midi files in (k)ubuntu

[golfer]

I had to 'modprobe snd-seq-dummy' to get the right device to be
created when starting timidity.

You can then start timidity with 'sudo /etc/init.d/timidity' and you
can confirm it with 'ps aux | grep timidity'

Once it's running, kde settings for sound setup in the midi tab should
have a drop down for the 'timidity device' .. you can select this and
then be able to use kmid to play your midi's.

Also, read the notes in /etc/timidity/timidity.cfg about what to do if
you have a slow processor.

regards

On 11/12/05, Peter Garrett <peter.garrett at optusnet.com.au> wrote:
> On Sat, 12 Nov 2005 21:37:44 +0300
> Makurin Roman <drolyk at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi All
> > May be its a strange question, but how can I play midi files in ubuntu ? I
>
> > can`t find any obvious way to do this. I`ve got Creative SBLive 5.1 sound
>
> > card wich works wery well with alsa.
>
> The simplest way appears to be to do this:
>
> 1) Install the " timidity" package and the "freepats" package ( freepats is
> a set of patch files that timidity looks for by default - you can also use a
> sound font, but this is a bit more involved)
>
> 2) If you want a GUI for timidity, rather than plain command line, install
> "timidity-interfaces-extra " This package gives you a few relatively OK
> front ends for the player. Of course they don't make it clear that you need
> to run
>
> timidity -ig
>
> to get the GTK+ GUI  (hey, I had to dig around in the man pages for timidity
> to work this out ;) ) . If you like a retro look you can also run
>
> timidity -ia
>
> which I think is a coloured Athena widget set. Looks like the best 1993 had
> to offer, but if you like dark grey with tasteful dabs of olive green and
> violet, it might be just what you wanted...
>
> If you have freepats and timidity, it *should* work "out of the box".
> (Sounds of hollow laughter).  Just run " timidity -ig yourmidi.mid " or
> "timidity yourmidi.mid " for the straight version without pretty boxes.
>
> Troubleshooting:  Timidity looks for freepats - see
>
> /etc/timidity/timidity.cfg
> /etc/timidity/freepats.cfg
>
> More complicated stuff:
>
> You can run timidity in "server" mode , in conjunction with apps like
> rosegarden4 ( a really nice app once you get it working) and kmid. This is
> left, as they say, as "an exercise for the reader"  ;-) It does work,
> eventually, but involves far more hacking about than it should. You will
> read about jackd, and tear your hair out trying to get everything playing
> nicely together. A few magic incantations that work with varying degrees of
> success to use timidity for these purposes are
>
> timidity -iA -B2,8 -Os1l -s 44100
> timidity -iA -B4,12 -Oj -s 44100     #better, it seems
> timidity -iA -B2,8 -s 44100            # this works too ?
>
> The comments are from my experiments , on my set-up. YMMV , as they say.
> These spells are ways of starting timidity in server mode - after starting
> these you have to "tune in " with kmidi or rosegarden4 , and connect to port
> 128:0 if I remember correctly. (It's been a while since I played with this
> so I might be off target here). I also had to modprobe some sequencing
> modules ( snd_seq springs to mind, but there are others). If you need to do
> this, remember to add the modules to /etc/modules so they will load on
> boot.
>
> See? It's all really user-friendly!  ( *cough* )
>
> You will hone your googling skills, and see many lines roughly interpretable
> as " the rest of this configuration is trivial, and requires no comment".
> Keep a sense of humour if you decide to delve more deeply...
>
> Unless of course, unlike me, you actually understand the terminology and
> concepts involved, in which case it's no doubt simplicity itself ...
>
> A starting point might be
>
> http://linux-sound.org/
>
> Do read the timidity man page. It contains much that is useful. If you're
> like me, you won't understand much of it, but a bit of perseverance pays
> dividends.
>
> Good luck !
>
> Peter
>
>
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>
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