October wrote: > Some of the google searchs I've read seem to be of the > opinion that USB MIDI under linux is not yet ready for > prime time. That's wrong. > Would my live drive (with MIDI ports) suffice ...? Yes. Connecting a keyboard with MIDI would be much cheaper than having to buy a separate USB MIDI interface. This doesn't prevent you from using a USB MIDI keyboard directly, of course. :) > what sort of flaming hoops can I expect to jump through > in regards to getting drivers and such in place? You wouldn't need any driver for MIDI keyboards (the MIDI port is handled by the snd-emu10k1 driver). USB MIDI keyboard from Edirol, Evolution and Yamaha work with the standard snd-usb-audio driver. For M-Audio USB devices, you would need to install a separate firmware loader. > I've been considering some of the Edirol products. > Will all the extra knobs and sliders be useful under > linux or this a waste of money? These can be used to control parameters of your synthesizer in real time. For example, ALSA's SB wavetable synthesizer has the following controls: volume, expression, pan, pitch bend, vibrato, filter cutoff/ resonance, attack, release. HTH Clemens
