How to enable midi output in mpd?

[emk2203]

I have a working installation of mpd, mp3, opus, flac etc. play fine.

I have also installed Timidity++ and a soundfont and can play midi files on the system manually with timidity song.mid.

My mpd.conf contains

...
input {
        plugin          "wildmidi"
#       sample_rate     "44100"
#       soundfont       "/usr/share/soundfonts/FluidR3_GM.sf2"
        config_file     "/etc/timidity/timidity.cfg"
}  
...                                 

and I have started the timidity.service via systemctl --user start timidity; a status shows

○ timidity.service - TiMidity++ Daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/timidity.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: inactive (dead)

When I try to listen to a midi song with mpc add song.mid; mpc play the song seems to play according to mpc status, but the only thing I get is silence. Remember: normal songs play, the same song played with timidity plays audible.

I also tried with Fluidsynth; same result.

What do I need to do to debug this further?

[MaxKellermann]

The Timidity daemon is of no use at all for MPD. MPD uses the Timidity library to convert MIDI files to PCM for playback on a regular output, but doesn't use the Timidity daemon. (I have no idea what the Timidity daemon even is.)

Start here: https://www.musicpd.org/help/

[emk2203]

I did, but wanted to get this question out of the way first.

Here the requested information:

mpd --version

Music Player Daemon 0.24.9 (v0.24.9)
Copyright 2003-2007 Warren Dukes <warren.dukes@gmail.com>
Copyright 2008-2025 Max Kellermann <max.kellermann@gmail.com>
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Database plugins:
 simple proxy

Storage plugins:
 local udisks nfs curl

Neighbor plugins:
 udisks

Decoder plugins:
 [mpg123] mp3
 [mad] mp3 mp2
 [vorbis] ogg oga
 [oggflac] ogg oga
 [flac] flac
 [opus] opus ogg oga
 [dsdiff] dff
 [dsf] dsf
 [faad] aac
 [mpcdec] mpc
 [wavpack] wv
 [openmpt] mptm mod s3m xm it 669 amf ams c67 dbm digi dmf dsm dtm far imf ice j2b m15 mdl med mms mt2 mtm nst okt plm psm pt36 ptm sfx sfx2 st26 stk stm stp ult wow gdm mo3 oxm umx xpk ppm mmcmp
 [modplug] 669 amf ams dbm dfm dsm far it med mdl mod mtm mt2 okt s3m stm ult umx xm
 [mikmod] amf dsm far gdm imf it med mod mtm s3m stm stx ult uni xm
 [sidplay] sid psid mus str prg P00
 [wildmidi] mid
 [fluidsynth] mid
 [gme] ay gbs gym hes kss nsf nsfe rsn sap spc vgm vgz
 [ffmpeg] 264 265 266 302 3g2 3gp 4xm 669 722 aa aa3 aac aax abc ac3 ac4 ace acm act adf adp ads adx aea afc aif aiff aix al alias_pix alp amf amr amrnb amrwb ams anm ans apc ape apl apm apng aptx aptxhd apv aqt argo_asf argo_brp argo_cvg art asc asf asf_o ass ast au avc avi avif avr avs avs2 avs3 bcstm bethsoftvid bfi bfstm bin bink binka bit bitpacked bmp_pipe bmv boa bonk brender_pix brstm c2 c93 caf cdata cdg cdxl cgi cif cine codec2raw concat cri_pipe dash dat data daud dav dbm dds_pipe dfa dff dfpwm dif digi dirac diz dmf dnxhd dpx_pipe dsf dsicin dsm dss dst dtk dtm dts dtshd dv dvbsub dvbtxt dvdvideo dxa ea eac3 ec3 evc exr_pipe f32be f32le f4v f64be f64le fap far ffmetadata film_cpk fits flac flic flm flv frm fsb fwse g722 g723_1 g726 g726le g728 g729 gdm gdv gem_pipe genh gif gif_pipe gsm gxf h261 h263 h264 h265 h266 h26l hca hcom hdr_pipe heic heif hevc hls hnm iamf ice ico idcin idf idx iff ifv ilbc image2 image2pipe imf imx ipmovie ipu ircam ism isma ismv iss it itgz itr itz iv8 ivf ivr j2b j2k j2k_pipe jacosub jpeg_pipe jpegls_pipe jpegxl_pipe jpegxs_pipe jv jxl kux kvag laf lc3 lmlm4 loas lrc lvf lxf m15 m2a m4a m4b m4v mac mca mcc mdgz mdl mdr mdz med mgsts microdvd mid mj2 mjpeg mjpg mk3d mka mks mkv mlp mlv mm mmcmp mmf mms mo3 mod mods moflex mov mp2 mp3 mp4 mpa mpc mpc8 mpeg mpegts mpegtsraw mpegvideo mpl2 mpo mptm msbc msf msnwctcp msp mt2 mtaf mtm mtv musx mv mvi mxf mxg nfo nist nsp nst nsv nut nuv obu ogg okt oma omg opus osq paf pam_pipe pbm_pipe pcx_pipe pdv pfm_pipe pgm_pipe pgmyuv_pipe pgx_pipe phm_pipe photocd_pipe pictor_pipe pjs plm pmp png_pipe pp_bnk ppm ppm_pipe psd_pipe psm psp psxstr pt36 ptm pva pvf qcif qcp qdraw_pipe qoa qoi_pipe r3d rco rcv rcwt rgb rka rl2 rm roq rpl rsd rso rt rtp rtsp s16be s24be s24le s32be s32le s337m s3gz s3m s3r s3z sami sap sb sbc sbg scc scd sdns sdp sdr2 sds sdx ser sf sfx sfx2 sga sgi_pipe shn sln smi smk smush sol son sox spdif sph srt ss2 st26 stk stl stm stp str sub sunrast_pipe sup svag svg_pipe svs sw swf tak tco tedcaptions thd thp tiertexseq tiff_pipe tmv tta txd txt ty ty+ u16be u24be u24le u32be u32le ub ul ult umx usm uw v v210 vag vapoursynth vb vbn_pipe vc1 vidc viv vividas vmd voc vpk vqe vqf vql vt vtt vvc w64 wa wav way wc3movie webm webm_dash_manifest webp_pipe webvtt wma wow wsaud wsd wsvqa wtv wv wve xa xbin xbm_pipe xl xm xmd xmgz xmr xmv xmz xpk xpm_pipe xvag xwd_pipe xwma y4m yop yuv yuv10 rtp:// rtsp:// rtsps://
 [sndfile] wav aiff aif au snd paf iff svx sf voc w64 pvf xi htk caf sd2
 [pcm]

