Hi guys, I am a novice when it comes to composing/performing music on a computer. But I understand that I need to understand MIDI in order to get anywhere. However, when I start KMid and open a midi file, I hear no sound even though the progress bar suggests that the application is playing through the file. Looking at settings, I see 5 MIDI devices: 1 x External MIDI 0 and 4 x Emu10k1 WaveTable Ports (0 - 3) All assigned as ALSA devices Also the MIDI map is set to /opt/kde3/share/apps/kmid/maps/gm.map. Can anyone tell me where to start to investigate this lack of sound further Many thanks -- Syl
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On March 30, 2003 02:13 pm, Sylvanus A. Currie wrote:
Can anyone tell me where to start to investigate this lack of sound further
The reason why there is no sound is because you haven't loaded any soundfonts. Just drop the soundfont you want into /usr/share/sounds/sf2 and it will be loaded at boot time. To load a soundfont manually use the command: sfxload filename Charles - -- "Linux, because up-time matters gawk; talk; date; wine; grep; touch; unzip; touch; gasp; finger; gasp; mount;\ fsck; more; yes; gasp; umount; make clean; make mrproper; sleep." - --Drunken Bastard -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQE+h1Qw3epPyyKbwPYRAnBJAJ4oGvTcvGgw/Gwylrul69rbFfpqWACgtMnB bqIL3hOHUXSHb6aPDuLErV0= =DngS -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On March 30, 2003 03:31 pm, Charles Philip Chan wrote:
Just drop the soundfont you want into /usr/share/sounds/sf2 and it will be loaded at boot time.
This is only half true. The soundfont that is to be loaded automatically have to be named default.sf2 or default.bnk. So either rename the sf2 file or symlink it. Charles - -- "Linux, because up-time matters gawk; talk; date; wine; grep; touch; unzip; touch; gasp; finger; gasp; mount;\ fsck; more; yes; gasp; umount; make clean; make mrproper; sleep." - --Drunken Bastard -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQE+h2cP3epPyyKbwPYRAkMHAJ9yI3gAHyZg4+FzBWO+K4Dd1Vf3WgCffNkU E40Z4rDZ8aEXBjTgtxhfZxg= =XEN/ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On March 30, 2003 02:13 pm, Sylvanus A. Currie wrote: Also, I forgot to add you need to choose a midi device. I suggest just use the wavetable port 0. There should be some soundfonts on your driver CD. If you are using a SB Live!, soundfonts can be found in the directory: /your_cdrom/Audio/COMMON/SFBANK Charles - -- "Linux, because up-time matters gawk; talk; date; wine; grep; touch; unzip; touch; gasp; finger; gasp; mount;\ fsck; more; yes; gasp; umount; make clean; make mrproper; sleep." - --Drunken Bastard -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQE+h1Ye3epPyyKbwPYRAu4wAJ9N2FA0igQaqyKe+atpAe7z7oANhwCghnOm wCuOOFt1ofMfuM/luE7Vw0g= =DQbp -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
On Sun, 30 Mar 2003 20:13:50 +0100 "Sylvanus A. Currie" <suse-list@syrene.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
I am a novice when it comes to composing/performing music on a computer. But I understand that I need to understand MIDI in order to get anywhere. However, when I start KMid and open a midi file, I hear no sound even though the progress bar suggests that the application is playing through the file.
Looking at settings, I see 5 MIDI devices: 1 x External MIDI 0 and 4 x Emu10k1 WaveTable Ports (0 - 3) All assigned as ALSA devices
Also the MIDI map is set to /opt/kde3/share/apps/kmid/maps/gm.map.
Can anyone tell me where to start to investigate this lack of sound further
Many thanks
First, I don't use KDE, so I don't know if you are running into complications with the ARTS server. Can you play a midi file with timidity? "timidity somefile.mid"
From a plain FVWM2 perspective, what is happening is the program is sending the midi data to an external sequencer, it thinks you have a midi keyboard hooked up.
If you want to play back midi's thru the soundcard, you need to setup timidity, in server mode, to simulate an midi sequencer and play it as a wave thru your sound card. ( Or get yourself a nice midi keyboard :-) ) It is all documented in /usr/share/doc/packages/timidity/C/README.alsaseq It's actually pretty easy. timidity -iA -B2,8 -Os -q0/0 -k0 (to set up the server) then aconnect 64:0 128:0 (to get your keyboard input) Go thru it and see if you can work thru the examples, then once you see how to make timidity a "server", then select it for output in your programs. It also shows you how to get realtime input from a keyboard attached to your joystick port. P.S. I'm waiting for my Yamaha PSR 292 keyboard to arrive. wooo hooo I like MIDI, it's kind of like whistling a song. :-) -- use Perl; #powerful programmable prestidigitation
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On March 30, 2003 03:41 pm, zentara wrote:
If you want to play back midi's thru the soundcard, you need to setup timidity, in server mode, to simulate an midi sequencer and play it as a wave thru your sound card. ( Or get yourself a nice midi keyboard :-) )
No you don't have to do that if there is an internal synth on you soundcard. All you have to do is to load some soundfonts. I see that you like using Timidity++. Are you aware of the Eaw GUS patchset which provides really good quality? You can find it at: http://www.stardate.bc.ca/eawpatches/html/ Charles - -- "Linux, because up-time matters gawk; talk; date; wine; grep; touch; unzip; touch; gasp; finger; gasp; mount;\ fsck; more; yes; gasp; umount; make clean; make mrproper; sleep." - --Drunken Bastard -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQE+h1p73epPyyKbwPYRApsLAJ9IQRGQcHt6AXGAsV+PaL/JtRSmTQCcDXTi k/pHtFw9OGzpYrftEf9FbWo= =AF+q -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
On Sun, 30 Mar 2003 15:58:35 -0500 Charles Philip Chan <cpchan@sympatico.ca> wrote:
I see that you like using Timidity++. Are you aware of the Eaw GUS patchset which provides really good quality? You can find it at:
Yeah, I got them. They are alot better than the default patches. -- use Perl; #powerful programmable prestidigitation
On Sun, 30 Mar 2003 15:58:35 -0500 Charles Philip Chan <cpchan@sympatico.ca> wrote:
If you want to play back midi's thru the soundcard, you need to setup timidity, in server mode, to simulate an midi sequencer and play it as a wave thru your sound card. ( Or get yourself a nice midi keyboard :-) )
No you don't have to do that if there is an internal synth on you soundcard. All you have to do is to load some soundfonts.
