Running Tidal & Nvim on MXLinux MX-25.2_x64 Infinity Nov 9, 2025: Many problems

[Kruftwerk]

Hello. Excited to try out Tidal (former FoxDot user) but having install problems.

I have just re-installed via the Tidal Docs using the ansible method (debian) and can get one simple pattern to play and then I have to tear down my two terminal windows (sclang and tidalyvim) as I cannot interact with tidalvim again.

Ordered list of problems:

I have to run sclang, in a terminal, twice in succession as first run gives this error

This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; see the file COPYING for details
JACK server starting in realtime mode with priority 10
self-connect-mode is "Don't restrict self connect requests"
audio_reservation_init
Acquire audio card Audio0
creating alsa driver ... hw:0|hw:0|1024|2|48000|0|0|nomon|swmeter|-|32bit


ATTENTION: The playback device "hw:0" is already in use. Please stop the application using it and run JACK again
JackTemporaryException : now quits...
Released audio card Audio0
audio_reservation_finish
Cannot initialize driver
JackServer::Open failed with -1
Failed to open server
Cannot connect to server socket err = Connection refused
Cannot connect to server request channel
Cannot connect to server socket err = Connection refused
Cannot connect to server request channel

I ctrl-d out of the above and run sclang again. I also note that I have no supersaw or super piano type presets so something else is missing.

sclang
compiling class library...
	Found 867 primitives.
	Compiling directory '/usr/share/SuperCollider/SCClassLibrary'
	Compiling directory '/usr/share/SuperCollider/Extensions'
	Compiling directory '/home/hurrells/.local/share/SuperCollider/Extensions'
	Compiling directory '/home/hurrells/.local/share/SuperCollider/downloaded-quarks/Vowel'
	Compiling directory '/home/hurrells/.local/share/SuperCollider/downloaded-quarks/Dirt-Samples'
	Compiling directory '/home/hurrells/.local/share/SuperCollider/downloaded-quarks/SuperDirt'
	numentries = 1302738 / 20440992 = 0.064
	5956 method selectors, 3432 classes
	method table size 21259112 bytes, big table size 163527936
	Number of Symbols 15469
	Byte Code Size 465388
	compiled 571 files in 0.64 seconds

Info: 4 methods are currently overwritten by extensions. To see which, execute:
MethodOverride.printAll

compile done
localhost : setting clientID to 0.
internal : setting clientID to 0.
Class tree inited in 0.01 seconds
server 'localhost' already booting


*** Welcome to SuperCollider 3.13.0. *** For help type ctrl-c ctrl-h (Emacs) or :SChelp (vim) or ctrl-U (sced/gedit).
Booting server 'localhost' on address 127.0.0.1:57110.
sc3> Found 57 LADSPA plugins
Cannot connect to server socket err = Connection refused
Cannot connect to server request channel
no message buffer overruns
no message buffer overruns
jack_get_descriptor : dll 
jack_get_descriptor returns null for 'jack_intime.so'
jack_get_descriptor : dll 
jack_get_descriptor returns null for 'jack_inprocess.so'
jack_get_descriptor : dll 
jack_get_descriptor returns null for 'jack_internal_metro.so'
no message buffer overruns
jackdmp 1.9.22
Copyright 2001-2005 Paul Davis and others.
Copyright 2004-2016 Grame.
Copyright 2016-2023 Filipe Coelho.
jackdmp comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; see the file COPYING for details
JACK server starting in realtime mode with priority 10
self-connect-mode is "Don't restrict self connect requests"
audio_reservation_init
Acquire audio card Audio0
creating alsa driver ... hw:0|hw:0|1024|2|48000|0|0|nomon|swmeter|-|32bit
configuring for 48000Hz, period = 1024 frames (21.3 ms), buffer = 2 periods
ALSA: final selected sample format for capture: 32bit integer little-endian
ALSA: use 2 periods for capture
ALSA: final selected sample format for playback: 32bit integer little-endian
ALSA: use 2 periods for playback
JackDriver: client name is 'SuperCollider'
SC_AudioDriver: sample rate = 48000.000000, driver's block size = 1024
JackDriver: connected  system:capture_1 to SuperCollider:in_1
JackDriver: connected  system:capture_2 to SuperCollider:in_2
JackDriver: connected  SuperCollider:out_1 to system:playback_1
JackDriver: connected  SuperCollider:out_2 to system:playback_2
SuperCollider 3 server ready.
JackDriver: max output latency 42.7 ms
Requested notification messages from server 'localhost'
localhost: server process's maxLogins (8) matches with my options.
localhost: keeping clientID (0) as confirmed by server process.
Shared memory server interface initialized
loading synthdefs in /home/hurrells/.local/share/SuperCollider/downloaded-quarks/SuperDirt/classes/../synths/core-modules.scd
---- core synth defs loaded ----
loading synthdefs in /home/hurrells/.local/share/SuperCollider/downloaded-quarks/SuperDirt/classes/../synths/core-synths-global.scd
loading synthdefs in /home/hurrells/.local/share/SuperCollider/downloaded-quarks/SuperDirt/classes/../synths/core-synths.scd
loading synthdefs in /home/hurrells/.local/share/SuperCollider/downloaded-quarks/SuperDirt/classes/../synths/default-synths.scd
exception in GraphDef_Recv: exceeded number of interconnect buffers.
loading synthdefs in /home/hurrells/.local/share/SuperCollider/downloaded-quarks/SuperDirt/classes/../synths/try-load-extra-synths.scd
loading synthdefs in /home/hurrells/.local/share/SuperCollider/downloaded-quarks/SuperDirt/classes/../synths/tutorial-synths.scd
loading synthdefs in /home/hurrells/.local/share/SuperCollider/downloaded-quarks/SuperDirt/classes/../synths/zzzzz-core-modules-that-come-last.scd


