21 Sep
2004
21 Sep
'04
1:07 p.m.
Timidity is practically unusable with Alsa on my box. In other ways
it's only slightly creaky (it's a 3-4 year old AMD 755 box). But
there are too many dropouts when I play a multichannel MIDI file for
me to use it to proofread my publishing. (Under OSS timidity was
fine, but regular readers may remember, my OSS broke when I upgraded
to kernel 2.4.26, and I could only get help fixing ALSA, so I'm
running ALSA).
So I'm trying to set up the hardware MIDI on the SBLive. I'm
following the directions at
<http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/MIDI-HOWTO-10.html> and things look
normal. When I run "playmidi -a score.midi", it looks like it's
playing, but there isn't any sound. (Yes, the speaker is plugged into
the right place.) I've looked at the mixer settings
and don't see anything obvious to change.
So can anyone give me any advice either about how to get the hardware
synth to work or how to get Timidity to work better? One part of my
score is a quarter note longer than the others, and I need to find out
where this happens.
--
Laura (mailto:lconrad@laymusic.org , http://www.laymusic.org/ )
(617) 661-8097 fax: (501) 641-5011
233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139
21 Sep
21 Sep
1:15 p.m.
When I run "playmidi -a score.midi", it
looks like it's
playing, but there isn't any sound. (Yes, the speaker is plugged into
the right place.) I've looked at the mixer settings
and don't see anything obvious to change.
Did you load a soundfont with sfxload?
(You could use the 8gmgsmt.sf2 (i think) soundfont that comes on the SBLive
driver cd)
Maarten
1:29 p.m.
>>>> "Maarten" == Maarten de Boer
<mdeboer(a)iua.upf.es> writes:
> When I run "playmidi -a score.midi", it
looks like it's
> playing, but there isn't any sound. (Yes, the speaker is plugged into
> the right place.) I've looked at the mixer settings
> and don't see anything obvious to change.
Maarten> Did you load a soundfont with sfxload?
No, that must have been the problem. Now I have a new problem,
because I've tried several soundfonts, and some of them don't work at
all (no sound), and some of them produce a really scary noise. I
think they all came from either the SBLive cd or my old Soundblaster
CD.
Maarten> (You could use the 8gmgsmt.sf2 (i think) soundfont that
Maarten> comes on the SBLive driver cd)
One of the ones that produces a scary noise is called 8mbgmsfx.sf2.
Is that what you're thinking of? I don't seem to have an 8gmgsmt.sf2.
--
Laura (mailto:lconrad@laymusic.org , http://www.laymusic.org/ )
(617) 661-8097 fax: (501) 641-5011
233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139
8:29 p.m.
Laura Conrad wrote:
8MBGMSFX.SF2
that's the one from soundblaster cd (that came with the card), works
for me (kernel 2.6.5 with alsa, soundbalster live platinum), I use
sfxload to load it (IIRC you need /dev/sequencer working).
erik
>>>>"Maarten" == Maarten de Boer <mdeboer(a)iua.upf.es> writes:
> When I run "playmidi -a
score.midi", it looks like it's
> playing, but there isn't any sound. (Yes, the speaker is plugged into
> the right place.) I've looked at the mixer settings
> and don't see anything obvious to change.
Maarten> Did you load a soundfont with sfxload?
No, that must have been the problem. Now I have a new problem,
because I've tried several soundfonts, and some of them don't work at
all (no sound), and some of them produce a really scary noise. I
think they all came from either the SBLive cd or my old Soundblaster
CD.
Maarten> (You could use the 8gmgsmt.sf2 (i think) soundfont that
Maarten> comes on the SBLive driver cd)
One of the ones that produces a scary noise is called 8mbgmsfx.sf2.
Is that what you're thinking of? I don't seem to have an 8gmgsmt.sf2.
8:41 p.m.
>>>> "Erik" == Erik Steffl
<steffl(a)bigfoot.com> writes:
> One of the ones that produces a scary noise is
called 8mbgmsfx.sf2.
> Is that what you're thinking of? I don't seem to have an 8gmgsmt.sf2.
