6 The right approach for using MIDI on Linux depends on which version of
7 JACK you use. The world divides into:
10 <dt>Systems using JACK 1, versions 0.124 or later</dt>
11 <dd>On these systems, just start JACK with
12 the <code>-X alsa_midi</code> server argument. To support legacy control
13 applications, you can also use the -X seq argument to the ALSA
14 backend of JACK and get the exact same results.</dd>
16 <dd>Use a2jmidid to act as a bridge between ALSA MIDI and JACK. Do
17 not use the -X seq or -X raw arguments - the timing and performance
18 of these options is not acceptable.
24 <dfn>a2jmidid</dfn> is an application that bridges between the system
25 <abbr title="Musical Instrument Digital Interface">MIDI</abbr> ports and
26 <abbr title="JACK Audio Connection Kit">JACK</abbr>.
29 First you should make sure that there is no ALSA sequencer support enabled
30 in JACK. To do that open QJackCtl's <kbd class="menu">Setup</kbd> window.
33 Set <kbd class="menu">Settings > MIDI Driver</kbd> to <kbd
34 class="input">none</kbd>.
35 Then uncheck the <kbd class="optoff">Misc > Enable ALSA Sequencer
36 support</kbd> option.<br />
37 Now it's time to restart your jack server before going on.
40 <h3>Check for a2jmidid availability</h3>
42 First, check whether a2jmidid is already installed in your system. After
43 starting your JACK server, go to the command line and type
45 <kbd class="cmd lin">a2jmidid -e</kbd>
47 If a2jmidid does not exist, install it with the software manager of your
48 Linux distribution and try again.
52 <h2>Check availaibility MIDI ports</h2>
54 If you have correctly configured JACK for MIDI, then your MIDI ports should appear in
55 qjackctl under <kbd class="menu">Connections > MIDI </kbd>.
58 <h3>Making it automatic</h3>
60 Once you've verified that the ports appear in JACK as expected, you
61 can make this happen whenever you start JACK.
64 <p>If you use a newer version of JACK 1, just make sure the -X
65 alsa_midi or -X seq options are enabled for whatever technique you use
70 For other versions of JACK,
71 add <kbd class="input">a2jmidid -e</kbd> as an "after start-up" script
72 in the <kbd class="menu">Setup > Options</kbd> tab of QJackCtl, so
73 that it is started automatically whenever you start JACK.