2 Oct
2014
2 Oct
'14
10:16 p.m.
Hi
you are my last resource.
I'm trying to start fluidsynth in daemon mode (-s) at the startup. At
first I tried to adapt a guide for Arch but I realized that in Debian
(sid) the configuration is different:
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=760210
I'm using systemd. I've tried several times to write a proper
fluidsynth.service but I always failed.
Here's my last try:
--------------->----------------------------->---------------------------->
[Unit]
Description=FluidSynth Synthesizer
After=syslog.target
Before=sound.target
Requires=dbus.socket
[Service]
Type = forking
ExecStart=/usr/bin/fluidsynth -s -a alsa
/usr/share/sounds/sf2/FluidR3_GM.sf2
Environment=DISPLAY=:0
#Restart=always
#RestartSec=5
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
#WantedBy=multi-user.target
----------------->-------------------------->----------------------------->
This is the error:
# systemctl status -l fluidsynth.service
● fluidsynth.service - FluidSynth Synthesizer
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/fluidsynth.service; disabled)
Active: inactive (dead)
ott 02 19:56:00 fede-xps systemd[1]: Started FluidSynth Synthesizer.
ott 02 20:13:51 fede-xps systemd[1]: Stopped FluidSynth Synthesizer.
ott 02 22:09:05 fede-xps fluidsynth[24181]: fluidsynth: warning:
Requested a period size of 64, got 940 instead
ott 02 22:09:05 fede-xps fluidsynth[24181]: fluidsynth: warning:
Requested 16 periods, got 8 instead
ott 02 22:09:05 fede-xps fluidsynth[24181]: FluidSynth version 1.1.6
ott 02 22:09:05 fede-xps fluidsynth[24181]: Copyright (C) 2000-2012
Peter Hanappe and others.
ott 02 22:09:05 fede-xps fluidsynth[24181]: Distributed under the LGPL
license.
ott 02 22:09:05 fede-xps fluidsynth[24181]: SoundFont(R) is a
registered trademark of E-mu Systems, Inc.
ott 02 22:09:05 fede-xps fluidsynth[24181]: Type 'help' for help topics.
ott 02 22:09:05 fede-xps fluidsynth[24181]: >
The error about the period size can be avoided setting "-z 940", but I
don't understand why this error appears only when fluidsynth is started
as a systemd service and not when I run that command in a terminal. I
guess that it may be related to when the command is launched in systemd
levels. I think that I should play with the values of After, Before and
Requires in the Unit section.
But I hope that someone in this list can help me, I don't have time
currently to study systemd (and it would be probably too complex for
me).
Thank you in advance.
Federico
3 Oct
3 Oct
7:45 p.m.
On Thu, Oct 02, 2014 at 10:16:18PM +0200, Federico Bruni wrote:
Hi
you are my last resource.
ok, it's a good start for a soap opera
I'm trying to start fluidsynth in daemon mode (-s)
at the startup. At
first I tried to adapt a guide for Arch but I realized that in Debian
(sid) the configuration is different:
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=760210
I'm using systemd. I've tried several times to write a proper
fluidsynth.service but I always failed.
I don't use systemd so I cannot test it, however the file used by
archlinux is
https://projects.archlinux.org/svntogit/packages.git/tree/trunk/fluidsynth.…
If the rule "After=sound.target" implies "start fluidsynth after the
start of the audio server", it should work.
If you want to use a config file for the environment variables,
a template/example is
https://projects.archlinux.org/svntogit/packages.git/tree/trunk/fluidsynth.…
so `-a jack' if you use jack and `-m jack' if you use jack midi, etc.
fluidsynth -a help
fluidsynth -m help
Requested a period size of 64, got 940 instead
[...]
Requested 16 periods, got 8 instead
Probably the correct parameters with `-a alsa' (no jack,
no pulseaudio, etc) in this case are
fluidsynth -is -a alsa -r 48000 -z 1024 -c 8
because I presume 940 is "1024 * 44100 / 48000".
If systemd fails (or for other reasons), it is possible to write a
simple script where the core is
nohup fluidsynth -is -a jack -m jack -r 48000 \
/usr/share/sounds/sf2/FluidR3_GM.sf2 > /dev/null &
set/get the settings with netcat, telnet, etc:
nc -q1 localhost 9800 <<< settings
echo set synth.gain 0.5 > /dev/tcp/localhost/9800
and stop with
pkill fluidsynth
4 Oct
4 Oct
10:42 a.m.
Il giorno ven 3 ott 2014 alle 19:45, Tito Latini
<tito.01beta(a)gmail.com> ha scritto:
I don't use systemd so I cannot test it, however the file used by
archlinux is
https://projects.archlinux.org/svntogit/packages.git/tree/trunk/fluidsynth.…
If the rule "After=sound.target" implies "start fluidsynth after the
start of the audio server", it should work.
If you want to use a config file for the environment variables,
a template/example is
https://projects.archlinux.org/svntogit/packages.git/tree/trunk/fluidsynth.…
so `-a jack' if you use jack and `-m jack' if you use jack midi, etc.
fluidsynth -a help
fluidsynth -m help
Thanks, now systemd service is starting correctly, but something is
wrong with fluidsynth command because I cannot hear any sound. Maybe
some ALSA/Pulseaudio conflict?
