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miditool

Linux

miditool speaks ALSA and works out of the box on Linux: real inputs, virtual output ports, everything the config language offers. Point your DAW (or a softsynth like FluidSynth) at the miditool Out port in its ALSA MIDI inputs.

Checks

Section titled “Checks”

If miditool ports shows nothing or errors, make sure the ALSA sequencer is loaded:

Terminal window
miditool doctor
ok    midi backend: 1 input (USB MIDI keyboard MIDI 1), 2 outputs (...)
ok    config miditool.kdl: parses, 2 top-level effects
ok    /dev/snd/seq exists

A missing /dev/snd/seq means the sequencer module is not loaded; modprobe snd-seq fixes it (most distributions load it automatically).

The one macOS-only feature is hide=true on the input node; on Linux it is ignored with a note. You rarely need it: Linux DAWs select MIDI inputs explicitly.

Raspberry Pi

Section titled “Raspberry Pi”

A Pi runs miditool comfortably; ALSA is the same there. A Pi between the keyboard and the computer is a supported pattern: the Pi does the transformation and the computer only ever sees one MIDI device, which sidesteps every DAW input question at once. A dedicated guide to that setup is coming.