Erik> 8MBGMSFX.SF2
I got it. It wasn't the .sf2 file being bad -- it was having an old
version of sfxload hanging around in /usr/local/bin. The new version
downloaded by apt-get sounds fine.
--
Laura (mailto:lconrad@laymusic.org , http://www.laymusic.org/ )
(617) 661-8097 fax: (501) 641-5011
233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139
8:55 p.m.
On Tue, 2004-09-21 at 18:24, Laura Conrad wrote:
Also, there are much better free (as in beer) soundfonts available than
the ones that come with the SBLive. Google for "personal copy
soundfont".
Lee
>>>> "Erik" == Erik Steffl <steffl(a)bigfoot.com> writes:
> One of the ones that produces a scary noise
is called 8mbgmsfx.sf2.
> Is that what you're thinking of? I don't seem to have an 8gmgsmt.sf2.
Erik> 8MBGMSFX.SF2
I got it. It wasn't the .sf2 file being bad -- it was having an old
version of sfxload hanging around in /usr/local/bin. The new version
downloaded by apt-get sounds fine.
11:52 p.m.
Lee Revell wrote:
On Tue, 2004-09-21 at 18:24, Laura Conrad wrote:
Also, there are much better free (as in beer) soundfonts available than
the ones that come with the SBLive. Google for "personal copy
soundfont".
Q: why are soundfonts mostly in funny formats (exe? sfArk?), instead
of compressed *SF2 files (using some common compression program like zip
or gzip etc.). That's not only on personal copy site but pretty much all
the site that have soundfonts.
erik
>>>>"Erik" == Erik Steffl <steffl(a)bigfoot.com> writes:
> One of the ones that produces a scary noise
is called 8mbgmsfx.sf2.
> Is that what you're thinking of? I don't seem to have an 8gmgsmt.sf2.
Erik> 8MBGMSFX.SF2
I got it. It wasn't the .sf2 file being bad -- it was having an old
version of sfxload hanging around in /usr/local/bin. The new version
downloaded by apt-get sounds fine.
22 Sep
22 Sep
3:24 a.m.
On Tue, 2004-09-21 at 21:34, Erik Steffl wrote:
Q: why are soundfonts mostly in funny formats (exe? sfArk?), instead
of compressed *SF2 files (using some common compression program like zip
or gzip etc.). That's not only on personal copy site but pretty much all
the site that have soundfonts.
Because most people use them on Windows and you need a third party
program to uncompress zip and gzip on that platform.
Lee
I got it. It wasn't the .sf2 file being bad -- it
was having an old
version of sfxload hanging around in /usr/local/bin. The new version
downloaded by apt-get sounds fine.
Also, there are much better free (as in beer) soundfonts available than
the ones that come with the SBLive. Google for "personal copy
soundfont".
4:53 a.m.
Lee Revell wrote:
On Tue, 2004-09-21 at 21:34, Erik Steffl wrote:
Q: why are soundfonts mostly in funny formats (exe? sfArk?), instead
of compressed *SF2 files (using some common compression program like zip
or gzip etc.). That's not only on personal copy site but pretty much all
the site that have soundfonts.
Because most people use them on Windows and you need a third party
program to uncompress zip and gzip on that platform.
???
pretty much everything else (that I have seen on various windows
centric download sites or usenet newsgroups or ftp sites etc.) is
distributed in zip or rar formats, pretty much everybody uses winzip anyway.
sfArk is third party too, plus it seems like it's not even available
anymore. and the personal copy guy even offers the program for download
instead of offering the soundfonts in some 'normal' format.
seems like a soundfont conspiracy to me.
erik
I got it. It wasn't the .sf2 file being bad -- it
was having an old
version of sfxload hanging around in /usr/local/bin. The new version
downloaded by apt-get sounds fine.
Also, there are much better free (as in beer) soundfonts available than
the ones that come with the SBLive. Google for "personal copy
soundfont".
1:31 p.m.
