Re: [fluid-dev] Reading input from a MIDI device

[David Henningsson]

On 12/15/2013 01:12 AM, Vesa Paatero wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'm just getting started with FluidSynth and my problem is that I cannot
> get input from a MIDI keyboard... and I can't find any pertinent switches
> or help although the man page clearly says that FluidSynth can read
> input from MIDI devices.
> 
> On this Linux system, the MIDI keyboard is in /dev/dmmidi2 and when
> I try "cat /dev/dmmidi2" I get characters on screen when pressing the
> keys.

Hmm, interesting. Anyway, I think the raw midi device is in
/dev/snd/midiC*D* (but I'm not sure it's as easy to open and test)

> In FluidSynth, I can produce audible sounds using the "noteon" command,
> so the connection between FluidSynth and the speakers seems OK.
> 
> Here is a command line whereby the system works with "noteon":
> 
> fluidsynth -v -a alsa -o synth.gain=3.0 -o synth.verbose=yes
> /usr/share/sounds/sf2/FluidR3_GM.sf2

The easiest way is to use the alsa rawmidi driver. Find the card name by
looking at the /proc/asound/cards file - find the row corresponding to
the right sound card, and the label within brackets.
In my case it's "Piano", so then the options I need to add are:

" -m alsa_raw -o midi.alsa.device=hw:Piano "

(of course in your case replace "Piano" with your card name)

Indeed this needs to be documented somewhere if it isn't already.

// David