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1 ---------------------------*-indented-text-*------------------------------
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2
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3 TiMidity -- Experimental MIDI to WAVE converter
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4 Copyright (C) 1995 Tuukka Toivonen <toivonen@clinet.fi>
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5
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6 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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7
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8 Frequently Asked Questions with answers:
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9
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10 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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11 Q: What is it?
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12
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13 A: Where? Well Chris, TiMidity is a software-only synthesizer, MIDI
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14 renderer, MIDI to WAVE converter, realtime MIDI player for UNIX machines,
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15 even (I've heard) a Netscape helper application. It takes a MIDI file
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16 and writes a WAVE or raw PCM data or plays it on your digital audio
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17 device. It sounds much more realistic than FM synthesis, but you need a
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18 ~100Mhz processor to listen to 32kHz stereo music in the background while
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19 you work. 11kHz mono can be played on a low-end 486, and, to some, it
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20 still sounds better than FM.
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21
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22 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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23 Q: I don't have a GUS, can I use TiMidity?
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24
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25 A: Yes. That's the point. You don't need a Gravis Ultrasound to use
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26 TiMidity, you just need GUS-compatible patches, which are freely
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27 available on the Internet. See below for pointers.
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28
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29 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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30 Q: I have a GUS, can I use TiMidity?
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31
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32 A: The DOS port doesn't have GUS support, and TiMidity won't be taking
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33 advantage of the board's internal synthesizer under other operating
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34 systems either. So it kind of defeats the purpose. But you can use it.
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35
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36 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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37 Q: I tried playing a MIDI file I got off the Net but all I got was a
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38 dozen warnings saying "No instrument mapped to tone bank 0, program
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39 xx - this instrument will not be heard". What's wrong?
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40
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41 A: The General MIDI standard specifies 128 melodic instruments and
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42 some sixty percussion sounds. If you wish to play arbitrary General
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43 MIDI files, you'll need to get more patch files.
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44
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45 There's a program called Midia for SGI's, which also plays MIDI
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46 files and has a lot more bells and whistles than TiMidity. It uses
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47 GUS-compatible patches, too -- so you can get the 8 MB set at
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48 ftp://archive.cs.umbc.edu/pub/midia for pretty good GM compatibility.
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49
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50 There are also many excellent patches on the Ultrasound FTP sites.
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51 I can recommend Dustin McCartney's collections gsdrum*.zip and
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52 wow*.zip in the "[.../]sound/patches/files" directory. The huge
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53 ProPats series (pp3-*.zip) contains good patches as well. General
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54 MIDI files can also be found on these sites.
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55
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56 This site list is from the GUS FAQ:
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57
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58 > FTP Sites Archive Directories
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59 > --------- -------------------
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60 > Main N.American Site: archive.orst.edu pub/packages/gravis
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61 > wuarchive.wustl.edu systems/ibmpc/ultrasound
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62 > Main Asian Site: nctuccca.edu.tw PC/ultrasound
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63 > Main European Site: src.doc.ic.ac.uk packages/ultrasound
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64 > Main Australian Site: ftp.mpx.com.au /ultrasound/general
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65 > /ultrasound/submit
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66 > South African Site: ftp.sun.ac.za /pub/packages/ultrasound
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67 > Submissions: archive.epas.utoronto.ca pub/pc/ultrasound/submit
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68 > Newly Validated Files: archive.epas.utoronto.ca pub/pc/ultrasound
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69 >
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70 > Mirrors: garbo.uwasa.fi mirror/ultrasound
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71 > ftp.st.nepean.uws.edu.au pc/ultrasound
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72 > ftp.luth.se pub/msdos/ultrasound
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73
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74 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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75 Q: Some files have awful clicks and pops.
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76
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77 A: Find out which patch is responsible for the clicking (try "timidity
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78 -P<patch> <midi/test-decay|midi/test-panning>". Add "strip=tail" in
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79 the config file after its name. If this doesn't fix it, mail me the
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80 patch.
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81
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82 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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83 Q: I'm playing Fantasie Impromptu in the background. When I run Netscape,
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84 the sound gets choppy and it takes ten minutes to load. What can I do?
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85
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86 A: Here are some things to try:
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87
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88 - Use a lower sampling rate.
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89
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90 - Use mono output. This can improve performance by 10-30%.
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91 (Using 8-bit instead of 16-bit output makes no difference.)
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92
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93 - Use a smaller number of simultaneous voices.
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94
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95 - Make sure you compiled with FAST_DECAY enabled in options.h
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96
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97 - Recompile with an Intel-optimized gcc for a 5-15%
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98 performance increase.
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99
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100 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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