Re: playing midi with timidity
On Tue, Sep 20, 2005 at 02:57:16PM -0700, Seeker5528 wrote:
> Check the capture level, the iec958 levels, mute any inputs not being
> used, and try changing what is selected as the recording device.
Sorry, I don't know what iec958 is.
I have used alsamixer and muted all the inputs I can.
> > Essentially my perl script is:
> >
> > system("timidity -L /usr/share/timidity -Ou -o$au_file $midi_file > /tmp/timidity 2> /dev/null");
> >
> > system("play -v $volume $au_file ");
>
> What is the reason for sending the output to a file and then playing
> back the file instead of letting timidity send the output directly to
> the audio device?
A mixture of ignorance and laziness. This script has been working for
years under a 2.20 kernel. There was no need to change it.
> issues there. If the file is being played back as it is being created
> that could lead to some oddities, but would then lead to a question of
> why does it work with an older kernel using the OSS driver and not with
> the 2.6 kernel using the alsa driver.
I create the midi files using abc2midi. But I have tested using midi
from other sources as well and the result is the same: awful, hardly
recognisable sound. I normally do not pipe to timidity. I've tried
it and the result is again, almost unrecognisable sound quality.
> This is a pretty standard set of modules. I've used Ensoniq based
> hardware in the past and currently have one system with an Ensoniq
> chipset for the onboard audio. I have had issues with static in the
> audio when the capture level is not set at a low level and the iec958
> stuff is not muted, but that doesn't account for bit of the file being
> played again.
>
> > If I revert to a 2.2 kernel and use the oss drivers, everything is
> > fine.
>
> This leads to the question, if you use the 2.6 kernel with the OSS
> driver does it work then?
Don't have the available.
> > But with 2.6 and alsa I can use mplayer and listen to BBC Radio 3, no
> > problem.
>
> This just seems odd. What about audio in other applications? If it
> only sounds bad with Timidity while using your script that would seem
> to indicate the issue is in the Timidity configuration or in the
> script.
My hunch is that it is my Timidity configuration, or possibly the age
of my box. It is an old PII. But I would have thought that Timidity
could have been configured to perform even with that vintage of
hardware.
My /etc/timidity/timidity.cfg contains:
#######################################################
## If you have a slow CPU, uncomment these:
opt EFresamp=d #disable resampling
opt EFvlpf=d #disable VLPF
opt EFreverb=d #disable reverb
opt EFchorus=d #disable chorus
opt EFdelay=d #disable delay
#opt no-antialias #disable sample anti-aliasing
opt EWPVSETOZ #disable all Midi Controls
opt p32a #default to 32 voices with auto reduction
opt s32kHz #default sample frequency to 32kHz
opt fast-decay #fast decay notes
#######################################################
I have tried pmidi, it just hangs. I have reinstalled both timidity
and alsa. I have pulled down the timidity source and compiled it
afresh. I have tried runing timmidity as a server. The effect is the
not always the same, but the end result is always - very badly
distorted, repeating sound.
Thanks a lot.
Joe.
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