Keystation 49 - Midi - Edirol FA-66 Firewire - problem

[wbm]

Hello, in the past I plugged my USB Keystation 49 midi controller via USB into the computer, fired up Jack, made the connection and made music (UbuntuStudio, KXStudio etc.)
In AVLinux I also had to launch the A2JMidi program and then same thing. It worked.

Now it doesn't anymore
Main difference is that now I am using the Edirol FA-66 Firewire interface instead of my old Tascam US122 (USB) for audio in and out. I suspect that has something to do with my problem.

In the past, via USB the Keystation just showed up in Jack Midi. Now only my Firewire interface shows up under Jack Midi.

What's the scoop? No USB midi while using a Firewire input / output audio device?
Can I run the Keystation through the Edirol FA-66 instead? I want to ask here first before I go and buy a midi cable.
Thanks

[varpa]

I think USB midi will always show up in alsa midi.  Have you looked for your keyboard in the QjackCtl Alsa tab?  You can use aj2midid to interconnect with jack midi.   If your keyboard has regular midi connectors you can connect it to the Edirol FA-66, assuming it has midi connectors too.  In this case your keyboard will show up in jack midi, which is supposed to have better timing than alsa midi.

[wyeth]

Hello, ffado is the firewire system for jackd, so use synaptic to install libffado, ffado, and anything related.
look for trulan firewire in google, he is quite experienced with firewire devices and configuration.

[GMaq]

@wyeth

Please stop giving advice if you don't know what it will do. AV Linux has the latest ffado installed and it is a much newer custom package than will be found in the default Debian Squeeze repos so telling someone to just install 'whatever'  from synaptic is not the way to go in this case at all, I appreciate anyone's willingness to help, but are you actually using AV Linux? Judging by some of the answers you're giving people I'm guessing you aren't and that's totally cool with me but please don't offer detailed instructions from other OS's to new AV Linux users.

[trulan]

Hi wbm,

Well, it's supposed to still 'just work'.  The confusing part is that there are two midi's, JACK midi an ALSA midi.  You've already encountered this when you used a2jmidid.  USB midi devices are handled by the ALSA drivers, and show up as ALSA midi.  Firewire devices are handled by the ffado drivers, so they show up as JACK midi.  You should be able to use either one, or even both of them at the same time, without that causing any issues.

So when you plug in the keystation via USB, it should show up in ALSA midi.  Or, if you plug your keystation into the midi ports on your Edirol, that should work too.  If the keystation is simply not being recognized when you plug it in, that's a problem and we'll need to do some investigating.

[wyeth]

@wyeth

Please stop giving advice if you don't know what it will do. AV Linux has the latest ffado installed and it is a much newer custom package than will be found in the default Debian Squeeze repos so telling someone to just install 'whatever'  from synaptic is not the way to go in this case at all, I appreciate anyone's willingness to help, but are you actually using AV Linux? Judging by some of the answers you're giving people I'm guessing you aren't and that's totally cool with me but please don't offer detailed instructions from other OS's to new AV Linux users.

If somethings is already installed, that will obviously be revealed when using synaptic. The user
(not a 'new' one, if you read carefully) switched devices from usb to firewire, so I mentioned ffado,
because he didn't. The only detail I provided, was to search google for
trulan firewire, which provides some good reading on related subjects.
But you've got it covered.