linux: show alsa port name instead of index number

[penfold42]

Firstly, loving vmpk :)

When using rtpmidid with multiple targets, its not clear in vmpk which alsa device i'm selecting.

In vmpk I have to guess what rtpmidid (1), rtpmidid (2) etc... map to or correlate it to the output of aplaymidi or aconnect:

penfold@precision:~$ aplaymidi  -l
 Port    Client name                      Port name
 14:0    Midi Through                     Midi Through Port-0
128:0    rtpmidid                         Network Export
128:1    rtpmidid                         yamahapi
128:2    rtpmidid                         wifimidi
128:3    rtpmidid                         Announcements
128:4    rtpmidid                         MiniDexed-pi1541
128:5    rtpmidid                         WifiMidi (0b3135)
129:0    MIDI In                          in

Can you please add the "Port Name" to the midi device selector list ?

thanks!

[pedrolcl]

Hi! Thanks for your report!

First, the Drumstick project is the right place for this request. It provides the RT backends used by VMPK and other programs. For instance, the Drumstick Virtual Piano (a "light" version of VMPK):

In this case, the affected Drumstick::RT backends are alsa-out and alsa-in.

The reason for ignoring the ALSA sequencer port names is that most of the port names are utterly redundant and meaningless, like for instance:

$ aconnect -lio
client 0: 'System' [type=kernel]
    0 'Timer           '
        Connecting To: 142:0
    1 'Announce        '
        Connecting To: 142:0
client 14: 'Midi Through' [type=kernel]
    0 'Midi Through Port-0'
client 16: 'UM-2' [type=kernel,card=0]
    0 'UM-2 MIDI 1     '
    1 'UM-2 MIDI 2     '
client 128: 'Virtual Piano IN' [type=user,pid=17256]
    0 'in              '
client 129: 'Virtual Piano OUT' [type=user,pid=17256]
    0 'out             '

The client named 'Midi Through' has a single port named 'Midi Through Port-0' which does not provide any real additional information. Another case: 'UM-2' has two ports, named 'UM-2 MIDI 1' and 'UM-2 MIDI 2'. That is why they are named by Drumstick::RT as 'UM-2 (1)' and 'UM-2 (2)' for brevity. I'm sorry that rtpmidid has chosen a better naming scheme, but most of the ALSA clients don't.

On the other hand 'rtpmidid' being alpha software that is not available on most distros, makes this request a low priority.

And finally, I am not a big fan of RTP MIDI as a whole. The only argument for 'rtpmidid' to exist would be to allow Linux users capable of inter-operating with Apple Mac OS and iOS devices, which I fully despise. For a network MIDI protocol, my preference is ipMIDI, which compatibility is already implemented in Drumstick::RT.

[penfold42]

The reason for ignoring the ALSA sequencer port names is that most of the port names are utterly redundant and meaningless,

True :)

I'm sorry that rtpmidid has chosen a better naming scheme, but most of the ALSA clients don't.
On the other hand 'rtpmidid' being alpha software that is not available on most distros, makes this request a low priority.

Perhaps when it's more prevalent/mature you could include the names just for the rtpmidid devices.

And finally, I am not a big fan of RTP MIDI as a whole. The only argument for 'rtpmidid' to exist would be to allow Linux users capable of inter-operating with Apple Mac OS and iOS devices, which I fully despise.

But now it exists there are non apple devices/projects that support it like MiniDexed, mt32-pi and rtpmidi bridges