[Scottish] sounds blues

[Joste Bowen]

> If I start up in 5 and login to a KDE desktop, amarok works (but it always
> starts up artsd which runs at s illy priority and eats all my CPU). If I
> kill off artsd, I get noises from speaker-test.

Thier is an option in KDE somewhere to not run artsd at startup - and also 
configure the sound system soewhat

> I'm trying to rosegarden working (a Midi Sequencer) and it is configured to
> talk to Alsa. If artsd is running when it starts, it seems happy enough -
> but no sound.

if you are planning on using it just as a midi sequencer you don't need sound.


> If I start it with artsd NOT running, it complains "No 
> soundcard available or sound support not configured yet...". Seems to start
> up something called jackd (not a balding comedian from london).

does it start jackd?   It fails to start jackd on this system, but is ok if I 
start jackd first.  qjackctl is handy for this, and other jack optioins.




> KMid never complains - and looks as if it is playing my midi files
> regardless of whether artsd is running or not. Doesn't make any noise
> though. It says its using alsa.

what midi device is kmid trying to play? and for that matter what midi device 
is rosegarden trying to play?

your soundcard may need to have some midi sounds laoded into it, or may not 
have midi sounds at all.  there are also plenty of soft synths out there you 
can try.