[Gllug] play midi files on Centos 4

[Samuel Toogood]

Alain Williams wrote:
> I have a midi file that I want to play.
> 
> I used to use playmidi but since an OS upgrade that is no longer available.
> aplaymidi seems to be the thing to use, if I run it it asks me for the port
> to use, I have tried all that are available (see below) without success.
> 
> I tried kmid, that gives me a nice gui that claims to be playing the file, but
> I hear nothing (sound does work).
> 
> I am running Centos 4 (aka redhat enterprise 4). I know that my sound system works.
> 
> Can anyone please help ?
> 
> TIA
> 
> 
> I can get a list of ports, but I have no idea what this means:
> 
> $ aplaymidi -l
>  Port    Client name                      Port name
>  64:0    EMU10K1 MPU-401 (UART) - Rawmidi EMU10K1 MPU-401 (UART)
>  65:0    Emu10k1 WaveTable                Emu10k1 Port 0
>  65:1    Emu10k1 WaveTable                Emu10k1 Port 1
>  65:2    Emu10k1 WaveTable                Emu10k1 Port 2
>  65:3    Emu10k1 WaveTable                Emu10k1 Port 3
> 
Not sure about playmidi (it may do it in software), but aplaymidi uses
the midi device built into your soundcard, which looks like something
like a Soundblaster Live to me. This midi device is the Emu10k1
WaveTable mentioned above. This is a Good Thing(tm), as that's what it's
there for, but there is a complication. In its default state, the
WaveTable doesn't actually have any sounds to play! It requires loading
with a set of sounds before it can actually produce any music. This set
of sounds is called a soundfont. There is a tool to load these
soundfonts   into the WaveTable, called sfxload. I don't use Centos, so
I don't know which package it would be in, but I don't imagine it should
be too hard to find. There should be some soundfonts on the disc that
came with your soundcard if you still have it, or there are plenty
available (of varying quality and price) on the web.

After you've obtained and loaded your soundfonts, you should find that
aplaymidi --port 65:0 *file* will produce something.

Hope this helps,

Sam T
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