--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/decoders/timidity/FAQ	Fri Jan 04 06:49:49 2002 +0000
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+---------------------------*-indented-text-*------------------------------
+
+    TiMidity -- Experimental MIDI to WAVE converter
+    Copyright (C) 1995 Tuukka Toivonen <toivonen@clinet.fi>
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+   Frequently Asked Questions with answers:
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Q: What is it?
+
+A: Where?  Well Chris, TiMidity is a software-only synthesizer, MIDI
+   renderer, MIDI to WAVE converter, realtime MIDI player for UNIX machines,
+   even (I've heard) a Netscape helper application.  It takes a MIDI file
+   and writes a WAVE or raw PCM data or plays it on your digital audio
+   device.  It sounds much more realistic than FM synthesis, but you need a
+   ~100Mhz processor to listen to 32kHz stereo music in the background while
+   you work.  11kHz mono can be played on a low-end 486, and, to some, it
+   still sounds better than FM.
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Q: I don't have a GUS, can I use TiMidity?
+
+A: Yes.  That's the point.  You don't need a Gravis Ultrasound to use
+   TiMidity, you just need GUS-compatible patches, which are freely
+   available on the Internet.  See below for pointers.
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Q: I have a GUS, can I use TiMidity?
+
+A: The DOS port doesn't have GUS support, and TiMidity won't be taking
+   advantage of the board's internal synthesizer under other operating
+   systems either.  So it kind of defeats the purpose.  But you can use it.
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Q: I tried playing a MIDI file I got off the Net but all I got was a
+   dozen warnings saying "No instrument mapped to tone bank 0, program
+   xx - this instrument will not be heard". What's wrong?
+
+A: The General MIDI standard specifies 128 melodic instruments and
+   some sixty percussion sounds. If you wish to play arbitrary General
+   MIDI files, you'll need to get more patch files.
+
+   There's a program called Midia for SGI's, which also plays MIDI
+   files and has a lot more bells and whistles than TiMidity. It uses
+   GUS-compatible patches, too -- so you can get the 8 MB set at
+   ftp://archive.cs.umbc.edu/pub/midia for pretty good GM compatibility.
+
+   There are also many excellent patches on the Ultrasound FTP sites.
+   I can recommend Dustin McCartney's collections gsdrum*.zip and
+   wow*.zip in the "[.../]sound/patches/files" directory. The huge
+   ProPats series (pp3-*.zip) contains good patches as well. General
+   MIDI files can also be found on these sites.
+
+   This site list is from the GUS FAQ:
+
+>                        FTP Sites                     Archive Directories
+>                        ---------                     -------------------
+> Main N.American Site:  archive.orst.edu              pub/packages/gravis
+>                        wuarchive.wustl.edu           systems/ibmpc/ultrasound
+> Main Asian Site:       nctuccca.edu.tw               PC/ultrasound
+> Main European Site:    src.doc.ic.ac.uk              packages/ultrasound
+> Main Australian Site:  ftp.mpx.com.au                /ultrasound/general
+>                                                      /ultrasound/submit
+> South African Site:    ftp.sun.ac.za                 /pub/packages/ultrasound
+> Submissions:           archive.epas.utoronto.ca      pub/pc/ultrasound/submit
+> Newly Validated Files: archive.epas.utoronto.ca      pub/pc/ultrasound
+> 
+> Mirrors:               garbo.uwasa.fi                mirror/ultrasound
+>                        ftp.st.nepean.uws.edu.au      pc/ultrasound
+>                        ftp.luth.se                   pub/msdos/ultrasound
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Q: Some files have awful clicks and pops.
+
+A: Find out which patch is responsible for the clicking (try "timidity
+   -P<patch> <midi/test-decay|midi/test-panning>".  Add "strip=tail" in
+   the config file after its name.  If this doesn't fix it, mail me the
+   patch.
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Q: I'm playing Fantasie Impromptu in the background. When I run Netscape,
+   the sound gets choppy and it takes ten minutes to load. What can I do?
+
+A: Here are some things to try:
+
+   - Use a lower sampling rate.
+
+   - Use mono output. This can improve performance by 10-30%.
+     (Using 8-bit instead of 16-bit output makes no difference.)
+
+   - Use a smaller number of simultaneous voices.
+
+   - Make sure you compiled with FAST_DECAY enabled in options.h
+
+   - Recompile with an Intel-optimized gcc for a 5-15%
+     performance increase.
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------