is tweak your system a bit.

1) Install the lowlatency kernel if you haven't already.

Search on "lowlatency" in synaptic.

2) It never hurts to throw more RAM at a virtual instrument. If you are using any virtual instruments and even if you aren't, the bare minimum of RAM you should be running for optimum performance these days is 8 Gigs or as much as your system will allow.

You should also expand your swap file to double the installed RAM but be careful when you do this because you can render your system unbootable. Read up on what you need to know for how to expand a swap file and what grub commands you'll have to run to make it recognized by the system. You'll need some kind of bootable Linux rescue system in case things go south.

Also, you might be better off trying Rosegarden as your sequencer if you are running under Linux. It's a pretty decent MIDI sequencer and fully supports VSTs and hardware instruments as well.

Since you already have ubuntu studio installed you might want to consider installing KXstudio as well. The two environments play nicely together and KXStudio adds some MIDI routing tools that I find indispensable.

You can install it from this page.

KXStudio

KXStudio

kx.studio

Do a full backup before you install it just in case you are unhappy with it for any reason so you can revert if necessary.

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

One other thing. If the antique Celviano is still dropping notes, it may be the keyboard that's too slow. If so, then try turning off velocity sensitivity on the keyboard. You'll lose touch sensitivity but at least it should no longer drop any notes. I had a similar problem once with a shitty M-Audio Oxygen49 controller and the fix was to turn off touch sensitivity.

Gary

 

[kgabris]

Hi Gary! Thanks for the response!

Ok, so it is not hardware related, probably.........

I actually didn't try rosegarden, because I could not set it up with jack.

I think the keyboard is not slow, as it has built in speakers (I think it is not primarily for midi, there is no velocity controller on it), and the sound coming from the speakers is ok.... it actually has a good sound. And the mechanics are also ok.... but I'm not sure.... if the sound coming from the pianino is ok, then it should be ok through the midi also, right?

I only have 8GB of Ram altogether.... so im not sure about the ram issue ) But I'll try out things, knowing that its probably not a hardware issue... thanks!!!!

Krisztian

 

[happyrat1]

Velocity Sensitivity is also sometimes called Touch Sensitivity. Trust me. There's got to be a way to turn it off on a Privia 330. You just have to search the manual.

Secondly, this is another reason for setting up KXstudio on your machine. It makes dealing with JACK a breeze using two utilities, Cadence and Catia. A brilliantly simple GUI design.

However, the new long term release of Ubuntu and Kubuntu are coming out next month on April 14th.

When the time comes to upgrade, back up your home partition and do a new install of Ubuntu or Kubuntu to bring your distro up to the latest spec.

The latest version of KXStudio will probably be released 2 or 3 weeks later. At that time follow the directions to add the repos and add the necessary meta packages and upgrade to the latest version as well.

Rosegarden will be automatically installed and it should be properly configured to run with JACK.

Also at that time, installing the lowlatency kernel will also become an option.

I STRONGLY suggest installing the lowlatency kernel and turning off the velocity sensitivity on your Privia right away though.

Doing those two things should effectively eliminate the latency problem even without any additional steps. 8 Gigs should be plenty to operate a Linux Studio Computer unless you are running a boatload of VSTs. Check your swap drive though. It should be set to 16 Gigs or twice your RAM size.

Gary

 

[kgabris]

Hey Gary, thanks for the feedback!

I managed to get it better, actually by running up rosegarden. Jack was ok, but i didn't know I have to set a synth plugin for the midi output....... some synth plugins crash right away, but one is working, and the fast notes are played ok, and chords also seem to be ok...
(better, that is)

there is one thing though, that depending on the synth plugin sample, the note sample is not played full from beginning, or something like that, I'm not sure how to tell, or what I hear exactly. On an organ sample it is not really detectable for instance (is it because it is a homogeneous sound?)

Anyway, it is really a software problem, as you suggested....

Ok, I'll wait for the releases....... I might also find the manual for the celviano on the net.... (It was my sister's, I actually play violin I know little piano, but interested in making experimental/electronic.....)

I already have the low latency kernel.............. thanks, cheers!

Krisztian

 

[happyrat1]

Take a look at the ADSR Envelope controls for the synth. (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release)

Some synth sounds are meant to have a slow attack rising to a swell like a slow cello sound.

