TiMidity++ - MIDI to WAV converter and player


SYNOPSIS

       timidity [-options] filename [filenames ...]


DESCRIPTION

       TiMidity++ is a converter that converts some of MIDI files
       ( formats : Standard MIDI file (*.MID),  Recomposer  files
       (*.RCP,  *.R36,  *.G18,  *.G36)  and Module file (*.mod) )
       into formatted audio file (ex. RIFF WAVE ).  TiMidity uses
       Gravis  Ultrasound-compatible  patch  files or Soundfonts(
       *.sfx, *.sf2 ) to generate digital audio  data  from  MIDI
       files.   The  digital audio data generated by TiMidity can
       be stored in a file for processing, or played in real time
       through an audio device.
       In  real  time playing, TiMidity if able to show the lylic
       contained in KAR file or WRD file.


FILENAME

       You can use the following expressions in  filename  fields
       to specify the location of the file:

       -      Read a MIDI file from standard input.

       /path/filename
              Read a MIDI file on filesystems.

       dir:directory
       directory/
              Read  and  play  all MIDI files in specified direc­
              tory.

       Archive File
              Extracts and play the file(s) in the  archive.   If
              you  want  to  specify  a  certain MIDI file in the
              archive, describe the  #<MIDI-filename>  expression
              following  to  the  archive  name.  The expressions
              after the # is allowed to use  regular  expressions
              (case insensitive).

              For Examples:

              timidity 'file.zip#file.mid'
                     Plays file.mid in file.zip

              timidity 'file.lzh#*.mid'
                     Plays  any  files  that  match  the  regular
                     expression '*.mid' in file.zip

                     This expression is same as
                     timidity 'file.tgz'

              Since these mechanism  are  contained  in  TiMidity
              itself,  you can use it even if on MS Windows envi­
              ronment.

              TiMidity can handle the following archive format:

                      tar (*.tar)

                      tar + gzip (*.tar.gz, *.tgz)

                      zip (*.zip)

                      (lh0, lh1, lh2, lh3, lh4, lh5, lh6, lzs,
                             lz5, lz4 are available)

       news://news-server[:port]/Message-ID
       news://news-server[:port]/newsgroup[/first-last]
              Play the MIDI file in the specified article in news
              server.  If newsgroup is specified  TiMidity  plays
              (all)  articles  contains  MIDI files posted in the
              newsgroup.
              In this case TiMidity recognize the MIME Multi-part
              message,  and  extract  the  articles contains MIDI
              files and play.
              The following MIME-type are allowed:

              uu-encoded file
                     "begin" is required

              base64 encoded
                     "Content-Transfer-Encoding:    base64"    is
                     required

              quoted-string
                     "Content-Transfer-Encoding:   quoted-string"
                     is required

              Mac BinHex format
                     only 'HQX' format is available

       http://url
       ftp://url
              Play the file specified these URLs.

              For example:

              "timidity

              ber/mo/dist/midi/impromptu.mid"

              plays MIDI-file via network.

              If these expression are applied to the *.cfg files,
              you  can  use  patch-files  or  else  on the remote
              machines.


INPUT FILE

       Timidity can handle the following file formats:

        .MID ( Format 0, 1, 2 )
              Standard MIDI File

        .RCP, .R36, .G18, .G36 ( formats of Recomposer (products
              of COME ON MUSIC co.) )
              Windows version converts these with rcpcv.dll.

        .KAR ( Karaoke format )
              Displays lylics same as Lylic Meta Event message.

        .MOD, MOD.* ( module file )

        .WRD ( WRD format )


OPTIONS

       The following command line optinos are accepted by  TiMid­
       ity:

       -A amplification
              Multiplies  the  master  volume by amplification %.
              Default value is 70%.  The grater number of  ampli­
              fication  makes louder sounds.  Range of the ampli­
              fication is from 0 to 800%.

       -a     Turns on antialiasing. Samples are  run  through  a
              lowpass filter before playing, which reduces alias­
              ing noise at low resampling frequencies.

