Re: How do you test .MIDI output when the MIDI instrument is not supported?

[Brett McCoy]

On Sun, Jun 6, 2010 at 7:20 PM, Disc Magnet <address@hidden> wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 4:24 AM, Brett McCoy <address@hidden> wrote:
>> On Sun, Jun 6, 2010 at 6:39 PM, Disc Magnet <address@hidden> wrote:
>>
>>> There some seems to be some MIDI instruments supported by lilypond
>>> that doesn't seem to be supported by timidity. In such a case, I don't
>>> get silence output from timidity while plaing the .midi file. For
>>> example, I was trying the 'string ensemble 2' instrument. The code is:
>>
>> The stock sounds that come with Timidity are missing a lot of
>> instruments (viola is missing also!). I suggest getting a soundfont
>> (Fluid GM soundfont works well) and using that with Timidity instead.
>> You just need to update your timidity config to use this. Are you
>> using Linux? Your distro may even have this soundfont available as a
>> package (Ubuntu Lucid does), it even provides a config file for
>> Timidity to use.
>>
>> -- Brett
>
> Thanks! This worked smoothly.
>
> /etc/timidity/timidity.cfg file even had a line like line this one:
> source /etc/timidity/fluidr3_gm.cfg which I brought out of comments
> and it worked.
>
> I noticed that just like fluid-soundfont-gm, there's another package
> called fluid-soundfont-gs. What's the difference between the two?

GS is a proprietary Roland spec

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_Instrument_Digital_Interface#GS_and_XG

> I also noticed a diffference between using 'freepats' (default) and
> 'fluid3_gm'. With freepaths, the nylon guitar sounds like mono with
> equal volume in both speakers. With fluid-soundfont-gs, the nylon
> guitar plays in the right speaker only creating a stereo effect. Is
> there a way to force a particular instrument to play in both speakers?

It probably has its pan set to the right, not sure how to set MIDI pan
with Lilypond, though. It's usually done with automation data using
CC#10 in a sequencer. You might check the fluidr3_gm.cfg file to see
if the pan has been preset.

-- Brett
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"In the rhythm of music a secret is hidden;
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