Re: midi sound quality help needed

[Hwaen Ch'uqi]

Oh, that's all right! That overall placement of folder did look a bit
"interesting" to me.

But since we are on the subject of midi/timidity, I wonder if you or
someone else could address this: I have noticed that there is much
more crackling (not sure how else to describe it) going on in the
sound when playing the midi files. Any idea what might be causing
that?

Thanks!

Hwaen Ch'uqi


On 9/14/21, Guy Stalnaker <jimmyg521@gmail.com> wrote:
> I did not intend to contradict what you wrote, simply to show that
> kubuntu has a more complicated set of configuration files that all
> interact with each other, rather than using a single timidity.cfg file
> (which was all that there was many years ago).
>
> I apologize if I gave the impression I was correcting you. I *agree*
> with you completely.
>
> Regards.
>
> On 9/14/21 6:29 PM, Hwaen Ch'uqi wrote:
>> Greetings Guy,
>>
>> Perhaps I am missing something, but the folder contents that you
>> display don't seem to contradict what I wrote.
>>
>> Hwaen Ch'uqi
>>
>>
>> On 9/14/21, Guy Stalnaker <jimmyg521@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Thanks Hwaen Ch'uqi! That's not at all how kubuntu does this:
>>>
>>> √ /mnt/NAS326_Music/music/Radio Drama > ll /etc/timidity/
>>> total 480K
>>> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 230K Nov 11  2016 fluidr3_gm.cfg
>>> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4.7K Nov 11  2016 fluidr3_gs.cfg
>>> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4.6K Sep 22  2006 freepats.cfg
>>> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 225K Aug  1  2019 timgm6mb.cfg
>>> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1.2K Jun 27  2018 timidity.cfg
>>>
>>> Just people making things more complicated than they need to be.
>>>
>>> Guy
>>>
>>> On 9/14/21 5:49 PM, Hwaen Ch'uqi wrote:
>>>> Greetings Ken,
>>>>
>>>> I do not use a mac; I use linux. However, I have a feeling that the
>>>> principle for this is  the same. Timidity reads its settings from a
>>>> file called /etc/timidity.cfg, and those settings can be changed.
>>>> Whatever soundfont you wish to use, you should be able to download it
>>>> and tell timidity.cfg where it is located. I use the freepats.cfg
>>>> soundfont. The relevant little paragraph in my timidity.cfg looks like
>>>> this:
>>>>
>>>> # By default, try to use the instrument patches from freepats:
>>>> source /etc/timidity/freepats.cfg
>>>>
>>>> Any other lines that begin with the word "source" I comment with the
>>>> pound sign so that timidity ignores it.
>>>>
>>>> I hope this helps.
>>>>
>>>> Hwaen Ch'uqi
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 9/14/21, Guy Stalnaker <jimmyg521@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Ken,
>>>>>
>>>>> You are SOOOO close :-)
>>>>>
>>>>> The issue is neither Lilipond nor its midi output. MIDI is simply a
>>>>> specification for musical "events" describing pitch, duration, etc.
>>>>> It's
>>>>> up to a program that understands MIDI to make actual sound. That is
>>>>> typically done via a synthesizer (dedicated synth module, keyboard, or
>>>>> other MIDI-capable equipment) or via an application that knows how to
>>>>> use a soundfont.
>>>>>
>>>>> You're getting nice sound with Alda not because Alda is making
>>>>> "better"
>>>>> MIDI, but because of the FluidR3 soundfont (which has surprisingly
>>>>> decent sounds for many, though not all, of its General Midi sounds).
>>>>>
>>>>> When I was using a MacBook and LP/Frescobaldi, I used
>>>>> fluidsynth/QSynth
>>>>> configured to use the FluidR3 sound font (but this was some time ago,
>>>>> at
>>>>> least 7-8 years). On Windows I use CoolSoftVirtualMidiSynth. On Linux
>>>>> (my current desktop) I use the fluidsynth/QSynth apps. Both of them
>>>>> are
>>>>> configured to use the FluidR3 soundfont.
>>>>>
>>>>> I *know* that you can configure timidity to use a different soundfont
