Linux Mint Forums

There does not seem to be any Linux media player that will play midi files without a fuss, as Winamp, Windows Media Player and Quicktime have done in Windows for over a decade. Even getting sound from a midi sequencer, like Rosegarden, is an absolute pain (just go to their site to see the mess involved). One has to connect to the "JACK server" as a first step! What if I'm in the mountains and don't have an internet connection? This is ridiculous. Linux Mint8 does a great job on many issues. I hope that the next release will include a General Midi sound patch that is immediately accessible to media players and midi sequencers.

The following apps played midi files for me with no fuss:

Timidity
Banshee
Exaile

I got Audacious to play midi files pretty easily based on these instructions.

It called to use the FluidSynth backend, but I can't find where the fluid-soundfont folder is. I used the ALSA backend instead which seems to be using the fluid-soundfonts I had already installed.

Here's how to setup the ALSA backend:

- Right-click on Audacioius to bring up its menu
- Preferences
- Plugins
- Highlight 'AMIDI-Plug'
- Preferences
- Click 'ALSA backend' (left-hand tab)
- Check TiMidity port 0

-------------------------------------
Found fluid-soundfonts folder: /usr/share/sounds/sf2/

Here's how to play midi files with LMMS (be sure you install "fluid-soundfont-gs" from the synaptic):

- Open LMMS
- Edit/Settings/Paths (2nd tab on left - folder icon)
- go to last path: DEFAULT SOUNDFONT FILE
- paste in: /usr/share/sounds/sf2/FluidR3_GM.sf2
- OK/close/restart