On Wed, 2004-09-22 at 02:36, Erik Steffl wrote:
Lee Revell wrote:
Warez groups maybe. Most legitimate Windows software is distributed as
a self-extracting exe. Anything else looks fly-by-night. It's annoying
when you go to reinstall a Windows box and you haver to install WinZip
to get one fscking driver. Of course they finally added native support
with XP so it's no longer as much of an issue, but it still requires an
extra step. On Windows people expect to be able to download the file
and double click it to start the installer.
On Tue, 2004-09-21 at 21:34, Erik Steffl wrote:
Because most people use them on Windows and you need a third party
program to uncompress zip and gzip on that platform.
???
pretty much everything else (that I have seen on various windows
centric download sites or usenet newsgroups or ftp sites etc.) is
distributed in zip or rar formats, pretty much everybody uses winzip anyway.
>I got
it. It wasn't the .sf2 file being bad -- it was having an old
>version of sfxload hanging around in /usr/local/bin. The new version
>downloaded by apt-get sounds fine.
>
Also, there are much better free (as in beer) soundfonts available than
the ones that come with the SBLive. Google for "personal copy
soundfont".
Q: why are soundfonts mostly in funny formats (exe? sfArk?), instead
of compressed *SF2 files (using some common compression program like zip
or gzip etc.). That's not only on personal copy site but pretty much all
the site that have soundfonts. sfArk is third party too, plus it seems like
it's not even available
anymore. and the personal copy guy even offers the program for download
instead of offering the soundfonts in some 'normal' format.
seems like a soundfont conspiracy to me.
No, the SoundFont loader that comes with the Windows driver can load
sfArk files directly. Also many soundfonts were not packaged to be
loaded on computers, you would load them into your hardware synth.
Lee
8:42 p.m.
Lee Revell wrote:
aha, that makes sense. so it IS soundfont conspiracy! thx,
erik
On Wed, 2004-09-22 at 02:36, Erik Steffl wrote:
...
>>On Tue, 2004-09-21 at 21:34, Erik Steffl wrote:
...
>>> Q: why are soundfonts mostly in funny
formats (exe? sfArk?), instead
...
seems like a
soundfont conspiracy to me.
No, the SoundFont loader that comes with the Windows driver can load
sfArk files directly. Also many soundfonts were not packaged to be
loaded on computers, you would load them into your hardware synth. 
6:36 a.m.
On Wednesday 22 Sep 2004 02:34, Erik Steffl wrote:
Q: why are soundfonts mostly in funny formats (exe?
sfArk?),
instead of compressed *SF2 files (using some common compression
program like zip or gzip etc.).
Because sfArk and sfpack compress soundfonts much better than
zip/gzip/bzip2 can.
I didn't expect that to be true myself, but it is. I guess a Free
alternative would want to use some sort of dedicated audio
compression like FLAC.
Chris
2:46 a.m.
On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 15:11:55 -0700, Erik Steffl <steffl(a)bigfoot.com> wrote:
that's the one from soundblaster cd (that came
with the card), works
for me (kernel 2.6.5 with alsa, soundbalster live platinum), I use
sfxload to load it (IIRC you need /dev/sequencer working).
Hello Eric,
I have a SB Live! Value card that I'm trying to find the sfxload program
for. I'm using ALSA 1.0.4 on a LinuxFromScratch 5.1 system that I'm
building. The references to sfxload I've seen say that it's in the ALSA
1.0.4 Utilites package, but I can't find it there. Was sfxload dropped
from the utilities package and I need to find an older ALSA package, such
as the 0.9.6 version to get it?
I am successfully using the Sound Blaster Gameport/Midi adapter cable to
run a MIDI cable to a Roland Sound Expansion model (M-GS64). aplaymidi
using the port 64:0 MPU-401 works fine with the Roland.
But I would like to also be able to use the port-- 65:0 Emu10k1
WaveTable. For that I appear to need the sfxload program.
Where to get sfxload?
TIA,
Stephen Stubbs.
3:28 a.m.