218 existing sample banks:
808 (6) 808bd (25) 808cy (25) 808hc (5) 808ht (5) 808lc (5) 808lt (5) 808mc (5) 808mt (5) 808oh (5) 808sd (25) 909 (1) ab (12) ade (10) ades2 (9) ades3 (7) ades4 (6) alex (2) alphabet (26) amencutup (32) armora (7) arp (2) arpy (11) auto (11) baa (7) baa2 (7) bass (4) bass0 (3) bass1 (30) bass2 (5) bass3 (11) bassdm (24) bassfoo (3) battles (2) bd (24) bend (4) bev (2) bin (2) birds (10) birds3 (19) bleep (13) blip (2) blue (2) bottle (13) breaks125 (2) breaks152 (1) breaks157 (1) breaks165 (1) breath (1) bubble (8) can (14) casio (3) cb (1) cc (6) chin (4) circus (3) clak (2) click (4) clubkick (5) co (4) coins (1) control (2) cosmicg (15) cp (2) cr (6) crow (4) d (4) db (13) diphone (38) diphone2 (12) dist (16) dork2 (4) dorkbot (2) dr (42) dr2 (6) dr55 (4) dr_few (8) drum (6) drumtraks (13) e (8) east (9) electro1 (13) em2 (6) erk (1) f (1) feel (7) feelfx (8) fest (1) fire (1) flick (17) fm (17) foo (27) future (17) gab (10) gabba (4) gabbaloud (4) gabbalouder (4) glasstap (3) glitch (8) glitch2 (8) gretsch (24) gtr (3) h (7) hand (17) hardcore (12) hardkick (6) haw (6) hc (6) hh (13) hh27 (13) hit (6) hmm (1) ho (6) hoover (6) house (8) ht (16) if (5) ifdrums (3) incoming (8) industrial (32) insect (3) invaders (18) jazz (8) jungbass (20) jungle (13) juno (12) jvbass (13) kicklinn (1) koy (2) kurt (7) latibro (8) led (1) less (4) lighter (33) linnhats (6) lt (16) made (7) made2 (1) mash (2) mash2 (4) metal (10) miniyeah (4) monsterb (6) moog (7) mouth (15) mp3 (4) msg (9) mt (16) mute (28) newnotes (15) noise (1) noise2 (8) notes (15) num (21) numbers (9) oc (4) odx (15) off (1) outdoor (6) pad (3) padlong (1) pebbles (1) perc (6) peri (15) pluck (17) popkick (10) print (11) proc (2) procshort (8) psr (30) rave (8) rave2 (4) ravemono (2) realclaps (4) reverbkick (1) rm (2) rs (1) sax (22) sd (2) seawolf (3) sequential (8) sf (18) sheffield (1) short (5) sid (12) simplesine (6) sitar (8) sn (52) space (18) speakspell (12) speech (7) speechless (10) speedupdown (9) stab (23) stomp (10) subroc3d (11) sugar (2) sundance (6) tabla (26) tabla2 (46) tablex (3) tacscan (22) tech (13) techno (7) tink (5) tok (4) toys (13) trump (11) ul (10) ulgab (5) uxay (3) v (6) voodoo (5) wind (10) wobble (1) world (3) xmas (1) yeah (31) 
 ... sample banks registered, will read files as necessary
SuperDirt: listening on port 57120

