Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 51

Thread: HOWTO: MIDI in Hoary

Hybrid View

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Midlands, UK
    Beans
    96
    Distro
    Ubuntu 6.06

    HOWTO: MIDI in Hoary with a Hardware Synthesizer

    Introduction
    This HOWTO is work in progress. Ideally I'd like a set of commands that work universally for everyone with a soundcard that has a hardware synthesizer and works with ALSA or OSS. So far I have only been able to try this on two machines but have had success with both. I would like to hear if anyone else has any success or problems with these commands but please ensure you know your card works with ALSA or OSS and has a hardware synthesizer if your card does not have both please seek help elsewhere on the forums.

    Setting up the Midi
    Open up a Terminal (alt+f2 then gnome-terminal) and enter the following commands:
    Code:
    sudo modprobe snd_seq_midi
    sudo modprobe snd_emux_synth
    sudo modprobe snd_emu10k1_synth
    sudo apt-get install awesfx;asfxload
    "asfxload soundfont.sf2" for ALSA or "sfxload soundfont.sf2" for OSS
    NOTE: Where soundfont.sf2 is the soundfont file you wish to use, many sound fonts can be found at http://www.hammersound.net. I use Fluid - Release 3 [68.5MB] but this is down to preferance, you may like the sound of other sound founts better. One thing to look out for when choosing is to ensure your sound font is organized according to the GM (General Midi) standard for instruments. Sound fonts will normally mention GM in their description or title if they are.

    Adding the modules to statup automatically
    If this works for you, you will want to have these modules load at startup. Add the following to the bottom of /etc/modules (NOTE: This file will need root permissions so use sudo nano /etc/modules or sudo gedit /etc/modules):
    Code:
    snd_seq_midi
    snd_emux_synth
    snd_emu10k1_synth
    Currently Tested With
    If you have tried the above commands and they worked for you please give feedback and post the make and model of your card so that when others come to search for their card and enabling midi they should come across this post, Thanks.
    • Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZX
    • Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum
    • Sound Blaster Live!

    Extra Help

    If you have downloaded an sfArk SoundFont
    If your soundfont is in sfArk format (which is a compressed losless format for soundfont files), you will need to decompress (extract) it before use. This can be done with a simple utility found which can be found at: http://melodymachine.com/sfark.htm. This program is very simple to use and instructions on it's use can be found within the programs download. If your file extracts as anything other than a soundfont (*.sf2) i.e. *.exe you will not be able to use it so simply try another soundfont file.

    Playing Midi with pMidi
    This next step is optional, if you already have a player capable of playing Midi files use that instead, since I had no player capable of playing midi to test the Midi support I downloaded a simple command line midi player for ALSA, pmidi.

    Code:
    sudo apt-get install pmidi
    pmidi -l
    pmidi -p x : x midifile.mid
    NOTE: pmidi -l gives you a list of possible out put ports, I used the port "Emu10k1 Port 0" but you may need to use another. You then use these ports with the -p option. e.g. pmidi -p 65:0 midifile.mid where midifile.mid is the name of your midifile.
    Last edited by Deusiah; May 26th, 2005 at 08:39 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Beans
    11

    Re: HOWTO: MIDI in Hoary

    I tried the modprobe commands and everything worked great. However, as soon as I reboot the modules seem to be gone and midi won't work until I input them. Is there any file I can write to?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Beans
    37

    Re: HOWTO: MIDI in Hoary

    try adding the modules you need to load on start up to the /etc/modules

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Midlands, UK
    Beans
    96
    Distro
    Ubuntu 6.06

    Re: HOWTO: MIDI in Hoary

    Quote Originally Posted by alphazero
    I tried the modprobe commands and everything worked great. However, as soon as I reboot the modules seem to be gone and midi won't work until I input them. Is there any file I can write to?
    Good point , I have updated the HOWTO thanks. Great to hear it works for you BTW.

    maliStfn you will need the apt-get line otherwise you will not hear anything from a midi file. Also please note this howto is only for hardware sequencers.
    Last edited by Deusiah; May 3rd, 2005 at 12:30 PM.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Beans
    297

    Re: HOWTO: MIDI in Hoary

    Thanks for this. I can't wait to try it on my home PC.

    I've sweated blood trying to get midi to work. Everything else that I've found on the net is either so complex that I'm lost within a paragraph or two, or is so distribution specific that it's useless. I'll let you know how I get on.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Beans
    297

    Re: HOWTO: MIDI in Hoary

    Fabulous. Works perfectly - thanks.

    The only step that tripped me up was that the sound font is in a compressed format, even after you've untarred it. You need this package to turn it into an SF2 file.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Midlands, UK
    Beans
    96
    Distro
    Ubuntu 6.06

    Re: HOWTO: MIDI in Hoary

    Great to hear it works for you Jonny!

    Sorry about the sfArk problem, I forgot to add this to the HOWTO. Sometimes it's easy to forget that certain steps you take are not known to all.

    Anyway, I have added it to the HOWTO and also reformatted the post to make it a bit more presentable.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Beans
    6

    Re: HOWTO: MIDI in Hoary

    hey, I'm very happy about finding this threat, I tried it - but it does not work. I want to use the midiport on my terratec aureon fun for comunication to my keyboard. I tried the above except the sudo apt-getinstall... and asfxload...
    A
    cat /dev/sndstat
    still gives me back a

    Sound Driver:3.8.1a-980706 (ALSA v1.0.6 emulation code)
    Kernel: Linux Ljudstvo1 2.6.10-5-386 #1 Tue Apr 5 12:12:40 UTC 2005 i686
    Config options: 0

    Installed drivers:
    Type 10: ALSA emulation

    Card config:
    C-Media PCI CMI8738-MC6 (model 55) at 0xb800, irq 10

    Audio devices:
    0: C-Media PCI DAC/ADC (DUPLEX)

    Synth devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

    Midi devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

    Timers:
    7: system timer

    Mixers:
    0: CMedia PCI

    Do you know what I did wrong (working on hoary)?
    greetings, stefan

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Midlands, UK
    Beans
    96
    Distro
    Ubuntu 6.06

    Re: HOWTO: MIDI in Hoary

    Quote Originally Posted by Deusiah
    please ensure you know your card works with ALSA or OSS and has a hardware synthesizer if your card does not have both please seek help elsewhere on the forums.
    Need I say more?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    EU - Belgium
    Beans
    159

    Re: HOWTO: MIDI in Hoary

    This was just to expand on the 'elsewhere' part of the sentence, for the sake of completeness. I did not want to interfere in any other way.
    Alain

Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •