If your coming from Windows and enjoyed playing around with Fruityloops and the likes like me you may be interested in a couple of items listed here. This is more for those who want to just install something and start playing. I will walk you through building Wired though, which is an awesome Reason like application for Linux, or you can download the deb that I built. I wanted to write about these applications, because I find them to be exceptional and hope they get a lot of attention.

First thing is first, software! There are a lot of MIDI and recording software packages for Linux, but MIDI on Linux can be difficult for new users, and even hardcore musicians, coming from Windows. I am not going to go into the hardcore setups as there are plenty of Howtos on the net, but if you want to dabble and do some music without hours of configuration this will get you up in no time. Support these open source applications, they are really good.

Kubuntu Feisty setup MIDI playback by default on my Laptop, which really has a crappy card for MIDI support. Earlier versions didn't play so nice with MIDI. Note: A sound blaster will give much better results, especailly if you decide to do hardcore music creation on Linux using Jack.

Make sure MIDI is working by looking in System Settings under Sound. If Alsa in the midi sction is listed you are good to go. If not your card may not be supported. Considering my card now works makes me believe most people will not have problems. Hit the Unofficial Ubuntu Startup Guide to get MIDI working if you need assistance.

Here are some really nice packages that do not require midi routing and jack server configuration. You simply install and start playing!


Go to Adept Package Manager (KDE Menu, System, Adept) and install :

LMMS - LMMS is very similar to Fruityloops so if you are formiliar with FL you will be up and running in no time. (This didn't add a menu entry for me so add one to the menu or type lmms and the command line.)

ReZound - ReZound is a wave editor and reminds me of SoundForge. You could also install Audacity. I like them both.

Hydrogen - Hydrogen is a drum machine from heaven! It is also similar to FL.

ZynAddSub - ZynAddSub Is a MIDI synth with effects. Not the coolest interface, but you can record from it, play from the keyboard, and explore Linux included soundfonts.

dssi-plugin-fluidsynth and swami - SoundFont browser and editor.

There are more, but these are pretty straight forward for the novice Linux musician and will get you started.

Now this is really nice! But, you will have to manually install as it is  not in the Kubutu/Ubuntu repos.

Wired Ubuntu binary available, but you will need to compile for Feisty. Get the source code 0.4 if you want to build yourself.

Here's my howto on building Wired 0.4 on Feisty. The deb is here  if you don't care to compile yourself, but you will need to install the depends below, like libsndfile1, etc:

Ok, I have these fun applications running and they are cool, but what about my external keyboard? If you have a MIDI keyboard (M-Audio), like an Oxygen 8 MIDI keyboard you need to install:

midisport-firmware

More info and other device info can be found here.

I'd reboot with your USB keyboard not connected. There is an issue with it taking over the soundcard so plug your device in after your booted into Linux. You should now be able to connect your keyboard.

Further reading:

JAD - OpenSuse Linux for musicians. Very nice! Yea I know it isn't Kubuntu, but damn it's cool.

Ubuntu Studio - Ubuntu Linux for musicians

Ubuntu MIDI Swik

The best page on Linux music creation and MIDI, Synth, Effects software.

If you ever wanted to play some vintage synths install Bristol . Bristol must be ran from the command prompt, which is where you select your synth. Type bristol --help for a list of keyboards to play. 

Have fun.

Here are some screen shots because I am a screen shot junkie