Next I open another terminal and run tidalyvim. On this linux neovim is called nvim. I installed vim-plug (Is lazy.neovim is the better choice?) and got tidal-cycles plugin installed, and finally complied tidalvim.

Here is my second terminal window launch.

So now I paste in my simple tidal pattern ( d1 $ sound "bd") and press . Note it says afterwards that "E21 cannot make changes. modifiable is off. Will fiddle with "set ma" and see if that fixes this one.

I have give the whole chain of errors in the hope that fixing one may help fix another.

Please let me know what I should try to get a more stable setup. I do prefer vim as that my preferred editor and I do want to get highlighting and some other cool plugins installed there to use later.

S.

[Kruftwerk]

I tried the "set ma" vim option to make the buffer? modifiable and it works so now I can change the sound. However ctrl-dot still does not stop the sound from playing. I have to type "hush" to stop sound.

Also the display does to repaint properly. I can up-arrow to get back to a previous line but full-cursoring around is not working and the upper panel only responds at the last tidal prompt.

[madskjeldgaard]

It may not solve all your problems but if you're using nvim, then you could also consider trying this plugin? It's slightly easier to get going IMO. It's what I use.

tidal.nvim

[Kruftwerk]

Thank You. This is where I got to using your suggestion:

I removed, cleaned and re-installed neovim to remove any leftover vim-plugin stuff.

Installed lazy.nvim in structured setup. Ran :Lazy and (C)ecked and (U)pdated. Everything checks out AOK.

I made directory ~/.config/nvim/lua/plugins and pasted tidal.nvim into file tidal.lua

Reran :Lazy and it updated tidaly and treesitter. (C)hecked again and all AOK.

Ran "nvim test.tidal" with "d1 $ sound "bd"" line in it. Typed :TidalLaunch.

Get a footer message "[tidal] ghci started (pipe mode)". Nothing else happens. Can't ctrl-e my d1 sound line.

Tried running another terminal with sclang which comes up AOK. No action.

Any thoughts on how to proceed ?

[Kruftwerk]

Additional Info from my attempt to debug.

When I run "nvim test.tidal" (a simple drumbeat" and type "TidalLaunch", I see the following process:

hurrells    4015    3575  2 12:27 ?        00:00:02 /home/hurrells/.ghcup/ghc/9.10.3/lib/ghc-9.10.3/bin/./ghc-9.10.3 -B/home/hurrells/.ghcup/ghc/9.10.3/lib/ghc-9.10.3/lib --interactive -XOverloadedStrings -ghci-script=/home/hurrells/.local/share/nvim/lazy/tidal.nvim/bootfiles/BootTidal.hs -v0

That looks AOK to me. Nvim ":messages" reports nothing amiss:

One odd thing. When I type "nvim .config/nvim/lua/config/lazy.lua I get this error. Not when typing "nvim emptyfile.txt".

