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Old 07-14-2019, 05:35 AM   #1
Ral-Clan
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Default Does Reaper Linux MIDI work right out of the box?

Testing reaper under Linux (long time Windows user). I have got the audio working well under ALSA.

Does the Reaper Linux MIDI implementation work right out of the box (i.e. when you start Reaper, does MIDI work right away once you choose your input and output under Preferences), or do you need a third party application like JACK to make it work?

Reason I ask is that I'm having trouble getting Reaper to receive or send MIDI to my soundcard/MIDI interlfce (an M-Audio Audiophile 192).

Under Prefrences/Audio/MIDI Devices I have enabled the following as MIDI input and output: hw: Audiophile 192

The ID of both is 1.

If I then load a MIDI song onto a track and play the track, I get no response from my MIDI device, and likewise if I try to record MIDI, even though I have INPUT MIDI/AUDIOPHILE 192/ALL CHANNELS selected under the MIDI input on the track.

My same setup works when booting into Windows and using Reaper (dual boot OS on my computer).
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Old 07-14-2019, 06:40 AM   #2
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So far partly solved my problem:

To enable MIDI output, click on ROUTE beside track name and specify the MIDI HARDWARE OUT (assign to soundcard).

Now I just have to figure out how to do the same for MIDI input from my keyboard.
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Old 07-14-2019, 07:10 AM   #3
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Up until a couple of weeks ago I used two M-Audio Delta 2496 cards in REAPER for Linux. To use only a single card I used this startup command in REAPER. The -Xseq is what made midi work.

/usr/bin/jackd -P80 -dalsa -dhw:M2496,0 -r44100 -p64 -n2 -Xseq

When I needed to use both cards at the same time though, I would use QjackCtrl for it's patchbay to route the inputs and outputs of the second card to REAPER. For that I used this script which setup midi and launched REAPER so that just starting QjackCtrl also initialized midi and started up REAPER. I had both "a2jmidid" and "zita-a2j" installed. You'll still need to drag-n-drop the connections for a second card in QjackCtrl, but it can be saved so you only have to do it once. Here's the script I used for QjackCtrl.

a2jmidid -e &
sleep .5
zita-a2j -d hw:3 &
sleep .5
~/.local/share/reaper_linux_x86_64/REAPER/reaper &
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Old 07-14-2019, 10:52 PM   #4
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ALSA MIDI works for me, nothing to set up. I connect my USB keyboard, Reaper sees it, and I choose it under MIDI devices.

To use it to play a virtual instrument in Reaper, I record-arm the track and hit the monitor button on the track.
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Old 07-15-2019, 05:31 AM   #5
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Strange.

I can't figure out why I cannot get my external Master MIDI keyboard to trigger MIDI into Reaper.

It works in Ardour. Jack also recognises my sound card's MIDI input as triggered from the master MIDI keyboard.

The virtual keyboard in Reaper also works as a MIDI input.

Reaper will also play MIDI out just fine to my soundcard's MIDI out.

It's just the input. I simply cannot seem to figure out how to get Reaper to recognize the input from my soundcard/MIDI controller keyboard.

Again, my soundcard is an M-Audio Audiophile 192.

I feel like I'm either missing something obvious, or there is a problem with Reaper.

I hope to get this fixed, as once I can do full in-out MIDI with Reaper, I won't have to boot into my Windows partition just to use Reaper.
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Old 07-15-2019, 06:22 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ral-Clan View Post
Strange.

I can't figure out why I cannot get my external Master MIDI keyboard to trigger MIDI into Reaper.

It works in Ardour. Jack also recognises my sound card's MIDI input as triggered from the master MIDI keyboard.

The virtual keyboard in Reaper also works as a MIDI input.

Reaper will also play MIDI out just fine to my soundcard's MIDI out.

It's just the input. I simply cannot seem to figure out how to get Reaper to recognize the input from my soundcard/MIDI controller keyboard.

Again, my soundcard is an M-Audio Audiophile 192.

I feel like I'm either missing something obvious, or there is a problem with Reaper.

