Latest revision as of 08:14, 17 January 2009

TiMidity is a software synthesizer that can load SoundFonts and GUS (Gravis Ultrasound) patches and render midi instruments as "real" ones.

Linux

Timidity may be obtained from your distribution's repository or by building from the source. The standard patches distributed with Timidity are insufficient for the playback of DOOM music, and you must obtain appropriate patches from one of the sources mentioned in "External Links", below.

Windows

Installation

This is a basic installation guide that will show you how to use soundfonts with the timidity driver and thus use it with Odamex

The driver has Timidity++ built in, so you will not need timidity.

Install the Timidity driver

The latest driver can be downloaded from here (the US sourceforge site has an older project, this one has the latest CVS releases), you will need to download the latest CVS (timiditydrv070209_bin.zip was tested and works on Windows XP SP2)

Extract to a location on your hard disk

Follow the instructions in windrv.txt in the zip file or:

Navigate to: Start->Settings->Control Panel->Add Hardware Wizard
Click Next
Click "Yes, I have already connected the hadware."
Click Next
Select "Add a new Hardware device" 
Click Next
Select "Install the hardware that manually select from list[Advanced]" 
Click Next
Select "sound, video and game contollers" 
Click Next
Click "Have Disk ..."
Click "Browse" and find timiditydrv.INF where you extracted it
Click OK
Click "Continue Anyway"
Click Finish.

The driver is now installed.

Configuring the driver

Installing SoundFont

We HIGHLY recommend you get the 8MBGM ENHANCED soundfont for that almost-authentic sound, the size is around 17mb, but is alot smaller and better sounding than using EAWPATS

To install it:

Download and unzip/rar the file to a location
Open timidity.cfg in your windows directory
Comment/delete all lines in the file
Add only a single line, replacing relevant bits like drive, path etc:
```
 soundfont "drive:\path\soundfont.sf2" 
```
Save the file and close it

Set the default driver

To use the driver, do the following:

Navigate to: Start->Settings->Control Panel->Sounds and Audio Devices
Click Audio Tab
Select "MIDI music playback" combobox as "Timidity++ Driver"
Click OK

The driver is now the default midi driver, for more information on configuration, read windrv.txt from your driver dir for more info.

Usage

If all goes well, you can run Odamex and the music should play.

Notes

There is a problem with SDL_mixer not changing the volume of the driver, so changing the music volume in Odamex (and even other programs that use SDL_mixer) won't work, there is no known workaround for this.

You can adjust the master/wave volume sliders in the windows volume control, also the sound one inside Odamex to get the best levels.

External Links

TiMidity++ sourceforge site

Japanese TWSYNTH page (latest driver)

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 = Windows =
-== Overview ==
-Timidity on Windows comes in 2 flavours: SDL_mixer's Built-in support or a windows driver.
-SDL_mixers built-in version is very old and has a few problems (memory leaks, bad sound handling, squeaks/pops etc), the only benefit it offers over the driver is the ability to change the music volume inside Odamex and the fact you will only need to download GUS patches.
-To use it, you will need to have a timidity.cfg in the Odamex directory that points to the location of your GUS patch set.
-The driver may be a better solution if you want a newer version (it is Timidity++), higher quality sound with less bugs. It can also be used with other programs on the system that support MIDI.
-As mentioned above, the volume cannot be changed with the music/midi slider, in Odamex or the windows volume applet (You can work around this if you fiddle with the Wave and Master sliders, along with the sound slider in Odamex)
 == Installation ==
-This is a basic installation guide that will show you how to use GUS patches with the timidity driver and thus use it with Odamex
+This is a basic installation guide that will show you how to use soundfonts with the timidity driver and thus use it with Odamex
 The driver has Timidity++ built in, so you will not need timidity.
-=== GUS patches ===
+=== Install the Timidity driver ===
-You can download these from various sources on the web, [http://www.google.com Google] is a good start, patches are also available at the bottom of this article.
-Install these to a directory such as '''c:\timidity''' (the directory can be configured in '''c:\windows\timidity.cfg''' once the driver has been installed)
-Note: If you're using '''eawpats''', copy the '''timidity.cfg''' file from its directory and replace '''c:\windows\timidity.cfg''' (presuming you have installed timidity previously), modify the lines that contain '''dir''' and replace the path with the path of the '''eawpats''' dir.
-=== Timidity driver ===
 The latest driver can be downloaded from [https://sourceforge.jp/projects/twsynth here] (the US sourceforge site has an older project, this one has the latest CVS releases), you will need to download the latest CVS ([http://prdownloads.sourceforge.jp/twsynth/23906/timiditydrv070209_bin.zip timiditydrv070209_bin.zip] was tested and works on Windows XP SP2)
@@ Line 56: / Line 39: @@
 The driver is now installed.
-== Usage ==
+== Configuring the driver ==
+=== Installing SoundFont ===
+We HIGHLY recommend you get the [http://www.bredel.homepage.t-online.de/Soundfonts/Soundfonts-English/soundfonts-english.html 8MBGM ENHANCED] soundfont for that almost-authentic sound, the size is around 17mb, but is alot smaller and better sounding than using EAWPATS
+To install it:
+# Download and unzip/rar the file to a location
+# Open '''timidity.cfg''' in your windows directory
+# Comment/delete all lines in the file
+# Add only a single line, replacing relevant bits like drive, path etc:
+#: <pre> soundfont "drive:\path\soundfont.sf2" </pre>
+# Save the file and close it
+=== Set the default driver ===
 To use the driver, do the following:
 <pre>
@@ Line 67: / Line 64: @@
 The driver is now the default midi driver, for more information on configuration, read '''windrv.txt''' from your driver dir for more info.
-If all goes well, you can run Odamex and the sound should come through the driver.
+=== Usage ===
-= Notes =
+If all goes well, you can run Odamex and the music should play.
+=== Notes ===
 There is a problem with SDL_mixer not changing the volume of the driver, so changing the music volume in Odamex (and even other programs that use SDL_mixer) won't work, there is no known workaround for this.
-= Resources =
+You can adjust the master/wave volume sliders in the windows volume control, also the sound one inside Odamex to get the best levels.
-== GUS patches ==
-You can download these from various sources on the web, [http://www.google.com Google] is a good start, patches are also available at the bottom of this article.
 == External Links ==
@@ Line 82: / Line 78: @@
 [https://sourceforge.jp/projects/twsynth/ Japanese TWSYNTH page (latest driver)]
-[http://xml.cie.unam.mx/pub/Linux/lmws/eawpats/ eawpats] GUS patches

OdaWiki

Difference between revisions of "Timidity"