[LAD] automation on Linux

Hi,

How to do automation on Linux when you work the 'modular way' and how is
the quality of those features on Linux at the moment? That question came
up and was followed by a quick research. There are things possible or
promising in the area, but we got some weak areas here also.

Non-daw and non-mixer seems to be very promising. You can make 'cv
tracks' or automation tracks in non-daw (when you add controls), draw
an automation line and connect that to an strip to automation for gain
(and LADSPA). DSSI is lacking here, but it is 'planned'. LV2 is not very
popular in the non project, so it seems it will not be possible to
automate LV2 plugin parameters, unless I miss something or an developers
step in and build LV2 support into non-mixer. (It would be a missed
chance imo if LV2 isn't supported here...)

But what to do when the softsynth is not an plugin, but an standalone
application, like phasex and zynaddsubfx/yoshimi? You can use an midi
sequencer to control the synth via sending midi cc messages.

Let me quote some quick (!) test results:

"My quick test shows that *Muse* can display cc's on the piano roll, but
only seems to allow me to edit them in the event list. Not very pratical.
*Non-sequencer* only offers the event list.
*Non-Daw* allows me to add lots of controls, and edit them happily on
the timeline, but it only outputs them as "CV", which means I'd need a
pd patch or similar to convert them into midi cc's.
I'll have a look at Rosegarden, once it's finished installing."

"*Rosegarden *could work, but apart from being bloated, it is also
rather complicated to add automation:
Draw event
Open in Martrix editor
Then under "View" I can add a controller, but for some reason only a
select few.
This controller can then be edited by right-clicking and adding
controller line.

I tried *Seq24*, but it keeps crashing on me. At least it allowed me to
choose a midi CC by number.

Damn, this should be a lot easier. Even the ancient Cakewalk was
lightyears better.
_I think we have a great opportunity here for some developer to make the
world a better place. Simply make *non-daw's* timeline controllers
output midi CCs"_

"*QTractor* actually works very well, only problem is it doesn't have a
curve-drawing feature, so you need to write lots of little automation
points. But it lets you select from all possible midi CCs. Just select
"controller" in the midi clip editor, where it normally says "note" (or
similar)

Then of course connect the midi output to your softsynth, and remember
to define what synth knob is controlled by what CC (the midi mapping) in
the synth."

"it looks like *Dino *has a nice curve editor."

"Midi mapping in *Phasex* and *AMS* seems to be ok.
And here is the *Zynaddsubfx *Midi implementation (seriously lacking, if
you ask me):
http://zynaddsubfx.sourceforge.net/doc_3.html
"

    * So it looks like Qtractor is pretty good to do the job, all though
      it misses the nice curve editor like Dino has, for automation with
      external synths.
    * Zynaddsubfx needs improvements when it comes to midi mapping.
    * A big improvement would be to make *non-daw's* timeline
      controllers output midi CCs

Other questions are: "Is it possible atm to automate LV2 plugins in a
host (lv2rack) and DSSI (ghostess)?"

See this post as sort of feedback from some Linux audio users. Maybe it
can bring us to some improvements...

Thanks,

\r

ps. see also thread here: http://linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2535

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Received on Thu Mar 18 00:15:02 2010