Using Rosegarden as a Midi Sequencer on Linux
Using Rosegarden as a Midi Sequencer on Linux
There's strictly no warranty for the correctness of this text. You use any of the information provided here at your own risk. I can not be held responsible, if you damage your system by using any of the information provided her.
"Rosegarden" is a music program for Linux. It has some audio functions, but basically it's a midi-sequencer (similar to older versions of Cubasis).
Rosegarden has been developed for many years. The recent version is actually quite usable.
Rosegarden uses jack, so first you should run qjackctl and start the jack-server. Then start "rosegarden".
In the main window you see a list of 16 midi tracks to the right. When you click on the grey bar of the first one, a part ("segment") is created. When you double-click on the segment, a new window opens. But what's that? It's a notation editor (for musical notes). But you probably want the "matrix editor" instead, which is a classic piano roll window. So you should set the default setting in "Editing/Options/General/Behaviour/Double-click opens part in" to "Open in Matrix Editor".
Ok, that's better.
You should keep an eye on "Studio/Manage Midi Devices". "Midi input" should cover your midi keyboard there. If you create new "Midi outputs" there, you should see the new outputs in qjackctl. So you can connect Rosegarden to other midi devices available in jack.
In the column to the left of the tracks, you can set, where each track sends its midi output. This relates to the midi outputs configured in "Studio/Manage Midi Devices".
Notice, that sometimes help-bubbles appear, when you rest the mouse pointer on GUI-elements. Sometimes, these bubbles provide useful information.
To the left of the title of a track, there are two "lamps", a light blue one and a yellow one. You only hear audio, when the light blue lamp is activated. In the icon bar, there are icons for switching all blue lamps of all tracks on and off.
So if you press keys on your midi keyboard (while the midi keyboard is configured for midi input and a midi output is configured (to a DSSI-plugin for example)) and you still don't hear any sound, check, if the blue lamp of the selected track is activated.
Somehow, it's essential, to work with such a program with keyboard control. The following keys are available:
| Start Playing | Ctrl+Enter |
| Stop Playing | Insert |
| Move to beginning of track | Home-key (Position 1) |
| Move to end of track | End-key |
| Move forward | Page Up |
| Move backwards | Page Down |
| Set quick marker at playback cursor position | Ctrl+Shift+m |
| Go to quick marker | Ctrl+m |
| Open Note Edit window | Enter (or double-click on a track) |
| Close Note Edit window | Ctrl+w |
| Select Notes Tool | F2 |
| Insert Notes Tool | F3 |
| Delete Notes Tool | F4 |
| Move Notes Tool | F5 |
| Change Note Length Tool | F6 |
| Change Note Velocity Tool | F7 |
| Toggle "Special Parameters" column on/off | p |
| Toggle Transport Field on/off | t |
You probably should get used to these key combinations.
In the arrangemant window (the main window), between the tracks and the ruler above them, there is a small dark grey horizontal bar. When you press "Shift" and drag the mouse inside this bar, a white horizontal bar appears, that shows, that you mark a range.
The part of that range is then looped.
If you click into the area above the tracks, you set the playback cursor to the mouse position. If you click that way pressing "Ctrl", the playback cursor moves to the next musical bar.
In the icon toolbar above the tracks, there's a horizontal "Zoom"-drawbar, which lets you zoom the view of the tracks according to your needs.
If you click into the area above the tracks, you set the playback cursor to the mouse position. If you click that way pressing "Ctrl", the playback cursor moves to the next musical bar.
The "special parameters" column is shown on the left of the tracks in the arrangement window. If it is in your way, you can toggle it on and off using the key "p".
The column is used to select the midi output of each midi track. This works in combination with "Studio/Manage Midi Devices".
If changes in "Manage Midi Devices" have been made, you sometimes have to reselect the midi output in the special parameters column to make the changes take effect in the tracks.
Multiple markers can be set inside your musical piece with the function "Composition/Manage Markers". Select the beat, where the marker will be set. The playback cursor is then moved to the marker by clicking once onto it in the "Manage Markers" window.
A single quick marker can be set with "Composition/Set Quick Marker at Playback Position". Then you can move to the playback cursor to the quick marker by using "Ctrl+m".
The tempo of the piece can be set in "Composition/Add Tempo Change". There can be tempo changes inside a piece, which can be defined there.
But if your piece has only one tempo, that needs to be changed, this can also be set there.
Rosegarden's piano roll window is actually quite beautiful. It is quite possible, to identify the exact positions of the notes. The view can be zoomed horizontally and vertically.
You can just use the tools on the keys F2 to F7 and start editing using the mouse.
Of course, you can also record midi notes from a midi keyboard. Step recording is also possible.
Other midi data than note-on, note-off and velocity has to be edited in the "event list editor". Different types of midi events like pitch, program change or system exclusive data can be viewed and edited.
Options for the metronome, like which instrument to use for its sound, can be set in "Studio/Manage Metronome".
You can activate or deactivate it for recording and playback there too.