Very Odd MIDI Error

General
1

I am running on Parabola GNU + Linux which is based on arch. I am running in KDE Plasma.

MIDI playing is currently broken for me. It broke a day or so ago. That said, specifically, I mean that using an instrument graphic menu to play a MIDI is broken. MIDI playback, as in being able to hear other people play MIDI files, works perfectly fine. I just can’t play them myself anymore.

To also help, MIDI playback on my OS itself is still fine as I can still play on VLC. I was able to play music just fine in Space Station 14 a day or so ago; so whatever changed was recent.

 

Thank you for your time.

2

if you recently updated check if libfluidsynth.so.2 (iirc) is still fine

3

Interesting. What is happening exactly? When you use an instrument, does the little dialog appear? If so, what happens when you click “Play MIDI File”? Does it open your file browser?

I’m on MX (Debian based), and midi is completely functional for me. However, I made a test and came across what may or may not be a lead. Using qjackctl to see midi connections, nothing shows up when I play midi files in SS14, but things do show up when I play live (using vkeybd).

Have you tried using a virtual keyboard? Try it with vkeybd if it’s in your repos. Just make sure you only start vkeyb AFTER you click “MIDI Input” ingame. If that doesn’t work, try taking a look at connections with qjackctl (there should be a button named Graphs or something similar).

4

12 hours ago, Del said:

Interesting. What is happening exactly? When you use an instrument, does the little dialog appear? If so, what happens when you click “Play MIDI File”? Does it open your file browser?

I’m on MX (Debian based), and midi is completely functional for me. However, I made a test and came across what may or may not be a lead. Using qjackctl to see midi connections, nothing shows up when I play midi files in SS14, but things do show up when I play live (using vkeybd).

Have you tried using a virtual keyboard? Try it with vkeybd if it’s in your repos. Just make sure you only start vkeyb AFTER you click “MIDI Input” ingame. If that doesn’t work, try taking a look at connections with qjackctl (there should be a button named Graphs or something similar).

So, this is what is happening. Everything looks like it should work, visually. I go to a music instrument, I click on it, the graphic dialogue appears. I click Play MIDI File. An X graphic window pops up. I navigate to the MIDI file that I want to play. I click open file.

Up until a couple days ago, this all worked fine and the file would start to play like it’s supposed to. Now, no music plays. (The stop button also does not become active as no music is playing.) I have no idea what’s happening for sure. But, if I were to take a guess, it’s like something in the background is not passing my MIDI file selection from the X Window to Space Station 14. The X Windows goes away like it always did before. But, no music plays.

What’s really odd about this is that if someone else is playing music next to me, I can hear their music just fine. So, Space Station 14 is properly accessing Fluidsynth and Soundfontfluid to play the MIDI file. I just can’t pass a music selection to Space Station 14.

As to why it’s working fine for you, I think it’s because you’re on a debian based system. Sense Parabola is based on arch, it is also a rolling release. This means that the newest version of software is rolled out as soon as it’s ready. Whereas debian is a point release; meaning they update the operating system on a release schedule. The idea of a rolling release is that we get the newest versions of the software as quickly as possible. This is a pro and con system compared to a point release. The pro is that we’re super up to date. The con is that sometimes things update ‘too quickly’ and other software doesn’t have time to update in step with changes that were just made. The pro of a point release is that their supposed to take updating things in step into mind. The con is that the software can sometimes be months to years out of date.

A similar situation had happened to me before where MIDI playback was busted for a little while. From what I could gather, Fluidsynth changed something and it took a little while to get playback working again.

I tried to download vkeybd but nothing came down. It might be under a different name in my repo; or sometimes it might be outside my repo.

5

I use arch and it works on my machine :face_with_monocle:

6

have console open (`) and see if any errors pop up after selecting a midi

7

1 hour ago, Resurrect said:

I use arch and it works on my machine :face_with_monocle:

That is even more odd, then. I just assumed it broke from an update (MIDI playback broke entirely for me for several weeks once because of an update.)

What should I try as a solution? Do you think it’s something with Fluidsynth, X Windows, or Space Station 14?

It just strikes me as odd to think that it would be Space Station 14 or Fluidsynth when Space Station 14 is still rendering MIDI music that other players are playing around me and I can still play MIDIS with VLC.

To me, it really feels like X is now failing to pass my MIDI selection to Space Station 14. The X Window pops up, I select the MIDI file, and then nothing plays. But, if someone is standing next to me playing the piano (for example) I hear it just fine.

8

The problem is fixed now.

I reinstalled fluidsynth soundfont-fluid xorg Space Station 14 Engine and Space Station 14 Data. Not sure which reinstall fixed the problem but it works now after I reinstalled those.

I also think it might have been a permissions issue from where I copied my backup MIDI files over from my CD.

Whatever it was, MIDI playback works fine for me now. Thank you everyone for your help.