Arch Linux

splittercode

Member

From: WI, USA

Registered: 2010-03-16

Posts: 203

[SOLVED]ALSA sequencer(/dev/snd/seq) missing = broken midi

I get this error when attempting to start qsynth (frontend for fluidsynth)

fluidsynth: warning: Failed to pin the sample data to RAM; swapping is possible.
fluidsynth: warning: Requested a period size of 1024, got 940 instead
ALSA lib seq_hw.c:457:(snd_seq_hw_open) open /dev/snd/seq failed: No such file or directory
fluidsynth: error: Error opening ALSA sequencer

It's right, /dev/snd/seq really does not exist on my system.  I have the midi driver set to alsa_seq in the qsynth settings, and it's been working just fine up until now.  I haven't tinkered with anything related to alsa, so I'm not sure how it disappeared.  The only possible cause I can think of is that today I installed kernel26-lts and have been using it for a few hours.  However, rebooting and switching to the standard kernel doesn't solve the problem, as /dev/snd/seq is still missing and I get an identical error message.  Any ideas/suggestions/wild guesses?

Last edited by splittercode (2010-08-25 15:14:54)

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED]ALSA sequencer(/dev/snd/seq) missing = broken midi

Maybe you have blacklisted some module in rc.conf?

[karol@black ~]$ lsmod | grep -i seq
snd_seq_dummy           1071  0 
snd_seq_oss            25016  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      4488  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                41656  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device          4353  3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_timer              15601  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd                    42602  11 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
[karol@black ~]$ l /dev/snd/seq
crw-rw---- 1 116, 3 2010-08-25 13:56 /dev/snd/seq

splittercode

Member

From: WI, USA

Registered: 2010-03-16

Posts: 203

Re: [SOLVED]ALSA sequencer(/dev/snd/seq) missing = broken midi

Yep, that was it.  A few weeks ago I blacklisted a few oss modules because I had seen that a few other people had done that.  I assumed that since I used ALSA that I didn't need them...  I guess that's what I get for changing things without understanding them!   Thanks karol

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED]ALSA sequencer(/dev/snd/seq) missing = broken midi

Yep, that was it.  A few weeks ago I blacklisted a few oss modules because I had seen that a few other people had done that.  I assumed that since I used ALSA that I didn't need them...  I guess that's what I get for changing things without understanding them!   Thanks karol

Try to keep notes of what, when and why you have done, so you can easily backtrack if / when sth breaks. Some people use VCS for their configs.