Without running "asfxload gu11-rom.sf2" it is not possible to get proper wavetable MIDI support from at least Soundblaster AWE64 with less than 2MB of memory. The file is available here: http://www.parabola.demon.co.uk/alsa/awe64.html / http://www.parabola.demon.co.uk/alsa/GU11-ROM.SF2.gz I suggest the awesfx ebuild be modified to install this file as well. Also, I feel some guide (the ALSA setup guide?) should mention this. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Install and set up ALSA 2. pmidi -p <wavetable port> midifile.mid 3. Actual Results: The midi player seems to run but no music is heard. Expected Results: Played music. Portage 2.0.50-r6 (default-x86-2004.0, gcc-3.3.2, glibc-2.3.2-r9, 2.4.25-gentoo)================================================================= System uname: 2.4.25-gentoo i586 AMD-K6(tm) 3D processor Gentoo Base System version 1.4.3.13 distcc 2.13 i586-pc-linux-gnu (protocols 1 and 2) (default port 3632) [enabled] Autoconf: sys-devel/autoconf-2.58-r1 Automake: sys-devel/automake-1.8.3 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CFLAGS="-march=k6-2 -O3 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer" CHOST="i586-pc-linux-gnu" COMPILER="gcc3" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3.2/share/config /usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/share/config /var/qmail/control" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/terminfo /etc/env.d" CXXFLAGS="-march=k6-2 -O3 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="autoaddcvs ccache distcc sandbox" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://trumpetti.atm.tut.fi/gentoo/ ftp://trumpetti.atm.tut.fi/gentoo/ http://gentoo.oregonstate.edu http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/gentoo" MAKEOPTS="-j4" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="" SYNC="rsync://rsync.europe.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="3dfx 3dnow X aalib alsa apm arts avi berkdb crypt cups dga encode esd foomaticdb gdbm gif gnome gpm gtk gtk2 imlib jabber java jikes jpeg libg++ libwww mad mikmod mmx motif mpeg ncurses nls oggvorbis opengl oss pam pdflib perl png python quicktime readline samba sdl slang spell ssl svga tcltk tcpd truetype video_cards_3dfx voodoo3 x86 xml2 xmms xv zlib"
You can use any sound font to do this, and this is actually mentioned in the ALSA howto: http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml Doc team, can you please add this note to the alsa-guide at the end of 'Hardware Synthesizer' in Section 4: If you can't find soundfonts on your driver CD, you can download some online from this site: http://www.parabola.demon.co.uk/alsa/awe64.html
I think Soundfonts of size exceeding the memory on the soundcard aren't loaded dynamically, i.e. asfxload only load as much of the file that fits in the soundcard's RAM and is done with that. The 2,4 and 8MB Soundfonts doesn't seem to be concerned with ROM at all..
Okay, i've added the note to the alsa-guide. I'm marking this as fixed although I'm not sure if it really is (see comment #2). If it shouldn't, reopen and reassign.
Created attachment 31854 [details] Modified/updated suggestion for the MIDI section in Gentoo's ALSA-docs I'm submitting this to the 48731 bug chain as well. Suggestions and changes are written in red. The instructions are a bit vague but at least it's something..
