get Vista Midi Picker

thats what i did and it doesnt work
i got the midi picker
i picked it
it doesnt make sound happen

Maybe the problem is with timidity and win7
Do other midi devices work (windows default one)? Also try to install other midi devices and check whether they work or not.
Yamaha SoftSynthesizer S-YXG50
Roland Virtual Sound Canvas 3.21

Assuming it is Timidity, what other program would let me use Soundfont sets to play all MIDI in DOSBox under Windows 7?

Maybe it's time to convince the devs to implement Fluidsynth as Midi driver 😀
I *think* you can use Fluidsynth like timidity on Windows but I'm not sure. I've only encountered it as built-in device.

Ok, well howabout this - if I switch to Linux, THEN is it any easier to use Soundfonts to play back everything that DOSBox does? What would I need to get?

How can I convince the devs to add Fluidsynth to DOSBox? I do not know the developers.

You could just get an X-Fi card.

Not an option for notebooks. This topic is rather interesting. I wanted to test Timidity in Win 7 for quite some time but didn't have the motivation yet. This vid shows it can be done with ScummVM, can't see why it shouldn't work with DOSBox.

Did anyone try Timidity++ (which seems to be the version to use) in Vista/Win 7 yet?

ADDiCT wrote:

Not an option for notebooks.

He did not say that he had a laptop. Even so, for those with laptops who wish to use SoundFonts, Creative has SoundFont capable PCMCIA cards. However, the more solutions the better.

Ok, well howabout this - if I switch to Linux, THEN is it any easier to use Soundfonts to play back everything that DOSBox does? What would I need to get?

If you are not familiar with Linux yet, then you will need some time adjusting to it. Timidity should work on Linux.

How can I convince the devs to add Fluidsynth to DOSBox? I do not know the developers.

You could beg in the Dosbox Wishlist thread DOSBox Feature Request Thread
I do think it would actually be a good idea 😀
But did you google fluidsynth and Windows? I think I saw it somewhere for use like timidity.

Timidity works in my Windows Vista 32-bit.

Although in dosbox I had to configure it with:
mixer /listmidi
midiconfig=
cause dosbox somehow doesn't detect "Vista MIDI Picker" settings (although "Windows Media Player" detects it correctly)

Have you installed MidiYoke?
Have you started the timidity server after running it?
Is midi input device configured correctly in timidity?
Does timidity player work at all?
Are you using a stable version of timidity or you have compiled it yourself?
I used this one http://sourceforge.net/projects/timidity/

Hi.

Vista and Windows 7 are very different.
I have MIDIYoke and I followed the instructions for installing. Beyond that I do not know how to access it.
My Timidity++ does not have a function to configure the MIDI input device. It is a MIDI output device.
The Timidity player does not produce sound.
I am using the same version as you now.

Maybe you can please post a step by step guide for this? Thank you.

As for Fluidsynth, I do not know how to compile so it is no option for me.

> The Timidity player does not produce sound.

I have noticed that .mid file has to be in timidity folder or it won't be played.

Hi! Okay, when I put the midi in the same folder, now it plays! 😀 First step to success I hope?

Finally got around installing Timidity++, still in the process of testing. I'm not sure if the "Set default MIDI device" stuff works here, need to test some MIDI files and different soundfonts.

What i can say now: the downloads from the URL given by robertmo (this one) seem to not contain a Windows MIDI driver. I'm not sure how the program is supposed to work that way, the documentation is non-existant. I'm trying a different approach, described here. If i understand that correctly this approach will install a Timidity++ MIDI driver which can then be selected as the default MIDI device with the help of the "Putzlowischts Vista MIDI-Mapper" (this step is necessary because there's no GUI interface to select the default MIDI output device in Vista and Windows 7). If all of this works as expected, _all_ MIDI should be routed through Timidity++, which means zero configuration for DOSBox and other MIDI playing apps.

Let me test some more, i'll update this post.

patotheduck:
I use midi yoke NT 1.75 (automatic installer .msi)
http://www.midiox.com/index.htm?http://www.mi … ke.htm#Download
It adds its control panel to windows control pannel. (although nothing is needed to be changed there). (readme from manual installer says that 1.74 doesn't have control pannel)

In vista midi mapper you have to choose:
Out to MIDI Yoke: 1
(it works for me for windows media player, but dosbox has to be configered separately in its dosbox.conf)

In timidity synthesizer icon you choose preferences and in synthesizer tab you
choose:
Port max 1
Port 0: In from MIDI Yoke: 1
(other ports are not important as you need only one)
(timidity player preferences doesn't have synthesizer tab)

In timidity synthesizer icon you choose preferences and in output tab you choose windows audio driver.
precision 16-bit (8-bit has extra hissing noise 😉 )

In timidity synthesizer icon you choose "start synthesizer" and check whether it has changed to "stop synthesizer" (if it doesn't change it is not started)

Hmmm not much MIDI love in my tests. It just doesn't work, not in Vista x64 and not in Windows 7 x64. Not sure where the problem is, but i'd say it's the MIDI driver. That driver is the only reason to use this specific build, i'm afraid.

robertmo, so you are using that other build (the one from the "normal" SourceForge site, not the japanese one)? Do you happen to know if MIDI yoke runs under 64-bit OS's? If i get that right, you have to start Timidity every time prior to playing a game (or have it in Windows Autostart or something), right?

EDIT: hmmm... There's one more thing to try for me - try installing the "Japanese Timidity" with UAC disabled. Later, maybe.

> robertmo, so you are using that other build (the one from the "normal" SourceForge site?

yes

> Do you happen to know if MIDI yoke runs under 64-bit OS's?

Try it.

>If i get that right, you have to start Timidity every time prior to playing a game (or have it in Windows Autostart or something), right?

yes

OK, final report (for the time being, at least): the "Japanese Timidity" doesn't work in Vista x64/Win 7 x64, no matter what i try. The solution suggested by robertmo does work in Win 7 x64. I still have to use "Putzlowischts Vista MIDI-Mapper" to select the default MIDI device, the other tool just displays one "unkown device" entry.

It may be interesting to note that it isn't necessary to change the default MIDI playback device in Windows. One can just create a special MIDI channel which is used by Timidity (if it's running), and point DOSBox to that "MIDI device". With this you can have the MS Synth as a default (which is convenient for a quick playback of MIDI files) and start the Timidity app only when needed, saving system resources.

Oh, and i didn't have to do any DOSBox config in order to get Timidity MIDI playback after setting it as the default MIDI device. That's how it's supposed to work, after all: "default device" should be the one receiving all MIDI data, and DOSBox is using that device by default.

All in all, i have to agree with Dominus. Having a "DOSBox integrated solution" (either Timidity or Fluidsynth - from what i can see both are similar) for MIDI playback would be very, very nice - especially because a) MIDI is so important for DOS games and b) correct playback is such a bitch to setup. Both Tim/FS are open source and multi-platform. Would be interesting to read a comment from qbix/wd about that subject.

To conclude: patotheduck, follow robertmo's instructions and you will get MIDI playback in DOSBox through Timidity under Windows 7 (should work in both x32 and x64 versions). Remember to actually start the Timidity application (the thing that creates the tray icon) and select "Start Synthesizer", otherwise all will be silent.