Is anyone out there using a Linux DAW to control a hardware synth? What software are you using?
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Are you asking because you want recommendations or because you need help?
I usually just run windows with FL Studio for my DAW, but have some (very little) experience with som daws that are in the linux domain.
Ardour was my favorite in the few i have tried, but many folks like reaper too.
https://www.reaper.fm/download.php
I haven’t tested it, but apparently FL Studio also works with WINE, but i prefer to not use that when possible, and you probably dont already have a license for that if you dont run windows normally.
I’m using Reaper on Ubuntu. It’s quite powerful and license is not that expensive. I use that in conjunction with a USB to Midi interface and the Midimuso. In addition I have a USB audio interface for recording in Reaper. Setting up Jack on Linux is a hassle though.
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I’ve just started setting up a DAW under Linux.
I installed Ubuntu Studio on the better halve’s old unused laptop. With that I can use UbuntuStudioControls which helps set up Jack and launch Carla and things like that.
On the DAW side, for now I’m starting with Ardour.
I’ve been able to get it to talk MIDI-over-USB to my keystep, which then talks CV to the DIY synth. Record the audio out of the DIY synth into its own track.
It also seems to play nice with my little Roland MC-101.
I built and installed some pretty nifty softsynths too - there’s a complete new rabbithole to go down if you find yourself with an embarrassment of free-time.
Dexed, Helm, Vital, ZynAddSubFX plus a bunch of other plugins.
Not to mention VCVrack
I’ve downloaded Reaper and am waiting to pull the trigger on it, wanted to see how I got along with Ardour first.
As an interface I’ve got a Soundcraft Signature 12-MTK which “just works”.
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So far I have only used a cheap usb-midi device to connect my Ubuntu to Sam’s midimuso. It works well to play midi files in Rosegarden (First thing I found that could play midi files to the usb-midi interface, there are probably better options, but it was pretty easy to select the interface and midi channels). I installed Reaper as well and it looks pretty cool, but I need to play with it some more. A lot of podcasters I listen to prefer Reaper over anything else, even over ableton, but for music I have no idea how it compares to other stuff.
I have Ardour installed, but would consider alternatives. I haven’t been able to figure out how to get Ardour to talk to my synth (B2600, USB MIDI) and the little documentation or explanation I’ve found has been an incoherent mess.
For instance this looked like it’d have answers, but it starts off
It is no longer nessessary to use jackd as a backend for Ardour in Linux. In fact with the spread of LV2 plugins, almost all workflows in Ardour work well with the ALSA backend. When using the ALSA backend for Ardour, Ardour will see all MIDI ports that ALSA sees without any user setup. However, should jackd need to be used, the rest of this page is valid.
and then says nothing about what to do should jackd not need to be used.
And here it says
The Instrument combobox allows the selection of a plugin for the track to be created that will generate audio in response to MIDI data; if the track is intended to drive an external device then -None- should be selected instead.
but nothing else about how to associate the track with the external device. If it’s supposed to happen automagically, it doesn’t. And shouldn’t I be able to configure MIDI channel, etc.?
I know the MIDI connection works because I can get MuseScore to talk to the synth.
Yeah - I tend to agree, I end up fossicking through the Ardour forums to find answers.
Which Ardour version are you using? 6 is out and they removed “Midi+Audio” tracks - see:
https://ardour.org/news/6.0.html
Blockquote
Audio+MIDI tracks have been removed
These caused more confusion than the problem they were intended to solve. If you use a plugin that handles both audio and MIDI inputs (e.g. a vocoder), it is already easier in 6.0 to set up the right signal flow. This option frequently led to users making poor choices when adding tracks, and we’ve removed it.
I think the UbuntuStudioControls did some aj2midi bridge stuff automagically - I can take a look next time I fire up the laptop if you’d like?
I also recall doing some routing in one of the Ardour midi control panels and doing something in preferences to make sure midi clock and transport controls were being sent appropriately.
Cheers,
I have Ardour 6.5. Doesn’t sound to me like audio+MIDI tracks are relevant, but I’m working from great ignorance here.
Next time I escape to the garage I’ll try and get some screenshots of it all. Don’t hold your breath though, I don’t get nearly as much time as I would like down there…
Oh, hey, I got something working! I had to find my way to this
and turn it into this
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I’m Mac based, but do use Linux for quite a bit of stuff (albeit mostly headless or in bizarre applications).
I’ve played around with https://lmms.io/ which is opensource and available for Linux/Mac/Win. I’ve only played with the Mac version, but AFAIK they use the same UI libraries so appearance will be the same. There may be better/similar driver experiences?
I’ve been looking at MIDI software for Linux to interface with a Mutable CVPal, as I’m wanting a command line interface to my synth 
I’m using Reaper in combination with JACK and the KXStudio applications. These install on most distributions (Debian Testing in my case). This has a small learning curve but works very well and stably, once set up. I have an the Steinberg UR22C USB 3 audio interface, which can input and output MIDI. In Reaper, I can record MIDI and Audio, and control MIDI hardware with this setup.
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Yeah - I think I gave up on Ardour today - too many clicks to try and do what I wanted. Probably a case of RTFM, but I gave Reaper a go and it seemed a lot more intuitive to get what I wanted done.
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