On Wed, 2004-09-22 at 00:31, The Other wrote:
On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 15:11:55 -0700, Erik Steffl
<steffl(a)bigfoot.com> wrote:
You actually want asfxload.
http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=asfxload
This should be in alsa-utils, but it isn't.
Lee
that's the one from soundblaster cd (that
came with the card), works
for me (kernel 2.6.5 with alsa, soundbalster live platinum), I use
sfxload to load it (IIRC you need /dev/sequencer working).
Hello Eric,
I have a SB Live! Value card that I'm trying to find the sfxload program
for. I'm using ALSA 1.0.4 on a LinuxFromScratch 5.1 system that I'm
building. The references to sfxload I've seen say that it's in the ALSA
1.0.4 Utilites package, but I can't find it there. Was sfxload dropped
from the utilities package and I need to find an older ALSA package, such
as the 0.9.6 version to get it?
I am successfully using the Sound Blaster Gameport/Midi adapter cable to
run a MIDI cable to a Roland Sound Expansion model (M-GS64). aplaymidi
using the port 64:0 MPU-401 works fine with the Roland.
But I would like to also be able to use the port-- 65:0 Emu10k1
WaveTable. For that I appear to need the sfxload program.
3:59 a.m.
Lee Revell wrote:
On Wed, 2004-09-22 at 00:31, The Other wrote:
for the record, sfxload and asfxload are functionally equivalent.
the funny thing about sfxload is that, while being used by alsa
users a lot, it does not actually speak alsa but needs the oss
sequencer emulation to work. asfxload is a native alsa sequencer
application.
--
"Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place.
Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are,
by definition, not smart enough to debug it."
- Brian W. Kernighan
Jörn Nettingsmeier
Lortzingstr. 11, 45128 Essen, Germany
http://spunk.dnsalias.org (my server)
http://www.linuxaudiodev.org (Linux Audio Developers)
But I would like to also be able to use the port--
65:0 Emu10k1
WaveTable. For that I appear to need the sfxload program.
You actually want asfxload.
http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=asfxload
This should be in alsa-utils, but it isn't.
26 Sep
26 Sep
6:33 p.m.
On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 07:41:55 +0200, Joern Nettingsmeier
<nettings(a)folkwang-hochschule.de> wrote:
Lee Revell wrote:
Thanks for the pointer on were to find sfxload and asfxload.
When using sfxload, I was able to load a sound font and use the Emu10k1
WaveTable synthesizer.
But when I read this post, I changed to the asfxload program. Then I got
an error stating the emu10k1-synth was not present. Something about
'unknown HwDep'. In /lib/modules/2.4.26-lck1/kernel/drivers/sound I
found snd-emu10k1-synth.o snd-emux-synth.o
Why weren't they found at bootup? In my kernel configuration for Sound
Support, I said Module to Sound and left everything else blank. Should I
have indicated using Module for the Emu10k1 section?
Or can I somehow load these modules at bootup time into my kernel? If
so, how (or where can I read about this topic?)
Thanks All,
Stephen.
On Wed, 2004-09-22 at 00:31, The Other wrote:
for the record, sfxload and asfxload are functionally equivalent. the
funny thing about sfxload is that, while being used by alsa users a lot,
it does not actually speak alsa but needs the oss sequencer emulation to
work. asfxload is a native alsa sequencer application. But I would like to also be able to use the
port-- 65:0 Emu10k1
WaveTable. For that I appear to need the sfxload program.
You actually want asfxload.
http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=asfxload
This should be in alsa-utils, but it isn't.
7:10 p.m.
The Other wrote:
On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 07:41:55 +0200, Joern
Nettingsmeier
<nettings(a)folkwang-hochschule.de> wrote:
might depend on distro but usually the modules to load during boot
are listed in /etc/modules
it also depends on how you create your devices and load the modules,
e.g. if you use udev you need to list the modules (loading of the
modules creates device special files). on the other hand you can have
device files pre-created and accing thew file would load the module.
Looks like udev is the future (from what I've seen on lkml).
erik
Lee Revell wrote:
Thanks for the pointer on were to find sfxload and asfxload.