Filters:
 libsamplerate soxr

Tag plugins:
 id3tag

Output plugins:
 shout null fifo pipe alsa ao oss openal solaris pipewire pulse jack httpd snapcast recorder

Encoder plugins:
 null vorbis opus lame twolame wave flac

Archive plugins:
 [bz2] bz2
 [zzip] zip
 [iso] iso

Input plugins:
 file archive alsa qobuz curl ffmpeg nfs mms cdio_paranoia

Playlist plugins:
 extm3u m3u pls xspf asx rss flac cue embcue

Protocols:
 file:// alsa:// cdda:// ftp:// ftps:// gopher:// http:// https:// mms:// mmsh:// mmst:// mmsu:// nfs:// qobuz:// rtmp:// rtmpe:// rtmps:// rtmpt:// rtmpte:// rtmpts:// rtp:// rtsp:// rtsps:// scp:// sftp:// smb:// srtp://

Other features:
 avahi dbus udisks epoll icu inotify ipv6 systemd tcp un

/etc/mpd.conf

# See: /usr/share/doc/mpd/mpdconf.example

pid_file                "/run/mpd/mpd.pid"
db_file                 "~/.local/share/mpd/mpd.db"
state_file              "~/.local/state/mpd/mpdstate"
playlist_directory      "~/.local/share/mpd/playlists"

music_directory         "/srv/media/Music"

#bind_to_address                "localhost"
bind_to_address         "0.0.0.0"
port                    "6600"

decoder {
        plugin          "wildmidi"
#       sample_rate     "44100"
#       soundfont       "/usr/share/soundfonts/FluidR3_GM.sf2"
        config_file     "/etc/timidity/timidity.cfg"
}                                   


audio_output {
        type          "alsa"
        name          "HDA Intel PCH"
        # Optional
        # device        "iec958"
        #mixer_control "PCM"
}

audio_output {
    type        "httpd"
    name        "NUC6CAYH MPD"
#    encoder        "opus"        # optional, vorbis or lame
    port        "8080"
    bind_to_address    "0.0.0.0"        # optional, IPv4 or IPv6
#   quality        "5.0"            # do not define if bitrate is defined
    bitrate        "128"            # do not define if quality is defined
    format              "44100:16:2"
    always_on           "yes"
    tags                "yes"
    max_clients         "0"            # optional 0=no limit
}

filesystem_charset      "UTF-8"
restore_paused          "yes"

#default_permissions "read"
#local_permissions "read,add,control,admin"
#password "xxxxxx@read,add,control,admin"

log_file               "~/.local/share/mpd/mpd.log"
log_level              "verbose"

Commenting out the audio output "httpd" doesn't make a difference, midi files stay silent.

