Does Jack (qjackqtl) make Rosegarden run?

[RickBrock]

the short question.....
1) open QjackCtl....2) open Hydrogen.... 3) open Rosegarden
OR
1) open QjackCtl....2) open Hydrogen.... 3)open qtracktor

if i press <play> on JACK and get jack 'running' then i notice Hydrogen and Qtracktor play too, but rosegarden does not.
I do not have both Rosegarden and Qtracktor open at the same time....
should The JAck thingy make Rosegarden play? have i missed something?

The long question....
If you search youtube for "Yoshimi Vs Arpage" there is a cool demo of a guy making guitar riffs.... but he has to turn on and play Qtracktor to make arpage do its thing..... why is that please? does Arpage not listen to qjackctl?

is there a webpage i can find that explains such things please?

Many thanks.
Rick

[doogy_64]

Hi Rick

I don't hit play in QjackCtl at all.  I always start the QJackCtl app, then other bits and pieces like Yoshimi and Qsynth, then hydrogen, then Rosegarden.  In Rosegarden, make sure you have been to Edit / Preferences and in the "Behavior" tab, check the "Use Jack Transport" option.  Hitting "play" in Rosegarden drives the drums in hydrogen.  Well, that's my workflow anyway.

I've used arpage a couple of times in the past with the method you describe with Qtractor - I ended up using Jack Capture to record some stuff from it, then took the resulting Wav file into RoseGarden.  But I ended up moving away from arpage (distracted more than anything)  when I discovered Qmidiarp.  I'm not saying Qmidiarp is better than Arpage, just different.  I guess that's one of the issues with Linux audio - sometimes there are too many pieces of software!  But that's good though!  

If you're interested in Qmidiarp, I think you have to install via synaptic - can't remember - I don't think it's part of the 5.0.3 iso.  I use it in the same manner to arpage i.e. create something at the tempo I want and record it to a wav using Jack Capture.  I use these steps (probably a better way, but works for me)  Start QJackCtl, then A2JMIDIDI, then QMidiarp (type "qmidiarp" from a terminal screen or "qmidiarp -a" to use ALSA) , Yoshimi, and the Virtual Keyboard (yep, I don't own a real keyboard).  Then in Patchage, I create spaghetti junction -

(hope I get this right - this is using qmidiarp via ALSA i.e. qmidiarp -a )
-> connect the red qmidiarp outs, to the Yoshimi in
-> the blue left and rights in yoshimi, to blue playback
-> for virtual keyboard, the red VMPK output to red Yoshimi in
-> the green VMPK output to green qmidiarp in
-> then flick to the Qmidiarp app.  Click the left-most green plus symbol to create a new Arpeggiator.  Fiddle with the settings below the green screen, choose your tempo at the top then hit the blue play button.
-> flick back to virtual keyboard, press a key and you should get something.  The other green buttons at the top let you create your own sequence - such fun!  Can be a bit flakey - tempermental if you change settings on the fly.

Of course, the other option you have for arpeggios is to use the step-write capabilities in Rosegarden.

I will be interested to read comments from others, more experienced than I, re Arpage and qmidiarp.  There's always something new to learn.

Cheers

Rich

[RickBrock]

Thanks for that Rich. I now have the transport working on Rosegarden.

i still have to open q-tracktor to make Arpage happen. but at least it all syncs through the QjackCTL now.

regarding Qmidiarp: i can't find it in synaptic... but to be honest i dont know what i'm doing with that anyway. if something doesnt just appear when i search for it then i get hoplessly lost when 'compiling' stuff i downloaded.

now all i need to do is create something that doesn't sound like an 80'90;s trance dance track..... not easy if all you have is Yoshimi....

I do have a very nice digital grand upstairs, but that's upstairs.... and the living room is warm....

Once again, thanks for your help/

Rick

[doogy_64]

Hi Rick


Yeah, other than Qtractor I'm not sure what else to use.  I have heard of Klick, a command-line metronome which might work with it but I haven't tried it.

If you want instructions for synaptic so you can install qmidiarp, leave a message/reply and I (or others) can try to help.

Have you used Qsynth?  You could use Qsynth instead of Yoshimi with Arpage.  Qsynth lets you load a soundfont so you can get around the "80's 90's trance sounds" as you put it.

In fact, you can have multiple Qsynth "synths" running if that makes sense, each with a different soundfont loaded. Then in Arpage, you can have four midi "ins" and four midi "outs".   Could be interesting - 4 different soundfonts, each playing a different arpeggio in Arpage!  On the other hand, that could potentially be yuk!

Cheers

Rich

[RickBrock]

Thanks Rich.
I'll have a crack at qsynth and sound fonts. see what can happen.

I'm a little bit excited about seq24 too - that could provide some great additions to a live set..... maybe.

cheers.

[varpa]

By the way QSynth is just a front end to Fluidsynth.  I don't think you need to run multiple instances of QSynth, rather you can load multiple soundfonts in a single QSynth instance - hit the "+" on the bottom to create new engines.   But I could be wrong since I usually use linuxsampler/Qsampler (similar story - Qsampler is a front end to linuxsampler) which can play gigasampler, SFZ, AND SF2 files, givinig you even more sound possibilities.