As you can see here:
# systemctl status -l fluidsynth.service
● fluidsynth.service - FluidSynth Daemon
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/fluidsynth.service; disabled)
Active: active (running) since sab 2014-10-04 10:38:02 CEST; 2s ago
Main PID: 7768 (fluidsynth)
CGroup: /system.slice/fluidsynth.service
└─7768 /usr/bin/fluidsynth -is -a alsa -m alsa_seq -r
48000 -z 1024 -c 8 -p 7345
the command is:
fluidsynth -is -a alsa -m alsa_seq -r 48000 -z 1024 -c 8 -p 7345
I'm using PulseAudio but I've added these lines to ~/.asoundrc:
pcm.!default {
type pulse
}
ctl.!default {
type pulse
}
I want to specify fluidsynth port so I don't have to select it each
time I start an application (Frescobaldi).
Requested a period size of 64, got 940 instead
[...]
Requested 16 periods, got 8 instead
Probably the correct parameters with `-a alsa' (no jack,
no pulseaudio, etc) in this case are
fluidsynth -is -a alsa -r 48000 -z 1024 -c 8
because I presume 940 is "1024 * 44100 / 48000". 
12:28 p.m.
On Saturday 04 October 2014 10:42:48 Federico Bruni wrote:
Thanks, now systemd service is starting correctly, but
something is wrong
with fluidsynth command because I cannot hear any sound. Maybe some
ALSA/Pulseaudio conflict?
Yes. In my opinion, the problem is that you are trying to start FluidSynth as a system
wide service, while you are using PulseAudio which is an user session service. Pulse
doesn't start until you log into your desktop session. On your Systemd scenario, you
would need to run Pulse also as a system service starting before Fluid. That use case
may be appropriate for servers, for instance when using Fluid as a reporting target for
MonAMI sensors (http://monami.sourceforge.net). But for normal desktop usage, my
recommendation if you wish to use Fluid as an always available service to other
desktop applications is to start it as an user session service just like Pulse. To do so,
follow the XDG autostart specification for cross-desktops:
http://standards.freedesktop.org/autostart-spec/autostart-spec-latest.html
Summary: create a fluidsynth.desktop file and place it on a suitable location like
/etc/xdg/autostart or ~/.config/autostart/
Note: KDE has in "System Settings" -> "Startup and Shutdown" a GUI
tool for easily
editing, enabling and disabling start-up programs or scripts.
Here is a sample of a ".desktop" file tested on my KDE desktop:
$ cat ~/.config/autostart/fluidsynth.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Comment[en_US]=FluidSynth MIDI Synthesizer
Comment=FluidSynth MIDI Synthesizer
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=fluidsynth -a pulseaudio -m alsa_seq -i -s -p FluidSynth -R 0 -C 0 -c 2 -z 512 -r
48000 ~/.local/share/soundfonts/default.sf2
GenericName[en_US]=MIDI Synth
GenericName=MIDI Synth
Icon=system-run
MimeType=
Name[en_US]=FluidSynth
Name=FluidSynth
Path=
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=false
TerminalOptions=
Type=Application
X-DBUS-ServiceName=
X-DBUS-StartupType=
X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false
X-KDE-Username=
Regards,
Pedro
1:08 p.m.
Thanks Pedro, definitely the best idea!
Il giorno sab 4 ott 2014 alle 12:28, Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas
<pedro.lopez.cabanillas(a)gmail.com> ha scritto:
[...]
Summary: create a fluidsynth.desktop file and place it on a suitable
location like /etc/xdg/autostart or ~/.config/autostart/
Note: KDE has in "System Settings" -> "Startup and Shutdown" a GUI
tool for easily editing, enabling and disabling start-up programs or
scripts.
It works perfect.
I must say that it was my first try before trying systemd, but due to a
bug in gnome-system-tools I gave up:
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=754306
4:24 p.m.
On Sat, 4 Oct 2014, Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas wrote:
On Saturday 04 October 2014 10:42:48 Federico Bruni wrote:
I agree, running pulse as a system service is less than optimal and not
recommended (by anyone as far as I can tell). The only reason to run audio
programs as services is if you expect more than one person to be logged in
at time and both to be using that audio program at the same time. Even in
that case it may be easier to use two computers (to supply the two
screens/keyboards/rodents without the extra setup mess) and use either
netjack or pulse over net.
BTW, it is not hard to run jackd(bus) as the session sound server instead
of pulse or along with pulse. That is what I do here. I use a script
called autojack and an autojack.desktop file in /etc/xdg/autostart.
--
Len Ovens
www.ovenwerks.net
Thanks, now systemd service is starting
correctly, but something is wrong
with fluidsynth command because I cannot hear any
sound. Maybe some
ALSA/Pulseaudio conflict?
Yes. In my opinion, the problem is that you are trying to start FluidSynth
as a system wide service, while you are using PulseAudio which is an user
session service. Pulse doesn't start until you log into your desktop
session. On your Systemd scenario, you would need to run Pulse also as a
system service starting before Fluid. That use case may be appropriate for
servers, for instance when using Fluid as a reporting target for MonAMI
sensors (http://monami.sourceforge.net). But for normal desktop usage, my
recommendation if you wish to use Fluid as an always available service to
other desktop applications is to start it as an user session service just
like Pulse. To do so, follow the XDG autostart specification for
cross-desktops:
3705
days inactive
3707
days old
linux-audio-user@lists.linuxaudio.org
5 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
Federico Bruni -
Len Ovens -
Pedro Lopez-Cabanillas -
Tito Latini