Re: [linux-audio-user] Linux midi players that don't require download of large patch or sample files??

Hi Randy: I'm not totally sure about how things work in Windows (is anyone?) but the likelihood is that your soundcard was installed along with a set of patches ready to go. AFAIK no soundcard comes with a pre-programmed hardware synth on-board, though I may be wrong about that. So your old card probably needed the patches or soundfonts too, but in typical Windows fashion they were loaded and you never had to consider them (which is a pretty good way to do things for a normal user, IMO). Your consideration now is actually a few considerations: Does the SiS support a real on-board hardware synth ? Does the SiS really only support a software synthesizer ? If it does support a synth, what sound sources does it require (i.e. soundfonts, GUS patches, WAV, whatever) ? Does ALSA and/or OSS/Free provide native Linux support for the SiS ? Does the driver support all the features of the SiS chipset ? You should start your explorations here: http://www.alsa-project.org Look over the Soundcard Matrix to see if your soundcard/chipset is supported. Click on the Details for more information about the depth of support provided by the available driver. Btw, soundfonts can vary wildly in size. My SBLive came with a disc that included General MIDI soundfonts, in 2, 4, and 8 MB sizes. For a comparison, I also utilize the Fluid soundfont with the TiMidity++ software synthesizer. That soundfont (FluidR3) is almost 150 MB, much too large for my SBLive's standard memory but it works great with the softsynth. Also btw: Look at the TiMidity++ and playmidi for lightweight players for your MIDI files. Check here for more information : http://linux-sound.org/midi.html Best regards, dp Ruth A. Kramer wrote: