Linux MIDI: a Brief History, Part 1 (Linux Journal) [LWN.net]

Linux Journal presents an overview of the creation and evolution of MIDI, from early standalone equipment to an all-in-one computerized composition environment. "The ALSA sequencer API is a most welcome evolution in Linux MIDI support. Compliant programs may be connected freely, with multiple inputs allowable on a single port. Graphic patch bays are available that display and edit the send/receive status of the available clients. Incidentally, ALSA's virmidi (virtual MIDI) ports appear to the system as though they are real ports, and their data may be routed to and from any other port, real or virtual."

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Linux MIDI: a Brief History, Part 1 (Linux Journal)

Posted Sep 13, 2004 17:53 UTC (Mon) by QuisUtDeus (guest, #14854) [Link]

Sound (for me) has always been a mystery: How do you negotiate with a sound card? what kinds of info need to be sent and retrieved? how are the fancier cards (like 5.1) different? what about these USB sound devices? etc.

Is there a document on the basics of dealing with sounds-cards and what "sound" is (the developer's view)? Is there a sound program that illustrates the concepts well in its source?

This article looks like a good start for me to get some feeling for this (at least from a MIDI point-of-view), but I was wondering if there is more info.

Thanks in advance.

Linux MIDI: a Brief History, Part 1 (Linux Journal)

Posted Sep 13, 2004 18:51 UTC (Mon) by jre (subscriber, #2807) [Link]

I've found the best starting point for any research into Linux sound to be Dave Philips' excellent web site.
Trying to understand Linux sound architectures, I pursued some of the references given there, starting with the Jack and LADSPA links.
I quickly found myself out of my depth. Good luck!

pcm section of writing-an-alsa-driver

Posted Sep 13, 2004 18:59 UTC (Mon) by scottt (subscriber, #5028) [Link]

http://www.alsa-project.org/~iwai/writing-an-alsa-driver/...

The link above is a skeleton driver with PCM playback and recording function in the alsa-driver documentation.
For PCM hardware interfacing, a colleague told me the ALSA driver interface is much simpler than the OSS one. Though I have never written a full sound driver myself, the sample code does look very nice.

Perhaps others can post a link to a typical PCM hardware data sheet.

Linux MIDI: a Brief History, Part 1 (Linux Journal)

Posted Sep 13, 2004 21:44 UTC (Mon) by dmarti (subscriber, #11625) [Link]

Have some more <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6735">ALSA sample code</a> -- how to write userspace sound recording and playback programs.

MIDI Technical Fanatic's Brainwashing Center

Posted Sep 14, 2004 0:46 UTC (Tue) by tjc (subscriber, #137) [Link]

Here are some good pages for people who want more technical information on MIDI: http://www.borg.com/~jglatt/

I've found this site to be more useful than the official documentation.

MIDI Technical Fanatic's Brainwashing Center

Posted Aug 23, 2008 4:29 UTC (Sat) by JaR (guest, #53530) [Link]

Page has moved to http://users.adelphia.net/~jgglatt/