This is how it looks when timidity plays an audible file

timidity /srv/media/Music/_Transit/soihdut.mid 

Requested buffer size 32768, fragment size 8192
ALSA pcm 'default' set buffer size 32768, period size 8192 bytes
Playing /srv/media/Music/_Transit/soihdut.mid
MIDI file: /srv/media/Music/_Transit/soihdut.mid
Format: 1  Tracks: 7  Divisions: 240
Track name: Kitara 1
Track name: Kitara 2
Track name: Kitara 3
Track name: Kitara 4
Track name: Kitara 5
Track name: Basso
Playing time: ~94 seconds
Notes cut: 0
Notes lost totally: 0

mpd.log

2026-04-22T15:29:03 event: RTIOThread could not get realtime scheduling, continuing anyway: sched_setscheduler failed: Operation not permitted
2026-04-22T15:29:03 state_file: Loading state file /home/emk2203/.local/state/mpd/mpdstate
2026-04-22T15:29:30 client: [127.0.0.1:33866] client connected
2026-04-22T15:29:30 client: [127.0.0.1:33866] process command list
2026-04-22T15:29:30 client: process command "add \"_Transit/soihdut.mid\""
2026-04-22T15:29:30 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T15:29:30 client: [127.0.0.1:33866] process command list returned 0
2026-04-22T15:29:30 client: [127.0.0.1:33866] disconnected
2026-04-22T15:29:30 client: [127.0.0.1:33880] client connected
2026-04-22T15:29:30 client: [127.0.0.1:33880] process command "play"
2026-04-22T15:29:30 playlist: play 0:"_Transit/soihdut.mid"
2026-04-22T15:29:30 client: [127.0.0.1:33880] command returned 0
2026-04-22T15:29:30 playlist: queue song 1:"_Transit/soihdut.mid"
2026-04-22T15:29:30 client: [127.0.0.1:33880] process command list
2026-04-22T15:29:30 client: process command "status"
2026-04-22T15:29:30 decoder_thread: probing plugin wildmidi
2026-04-22T15:29:30 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T15:29:30 client: process command "currentsong"
2026-04-22T15:29:30 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T15:29:30 client: [127.0.0.1:33880] process command list returned 0
2026-04-22T15:29:30 decoder: audio_format=48000:16:2, seekable=true
2026-04-22T15:29:30 client: [127.0.0.1:33880] disconnected
2026-04-22T15:29:30 output: OutputThread could not get realtime scheduling, continuing anyway: sched_setscheduler failed: Operation not permitted
2026-04-22T15:29:30 output: OutputThread could not get realtime scheduling, continuing anyway: sched_setscheduler failed: Operation not permitted
2026-04-22T15:29:30 alsa_output: opened "default" type=PLUG
2026-04-22T15:29:30 alsa_output: buffer: size=64..1048576 time=1333..21845334
2026-04-22T15:29:30 alsa_output: period: size=32..524288 time=666..10922667
2026-04-22T15:29:30 alsa_output: default period_time = buffer_time/4 = 500000/4 = 125000
2026-04-22T15:29:30 alsa_output: format=S16_LE (Signed 16 bit Little Endian)
2026-04-22T15:29:30 alsa_output: buffer_size=24000 period_size=6000
2026-04-22T15:29:30 output: opened "HDA Intel PCH" (alsa) audio_format=48000:16:2
2026-04-22T15:29:30 output: opened "NUC6CAYH MPD" (httpd) audio_format=44100:f:2
2026-04-22T15:29:30 libsamplerate: setting samplerate conversion ratio to 0.92
2026-04-22T15:29:30 output: converting in=48000:16:2 -> f=48000:16:2 -> out=44100:f:2
2026-04-22T15:29:40 client: [127.0.0.1:46326] client connected
2026-04-22T15:29:40 client: [127.0.0.1:46326] process command list
2026-04-22T15:29:40 client: process command "status"
2026-04-22T15:29:40 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T15:29:40 client: process command "currentsong"
2026-04-22T15:29:40 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T15:29:40 client: [127.0.0.1:46326] process command list returned 0
2026-04-22T15:29:40 client: [127.0.0.1:46326] disconnected
2026-04-22T15:30:19 decoder_thread: probing plugin wildmidi
2026-04-22T15:30:19 decoder: audio_format=48000:16:2, seekable=true
2026-04-22T15:31:00 alsa_output: Decoder is too slow; playing silence to avoid xrun
2026-04-22T15:31:01 player: played "_Transit/soihdut.mid"
2026-04-22T15:31:30 state_file: Saving state file /home/emk2203/.local/state/mpd/mpdstate
2026-04-22T15:31:34 client: [127.0.0.1:41180] client connected
2026-04-22T15:31:34 client: [127.0.0.1:41180] process command "stop"
2026-04-22T15:31:34 playlist: stop
2026-04-22T15:31:34 player: played "_Transit/soihdut.mid"
2026-04-22T15:31:34 output: closed "HDA Intel PCH" (alsa)
2026-04-22T15:31:34 client: [127.0.0.1:41180] command returned 0
2026-04-22T15:31:34 client: [127.0.0.1:41180] process command list
2026-04-22T15:31:34 client: process command "status"
2026-04-22T15:31:34 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T15:31:34 client: process command "currentsong"
2026-04-22T15:31:34 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T15:31:34 client: [127.0.0.1:41180] process command list returned 0
2026-04-22T15:31:34 client: [127.0.0.1:41180] disconnected
2026-04-22T15:31:42 client: [127.0.0.1:41188] client connected
2026-04-22T15:31:42 client: [127.0.0.1:41188] process command "clear"
2026-04-22T15:31:42 client: [127.0.0.1:41188] command returned 0
2026-04-22T15:31:42 client: [127.0.0.1:41188] process command list
2026-04-22T15:31:42 client: process command "status"
2026-04-22T15:31:42 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T15:31:42 client: process command "currentsong"
2026-04-22T15:31:42 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T15:31:42 client: [127.0.0.1:41188] process command list returned 0
2026-04-22T15:31:42 client: [127.0.0.1:41188] disconnected
2026-04-22T15:33:34 state_file: Saving state file /home/emk2203/.local/state/mpd/mpdstate

