Playing Midi files for Intel AC'97

[Andras Simon]

On 6/30/07, Chu Tan <chujtan at gmail.com> wrote:
> I've a Dell 4550 with Intel integrated AC'97 sound card.
> 
> # lspci
> 00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM
> (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 01)
> 
> # aplaymidi -l
>  Port    Client name                      Port name
>  14:0    Midi Through                     Midi Through Port-0
> 
> Based on above aplaymidi output, does that mean my card does not have a
> on-board sound table of sort, so, there isn't a virtual port that allows
> me to send midi commands to, and have it played through dsp?
> 
> Currently, I'm able to use Timidity to process a midi file, translate it
> to wave and output to dsp. However, I believe this approach is not
> integrated to alsa. As a result, I think, Audacious isn't able to play
> midi, because alsa system isn't setup to play midi.
> 
> Below is lsmod output, I'm not sure if I missed loading some modules.
> # lsmod | grep snd
> snd_intel8x0           35549  1 
> snd_ac97_codec         93413  1 snd_intel8x0
> ac97_bus                6465  1 snd_ac97_codec
> snd_seq_dummy           7877  0 
> snd_seq_oss            33601  0 
> snd_seq_midi_event     11201  1 snd_seq_oss
> snd_seq                51249  5
> snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
> snd_seq_device         11853  3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
> snd_pcm_oss            43617  0 
> snd_mixer_oss          19393  1 snd_pcm_oss
> snd_pcm                75205  3 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
> snd_timer              25157  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
> snd                    53829  11
> snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
> soundcore              11681  1 snd
> snd_page_alloc         13769  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
> 

Try starting timidity like this:
timidity -iA -Os -B2,8 --reverb 0 --realtime-priority 1
and then see what aplaymidi -l says. (I have a different setup, so this may not work for you. But it's worth a try.)

Andras