       -B fragments[,buffer-bits]
              For the Linux / FreeBSD /  OSS  /  ALSA  /  Windows
              sound  driver, selects the number  of buffer  frag­
              ments  in interactive mode.  Increasing the  number
              of fragments may reduce choppiness  when many  pro­
              cesses are running.  It will make TiMidity seem  to
              respond  sluggishly  to  fast  forward, rewind, and

              play  off  sync.   Specify a fragments of 0 to  use
              the maximum number of fragments available.

       -b mode
              (obsoleted)

       -C ratio

              Sets the ratio of sampling and control frequencies.
              This determines how often  envelopes  are  recalcu­
              lated -- small ratios yield better quality but  use
              more CPU time.

       -c filename
              Reads an extra configuration file.

       -D channel
              Marks channel as a drum  channel.   If  channel  is
              negative,  channel -channel is marked as an instru-
              mental channel.  If channel is 0, all channels  are
              marked as instrumental.

       -d dir Specifies the directory contains installed dynamic-
              link interface modules.

       -e     Make   TiMidity   evil.   On  Win32  version,  this
              increases the task priority by  one.  It  can  give
              better  playback  when  you  switch  tasks  at  the
              expense of slowing all other tasks down.

       -E mode
              Set TiMidity extend modes. The following modes  are
              available  (capitalized  switch  means disable this
              feature):

              w/W    Enables/disables modulation controlling.

              p/P    Enables/disables portamento controlling.

              v/V    Enables/disables NRPM vibration.

              r/R    Enables/disables reverb effect  controlling.

              c/C    Enables/disables  chorus effect controlling.

                     Sets the chorus effect value of all channels
                     to ratio.

              s/S    Enables/disables  channel  pressure control­
                     ling.

              t/T    Enables/disables  tracing  all   Text   Meta
                     Events.

              o/O    Accepts/rejects  pronouncing  multiple  same
                     notes.

              m HH   Sets the manufacture ID to HH (  HH  is  the
                     two hex-digits ).
                     In addition if HH is GM/gm , GS/gs or  XG/xg
                     that are same as to 41 , 43 and 7e.

              B bank Sets the bank  number  of  all  channels  to
                     bank.

       -F     Turns  on  fast  panning to accommodate MIDI pieces
              that expect panning  adjustments  to  affect  notes
              that  are  already  playing.  Some files that don't
              expect  this  have  a  habit  of  flipping  balance
              rapidly  between  left  and  right, which can cause
              severe popping when the -F flag is used.
              In current versions of  TiMidity  this  option  are
              toggled.

       -f     Toggles  fast envelopes. This option makes TiMidity
              do fast but the  release  time  of  the  notes  are
              shorten.

       -g sec Open  the  Sound-Spectrogram window. This option is
              activated if the system has support  for  X  Window
              System.

       -h     Show this help message.

       -I voice[/c]
              Uses the program number as the default  instrument.
              Any  Program Change events in MIDI files will over­
              ride this option.
              If  the  voice  followed  by /c the default program
              number of the channel c is specified by the  voice.

              Selects  the  user  interfaces from the compiled-in
              alternatives. interface must be begun with  one  of
              the  supported interface identifiers.  Run TiMidity
              with the -h option to see a  list.   The  following
              identifiers may be available:

              -id    dumb interface

              -in    ncurses interface

              -is    slang interface

              -ia    X Ahtena Widget interface

              -ik    Tcl/Tk interface

              -im    motif interface

              -iT    vt100 interface

              -ie    Emacs   interface  (press  M-x  timidity  on
                     Emacs)

              -ii    skin interface
                     Environment variable TIMIDITY_SKIN  must  be
                     specified  with  path  of the skin data(com­
                     pressed data are also available).

              -ig    gtk interface

              -ir    Launch timidity as MIDI server.

              -iA    Launch timidity as ALSA sequencer client.

              Interface options
                     Option characters may be  added  immediately
                     after the interface identifier.  The follow­
                     ing options are recognized:

              v      Increases verbosity level.  This  option  is
                     cumulative.

              q      Decreases  verbosity  level.  This option is
                     cumulative.

              t      Toggles trace mode.  In trace  mode,  TiMid­
                     ity attempts  to  display  its current state
                     in real time.  For the Linux  sound  driver,
                     this  is  accomplished  through  the  use of
                     short DMA buffer  fragments,  which  can  be
                     tuned via the -B option.

                     option)

              r      Randomize file list arguments before playing

              s      Sorting file list arguments before playing

       -j     This  option  enables  to load the patch file while
              playing.

