Rosegarden
Rosegarden is a music composition and editing environment based around a MIDI sequencer that features a rich understanding of music notation and includes basic support for digital audio.
Installation
Emerge
root #
emerge --ask media-sound/rosegarden
Configuration
Kernel
Device Drivers ---> <*> Sound card support Search for <code>CONFIG_SOUND</code> to find this item. ---> <*> Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Search for <code>CONFIG_SND</code> to find this item. ---> <*> Sequencer support Search for <code>CONFIG_SND_SEQUENCER</code> to find this item.
Each of the above kernel configuration options can instead be built as a module (<M>
), but in that case the system must be configured to load the snd-seq-midi
module and its dependencies at boot. To do so, add a file in the /etc/modules-load.d/ directory, creating the directory if necessary:
snd-seq-midi
Software synth
Install a software synth that can be used by Rosegarden. Qsynth is a Qt GUI frontend to FluidSynth (media-sound/fluidsynth):
root #
emerge --ask media-sound/qsynth
Install a soundfont that can be used by the software synth, e.g. the Fluid Release 3 (Fluid R3) General MIDI soundfont:
root #
emerge --ask media-sound/fluid-soundfont
Configure the synth to use the relevant soundfont and audio driver. For example, in Qsynth, the soundfont can be specified via Settings -> Soundfonts, and the relevant Fluid R3 file is /usr/share/sounds/sf2/FluidR3_GM.sf2; and PipeWire can be specified as the audio driver via Settings -> Audio.
Usage
Before starting Rosegarden, ensure the software synth (e.g. Qsynth) is running:
user $
qsynth
Start Rosegarden:
user $
rosegarden
If not using JACK, but instead using e.g. PipeWire, ensure that the following Rosegarden settings, available via Edit -> Audio, are disabled:
- Make default JACK connections for audio outputs
- Make default JACK connections for audio inputs
- Start JACK automatically
Exporting to MP3
Rosegarden can export a composition to a MIDI file, which can then be converted to an MP3 via the use of TiMidity++ and ffmpeg (see those respective articles for installation instructions).
In Rosegarden's main window, select File -> Export -> Export MIDI file, and specify an appropriate filename, e.g. composition.mid.
See the TiMidity++ article section on converting MIDI to mp3 for instructions on how to convert this exported MIDI file to mp3.
See also
- JACK — describes the setup of a playing sound with JACK (JACK Audio Connection Kit).
- MIDI — a set of technical specifications that enable devices to interoperate in order to work with a digital representation of music
- PipeWire — low-latency, graph-based, processing engine and server, for interfacing with audio and video devices.