Bitwig Linux not seeing LinnStrument [SOLVED]

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Hello

I'm very happy with my LinnStrument! I'm using it on Mac with MainStage and Bitwig and it's a great instrument.

But I'd also like to use it on Linux, because there are some interesting synths I want to explore. Here I'm having an issue with the LinnStrument not being recognized by Bitwig at all. Other USB controllers work: as soon as I plug them in, I get the Bitwig notification in the upper right corner "X Controller is now ready to use."

The LinnSrument powers up, I can see it's connected if I use a commandline utility (sudo lsusb) but Bitwig doesn't detect it. The LinnStrument is in USB mode. I tried resetting it and rebooting the PC, to no avail. I'm using firmware 221 and Bitwig 2.5 on Linux Ubuntu 18.04

What can I try? Is it a Linux issue? (but everything else works fine on this Ubuntu.) Is it a Bitwig issue? (but other controllers work.) Is it a Linnstrument issue? (but it works on Mac!)
Last edited by murawa on Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:24 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Hi murawa,

I’m afraid I don’t know much about Linux except that in general, everything in Linux should work but often doesn’t. I can say that if your LinnStrument is working fine on Mac, then it’s working fine and the problem must be elsewhere.

While I’m grateful to Bitwig for offering the fre 8-Track license to LinnStrument owners, I don’t know it very well and I don’t much at all about Linux, so I’m afraid you’d have to contact Bitwig for support. Perhaps there’s some information on their site about problems with the Linux version.

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Thank you for your reply. I will investigate further.

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First of all I would make sure the linnstrument is connected before starting Linux.

To see if the Linnstrument is ok in Linux start up a terminal and:

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ubuntu:~$  arecordmidi -l
You should see something like:

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 Port    Client name                      Port name
 14:0    Midi Through                     Midi Through Port-0
 16:0    Ensoniq AudioPCI                 ES1371
 20:0    LinnStrument MIDI                LinnStrument MIDI MIDI 1
Now we can try to record something, the port I am using is 20:0 from the list above.

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arecordmidi -p 20:0 test.mid
Now play some notes on the Linnstrument and then CTRL-C in the terminal to stop arecordmidi.

Then lets look at the file:

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ls -ltr test.mid
I get:

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-rw-rw-r-- 1 acap aap 2323 Mar 23 19:20 test.mid

So it recorded 2323 bytes of midi so it all looks good.


Does all this work the same for you?
Bitwig, against the constitution.

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Roger_Linn wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 5:36 pm everything in Linux should work but often doesn’t.
That should be the Linux tag line.
Bitwig, against the constitution.

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BobDog wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 7:29 pm
Roger_Linn wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 5:36 pm everything in Linux should work but often doesn’t.
That should be the Linux tag line.
That tag line is true for any OS and for any complex setup, even for analog... How often did I need to pull out my technical analyse skills to turn the „should work but doesn‘t“ into „works as it should have from the beginning“
But the eleves are all around to get you into trouble shoot mode... :clap:

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i find it significant that Mac OS, iOS, Android, and Chrome OS are all based on Unix or Linux. That says a lot about the vision of Richie and others at Bell Labs in the 60s. Windows is the only exception among big OSs in widespread use today.

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Don't get me wrong, unix has been paying my bills for over 30 years. What you tend to have though is set and well defined setups when it is used commercially.

Linux though in the end user world is a pit of vipers.
Bitwig, against the constitution.

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BobDog wrote: Sun Mar 24, 2019 1:42 pm Linux though in the end user world is a pit of vipers.
Not too much nowadays. I remeber well, already about 15 years ago, my girlfriend had a windows Me(h) lappy. I had to reinstall that windows about every couple of months. Then I put a plain Ubuntu on it, and it ran without hickups for some years until the hardware died... Of course it was not a complex setup, just open office a browser and e-mail...
A normal user mainly faces compatibility problems because its not that widenspread. But if you can live with the apps which are available, I would prefer it over anything else.
Apple sucks now more than Microsoft ever did... But I know it, and will get old machines until the whole world turned open source...; - )

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I discovered / was "forced" to adopt Linux when I entered CS University ages ago. I had only used DOS and Windows (from 1.0 to 2000 Pro) at that time. I could code in Basic, Pascal, and C++, but my ability to solve new problems was severely hampered by Windows' limitations. Learning to compile and use Linux was an eye-opener (and career opener) to me.

As I see it, it's the difference between working at a nice, expensive console with hundreds of buttons (picture Homer Simpson's work station: that's Windows) and having your own machine shop where you can quickly shape anything you need, if you are ingenious enough. Since then I have solved more problems using Bash, Vim, and regexps in creative ways, than I did writing actual programming code!

I use Linux 99% of the time, because of that flexibility and power. I wish I could use it to make music too, but the ecosystem is not there yet. Props to Bitwig for believing in it! Yes, Mac OS X "just works," although it used to be much better. I wish I could still use 10.6.8. (Also, there are excellent alternatives to Apple's flaky and overpriced hardware. But it's a legal gray area so I won't talk about it here.)

Back to the problem at hand:
BobDog wrote: Sat Mar 23, 2019 7:27 pm Does all this work the same for you?
Yes, everything is fine. Midi file recorded perfectly. I'm off to the Bitwig support form, then. Thank you for the help.

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The bitwig support guys are pretty good so I am sure they will sort it out.

I agree "Hats Off to BitWig" for doing a linux version.
Bitwig, against the constitution.

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I'm stupid! It's only the auto-detection part that's broken. As soon as I went into Controllers > Add > Roger Linn Design > LinnStrument and set both input and output to "LinnStrument MIDI MIDI 1", then it worked.

What threw me off was that the auto-detection works fine on Bitwig Mac OS X, and also on Bitwig Linux with other USB controllers, but for some reason not with the LinnStrument on Linux. Also, I don't know Bitwig very well yet.

Sorry for the noise. I hope this thread may help other LinnStrument owners in the future.

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I Just installed BW on linux, the linnstrument works fine.

Just to check you are doing this:

Settings->Controllers
Click "Add"
Select "Roger Linn Design->Linstrument"
Set the in and out port to "Linstrument Midi MIDI 1"
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Bitwig, against the constitution.

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Ah, our posts crossed!
Bitwig, against the constitution.

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In my experience, when using JACK and Bitwig on Linux, I have to start JACK with ALSA MIDI sequencer set to OFF - you can find this option in most usual JACK handlers like QJACKCtl, Carla etc. Then Bitwig connects with Linnstrument as it should (detection and auto MPE mode initiation).

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