Build and install

See the INSTALL file for full details. Normally you just need to use the following commands:

        ./configure
        make
        make install

To compile from CVS use the following commands first to create the configure script:

        aclocal
        autoconf -a
        automake

Before use

First check that the correct sequencer modules are
loaded for your sound card:
- For a card with an external Midi connection, you need to load snd-seq-midi.
- For the OPL2/3 internal synthesiser you need to load snd-synth-opl3.
- For the AWE32/64 internal synthesiser you need to load snd-synth-emu8000.
- For the SB Live! internal synthesiser you need to load snd-synth-emu10k1.
- (Let me know of any more)

2.a If you have an AWE32/64 or SB Live! you will need to load the

     sounds with sfxload in the same way as for the standard kernel
     drivers. 
2.b  If you have the OPL3 FM synthesiser you will have to load the
     FM instruments with sbiload.  See note below.

3. Make sure that the synth in the mixer is turned

up and unmuted if appropriate.

Usage

pmidi [-p client:port ...] [-l] [-d delay] file ...

          -p client:port  - A alsa client and port number to send midi to
          -l              - List possible output ports that could be used
          -d delay        - Delay after song ends (default 2 sec)

Because you may have more than one sound card and each sound card may have several MIDI connections, you have to tell pmidi which one to use.

First find out what the possibilities are for your system:

If you run:

pmidi -l

it will give you a list of the possible devices that it can play to. On my system I get:

    Port     Client name                       Port name
    64:0     Rawmidi 0 - EMU10K1 MPU-401 (U    EMU10K1 MPU-401 (UART)
    65:0     Emu10k1 WaveTable                 Emu10k1 Port 0
    65:1     Emu10k1 WaveTable                 Emu10k1 Port 1
    65:2     Emu10k1 WaveTable                 Emu10k1 Port 2
    65:3     Emu10k1 WaveTable                 Emu10k1 Port 3
    128:0    FLUID Synth (28152)               Synth input port (28152)
    129:0    Client-129                        TiMidity port 0
    129:1    Client-129                        TiMidity port 1

Any of the port numbers in the first column can be used with pmidi. In the example above the first one is the external Midi port, and the next four are the internal wave table synthesiser on the SoundBlaster Live!

If you don't see anything listed then check that the correct ALSA modules are loaded as in the section "Before use".

Running pmidi

You specify the port or ports to use with the -p option, or by setting the environment variable ALSA_OUTPUT_PORTS.

For example to use port 0 on client 65:

pmidi -p 65:0 song.mid

        export ALSA_OUTPUT_PORTS=65:0 
        pmidi song.mid

A list of client ports can be supplied, which will be used if the midi file contains port select sequences.

pmidi -p 65:0,65:1,65:2,65:3 song.mid

You can also use spaces to separate with suitable quoting on the command line.

OPL3 FM synthesiser

(This note was provided by Dmitrii Sadovskii)

This is what has to be done to use the OPL3 FM synthesiser with pmidi (provided that the ALSA's respective card module is already loaded)

# modprobe -k snd-synth-opl3

> sbiload -l (same as pmidi -l)

 Port     Client name                       Port name
 64:0     External MIDI 0                   MIDI 0-0
 65:0     OPL3 FM synth                     OPL3 Port

> sbiload -p65:0 --opl3 std.o3 drums.o3 > pmidi -p65:0 sample.midi

sbiload: alsa-tools/seq/sbiload/ Written by Uros Bizjak <uros@kss-loka.si> Web: http://www.kss-loka.si/~uros/sbiload.html sbiload works with ALSA driver 0.9.0beta2 and later. Use it with native ALSA sequencers, such as pmidi-1.5.1 or later.
Laptops: the sound card (or the driver?) does not keep the instrument patches after suspend, so sbiload should be called at resume (as well as alsactl restore)

It should be said that ALSA+pmidi plays with better quality than OSS/Free but that in general FM synthesisers are not great for good midi.

Where to report bugs and feedback

Please report any problems to steve@parabola.demon.co.uk