MIDI Playback

Falcata · 2008-07-12 15:27:56

Is it at all possible to get MIDI working under Linux? I remember trying to get it working back when I used Fedora, the method requiring me to download some very large file. I don't remember if I got it to work or not, although I'm guessing that I didn't.

leafo · 2008-07-12 15:33:05

try this, it worked fine for me
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Timidity

Falcata · 2008-07-12 15:50:03

Ugh. I remember Timidity++, and all the problems I had with it. Although, I suppose I did it wrong, so perhaps I should give it another try. I won't be able to try it until I get home later this evening, however.

schivmeister · 2008-07-12 17:47:55

In the past most chips had onboard synthesizers, but now our RAM capacity have gone up so we can use software to hold samples of each instrument. You can use any softsynth, but TiMidity++ provides a daemon route and seamless integration with ALSA. It's not difficult, though I don't have experience with Fluidsynth to compare.

1) pac timidity-eawpatches
2) note the post-install info
3) test by running "timidity file.mid" and "aplaymidi --port 128:0 file.mid"
4) to have it on boot just add the daemon

I use a soundfont GM bank, SGM. Get it from www.sf2midi.com and then edit /etc/timidity++/timidity.cfg and have the following in it and comment everything else:

soundfont /path/to/the/sf2

If it comes in sfark format, run sfarkxtc on it. I think only xmms has a midi plug-in, so you can stop hoping if Amarok or something like that was on your mind How does Windows do it? Well, Microsoft uses a software wavetable which exists as a device by itself, sort of an emulator of a hardware synthesizer. Any audio application will query a MIDI port and will get the device, or something like that. One could change the sample too, but it's in DLS format - pretty exotic.

Last edited by schivmeister (2008-07-12 17:54:10)

Falcata · 2008-07-13 12:58:58

Well, I got timidity++ installed and running this morning. But when I went to run it as a daemon, I got this error message:

:: Starting Timidity++ ALSA Daemon                                       [BUSY]
error in snd_seq_open
                                                                         [FAIL]

EDIT: I am using OSS, rather than ALSA. Would this be the cause of the error?

Last edited by Falcata (2008-07-13 12:59:32)

Megawatt25 · 2008-07-13 13:45:27

The Timidity daemon only adds MIDI support to the ALSA sound system, so if you're using OSS, you're out of luck. I don't know of any way to add MIDI support to OSS. If you want MIDI, you will either have to switch to ALSA, or, if you are only trying to play a MIDI file, use a website like www.media-convert.com to convert your MIDI to another format. I recommend converting it to FLAC or another lossless codec, because it will sound terrible if you convert it to OGG or MP3.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-07-12 15:27:56

MIDI Playback

#2 2008-07-12 15:33:05

Re: MIDI Playback

#3 2008-07-12 15:50:03

Re: MIDI Playback

#4 2008-07-12 17:47:55

Re: MIDI Playback

#5 2008-07-13 12:58:58

Re: MIDI Playback

#6 2008-07-13 13:45:27

Re: MIDI Playback

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