Ubuntu, MIDI and Casiotone

In the 1990s (and even before) I’ve been using some Sound Blaster cards under MS-DOS.

Fast forward some decades: I’m back dealing with MIDI files. After I started learning piano eight months ago, I wanted to connect my Casiotone CTS300 to my Ubuntu computer at home.

Very simple indeed and all is working like a charm. A lot of documentation and software online, just search if interested.

First of all, I wanted to play a MIDI file directly to ALSA (the Ubuntu sound system). The simplest way is to load the file using MuseScore2 and to play it. From command line I can use pmidi, loading fluidsynth before.

Next step, play the same file on my Casio keyboard. Just connected via USB cable (enabled for data exchange), pmidi -l to figure out the port to use and voilà, so I can play backing tracks.

Finally, I can record my exercises on MIDI files with arecordmidi and replay them in order to have some feedback - much more convenient than an audio file recording.

In the spare time, there are tons of free software in order to create or edit music. Updates soon.