< Back to index
TiMidity++, originally and still frequently informally titled TiMidity, is a software synthesizer that is able to convert MIDI from various formats, and some other file types as well, to PCM audio, either rendering to soundcard in real time or storing it to file (for example, .wav file). It is distributed under GNU GPL. It primarily runs under GNU/Linux and other free *NIX clones. It also runs under Microsoft Windows.
TiMidity++ requires Gravis Ultrasound patches or sf2 SoundFonts to be used as the sounds. While the existing documentation unfortunately makes it sound as if TiMidity++ should be used with Gravis, the much more widely available sf2 fonts are easy to use with it.
TiMidity++ can read a number of file types and devices, primarily the ordinary .mid files, but also .kar (MIDI with Karaoke lyrics), Recomposer files, and Amiga MOD files. It is one of the few programs which can read MIDI .mid files using the MIDI Tuning Standard. Files can be fetched from standard input, files, archive files, or from the network (over HTTP, FTP or NNTP).
The program has various interfaces, including but not limited to bare text, ncurses, X11 (GTK+ and Tk) and even an Emacs interface that shows played notes in real time.
The original version of TiMidity was written in 1995 by Tuukka Toivonen. After he stopped updating the program, Masanao Izumo and other contributors started to work on the program, renaming it to TiMidity++.
This entry uses material from from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. Disclaimer.