XP Pro MIDI Files

Using XP Pro. My audio CD's, mp3's and windows sounds all play ok but not any midi files. I have been to windows media player and ticked the midi box and Sounds and Audio Devices look correct for midi files.

 

Do you get any error messages when opening a midi file in media player ?

Have you tried to play the midi file in another player like WinAmp ?

 

No error messages and have tried four other players. Windows media player shows all the signs of music playing, progress slider moving etc, but no sound.

 

And none of the 4 other players is able to give any midi sound either right ?

I'm using a SB Live! in Win2k, so maybe the names differs a little.

In my Sound Options (Double clicking the speaker in the system tray) I have a slider called "SW Synth" and if I turn it all the way down then I get the same behavior as you

In my Audio Options (Sounds and Multimedia in Control Panel) I have a section called "MIDI Music Playback" where I have the preferred device "Microsoft GS Wavetable" selected. If select my soundcard's MIDI-device then I get the same behavior as you, probably because of bad drivers, but I'm not a Midi guy.

 

Exactly the same setup as you snakefoot, except I'm XP Pro. Same results too. Is that bad drivers a guess or do you know for sure. The system tells me that all is working correctly.
Only swopped computer this week from '98 to XP Pro and never had any problems with '98.

 

The "bad drivers" thing is a comment about my own install where I only get Midi sound when I use Microsoft's Midi-Device.

There are two types of SB Live! drivers:
1. The old ones, which enables HW acceleration, but loads all kind of crap background applications.(F.ex. DevLdr32.exe and CTHelper.exe).

2. The new unified ones (Audigy/SBLive) which disables HW acceleration on SB Live!, but doesn't load any background applications

Usually I have a combination install of these two drivers where I get the HW Acceleration but get rid of the background applications.
But I have sadly enough messed around with my install and lost the HW acceleration (Too lazy to get around to fix it again)

Are you using the SB Live! drivers from Creative or the default ones which came with WinXP ?

 

The default ones which came with my computer.

 

Depending on your wish to experiment then you could try to visit the website of the soundcard creator and download the drivers which matches the soundcard model you have.

Or you can wait for someone else to come up with a good idea, or just live without midi sound.