When using sfxload, I was able to load a sound font and use the Emu10k1
WaveTable synthesizer.
But when I read this post, I changed to the asfxload program. Then I
got an error stating the emu10k1-synth was not present. Something
about 'unknown HwDep'. In
/lib/modules/2.4.26-lck1/kernel/drivers/sound I found
snd-emu10k1-synth.o snd-emux-synth.o
Why weren't they found at bootup? In my kernel configuration for Sound
Support, I said Module to Sound and left everything else blank. Should
I have indicated using Module for the Emu10k1 section?
Or can I somehow load these modules at bootup time into my kernel? If
so, how (or where can I read about this topic?) On Wed, 2004-09-22 at 00:31, The Other wrote:
for the record, sfxload and asfxload are functionally equivalent. the
funny thing about sfxload is that, while being used by alsa users a
lot, it does not actually speak alsa but needs the oss sequencer
emulation to work. asfxload is a native alsa sequencer application. But I would like to also be able to use the
port-- 65:0 Emu10k1
WaveTable. For that I appear to need the sfxload program.
You actually want asfxload.
http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php?page=asfxload
This should be in alsa-utils, but it isn't.
22 Sep
22 Sep
4:41 a.m.
The Other wrote:
On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 15:11:55 -0700, Erik Steffl
<steffl(a)bigfoot.com> wrote:
in debian it's part of awesfx package (also part of awe-drv which I
think is obsolete) (apt-file search sfxload)
erik
that's the one from soundblaster cd (that
came with the card),
works for me (kernel 2.6.5 with alsa, soundbalster live platinum), I
use sfxload to load it (IIRC you need /dev/sequencer working).
Hello Eric,
I have a SB Live! Value card that I'm trying to find the sfxload
program for. I'm using ALSA 1.0.4 on a LinuxFromScratch 5.1 system
that I'm building. The references to sfxload I've seen say that it's
in the ALSA 1.0.4 Utilites package, but I can't find it there. Was
sfxload dropped from the utilities package and I need to find an older
ALSA package, such as the 0.9.6 version to get it?
I am successfully using the Sound Blaster Gameport/Midi adapter cable
to run a MIDI cable to a Roland Sound Expansion model (M-GS64).
aplaymidi using the port 64:0 MPU-401 works fine with the Roland.
But I would like to also be able to use the port-- 65:0 Emu10k1
WaveTable. For that I appear to need the sfxload program.
Where to get sfxload? 
21 Sep
21 Sep
1:31 p.m.
IIRC you can have timidity or some other software synth render to a
wav file, in which case you wouldn't get any dropouts. As long as your
score isn't realtime, that ought to work ok. Sorry I can't remember if
that was timidity, fluidsynth, or something else...
On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 10:50:24 -0400, Laura Conrad <lconrad(a)laymusic.org> wrote:
Timidity is practically unusable with Alsa on my box. In other ways
it's only slightly creaky (it's a 3-4 year old AMD 755 box). But
there are too many dropouts when I play a multichannel MIDI file for
me to use it to proofread my publishing. (Under OSS timidity was
fine, but regular readers may remember, my OSS broke when I upgraded
to kernel 2.4.26, and I could only get help fixing ALSA, so I'm
running ALSA).
So I'm trying to set up the hardware MIDI on the SBLive. I'm
following the directions at
<http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/MIDI-HOWTO-10.html> and things look
normal. When I run "playmidi -a score.midi", it looks like it's
playing, but there isn't any sound. (Yes, the speaker is plugged into
the right place.) I've looked at the mixer settings
and don't see anything obvious to change.
So can anyone give me any advice either about how to get the hardware
synth to work or how to get Timidity to work better? One part of my
score is a quarter note longer than the others, and I need to find out
where this happens.
--
Laura (mailto:lconrad@laymusic.org , http://www.laymusic.org/ )
(617) 661-8097 fax: (501) 641-5011
233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139
--
De gustibus non disputandum est.
1:46 p.m.