Hmm, it don't work for me with my sblive. I need timidity to play midi files. What do you use without timidity? Is there a /dev/midi or /dev/sequencer? I've tried to use Noteedit, and I choose every possible output option in the setup, and would not get any midi out of the soundcard. When I setup the timidity server, and selected it as the output, it works fine. Does the ARTS server under KDE do that for you? I thought I read somewhere that ARTS is based on the timidity libraries? -- use Perl; #powerful programmable prestidigitation
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On March 30, 2003 06:26 pm, zentara wrote:
Hmm, it don't work for me with my sblive. I need timidity to play midi files. What do you use without timidity?
I am using kmid right now, but any ALSA compatable MIDI player will do. The only other one that I am aware of is pmidi which is a command line program. You can find it at: http://www.parabola.demon.co.uk/alsa/pmidi.html
Is there a /dev/midi or /dev/sequencer?
No you don't use that. First make sure that snd-synth-emu10k1 is loaded. Then you must load some soundfonts with sfxload. If you are using pmidi (which I think is what you want since you don't use KDE), the first client:port of the SB Live! is 65:0, so you can play a file by using the command: pmidi -p 65:0 <filename> You can see a list of device by using the command pmidi -l If you are using kmid, you can set the client:port in KDE's Control Centre.
Does the ARTS server under KDE do that for you? I thought I read somewhere that ARTS is based on the timidity libraries?
Yes and no, there are two MIDI players in KDE: Kmid and kmidi. Kmid using the native syth on the soundcard while kmidi is actually a KDE port of Timidity++.
I've tried to use Noteedit, and I choose every possible output option in the setup, and would not get any midi out of the soundcard.
Never used Noteedit, so I can't comment. I hope this will help you. Charles - -- "Linux, because up-time matters gawk; talk; date; wine; grep; touch; unzip; touch; gasp; finger; gasp; mount;\ fsck; more; yes; gasp; umount; make clean; make mrproper; sleep." - --Drunken Bastard -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQE+h43W3epPyyKbwPYRAmVzAKCfqo3xP6jy8cO1Oi8L3A0dIGdPyQCeL4Wh WRaBG4+Gsq49MOgIvDCPqjE= =qm2h -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
On Sun, 30 Mar 2003 19:37:30 -0500 Charles Philip Chan <cpchan@sympatico.ca> wrote:
On March 30, 2003 06:26 pm, zentara wrote:
Hmm, it don't work for me with my sblive. I need timidity to play midi files. What do you use without timidity?
I am using kmid right now, but any ALSA compatable MIDI player will do. The only other one that I am aware of is pmidi which is a command line program. You can find it at:
http://www.parabola.demon.co.uk/alsa/pmidi.html
Is there a /dev/midi or /dev/sequencer?
No you don't use that. First make sure that snd-synth-emu10k1 is loaded. Then you must load some soundfonts with sfxload. If you are using pmidi (which I think is what you want since you don't use KDE), the first client:port of the SB Live! is 65:0, so you can play a file by using the command:
pmidi -p 65:0 <filename>
You can see a list of device by using the command
pmidi -l
OK, thanks, after tracing it down, I see that I didn't have the sfxload program installed. And like you said, if you sfxload the default.sf2 soundfont file in /usr/share/sounds I do get output from the emu at 65:0. I needed to install the awesfx rpm. However, it seems to play slow on my sblive card, and the docs seem to indicate to use .bnk files for the sblive. ??? Well anyways, at least I know where to look for answers now, on using the builtin emu of my sblive. -- use Perl; #powerful programmable prestidigitation
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On March 31, 2003 11:44 am, zentara wrote:
However, it seems to play slow on my sblive card,
Hum, this is strange, because it is faster for me then Timidity++ since it doesn't have to convert to wav. YMMV though since there are a few versions of SBLIve!'s that are slightly different.
and the docs seem to indicate to use .bnk files for the sblive. ???
Bnk files are nothing more them text files that modifies the default sf2 file with another one. For example if you look at /usr/share/sounds/sf2/emu8m.bnk It loads the default 8 meg sf2 from the SBLive! CD and modify it with some soundfonts from the 2 meg file. You will need to rename the files to the names specified in the emu8m.bnk file and symlink it to default.bnk. There are 3 sample bnk files that can be used for the SBLive!: (1) default-2m.bnk for the 2 meg file. (2) emu8m.bnk for the 8 meg file. (3) ch12msup.bnk for Chaos 12 meg. Charles - -- "Linux, because up-time matters gawk; talk; date; wine; grep; touch; unzip; touch; gasp; finger; gasp; mount;\ fsck; more; yes; gasp; umount; make clean; make mrproper; sleep." - --Drunken Bastard -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.7 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQE+iJHj3epPyyKbwPYRAqMwAJ9ulqiajg6ZQbyrc3ONlT1ZmJP8VwCfc9lc 9AZqBh1F5fKBWj8F4SJyWrQ= =ecsL -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
participants (3)
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Charles Philip Chan -
Sylvanus A. Currie -
zentara