Tech: Can Computers Still Play MIDI?

Subject: RE: Tech: Can Computers Still Play MIDI?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 12 Apr 19 - 08:07 AM

That's weird DaveRo. I had no joy with that on my Wiley Fox Android 7.1.2) phone yesterday (it is one of the default suggestions) but they are playing now.

Subject: RE: Tech: Can Computers Still Play MIDI?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 12 Apr 19 - 09:35 AM

Well I’ve just revisited Timidity using OpenSuse 15.0. Installing that does add 2 fluid synth sound fonts and all that’s needed to use them is to comment/uncomment a couple of lines in usr/share/Timidity/timidity.cfg to have:

source fluidr3_gm.cfg
  source fluidr3_gs.cfg

I’ve difficulties with my own system from there in that a) the installed defaults just produce a buzz and b) I can’t get Timidity to start as a service in my 20 minute mess around and will leave that alone. That said, starting using:

jon@worthy:~> timidity -iA -Os1l

Back to my pmidi to show ports:

jon@worthy:~pmidi -l
   Port     Client name                       Port name
   14:0     Midi Through                      Midi Through Port-0
   16:0     UM-2                              UM-2 MIDI 1
   16:1     UM-2                              UM-2 MIDI 2
  128:0     TiMidity                          TiMidity port 0
  128:1     TiMidity                          TiMidity port 1
  128:2     TiMidity                          TiMidity port 2
  128:3     TiMidity                          TiMidity port 3

And midis are playing OK to Timidity.

Subject: RE: Tech: Can Computers Still Play MIDI?
From: DaveRo
Date: 12 Apr 19 - 09:53 AM

Timidity has stopped playing URLs for me on SuSE - so I can't play the link I posted by clicking it in A browser. It'll play a local file, so I have to download it. The bug is at least 2 years old.

Subject: RE: Tech: Can Computers Still Play MIDI?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 12 Apr 19 - 10:18 AM

back in the 1980's, I remember going in Carlsboro's old shop in Mansfield. I was enquiring about a product, previously I'd phoned up about.

Who did you talk to on the the phone?
Colin
Colin! Why d'you talk to Colin. Colin's a drummer! he can't even spell MIDI!

Subject: RE: Tech: Can Computers Still Play MIDI?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 12 Apr 19 - 10:36 AM

I din't know that could be done Dave (and have Firefox to prompt with Rosegarden as an option).   I've just tried timidity commands using urls as per the manual and all I get is file not found.

I suppose I could use pmidi to open links in Firefox. I don't see how you get the parameters in and have them work but a simple script like:

  #!/bin/bash
  pmidi -p 128:0 $1

works. The drawback is you have to play the whole file (or kill the process).

Years back, I had a setup, possibly using mozplugger???, but I don't remember what happened there...

Subject: RE: Tech: Can Computers Still Play MIDI?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 12 Apr 19 - 11:42 AM

There was a time.. late 1990s
We could download massive libraries of midi songs on slow dial up from dodgy musicians sites..
and I could import them into my Yamaha QY70 pocket sized [well big pocket]
'swiss army knife' multi track midi file sequencer
and advanced XG general midi sounds player.

Last time I got it out the memory battery needed replacing, but it still worked well as a sounds module...
It's one item of kit I will use more when my Laptop DAW is fully set up...

Just hinting, the QY70 and later more advanced QY100 are contenders for ebaying...

Subject: RE: Tech: Can Computers Still Play MIDI?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 12 Apr 19 - 12:00 PM

Thanks for another tip, pfr.

I have bought a Yamaha MU50 on ebay which might be with me Saturday or Monday and should keep me occupied for a good while but I may well want to try something else too.

I had a browse through the MU 50 manual late last night.

Subject: RE: Tech: Can Computers Still Play MIDI?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 16 Apr 19 - 08:21 AM

The NanoSynth went for £60

The MU50 came yesterday and is connected to my PC via the UM2. In XG mode, it’s quite similar to my PSR290 keyboard and in many cases I’ve been unable to detect a difference in sound between the two. On differences, it has got me back to a “plunkier” banjo sound which I prefer although, playing with a downloaded “Stairway To Heaven”, I’d say I prefer the PSR290s “acoustic nylon guitar”. I guess Yamaha made some revisions over time to the same basic sound set?

The MU50 does appear to make it easy to edit various parameters, attack, decay, some effects, for the sounds but I’ve yet to mess around with that.

Subject: RE: Tech: Can Computers Still Play MIDI?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 16 Apr 19 - 08:36 AM

At the moment I'm filling a laptop with midi controllable sampled sound sets.
One piano is about 7 gigs of data...

Which seems ridiculously excesive compared to the perfectly acceptable sounds in those classic midi modules
that had to make the most of a few megs of memory at best...

Club singers made a living with a general midi module and a hardware midi file player..
Sounding superbly state of the art on a Saturday night after a few ciders..

My Yamaha sampler cost just under a grand in 1998,
the memory in that is laughable by todays requirements.
Our first PC from Tiny cost £1500 in 1999
and had the luxury of 128 megs of memory...

Subject: RE: Tech: Can Computers Still Play MIDI?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 16 Apr 19 - 08:48 AM

memory jogging time...

That 1999 £1500 Tiny branded PC had 128 meg ram and a 9 gig hard drive,
and had to be relied on for a good 5 or 6 years..

My 7 or 8 year old laptop that I'm refurbing now has 8 gig ram and two 500 gig SSDs

I recall those minimal memory XG sounds were great at the time,
and probably still stand up well enough through a stage PA...

Subject: RE: Tech: Can Computers Still Play MIDI?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 16 Apr 19 - 09:10 AM

That's an incredible amount of memory!

My first PC was the Amstrad PC1512 around 1986. That had a whopping 512K or RAM. Still you could do things with it. The Gem graphical desktop (sort of like Windows) it came with was slow but there were text based things like the Wordstar word processor, etc. The PC had a life after I'd moved on to Windows and something faster. Mum wanted something to record units of treatment per patient, produce totals and simplify her increasing paperwork load so I wrote something and gave her the machine. It finally retired from the hospital when she did late 90s.

Subject: RE: Tech: Can Computers Still Play MIDI?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 16 Apr 19 - 09:27 AM

probably still stand up well enough through a stage PA

Mine sounds fine through one at home. It's crazy I know but through bits I got over several years, I've quite a reasonable, permanently set up bi amped PA system in my bed/living room.

Subject: RE: Tech: Can Computers Still Play MIDI?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 16 Apr 19 - 11:10 AM

And for the fun of it, here's a short clip, played first time through keyboard and second through MU50.

Subject: RE: Tech: Can Computers Still Play MIDI?
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Apr 19 - 06:49 AM

For Windows users, yes
For Mac users, no