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In order to use KMidi you need so called (sound) patch files (see below).
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There are several user interfaces provided for, including a "dumb" command
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line version and a KDE version, done by Bernd Wuebben (see below). The
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patches can be GUS, i.e. Gravis/Forte, type files, Gravis InterWave
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sound fonts, or AWE sbk/sf2 sound fonts. The InterWave font support was
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done by Greg Lee and the AWE support was done by Takashi Iwai.
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PLEASE READE THE SECTION TITLED "NOTES" FURTHER BELOW!
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o This version is for KDE 2.0 only.
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o If you have a previous version, remove $KDEDIR/share/apps/kmidi/config/
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before installing this version, since new versions of the files here
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won't be installed if you have old versions. An old timidity.cfg
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using your own patchset, however, should be compatible, unless you've
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used "order"/"exclude"/"font" statements for sf2 fonts (I removed
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o Click on the KMidi logo or drag the bottom of the panel down to
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o The midi modulation wheel is now implemented, and also portamento.
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o With the "eff" button down, you'll hear midi phaser, celeste, and
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better chorus and reverb effects (thanks to Nicolas Witczak).
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o Note the panel's channel display may be poorly synchronized with the
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sound on systems not using the OSS (Hannu Savolainen) driver for
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/dev/dsp, since linux_a.c uses an OSS specific call to find out
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how much has actually been played -- constructive suggestions
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o timidity is back (use Makefile.tim; see "further notes" below)
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o support for GUS InterWave fonts (.fff/.dat files)
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o multiple AWE soundfonts (.sf2 files)
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o support for stereo or linked instruments in sound fonts
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o strict checking of patch declarations for soundfonts
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(no need to use "order" or "font" statements in cfg files)
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o sf2cfg utility constructs cfg files for AWE soundfonts
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o use patches in bank 8, etc. (bugfix)
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o buffered output to /dev/dsp0 (Linux/FreeBSD) or /dev/audio (Sun)
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o select patch set from command line with "-#<n>"
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o use experimental cutoff filters, AWE fonts only ("-q" disables this)
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o lyrics displayed in time (timidity "dumb" interface only)
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o primitive chorus depth and reverberation
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o vibrato works better for AWE soundfonts
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o set polyphony in cfg file
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New: Support for the following platforms:
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and of course bug fixes ;-)
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This is the first public release of KMidi a midi to
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If you have already given up on midi on Linux/Unix try this! Without
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expensive hard-ware such as a Gravis-Ultra sound or Sound-Blaster AWE 64
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you will get fantastic sound comparable to what you get with the above
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mentioned hard-ware. FOR FREE!
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a) KMidi will use your CPU time: anywhere from 10 to 90% on my Pentium 120
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at 32000 Hz. Typically about 30%, but it depends on the particular midi
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played. If you have a weaker machine, simply use the commandline options to
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reduce the sample frequency. You should be able to get very decent
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sound even on a 486 without straining your CPU.
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b) You need the sound patches. You can get a full set of general midi
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sound patches at any ultra sound archive. Typical storage requirements
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Belive me for the sound you are going to get this is a small price to pay!
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KMidi uses Tuukka Toivonen's timidity 0.2i engine
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Copyright (C) 1995 Tuukka Toivonen <toivonen@clinet.fi>
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together with Takashi Iwai latest sound font patches
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( This means you can also use sound fonts with KMidi)
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Where to get patches:
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(see also the html documentation)
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Check out the timidiy home-page (see below) which has a number of links and
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recommendations. Patches can also be found packaged as deb or rpm modules in
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the Redhat and Debian contribution directories.
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http://www.clinet.fi/~toivonen/timidity/
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http://bahamut.mm.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~iwai/midi.html#TiMidity
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I realize this is a rough release, and I am sure that if you try
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hard enough you will be able to get KMidi to crash, but I think
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KMidi is already more than usable and will hopefull give you hours
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of fun. Rememeber Midi files are typically around 50k or leas and
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are therefore so easily downloaded that you will never run out of great midi's
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o Make the myriad of command line options available through a configuration
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o Elaborate visual display of notes played ( This one is going to be FUN!!!)
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wuebben@math.cornell.edu
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---------------------------------------------------------------
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---------------------------------------------------------------
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If you change cfg.l and you compile binaries in a directory
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different from the source directory, put a new copy of the
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cfg.cpp generated by flex into the source directory.
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----------------------------------------------------------------
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Obtaining patch files:
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See kmidi's configuration dialog for where to get some AWE
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-------------------------------------------------------------------
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Using patch files requires setting up .cfg files:
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A. See the other docs for GUS .pat files -- there are example .cfg files.
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B. The utility program sf2cfg will generate .cfg files for AWE
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soundfonts. Usually no hand-editing will be necessary.
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The banks/drumsets and names of patches must be given, since those that are not
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declared will not be loaded from files (GUS patch files or sound fonts) even
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though the patches are available. This way it's easy to exclude certain
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patches from a sound font so as to load better ones from a subseqently loaded
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font. Just don't declare them before you've asked to load the font. It is,
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thus, unnecessary to use the "font" and "order" statements implemented by
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Takashi Iwai and described in README.sf. (It is also not possible, since
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I've removed support for "font" and "order".)
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When the same patch of the same bank or drumset is declared more than once,
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only the first declaration counts. So put your best fonts first.
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There is a utility sf2cfg to construct a cfg file for a sbk/sf2 sound font,
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which spits out all the patches that are present in the font. Also, I've
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included sample cfg files for chaos8m.sf2 and chaos12m.sf2.
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If you have several patch sets and you've set up timidity.cfg appropriately,
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you can select among them with the command line switch "-#<n>". If a "source"
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statement in a cfg file is preceded, e.g., by a line "if 2", then the
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"source" statement will be skipped over unless "-#2" was given on the
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command line. A line "else" will cause the next "source" statement to
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be skipped if any non-zero n was requested by "-#<n>".
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Instead of using the command line "-p" to raise or lower the number of
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simultaneously playing notes, you can do in a cfg file, e.g., put: "voices 48"
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----------------------------------------------
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Greg Lee, lee@hawaii.edu
added
removed
kmidi/README
