On Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:07:56 +0800 Zhang Weiwu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > I am new to the midi world. I started my trial by listening to a piece > of music from Bach > (Johann_Sebastian_Bach-Christmas_Oratorio_-_Collegium_Vocale_Ghent) and > compare to the same piece of music I downloaded somewhere on the > Internet, the difference is huge, the music placed by timidity is > un-listenable. I can hear the rhythm and no noise but the performance > quality is far from the original record. > > So I tell myself, this must not be it. Maybe midi is better at > performing some recent light music. Maybe I simply didn't get the > well-made files. I also read the midi file quality vary from player A to > player B, some file "optimized" for Windows media player, for example, > may not work very well with a player in Mac OS. So, here is my question: > where can I download the music that shows top performance of timidity? I > wish to listen to it and get an impression to what extent midi and > timidity reaches. > The musical output quality of timidity, or any other software midi renderer, is completely dependent on the quality of the soundfont that is used. With timidity and the proper soundfont, I can easily render Beethoven piano sonatas and Bach organ or harpsichord works that are virtually indistinguishable from human performances. Where to download soundfonts? Good repositories of free fonts are here: http://www.sf2midi.com http://www.hammersound.net http://members.shaw.ca/glitch/sffiles.html http://www.soundfonts.it/?a=soundfonts These fonts are in the sf2 format and timidity has to be configured a little differently to use them. See the README.sf file in the timidity documents directory for the details on how to set up the configuration file to load sf2 fonts. In my experience, solo keyboard works can be rendered with great fidelity using free fonts. Solo woodwind and brass compositions are also able to be faithfully reproduced. Stringed instruments generally tend to be less realistic and thus string quartets or complete symphonic works are not the best material for timidity. I have never used commercial fonts but success may be even greater with these. AK ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's challenge Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great prizes Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ _______________________________________________ Timidity-talk mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/timidity-talk
