Music Keyboard for TamTam?

Fri Dec 5 05:32:00 EST 2008

Hello

It seems that you need "jack" in order to connect your usb-midi keyboard to your application

http://jackaudio.org/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/bristol

a nice keyboard could be , I dont know if linux supports this keyboard

KORG nanoKEY 25-Key USB MIDI Controller Keyboard
$49.00
http://www.amazon.com/KORG-nanoKEY-25-Key-Controller-Keyboard/dp/B001H2X192/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments&qid=1228472814&sr=8-1

Fred

--- On Thu, 12/4/08, Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho at hotmail.com> wrote:

> From: Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho at hotmail.com>
> Subject: RE: Music Keyboard for TamTam?
> To: "Edward Cherlin OLPC" <echerlin at gmail.com>, "Gary Martin" <gary at garycmartin.com>
> Cc: "Developers List" <devel at lists.laptop.org>
> Date: Thursday, December 4, 2008, 8:55 AM
> Thanks for all your efforts!
> 
> The last time I used a midi keyboard with a Mac (it was a
> G3) it had to have a special "midi interface" and
> then was just "plug and play" from there using
> Finale as a program. In looking over your discussion below,
> it looks like you did manage to get a midi keyboard to work
> with the XO, but with great difficulty. Some questions...
> 
> Will it work with all of the TamTam Activities?
> 
> Is it likely that all midi keyboards would work?
> 
> Would it be possible to put the instructions into language
> that the less technically inclined could easily follow to
> get started on this?
> 
> Does anything have to be changed in the software/hardware
> to make this easily used by teachers everywhere?
> 
> Do you know of any source of very simple, inexpensive midi
> keyboards? No bells and whistles needed, they are already in
> the XO in the TamTam Activities.
> 
> Could easier use of a midi keyboard be incorporated into a
> change in the Sugar OS (like 9.1.0)?
> 
> Or is there an easy way to make the current set-up easier?
> 
> Thanks again for your interest and efforts!
> 
> Caryl
> 
> 
> 
> > Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008 20:37:59 -0800
> > From: echerlin at gmail.com
> > To: gary at garycmartin.com
> > Subject: Re: Music Keyboard for TamTam?
> > CC: cbigenho at hotmail.com; devel at lists.laptop.org
> > 
> > See also
> > 
> > http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiouslee/189728345/
> > 
> > Walter and Simon demonstrate MIDI keyboard input into
> the A-TEST board
> > Taken on July 14, 2006, uploaded July 14, 2006
> > 
> > On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 9:16 PM, Gary C Martin
> <gary at garycmartin.com> wrote:
> > > On 1 Dec 2008, at 04:01, Gary C Martin wrote:
> > >
> > >> On 30 Nov 2008, at 22:16, Erik Garrison
> wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 12:20 AM, Gary C
> Martin
> > >>> <gary at garycmartin.com> wrote:
> > >>>> On 30 Nov 2008, at 01:29, Erik
> Garrison wrote:
> > >>>>
> > >>>>> On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 8:23 AM, 
> <pgf at laptop.org> wrote:
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>> ignacio wrote:
> > >>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>> On Mon, 2008-11-17 at
> 04:24 +0000, Gary C Martin wrote:
> > >>>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>>> On a more
> disappointing note I found this ticket "G1G1 tamtam
> > >>>>>>>> suite
> > >>>>>>>> should respond to
> MIDI keyboard input" from 10 months ago.
> > >>>>>>>> Closed.
> > >>>>>>>> Wont fix :-(
> > >>>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>>>
> https://dev.laptop.org/ticket/6031
> > >>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>> All "wontfix"
> means is that they're waiting for someone with a
> > >>>>>>> stronger
> > >>>>>>> itch to scratch it ;)
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>> i really have no idea how
> such devices are normally presented to
> > >>>>>> the systems, but is it
> possible that the keyboard is consists of
> > >>>>>> more than one USB device
> (i.e., via a built-in hub) and that not
> > >>>>>> all the drivers are present
> on the XO?
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> FWIW, The M-audio systems abide
> by open midi specifications and are
> > >>>>> platform-independent.  I
> don't know about the driver situation.
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> There is a program which can be