You can also set Rosegarden to use MIDI playback on the Celviano as well.

Look around on youtube for some tutorials on how to use Rosegarden effectively.

Also take a look at a Windows program called Reaper. It's a shareware that's not crippled and never expires and runs perfectly under WINE.

The workflow is somewhat different than Rosegarden but then again there are youtube tutorials for that program as well.

Also if you set up Virtual Windows 10 machine with Virtualbox you can run Cakewalk by Bandlab which while windows only is very professional and now freeware since Bandlab bought them out. Cakewalk is really a professional quality DAW program and the current price, "FREE AS IN BEER" makes it very attractive these days. Again, look for tutorials on youtube.

Gary

 

[kgabris]

Hi Gary!

Thanks for the advice!

I looked into the envelope controls, and it is interesting, tweaking those would probably solve a lot of things.. meanwhile I could only experiment with those on midi playback, since the signal from the celviano is down, and I don't know why. I did everything the same as last time, when it was working.

I tried rebooting too, etc, other synths that worked before.... it's just down.

Anyway, thanks for the tutorial and software recommendations, I'll look into those....

best,

Krisztian

 

[happyrat1]

When you plug your MIDI connectors into the Celviano remember the one marked OUT always connects to MIDI IN and Vice Versa.

Gary

 

[kgabris]

yep........ that is OK

I think it'll work..... I can route the midi output from rosegarden to the celviano, that works..... It'll be fine...

 

[happyrat1]

Also it is generally advisable not to plug and unplug MIDI connectors while powered up. Best to shut down completely before screwing with the connectors. Especially with the Cheapo Chinese $5 interfaces.

Gary

 

[kgabris]

ok..... maybe i screwed it up.... the connector...

in rosegarden, channel 10 makes a repetitive note succession while recording... i is only audible when i route the output signal to the celviano.... but that noise is not midi recorded... hmmm.....

 

[happyrat1]

Channel 10 in MIDI is reserved for drums traditionally. If your Celviano has no Drumset Patches it usually plays gibberish piano notes.

Route the other channels to the Celviano and channel 10 to a soft synth drum set.

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

BTW, your Celviano will only output the keyboard on the MIDI channel selected. So look in your manual and make sure you have the channel set on the Celviano that you want to record on Rosegarden for each individual track.

ie. MIDI OUT set to CH 1, 2, 3... etc.

Gary

 

[kgabris]

Hi Gary,

I sort of gave up..... tried everything. Output goes ok, from rosegarden to celviano, but there is no input. And its not rosegarden, ZynAddSubFx worked instantly before with aconnect.... neither that nor rosegarden with jack receives anything. Midi monitoring dead.....

Yeah, thanks for the idea, for the midi channel, I looked up the manual (it is an AP-33), and it is possible to select an output channel. Setting it to 1 both celviano and software does not help......

There were "ubuntu internal error" messages before and now too.. I checked the details, and they are related to jackd crashing.. maybe if I reinstall everything? But that's crazy, should not these errors be resolved if I reboot?

the funny thing is, that it was working yesterday......... ahh I'm going to sleep

I was laughing about this a few hours back, but now ... well.....
cheers!

 

[happyrat1]

For the time being you may want to simply install KXstudio for your current version.

It makes configuring and restarting the sound system, all layers, jack, phonon, pulseaudio and alsa a breeze all from a single program called Cadence.

Just add the repos and install the meta packages and everything will just work out of the box for ya.

KXStudio : Repositories

KXStudio : Repositories

kx.studio

Like I said earlier, it plays nicely with ubuntu studio and fixes its shortcomings nicely.

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

Also search for and download a Windows program called MIDIOX. It runs fine under WINE and it will let you know immediately if there are any problems with your MIDI interface.

Gary

 

[kgabris]

Ok, thanks.... I'll try with a laptop to see if the cable is broken......

I'll also look up whether wine uses a driver for the midi (the midi signal is not supplied by the linux), and then I can also check if there's a software problem, or the adapter cable is broken.......

cheers!!!!!!

Krisztian

 

[kgabris]

and yes, maybe restarting the sound system with cadence would work too....

 

[happyrat1]

KXstudio installs WINEASIO by default.

Gary