Error detected while processing BufReadPost Autocommands for "*":
Error executing lua callback: /usr/share/nvim/runtime/filetype.lua:35: Error executing lua: /usr/sha
re/nvim/runtime/filetype.lua:36: BufReadPost Autocommands for "*"..FileType Autocommands for "*"..fu
nction <SNR>1_LoadFTPlugin[20]..script /usr/share/nvim/runtime/ftplugin/lua.lua: Vim(runtime):E5113:
 Error while calling lua chunk: /usr/share/nvim/runtime/lua/vim/treesitter/language.lua:107: no pars
er for 'lua' language, see :help treesitter-parsers
stack traceback:
        [C]: in function 'error'
        /usr/share/nvim/runtime/lua/vim/treesitter/language.lua:107: in function 'add'
        /usr/share/nvim/runtime/lua/vim/treesitter/languagetree.lua:111: in function 'new'
        /usr/share/nvim/runtime/lua/vim/treesitter.lua:41: in function '_create_parser'
        /usr/share/nvim/runtime/lua/vim/treesitter.lua:108: in function 'get_parser'
        /usr/share/nvim/runtime/lua/vim/treesitter.lua:416: in function 'start'
        /usr/share/nvim/runtime/ftplugin/lua.lua:2: in main chunk
        [C]: in function 'nvim_cmd'
        /usr/share/nvim/runtime/filetype.lua:36: in function </usr/share/nvim/runtime/filetype.lua:3
5>
        [C]: in function 'nvim_buf_call'
        /usr/share/nvim/runtime/filetype.lua:35: in function </usr/share/nvim/runtime/filetype.lua:1
0>
stack traceback:
        [C]: in function 'nvim_cmd'
        /usr/share/nvim/runtime/filetype.lua:36: in function </usr/share/nvim/runtime/filetype.lua:3
5>
        [C]: in function 'nvim_buf_call'
        /usr/share/nvim/runtime/filetype.lua:35: in function </usr/share/nvim/runtime/filetype.lua:1
0>
-- More --
stack traceback:
        [C]: in function 'nvim_cmd'
        /usr/share/nvim/runtime/filetype.lua:36: in function </usr/share/nvim/runtime/filetype.lua:3
5>
        [C]: in function 'nvim_buf_call'
        /usr/share/nvim/runtime/filetype.lua:35: in function </usr/share/nvim/runtime/filetype.lua:1
0>
stack traceback:
        [C]: in function 'nvim_buf_call'
        /usr/share/nvim/runtime/filetype.lua:35: in function </usr/share/nvim/runtime/filetype.lua:1
0>
Press ENTER or type command to continue

[mrreason]

Now I need to ask. What vim plugin are you using right now? And what operating system do you use?

In case you use my nvim plugin and Ubuntu, then this ressource may help:

NeoVim Event Highlighting + custom keybindings

Thanks so much @mrreason (and @grddavies ) - this is something I’ve been so hopeful of happening ever since feedforward started experimenting with it. It took a bit of trickery to get going for me (ubuntu 24.04) mainly due to the nvim-treesitter rewrite, but also due to me moving away from the vim-plug config manager to lazy.nvim (unfamiliarity). It nvim-treesitter requires the manual install of a tree-sitter binary > 0.26.1 now (the one in the 24.04 repos is not new enough). I’ve documented …

Beside that I moved the repository to codeberg (as @madskjeldgaard mentioned), this should still be a good resource: https://youtu.be/DVYm-c1AV-8

[Kruftwerk]

My operating system is mxlinux, version 25.2_x64 Infinity (debian based) updated to current. A vanilla install with nothing odd installed.

Based upon madskjeldgaard advice above I am using nvim with the lazy.nvim plugin manager and the tidal.nvim he suggested above which appears to be yours on codeberg.

I am keen on getting nvim working as vi is my preferred editor.

---

I've gone on a side quest and tried pulsar with the tidalcycles plugin it offered.

It worked right out of the box. Basically run sclang in a terminal (or scide), then "pulsar test.tidal". Menu -> Packages -> TidalCycles -> "Boot TidalCycles" and write some code then same Menu path except choose "Eval" or "Eval Multi Line" to execute.

That's great but it's crude (i.e. no way to ctrl-e to eval a line or multi-line code segment) using keystrokes and going through menus to do evals is cumbersome.

I also tried another plugin called tidal-autocode which works and updates and "multi-line eval's" it makes code but the code produced fails to run in tidal cycles at all. Taking a look at it it appears to be 10 years old so probably no longer maintained and the codes now out of spec I guess?

I'll try any provide any information we need to figure out how to run from nvim. I do like the highlighting feature you show in your video.

Thanks In Advance

[Kruftwerk]

I have watched your YouTube video and one thing is different.

My ~/.config/nvim/lua/plugins/tidal.lua is much smaller as follows:

return {
 "https://codeberg.org/MrReason/tidal.nvim",
 opts = {
  -- Your configuration here
  -- See configuration section for defaults
 },
 -- Recommended: Install TreeSitter parsers for Haskell 
 dependencies = {
  "nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter",
  opts = { ensure_installed = { "haskell" } },
 },
}