Looking pretty good. I imagine there is a much better way, but I don't know what it is. It turns out that JSampler did create an instruments.db automatically -- but it did not "format" it. After I formatted it, using (JSampler only, not Q) Window/Instruments Database, then Actions/Format Database, both J and Q began working perfectly. So my current steps to get QSampler running reliably in AVLinux, after installing all of the current LinuxSampler .deb's, are: 1. Get rid of all Java except Sun's, using Synaptic. 2. Create folder /opt/java. 3. ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun ./latest 4. In /etc/profile, just before the line "export PATH", add: PATH=/opt/java/latest/bin:$PATH export JAVA_HOME=/opt/java/latest export CLASSPATH=/opt/java/latest/lib/tools.jar:./ 5. Create the /var/lib/linuxsampler directory and set its permissions: mkdir /var/lib/linuxsampler chgrp audio /var/lib/linuxsampler chmod g=rwx /var/lib/linuxsampler 6. Download the .jar (binary) form of JSampler Fantasia, move it to filename /usr/local/bin/JSampler-Fantasia-0.8a-jar, and run it: java -jar /usr/local/bin/JSampler-Fantasia-0.8a-jar 7. Format the database, using the JSampler UI, Main window: Window/Instruments Database Instruments database window: Actions/Format Database And then it works :-)