       -L  directory
              Adds directory to the library path.  Patch, config­
              uration,  and  MIDI  files  are searched along this
              path.  Directories  added  last  will  be  searched
              first.   Note  that the current directory is always
              searched first before the library path.

       -n degree
              Enables Noise Shaping Filter. degree is from 0(min)
              to 4(max).

       -O mode
              Selects the output mode from the compiled-in alter­
              natives.  mode must begin with one of the supported
              output mode identifiers.  Run TiMidity with the  -h
              option  to  see  a list.  The following identifiers
              should be available in all versions:

              -Od    Outputs via audio device (default)

              -Or    Generate  raw  waveform  data.   All  format
                     options   are   supported.   Common  formats
                     include:

                      -OrU   uLaw

                      -Or1sl 16-bit signed linear PCM

                      -Or8ul 8-bit unsigned linear PCM

              -Ou    Generate Sun Audio (au) file

              -Oa    Genetate AIFF file

              -Ow    Generate RIFF WAVE format output.  If output
                     is  directed  to  a non-seekable file, or if
                     TiMidity  is  interrupted before closing the
                     file,   the   file   header   will   contain
                     0xFFFFFFFF in the RIFF and data block length
                     fields.   The   popular   sound   conversion

                     files, so you can pipe data directly to  sox
                     for  on-the-fly conversion to other formats.

              Format options
                     Option characters may be  added  immediately
                     after the mode identifier to change the out­
                     put format.  The following options are  rec­
                     ognized:

                      8      8-bit sample width

                      1      6-bit sample width

                      l      Linear encoding

                      U      uLaw (8-bit) encoding

                      M      Monophonic

                      S      Stereo

                      s      Signed output

                      u      Unsigned output

                      x      Byte-swapped output

              Note  that  some  options  have  no  effect on some
              modes.  For example, you cannot  generate  a  byte-
              swapped  RIFF  WAVE file, or force uLaw output on a
              Linux PCM device.

       -o filename
              Place output on filename,  which  may  be  a  file,
              device,  or  HP-UX  audio  server, depending on the
              output mode selected with the -O option.  The  spe­
              cial  filename  ``-'' causes output to be placed on
              stdout.

       -p voices
              Sets  polyphony  (maximum  number  of  simultaneous
              voices) to voices.

       -Q channel
              Causes  channel  to  be quiet.  If channel is nega­
              tive, channel -channel is turned back on.  If chan­
              nel is 0, all channels are turned on.

              Enables  Pseudo  Reverb  Mode.  msec  are  envelope
              release time.

       -r     This options causes another reverb effects.

       -S size
              Sets the re-sample cache size to  size  bytes.   If
              size  equals  to  0 any sample caches are disabled.
              Default value of size is 2097152(2MB).

       -s frequency
              Sets the resampling frequency(Hz or kHz).  Not  all
              sound  devices are capable of all frequencies -- an
              approximate frequency may be selected, depending on
              the implementation.

       -t code
              Sets  output  coding of Japanese text. code are the
              following:

              auto   determined by LANG environment variable.

              ascii  Transrates non-ascii code to period.

              euc    Outputs by EUC(Japan) coding.

              jis    Outputs by JIS coding.

              sjis   Outputs by SJIS coding.

       -U     Instructs TiMidity to unload all  instruments  from
              memory  between MIDI files.  This can reduce memory
              requirements when playing many files in succession.

       -w mode
              Extend  mode  for MS-Windows. The following options
              are available:

              -wr    Use rcpcv.dll to play RCP/R36 files.

              -wR    Not use rcpcv.dll (default).

       -W mode
              Play with WRD file.  mode are the follwing:

              x      X Window System mode


              d      Dumb mode (outputs WRD events directry)

              -      not traces WRD
       WRD mode must be with trace mode(option -i?t) or timing of
       WRD events are terrible.