> used to dump midi signals to
> > >>>>> stdout.
> > >>>>> It might be a good test as
> it's very simple to configure and its
> > >>>>> results are very clear, unlike
> the audio programs you'll want to
> > >>>>> use.
> > >>>>
> > >>>> ... and it's called??? Gah! ;-)
> > >>
> > >> Just for reference, after connecting the USB
> Midi keyboard amidi -l
> > >> gives me:
> > >>
> > >> [olpc at xo-0C-E6-BB ~]$ amidi -l
> > >> Dir Device    Name
> > >> IO  hw:1,0,0  Keystation 49e MIDI 1
> > >>
> > >>> I'm not at an XO or my development
> machine now, but looked around the
> > >>> web to try to find some information to
> help.
> > >>>
> > >>> See:
> http://www.4front-tech.com/pguide/midi.html
> > >>
> > >> Will go read.
> > >>
> > >>> Does the system have a /dev/midi* when
> you plug the device in?
> > >>
> > >> Yep, I get a /dev/midi1
> > >>
> > >>> Do you see anything interesting in the
> kernel logs returned with
> > >>> dmesg?
> > >>>
> > >>> Unfortunately our kernel configs
> aren't online anywhere i can find...
> > >>> but I'll check to see if it's
> enabled.  My guess would be not, but
> > >>> perhaps I'm mistaken.
> > >>>
> > >>>> I'm trying to hack my way through
> coding csound, but I've not had
> > >>>> much time
> > >>>> to play so far. A magic midi data
> dumping tool would be a nice
> > >>>> shortcut to
> > >>>> test – FWIW, I can see my M-audio
> correctly listed on the USB as an
> > >>>> available MIDI input device, but not
> got any further yet.
> > >>>
> > >>> Perhaps cat /dev/midi*  if the file(s)
> exist.
> > >>
> > >> Fab, yes, cat/dev/midi1 gives me wild ascii
> characters each time I
> > >> press a key, looks like both note and
> velocity (this particular
> > >> keyboard doesn't emit pressure but I have
> another one somewhere that
> > >> does), also other controls (volume, pitch
> blend & modulation) trigger
> > >> comms.
> > >>
> > >> I'd say the drivers are good to go, and I
> need to get back to reading
> > >> csound documentation and try a demo to pickup
> the incoming midi feed.
> > >
> > > OK, really boring but working example (XO
> 8.2-767):
> > >
> > > 1) Plug in your USB MIDI input device
> > >
> > > 2) In terminal run "amidi -l" it should
> list something like:
> > >
> > >    Dir Device    Name
> > >    IO  hw:1,0,0  Keystation 49e MIDI 1
> > >
> > > 3) Make a file bells.csd, it MUST be called
> <some_such_or_other>.csd,
> > > that alone wasted hours of my life :-( here's
> a what should go in it,
> > > the one thing to watch is the -M hw:1,0,0 as this
> is the option that
> > > tells csound which midi device to listen to, if
> "amidi -l" shows your
> > > MIDI device with a different reference, use that
> instead:
> > >
> > > <CsoundSynthesizer>
> > > <CsOptions>
> > > -odac -M hw:1,0,0
> > > </CsOptions>
> > > <CsInstruments>
> > > instr 1
> > > idec = 1
> > > iamp ampmidi 32767
> > > kfrq cpsmidib 2
> > > kenv expsegr 1, idec, 0.1, 0.1, 0.01
> > > asig oscili  kenv*iamp, kfrq, 1
> > >    out asig
> > > endin
> > > </CsInstruments>
> > > <CsScore>
> > > f0 36000
> > > f1 0 16384 10 1
> > > </CsScore>
> > > </CsoundSynthesizer>
> > >
> > > 4) Then again in console run:
> > >
> > >        csound bells.csd
> > >
> > > 5) Start pressing keys and make beautiful music,
> see I said it wasn't
> > > too exciting, but nice to get this far :-) The XO
> speakers don't do
> > > very well below middle C (with this instrument),
> but it's a start.
> > >
> > > So... hardware/kernel/driver all working in
> 8.2-767. MIDI input is now
> > > demoted to just ;-) a client software side
> feature for the TamTam
> > > activities. I'll do a little more csound
> reading on the python side
> > > and try to hack on TamTamMini, will ping the list
> if I make useful
> > > progress.
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > > --Gary
> > >
> > >>> Erik
> > >>
> > >> Many thanks,
> > >> --Gary
> > >>
> _______________________________________________
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> > >
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> > 
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > Silent Thunder
> (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر
> ج) is my name
> > And Children are my nation.
> > The Cosmos is my dwelling place, The Truth my
> destination.
> > http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/User:Mokurai
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