Re: Features for a new release. (was Re: [Denemo-devel] Midi output faulty for whole measure rests in 4/2 time)

[Jeremiah Benham]

On Thu, 2008-10-30 at 08:34 +0000, Richard Shann wrote:
> On Wed, 2008-10-29 at 23:18 -0500, Jeremiah Benham wrote:
> > feels closer to a piano than most keyboards. It only cost me $250.
> My eyebrows rose at the word "only"!

I am talking American dollars not euro. I can't find a keyboard around
that price that is not a toy.  

> >  I
> > purchased it on sale at Guitar Center. I am currently connecting it
> > with
> > a tascam us-122 usb sound card. I do not recommend this sound card
> > though. After 2 years of good usage it is broken. Only midi works on
> > it
> > now. I use to own a MAudio 1x1 uno that worked well for me. I gave it
> > to
> > a friend when I purchased the tascam. I am actually considering buying
> > another MAudio uno because in the studio I teach in they have a
> > digital
> > piano that can be controlled via midi. I thought it would be cool. 
> > 
> > 
> > >  But it doesn't have a USB output, only midi
> > > connector, and so I started looking for those, only to find that
> > they
> > > are much more expensive. Which I can't really understand, as I see
> > midi
> > > to USB conversion cables sold for next to nothing - I don't know
> > what
> > > these really do, let alone whether Alsa &c support them... 
> > 
> > I think you asked in a previous email about how these work with linux.
> > After you have loaded the appropriate firmware to the device 
> ??? What is this bit? 

IIRC when you plug the maudio uno in hal recognized the vender id and
product id. It uploads this openfirmware that is part of the alsa
project into the device using this software called fxload. Its been a
while. This was approximately in 2003. I believe there is a proprietary
firmware also that comes from MAudio. 

> I did a bit more hunting around and found that
> these USB-midi things talk about being plug and play, meaning no drivers
> needed; is it the transactions that go on when you plug the device in
> that you are referring to as "loaded the appropriate firmware"?

That is mentioned above. 

> Also, these things vary in price by a factor of three - are there
> quality issues that anyone knows of?

I can't answer that. midi was originally transported over a serial
connection. It was design to react quick over a slow connection. I
suppose you can probably read customer reviews on newegg.com 

Jeremiah 

> 
> Richard
> 
>