       -WR[opts]
              Sets WRD options:

              a1=b1,a2=b2, ...
                     Sets  the  WRD  options.  an  is the name of
                     option and bn is the value.

              d="n"  Emulates timing(@WAIT,@WMODE)  bugs  of  the
                     original MIMPI player.  The emulate level is
                     following:

                      -WRd=0 not emulates any bugs of MIMPI

                      -WRd=1 only emulates some bugs (default)

                      -WRd=2 emulates all known bugs

              F="filename"
                     Uses   filename    as    WRD    file    only
                     (input-file-name):r.wrd (like csh syntax) is
                     not available.

              f="filename"
                     Uses filername as WRD file.

       -x string
              Configure TiMidity by the  string.  The  format  of
              string is the same as timidity.cfg.

              For example:
              -x'bank 0\n0 violin.pat'
              Sets the instrument number 0 to violin.

              Character \(Ascii 0x5c) in the string is treated as
              escape character like C literal. For example \n  is
              treated as carridge return.

       -Z file
              Causes  the  table  of  frequencies to be read from
              file. This is useful to define a  tuning  different
              from the occidental temperate scale.

       lsmidiprog(1),    mididump(1),   patinfo(1),   sf2text(1),
       wav2pat(1), timidity.cfg(5)


COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C)  1999-2001  Masanao  Izumo  <mo@goice.co.jp>
       Copyright (C) 1995 Tuukka Toivonen <tt@cgs.fi>

       Original  version  was  developed under the name of Tuukka
       Toivonen <tt@cgs.fi> until the version  of  TiMidity-0.2i.
       His development was discontinued because of his busy work.

       This program is free software;  you  can  redistribute  it
       and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
       License as published  by  the  Free  Software  Foundation;
       either  version  2 of the License, or (at your option) any
       later version.

       This program is distributed in the hope that  it  will  be
       useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
       warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS  FOR  A  PARTICULAR
       PURPOSE.  See  the  GNU  General  Public  License for more
       details.

       You should have received a copy of the GNU General  Public
       License along with this program; if not, write to the Free
       Software Foundation, Inc., 675  Mass  Ave,  Cambridge,  MA
       02139, USA.


AVAILABILITY

       The latest release is available on the TiMidity++ Page,
       URL http://www.goice.co.jp/member/mo/timidity/


BUGS

       8-bit and low-rate output sounds worse than it should.

       Eats more CPU time than a small CPU-time-eating animal.

       This  man  page  translated from Japanese to English by me
       with heavily poor English skill :-)


AUTHORS

       Version 0.2i and earlier:
       Tuukka Toivonen <toivonen@clinet.fi>
       Vincent Pagel <pagel@loria.fr>
       Takashi Iwai <iwai@dragon.mm.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp>
       Davide Moretti <dmoretti@iper.net>

       Riccardo Facchetti <riccardo@cdc8g5.cdc.polimi.it>

       TiMidity++:
       IZUMO Masanao <mo@goice.co.jp>
       HARADA Tomokazu <harada@prince.pe.u-tokyo.ac.jp>
       YAMATE Keiichirou <keiich-y@is.aist-nara.ac.jp>
       KIRYU Masaki <mkiryu@usa.net>
       AOKI Daisuke <dai@y7.net>
       MATSUMOTO Shoji <shom@i.h.kyoto-u.ac.jp>
       KOYANAGI Masaaki <koyanagi@okilab.oki.co.jp>
       IMAI Kunihiko <imai@leo.ec.t.kanazawa-u.ac.jp>
       NOGAMI Takaya <t-nogami@happy.email.ne.jp>
       WATANABE    Takanori     <takawata@shidahara1.planet.kobe-
       u.ac.jp>
       TAKEKAWA Hiroshi <sian@big.or.jp>
       NAGANO Daisuke <breeze.geo@geocities.co.jp>
       YAMAHATA Isaku <yamahata@kusm.kyoto-u.ac.jp>
       KINOSHITA kosuke <kino@krhm.jvc-victor.co.jp>
       ARAI Yoshishige <ryo2@on.rim.or.jp>
       Glenn Trigg <ggt@netspace.net.au>

       and other many people sends information and bug-fix codes.

       English version of this man  page  is  written  by  NAGANO
       Daisuke <breeze_geo@geocities.co.jp>.
       If any comments or suggestions or claims :) about this man
       page you have, please tell me it.


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