>>>>> than its default (which does indeed suck). In fact, timidity on my
>>>>> Kubuntu 20.04 desktop is so configured. But this is by default and
>>>>> involves ways that timidity is installed on kubuntu, so it's not easy
>>>>> for me to tell you how to do it using this setup. But, I'm fairly
>>>>> certain Google will provide you options for getting timidity to use
>>>>> the
>>>>> FluidR3 sound font.
>>>>>
>>>>> See this Google search:
>>>>>
>>>>> https://www.google.com/search?q=tell+timidity+to+use+alternate+soundfont&newwindow=1&sxsrf=AOaemvKkuOn8r1q2lCX0swD3GgF5Q5AHGg%3A1631650995863&ei=swRBYY6RNJqztQaBhLRw&oq=t&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMYADIECCMQJzIECCMQJzIECCMQJzIFCAAQkQIyBQgAEJECMgQIABBDMg4ILhCABBCxAxDHARCjAjIECAAQQzIFCAAQgAQyEQguEIAEELEDEIMBEMcBENEDOgcIABBHELADOgcIABCwAxBDOg0ILhCxAxDHARCvARBDOgoIABCxAxCDARBDOgcIABCxAxBDSgQIQRgAUN74EFj_gBFg7pMRaAJwAngAgAGkAYgBwgKSAQMwLjKYAQCgAQHIAQrAAQE&sclient=gws-wiz
>>>>>
>>>>> I know nothing about GarageBand, however Google can likely help you
>>>>> learn if you can configure it to use alternate soundfonts.
>>>>>
>>>>> Hope this helps.
>>>>>
>>>>> Guy
>>>>>
>>>>> P.S. A nice thing about using an app and soundfont YOU specify is that
>>>>> you can change the soundfont used. If you've the money you can
>>>>> purchase
>>>>> incredibly good soundfonts (if you like) though there are dozens
>>>>> available for free. One of my favorite is an English Organ sound font
>>>>> with quite good sounds.
>>>>>
>>>>> On 9/14/21 3:13 PM, Kenneth Wolcott wrote:
>>>>>> HI All;
>>>>>>
>>>>>>      This is really not a Lilypond question, but I'm sure you have
>>>>>> some
>>>>>> helpful information, as you always do :-)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>      midi sound quality help needed
>>>>>>
>>>>>>      I'm on a Mac.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>      I'm using Lilypond 2.22.0 via MacPorts.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>      I'm using Garageband as my midi player, with Timidity (from home
>>>>>> brew) as an alternative.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>      I don't do rock music, synthesizers, sound effects, etc.  I do
>>>>>> traditional classical music.  I do some pop, and folks music, but in
>>>>>> a
>>>>>> classical manner...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>      I'm not asking for a professional live performance output
>>>>>> quality
>>>>>> from midi, but most often the midi output sounds really bad.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>      Now here's an interesting twist to the story.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>      I installed Alda from home brew which is a more rudimentary
>>>>>> text-based musical scoring system.  I also installed the suggested
>>>>>> alternative soundfont (FluidR3).
>>>>>>
>>>>>>      The Alda coding is much more rudimentary than what Lilypond
>>>>>> offers,
>>>>>> so I'm not in any way going to abandon Lilypond!!!
>>>>>>
>>>>>>      But the sound quality of what comes out of playing the Alda
>>>>>> scripts
>>>>>> is phenomenal (!) compared to what I get out of GarageBand and/or
>>>>>> Timidity.  I've even tried MidiAndMusicXmlPlayer as an alternative
>>>>>> midi player.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>      How do I improve my midi output quality?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks in advance for your advice,
>>>>>> Ken Wolcott
>>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> --
>>>>>
>>>>> “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and
>>>>> end
>>>>> of
>>>>> human existence.”
>>>>>
>>>>> ― Aristotle
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>> --
>>> --
>>>
>>> “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end
>>> of
>>> human existence.”
>>>
>>> ― Aristotle
>>>
>>>
> --
> --
>
> “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of
> human existence.”
>
> ― Aristotle
>
>