>>>> "Laura" == Laura Conrad
<lconrad(a)laymusic.org> writes:
Laura> So can anyone give me any advice either about how to get
Laura> the hardware synth to work or how to get Timidity to work
Laura> better? One part of my score is a quarter note longer than
Laura> the others, and I need to find out where this happens.
I read the Timidity manual page, and tried some things, and Timidity
works much better with the -Os option.
I suppose I should still get the hardware synth working some time.
--
Laura (mailto:lconrad@laymusic.org , http://www.laymusic.org/ )
(617) 661-8097 fax: (501) 641-5011
233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139
1:53 p.m.
Hi Laura:
I'm using TiMidity on an 800 MHz AMD box with an SBLive Value. Usually
I'm running Planet CCRMA's Red Hat 9, but sometimes I run the AGNULA
distro instead. Both supply a low-latency kernel: are you using a
low-latency system or a standard unpatched kernel ?
If you want to send me the score in question I'll check it on my box.
I've played a lot of dense MIDI files, they work fine.
Also, what does your ~/timidity.cfg look like ? If you don't have one
in your home directory you might find it in your /etc directory.
Best regards,
dp
Laura Conrad wrote:
Timidity is practically unusable with Alsa on my box.
In other ways
it's only slightly creaky (it's a 3-4 year old AMD 755 box). But
there are too many dropouts when I play a multichannel MIDI file for
me to use it to proofread my publishing. (Under OSS timidity was
fine, but regular readers may remember, my OSS broke when I upgraded
to kernel 2.4.26, and I could only get help fixing ALSA, so I'm
running ALSA).
So I'm trying to set up the hardware MIDI on the SBLive. I'm
following the directions at
<http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/MIDI-HOWTO-10.html> and things look
normal. When I run "playmidi -a score.midi", it looks like it's
playing, but there isn't any sound. (Yes, the speaker is plugged into
the right place.) I've looked at the mixer settings
and don't see anything obvious to change.
So can anyone give me any advice either about how to get the hardware
synth to work or how to get Timidity to work better? One part of my
score is a quarter note longer than the others, and I need to find out
where this happens.
2:32 p.m.
Just for comparison, I'm running timidity without problems on an old
Pentium 3 at 350 Mhz with only 192 Mb of RAM.
You might need to give up on playmidi and use aplaymidi which is native
alsa for driving hw synths, though I haven't spent much time on this.
Still, timidity is running smoothly with my SB Live 1 card. I'm using
the timidity-eawpats-12-1 from CCRMA for my sound fonts.
Laura Conrad writes:
Timidity is practically unusable with Alsa on my box. In other ways
it's only slightly creaky (it's a 3-4 year old AMD 755 box). But
there are too many dropouts when I play a multichannel MIDI file for
me to use it to proofread my publishing. (Under OSS timidity was
fine, but regular readers may remember, my OSS broke when I upgraded
to kernel 2.4.26, and I could only get help fixing ALSA, so I'm
running ALSA).
So I'm trying to set up the hardware MIDI on the SBLive. I'm
following the directions at
<http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/MIDI-HOWTO-10.html> and things look
normal. When I run "playmidi -a score.midi", it looks like it's
playing, but there isn't any sound. (Yes, the speaker is plugged into
the right place.) I've looked at the mixer settings
and don't see anything obvious to change.
So can anyone give me any advice either about how to get the hardware
synth to work or how to get Timidity to work better? One part of my
score is a quarter note longer than the others, and I need to find out
where this happens.
--
Laura (mailto:lconrad@laymusic.org , http://www.laymusic.org/ )
(617) 661-8097 fax: (501) 641-5011
233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139
--
Janina Sajka, Chair
Accessibility Workgroup
Free Standards Group (FSG)
janina(a)freestandards.org Phone: +1 202.494.7040
7496
days inactive
7501
days old
linux-audio-user@lists.linuxaudio.org
21 comments
10 participants
participants (10)
-
Chris Cannam -
Dave Phillips -
Erik Steffl -
Hans Fugal -
Janina Sajka -
Joern Nettingsmeier -
Laura Conrad -
Lee Revell -
Maarten de Boer -
The Other