any good midi editors for linux?

[gwain]

this is a topic I havent found on dw but here goes are there any good midi editors for linux? I know about bitwig and reaper but those feel like general music rather than midi focused 

I use Linux mint (fully updated) and there doesn't seem to be much on the software manager ive tried sekaiju on wine but there are some oddities due to not having proprietary Microsoft sounds drivers or something 

 

slightly related image to break boring text wall 

Spoiler

 

Edited March 21, 2022 by gwain

[erzboesewicht]

There's a similar topic open now, but you were earlier and the other user's question is more specific.

 

My favourites at this moment are MusE (package is often called muse-sequencer) and MuseScore (both originally from the same author, but diverged into different softwares).

 

MusE is suited for loop-based music like dance, pop, rock, metal etc.. Its big advantage as of version 4 is that it includes everything you need into one package, with other Linux editors often have to run JACK and FluidSynth (e.g. qsynth) separately, and that it has lots of MIDI-specific effects (like fake delays etc.). You have to, however, set up the sound font yourself, but simply use a template for all Doom MIDis and you're fine (I'd recommend use a "good-sounding" font like tim6mb and the often used Windows GS synth). The disadvantage is the very rudimentary score editor.

 

MuseScore is a score notation/partiture software so it's suited more for classical/orchestral, ambient and fusion music with more complex harmonies and less loops. It makes sense above all if you've experience with classical music notation. It has already a soundfont integrated and works even without JACK.

 

Through the years I also tried other editors, mainly Rosegarden, LMMS and Seq24. Rosegarden was for some reason always unstable on my computer and I had lots of crashes, it has however a better notation editor than MusE so it might by sort of a "compromise" between Muse and MuseScore. LMMS is very beginner-friendly, but also a bit unflexible (it's mainly suited for heavily looped music so it's ok for dance and other styles) and not so much MIDI-focused. Seq24 is also very loop-focused and is suitable for "speedmidis" with several loops.

 

I also used Qtractor and Ardour but I wouldn't recommend these for pure MIDI editing, as they have way more functions for audio. Of course there's also TuxGuitar, but I never used it.