Getting Sound to Play in Rosegarden and Qsynth

Note:

You may change subtitle. (中文版本)

Environment:

LinuxMint 11 64bit 2.6.38-8-generic
Qsynth: 0.3.5
Rosegarden 11.06
Hydrogen Drum Machine 0.9.4.2

Backgroud:

I started my journey into Rosegarden in LinuxMint11 64bit just because I wanted to create some "original" background sound (using MIDI software composer) for my video tutorial.
It was a little up-hill task and thus I have documented in this video how I get sound to work in Rosegarden and Qsynth.
What happened was, I googled quite extensively to fix this problem but to no avail, wondering all the while if my configuration and settings were right. In actual fact, all settings and configuration were pretty simple and straight forward. Only thing is to repeat the 5 troubleshooting steps below. Be patient and take a break if necessary but don't give up. Sometimes, I only need to perform step 1 & 2.

---

This video tutorial will show you work-around solutions to get Sound to Play in Rosegarden and Qsynth when you are composing your music.

These are some basic important settings and troubleshooting guidelines.

Remember to:

Firstly: Enable MIDI, and select alsa _sequencer
Secondly: Use Pulseaudio or Alsa
and
Thirdly: Load a soundfonts into Qsynth - FluidR3 _GM. sf2 for example

Also:
Use "Manage MIDI Devices"
in Rosegarden to
Map "playback" to "Synth Input Port"

WE Will see how this is done in a minute's time.

Some troubleshooting Tips and Tricks!

1. Firstly Launch another audio-video application Example: VLC
2. Secondly, Launch Qsynth before Rosegarden
3. To fix the No Sound issue, Quit Rosegarden to "Reset", Panic and Restart Qsynth
4. Once the sound issue is fixed, DO NOT Restart or Quit Qsynth
5. To fix echoing, lagging, cracking and noisy sound in Rosegarden, Run multiple "Audio" programs and adjust their sound level, stop them, quit and restart them again

Remember to:
Have a coffee break!
 

---

Problem Solving Technique Used:

• Resource Contention
• Sound-test Index
• Stress Testing / Stress Tuning
• Stress Impact Tuning
• Equalised / Equilibrate

NOTES:

Problem / Challenges: All settings are correct but sound failed to playback the first few rounds of testing and experimentations until some weird sound came through. A few more testing and experimentations get a better sound playback. Sound was unpredictable - sometime I get it and other times not. It was more like a hit and miss kind of experience. Yet much more testing and experimentation reveal some technique that I can use to get the sound playing.

1) VLC video-clip was used as a Sound-test Index to see if Rosegarden would launch with Sound Playback. If VLC become muted at start-up of Rosegarden like the first time it was launch in the video, then there won't be sound feedback when composing / playback in Rosegarden. The speed of Rosegarden is another visual indicator - launching fast is bad.
2) Another use of the VLC video-clip playback is for the purpose of Resource contention to Stress Test the sound system and enable the successful negotiation of sound between the different programs. (This is but an observation, theory, conclusion concept).
3) Hydrogen Drum Machine was used for the purpose to get rid of the cracking, noisy and sometimes echoing or lagging sound. This is an observation theory based on Resource contention, Stress Testing and Tuning for the system to feel the impact and Equlise and Equilibrate the various different programs to use sound in unison. Something like Calibration.

What is covered:

1) Fixing Sound Problem

    a) Standard proper settings in Qsynth & Rosegarden
    b) Enable Sound playback - getting rid of Muted Sound
    c) Tuning System Sound in Rosegarden - getting rid of echoing, lagging, cracking and noisy sound

2) Mixing Sound from Various Program - using Pulseaudio Sound Preferences

    a) Controlling sound volume individually of each application
    b) Controlling the Master sound output volume of the overall system sound

3) Demonstrating how-to compose using Rosegarden Notation Editor

    a) Drawing in the music notes
    b) Playback the music in loop
    c) Changing Musical Instruments in playback loops to hear how they sound