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TiMidity -- Experimental MIDI to WAVE converter
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Copyright (C) 1995 Tuukka Toivonen <toivonen@clinet.fi>
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Frequently Asked Questions with answers:
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A: Where? Well Chris, TiMidity is a software-only synthesizer, MIDI
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renderer, MIDI to WAVE converter, realtime MIDI player for UNIX machines,
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even (I've heard) a Netscape helper application. It takes a MIDI file
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and writes a WAVE or raw PCM data or plays it on your digital audio
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device. It sounds much more realistic than FM synthesis, but you need a
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~100Mhz processor to listen to 32kHz stereo music in the background while
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you work. 11kHz mono can be played on a low-end 486, and, to some, it
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still sounds better than FM.
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Q: I don't have a GUS, can I use TiMidity?
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A: Yes. That's the point. You don't need a Gravis Ultrasound to use
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TiMidity, you just need GUS-compatible patches, which are freely
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available on the Internet. See below for pointers.
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Q: I have a GUS, can I use TiMidity?
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A: The DOS port doesn't have GUS support, and TiMidity won't be taking
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advantage of the board's internal synthesizer under other operating
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systems either. So it kind of defeats the purpose. But you can use it.
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Q: It doesn't work. It doesn't play anything, and it prints out error
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A: Read the INSTALL file, or get someone to read it for you. Then go
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through the rest of the documentation, there really isn't that much.
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Once you've got it working in the distribution directory, here's a list
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of further things to do:
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Get a full General Midi set. Create a directory, say C:\TIMIDITY or
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/usr/local/lib/timidity, and put all the *.pat files in it. Also toss
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in all of the *.cfg files that came with the TiMidity distribution.
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Then edit timidity.cfg:
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Uncomment and edit the dir statement to read "dir c:\timidity" or
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whatever, and uncomment the "source gravis.cfg" statement.
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Now run the program: "timidity -L c:\timidity <midi files>"
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That should do it really. Note that TiMidity always checks the current
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directory first, so things might get confusing if you've got different
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copies of the config files in various places. "timidity -idvv
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<midifile>" will list all attempts to open patch files, which might
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If it still doesn't work, email me and/or the author of the particular
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port, if using a non-Unix version.
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Q: I tried playing a MIDI file I got off the Net but all I got was a
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dozen warnings saying "No instrument mapped to tone bank 0, program
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xx - this instrument will not be heard". What's wrong?
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A: The General MIDI standard specifies 128 melodic instruments and
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some sixty percussion sounds. If you wish to play arbitrary General
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MIDI files, you'll need to get more patch files.
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There's a program called Midia for SGI's, which also plays MIDI
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files and has a lot more bells and whistles than TiMidity. It uses
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GUS-compatible patches, too -- so you can get the 8 MB set at
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ftp://archive.cs.umbc.edu/pub/midia for pretty good GM compatibility.
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There are also many excellent patches on the Ultrasound FTP sites.
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I can recommend Dustin McCartney's collections gsdrum*.zip and
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wow*.zip in the "[.../]sound/patches/files" directory. The huge
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ProPats series (pp3-*.zip) contains good patches as well. General
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MIDI files can also be found on these sites.
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This site list is from the GUS FAQ:
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> FTP Sites Archive Directories
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> --------- -------------------
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> Main N.American Site: archive.orst.edu pub/packages/gravis
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> wuarchive.wustl.edu systems/ibmpc/ultrasound
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> Main Asian Site: nctuccca.edu.tw PC/ultrasound
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> Main European Site: src.doc.ic.ac.uk packages/ultrasound
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> Main Australian Site: ftp.mpx.com.au /ultrasound/general
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> South African Site: ftp.sun.ac.za /pub/packages/ultrasound
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> Submissions: archive.epas.utoronto.ca pub/pc/ultrasound/submit
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> Newly Validated Files: archive.epas.utoronto.ca pub/pc/ultrasound
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> Mirrors: garbo.uwasa.fi mirror/ultrasound
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> ftp.st.nepean.uws.edu.au pc/ultrasound
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> ftp.luth.se pub/msdos/ultrasound
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Q: This MIDI file used to work fine with version 0.0001z but now it
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suddenly sounds weird. What happened?
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A: Something changed in the way TiMidity interprets MIDI or patch
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parameters. If you think it changed for the worse, try to find out
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which patch/MIDI file is causing problems, exactly what is different,
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and if possible, why :) Also, try another MIDI player or device to
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hear how the file is played correctly. Then mail me.
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If you just upgraded from 0.2c or lower, note that you'll need to
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update your configuration files. See "gravis.cfg" for an example.
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Q: Some files have awful clicks and pops.
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A: Find out which patch is responsible for the clicking (try "timidity
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-P<patch> <midi/test-decay|midi/test-panning>". Add "strip=tail" in
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the config file after its name. If this doesn't fix it, mail me the
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Q: I'm playing Fantasie Impromptu in the background. When I run Netscape,
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the sound gets choppy and it takes ten minutes to load. What can I do?
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A: Here are some things to try:
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- Use a lower sampling rate.
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- Use mono output. This can improve performance by 10-30%.
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(Using 8-bit instead of 16-bit output makes no difference.)
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- Use a smaller number of simultaneous voices.
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- Make sure you compiled with FAST_DECAY and PRECALC_LOOPS enabled
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- If you don't have hardware to compute sines, recompile with
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LOOKUP_SINE enabled in config.h
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- Recompile with LOOKUP_HACK enabled in config.h.
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- Recompile with LINEAR_INTERPOLATION disabled in config.h.
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- Recompile with DANGEROUS_RENICE enabled in config.h, and make
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TiMidity setuid root. This will help only if you frequently play
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music while other processes are running.
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- Recompile with an Intel-optimized gcc for a 5-15%
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performance increase.
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Q: I made TiMidity setuid root. Starting Netscape now takes *twenty*
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Q: I can't reach the WWW page. Is the URL okay?
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A: The URL is fine, but clinet.fi is connected to the Internet via two
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monkeys banging 5-bit PPP on a pair of teletypewriters. If you have
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trouble connecting, please try again later in case they've gotten
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banana in the mechanism or started eating the tape or something. The
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source is also available at
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ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/Linux/apps/sound/players/ although not every
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release gets there. You can also try a mirror at
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http://www.loria.fr/~pagel/
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Other foreign mirror sites would be welcome -- if you can spare a few
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megs of http space on your server, please email me!
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Q: Is there any kind of TiMidity Contest where I could win great
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prizes like a trip to �stersundom, Finland to have dinner with the
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author and have my picture taken with a polar bear and a free
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year's subscription to TiMidity Inside Edition beta versions and...
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A: Sure. Announcing the TIMIDITY PATCH TREASURE HUNT-AND-DESTROY!
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You may already be a winner! All you have to do is find the
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weirdest GUS patch you can, take it to your nearest Unix Prompt,
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and say the magic words:
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uuencode weird.pat.gz |
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sed -e 's/,/....../' |
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uuencode contest_entry.au |
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mail -s 'Contest Entry' John.R.Format-Designer@gravis.whatever"
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[DISCLAIMER: Contestants must be under 18 months to enter. Rules not
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available on request. You won't get a prize. Don't try this at home.
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Winners will not be announced in the New York Times on July 10th, 1996.
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Winners will not be informed privately. There are no winners, only
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survivors. Void where not prohibited by common sense. Punishable by up
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to three years imprisonment and/or a $500,000 fine. Don't send money.]
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