HowTo: Using TiMidity++ to improve your Windows MIDI output

febs · Post by **febs** » 05-13-09 12:50 pm

For me installing Timidity alone and using it only adds (a HUGE) latency. Could it improve using soundfonts? I have not installed any because I felt that adding stuff could only made thing worse. Thanks

Post by **Nicholas** » 05-29-09 4:47 pm

Yeah, the latency can get pretty bad. It seems like Timidity is good for improving the quality but not the speed of the rendered output.

Others have mentioned combining a virtual MIDI driver, ASIO, and a synth plugin. A few posts up, somebody mentioned Reason which was actually faster than the built-in Windows synth.

A good solution there has the potential to be both faster and higher quality.

I haven't had the chance to find a decent synth plugin that is completely free and connect all the components together, yet. When I do (or someone else does) and writes up a nice tutorial here, I'll probably take the Timidity solution down.

soup · Post by **soup** » 06-30-09 8:16 pm

I was wondering, I opened the timidity.cfg file posted in this thread and saw a bunch of drumset sounds as well as others, how would I go about accessing these? When using my midi application, only 128 sounds show up in the list...

Post by **Nicholas** » 07-01-09 2:29 pm

Hrm... at this point, I don't remember any of those details. I originally wrote up the tutorial a year and a half ago(!), and even then it was a lot of scrambling and cobbling together other bits of tutorials I had found laying around the Internet.

I was always skeptical of the values in that config file, though it did seem to work through some voodoo.

Still, I'm not sure I'm able to help. Does anyone else still use TiMidity regularly?

kiwi · Post by **kiwi** » 09-02-09 5:26 am

Hi i don't use timidity(i use midi yoke or loopbe) but if u have only 128 sounds maybe you are not GM2 compatible (maybe there's an option in timidity for activated the GM2) compatibility
GM manage only 128 sounds.
Hope this clue 'll help you.

pierrot · Post by **pierrot** » 12-23-09 4:06 pm

For those who had no luck with TiMidity++, this is how I use sf2 founts with Synthesia :

- Install Midi Yoke (might prompt for reboot)
- Install FluidSynthGUI
- Run FluidSynthGUI, load a .SF2 fount
- Set "IN from MIDI Yoke 1" as your input in FluidSynthGUI
- Set "OUT to MIDI Yoke 1" as your output in Synthesia

Runs fine on my not so powerful (Samsung X1, Celeron 1GHz) laptop using Windows XP and asio4all without any noticeable lag.

kiwi · Post by **kiwi** » 02-01-10 5:43 am

Nicholas wrote:I haven't had the chance to find a decent synth plugin that is completely free and connect all the components together, yet. When I do (or someone else does) and writes up a nice tutorial here, I'll probably take the Timidity solution down.

I'll check out a nice FREE alternative to timidity or ext.
By the way any Daw with midi capabilities can do the job.
I'll test this week-end different free host... (i am not at home...)

UltraGmax · Post by **UltraGmax** » 01-12-11 8:19 pm

I installed Timidity but fail to see it in the outputs in synthesia. Someone mention running reason in the BG which would be ideal for me but whenever I run both softwares my keyboard is only linked to the last one opened. I use an M-Audio Oxygen 61.

aria1121 · Post by **aria1121** » 01-13-11 11:22 pm

Can someone please extract the SF2ark files for me? My x64 computer can't do that. (Even not from the SysWOW-commandline and DOSBox)

Post by **Nicholas** » 01-14-11 3:22 pm

Aria, the extraction works just fine on x64. I just tried it myself. Did you follow all the steps?

1. Install sfArkXTc.
2. Drag an .sfArk file to the program shortcut. That will make an .exe in the same folder as the original .sfArk.
3. Double-click that .exe file.

It'll run for a long time in a console window. The progress counter will reset several times for some reason. That's fine. It's still working. When it's finished, you'll have the .SF2 file you actually want (again, in the same folder as the .exe).

As far as file sizes are concerned, "FluidR3 GM.sfArk" is 66 MB when first extracted from the zip you downloaded. Turned into an .exe it's still the same size. Then, after the long unpacking process the "FluidR3 GM.sf2" file is 141 MB.

aria1121 · Post by **aria1121** » 01-15-11 5:25 am

No Nicholas, it doesn't. But it does in DOSBox, but its incredibly slow - even in Unlocked Speed Mode (by holding [Alt]+[F12])
Edit: Doubleclicking the exe gives me the 32-64-bit-compatibility-critical-error.

DC64 · Post by **DC64** » 01-15-11 6:49 pm

Could there just be a file that does all of that for you, or is that a little out of hand?

aria1121 · Post by **aria1121** » 01-16-11 4:53 am

DC64 wrote:Could there just be a file that does all of that for you, or is that a little out of hand?

But can someone please post 'em? it doesnt work.

Post by **Nicholas** » 01-16-11 4:59 am

The file is 141 MB. It's too big for this board, anyway. What exactly is going wrong?

aria1121 · Post by **aria1121** » 01-16-11 5:07 am

1. Opening up the file by doubleclicking gives me this:

2. Opening in CMD gives me also the same, but in the commandlines.

3. Using the SysWOW (Open a Run... windows and type %windir%\SysWoW64\cmd.exe) doesn't work either

4. DOSBox is able, but it just freezes right after running the file.

What should I try now?

Post by **Nicholas** » 01-16-11 5:26 am

I'm not sure what PPGRE or PPREP is. Looks like a piece of software for GRE Preparation? Anyway, you're using the wrong thing. Follow my instructions. If you're double-clicking the file, you're doing it wrong.

aria1121 · Post by **aria1121** » 01-16-11 6:27 am

Nicholas wrote:I'm not sure what PPGRE or PPREP is. Looks like a piece of software for GRE Preparation? Anyway, you're using the wrong thing. Follow my instructions. If you're double-clicking the file, you're doing it wrong.

No, the image is just an example. How am I supposed to open it?

Post by **Nicholas** » 01-16-11 2:02 pm

Read my instructions a few posts up. They already told you.

aria1121 · Post by **aria1121** » 01-16-11 2:21 pm

Nicholas. I am running Win 7 Home Premium x64. Again: doubleclicking the exe doesn't work. It gives me a error. I searched for the same error on Google Images because my error was in Dutch, you won't understand. I am exactly following the instructions you gave me. Nothing worked, except DOSBox. But I even did let my computer run for over two days, it's still busy unpacking (a continiously flashing underline). The Timidity++ thing is visible in Synthesia in the Keyboard Setup Menu.

Post by **Nicholas** » 01-16-11 2:59 pm

Alright, so you got past instruction 1 and 2 to the point where it had created the .exe file? The reason that's strange is that I'm also running Win7 Home Premium x64 on the computer I tested against and had no trouble.