I hope to get this fixed, as once I can do full in-out MIDI with Reaper, I won't have to boot into my Windows partition just to use Reaper.
Have you looked at Kenny's video's in Reapers front page? He has alot of midi tutorials. The answer might be there.

https://www.reaper.fm/videos.php
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Old 07-15-2019, 06:26 AM   #7
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In REAPER's audio setup page, there is an empty box right below the checkbox for autostart JACK. Try putting this line in that box, but change the device name from M2496 which was my M-Audio Delta 2496 card to whatever ALSA knows your card as.

/usr/bin/jackd -P80 -dalsa -dhw:M2496,0 -r44100 -p64 -n2 -Xseq

Also, if you have not set your user limits for higher priority and unlimited memory, leave the -P80 out because that specifies a priority of 80 which might throw an error if you don't have the privilege to do so.
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Old 07-15-2019, 07:10 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Glennbo View Post
Try putting this line in that box, but change the device name from M2496 which was my M-Audio Delta 2496 card to whatever ALSA knows your card as.

/usr/bin/jackd -P80 -dalsa -dhw:M2496,0 -r44100 -p64 -n2 -Xseq
I switched Reaper's audio device to JACK and put the following line in the slot you mentioned, substituting M2496 in your line above for Audiophile192.

The MIDI input seems to be working now...both input and output. So that's great!
I'll test and report back (need to make sure all audio and MIDI inputs are working.

Last edited by Ral-Clan; 07-15-2019 at 07:37 AM.
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Old 07-15-2019, 07:25 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ral-Clan View Post
I switched Reaper's audio device to JACK and put the following line in the slot you mentioned, substituting M2496 in your line above to Audiophile192.

Seems to be working...I'll test and report back (need to make sure all audio and MIDI inputs are working).
I could never get the MIDI input to work in ALSA with my M-Audio cards, but it worked great using JACK and the line I posted, and I could run it all day long at 64 samples latency unless I globbed a lot of bridged Windows VSTi plugins onto a project, and then I'd have to bump it up to 128 samples latency.
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Old 07-15-2019, 07:59 AM   #10
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Okay, I did some testing.

So, with ALSA selected as Reaper's audio device I get great smooth audio, good MIDI playback, but NO MIDI input from my sound-card's MIDI input.

With JACK enabled, the MIDI input works. Audio recording works, but has TERRIBLE clicking and popping, even though my CPU lead does not go above 10%. This is when I just try to record a single audio track with no effects in the chain.

EDIT: I changed the -p value from -p64 to -p512 and it seemed to fix the clicking and popping issue. I hope this is the right thing to do.

Last edited by Ral-Clan; 07-15-2019 at 08:23 AM.
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Old 07-15-2019, 10:30 AM   #11
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I have filed a bug report here:

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=223053
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Old 07-15-2019, 11:23 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ral-Clan View Post
I have filed a bug report here:

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=223053
I always figured it was something like Pulse Audio making it look like it was in use or something. As for the size of the buffer, 64 samples was as low as I could run my 2496 cards, and if I had Windows plugins being bridged, I'd have to bump it to 128.
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Old 07-15-2019, 10:45 PM   #13
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You need to enable the ALSA midi input port in the midi device configuration tab when using ALSA midi, just like you enabled the jack midi input port when using jack midi. For reaper, ALSA midi ports and jack midi ports are something completely different.
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Old 07-16-2019, 10:25 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Drumfix View Post
You need to enable the ALSA midi input port in the midi device configuration tab when using ALSA midi, just like you enabled the jack midi input port when using jack midi. For reaper, ALSA midi ports and jack midi ports are something completely different.
Yes, I did this. It still did not work. That is if I understand you correctly.

What I did is under Preferences AUDIO choose ALSA, then go into MIDI DEVICES, right click my soundcard's name, and choose "enable". As mentioned in my first (top) post:

Under Prefrences/Audio/MIDI Devices I have enabled the following as MIDI input and output: hw: Audiophile 192

MIDI input using ALSA still did not work when I did this.

If you meant something else could you please explain? Thanks.
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Old 07-16-2019, 12:33 PM   #15
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You did it right. If i remember right, you have to press the "reset all midi devices" button once after you enabled the midi ports.
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