Tips for GNU+Linux microtonalists...

Hello.
Here are a few basic tips about MIDI for GNU+Linux users in hope they
may be useful. Comments and suggestions for more tips are welcome.
Hudson

A few useful tips for MIDI on GNU+Linux
Hudson Lacerda (2008)

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MIDI FOR SOUNDBLASTER SOUND CARDS

AWE32 Sound Driver
sfxload (for OSS)
asfxload (for ALSA)
SoundFont formats: (SF2 or SBK)

The command is:

sfxload <soundfont>

Here I put the command below in the file /etc/X11/Xsession.d/51fluxbox
(to load the sound font along fluxbox). It could be put in
.bash_profile or another initialisation file as well.

sfxload /home/hudson/Media/SF2/CT4MGM.SF2

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TIMIDITY AS ALSA MIDI CLIENT

Works fine except for Xrun clicks whenever there are changes on the
windows (X Window System). It supports tunings via MTS or a special
file (command line option -Z).

The script below accepts additional options.

To run timidity as daemon, use -iAD (a bit more difficult to kill).

#/bin/bash
# Run timidity as ALSA MIDI client
printf ">>> Use aconnect or qjackctl to connect the MIDI devices.\n"
printf ">>> Starting the timidity ALSA client...\n"
timidity -Os -iA --reverb=d -R14 --reverb=g,45 --realtime-priority=0
-B4,8 "$@"
printf ">>> timidity ALSA client terminated or daemonised.\n"

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SCALA'S MIDI RELAY

Check which are the disponible MIDI input/output devices for Scala
MIDI setup before playing/relaying with Scala. (Scala for GNU+Linux
Version 2.22i kernel build 1.86g does not support virtual MIDI devices
like timidity) Don't run other programs using the same input port,
otherwise Scala will hang, and the only effective way to finish it
will be `killall scala -KILL`. It is imperative check this when there
are other MIDI programs running. Use qjackctl or `aconnect -oil`.

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PLAY WITH SCALA USING THE COMPUTER KEYBOARD

The ``Play'' button feature of Scala supports user-defined keyboard
mappings to play music from the computer keyboard.

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ZYNADDSUBFX

ZynAddSubFX is a real-time synthesiser. Supports tuning with Scala
*.scl/*.kbm files. Call jackstart before run it, and then connect it
with aconnect or qjackctl.

.