For me, it's not immediately apparent what went wrong.

[MaxKellermann]

I see that MPD successfully plays on the two outputs you configured: the first one is an ALSA software plugin and the other one is a HTTP stream.
Note though that you're using WildMidi, not Timidity, to decode MIDI files!
On which of the two outputs did you get silence?
What does the log look like when you hear actual music?
What is connected to your sound card? Is it a digital output, or an analog audio cable?

Since I do not know what this ALSA software plugin is you told MPD to play to, I suggest you configure an ALSA HW device instead. Try aplay -L to get a list of available ALSA devices.

[emk2203]

You can disregard the HTTP stream for now; this is more of a potential option. I tried commenting it out with no change to the issue at hand. The main use case is playout to the digital output.

I have an /etc/asound.conf file:

pcm.!default {
        type hw
        card 0
}

ctl.!default {
        type hw           
        card 0
}

pcm.!default {
        type plug
        slave.pcm "iec958:CARD=PCH,DEV=0"
}

and also pipewire installed. This is enough to play with mpg123 and timidity to the digital output.

When I do aplay -l, I get:

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC283 Analog [ALC283 Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 1: ALC283 Digital [ALC283 Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

There is no other output than the digital output. Is the default entry in asound.conf correct? It works, although the device numbers are different between aplay -l and aplay -L. The relevant output of aplay -L would be

iec958:CARD=PCH,DEV=0
    HDA Intel PCH, ALC283 Digital
    IEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio Output

I tried to play midi with wildmidi, and this also stays silent:

wildmidi -c /etc/timidity/timidity.cfg /srv/media/Music/sirtaki.mid

WildMidi 0.4.6 Open Source Midi Sequencer
Copyright (C) WildMIDI Developers 2001-2016

WildMidi comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under
the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License version 3.
For more information see COPYING

Report bugs to https://github.com/Mindwerks/wildmidi/issues
WildMIDI homepage is at https://github.com/Mindwerks/wildmidi

Initializing Sound System (alsa)
Initializing libWildMidi 0.4.6

 +  Volume up        e  Better resampling    n  Next Midi
 -  Volume down      l  Log volume           q  Quit
 ,  1sec Seek Back   r  Reverb               .  1sec Seek Forward
 m  save as midi     p  Pause On/Off

Playing sirtaki.mid 
[Approx  3m 47s Total]
q                             [    ] [100] [ 0m 58s Processed] [25%] /  
Shutting down sound output

When I tried fluidsynth as an alternative, it also was silent in mpd. There seems to be a difference between timidity and wildmidi (and fluidsynth). When I try fluidsynth via CLI, I also get silence:

fluidsynth /srv/media/Music/sirtaki.mid
ALSA lib pcm.c:2722:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) [error.pcm] Unknown PCM cards.pcm.rear
ALSA lib pcm.c:2722:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) [error.pcm] Unknown PCM cards.pcm.center_lfe
ALSA lib pcm.c:2722:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) [error.pcm] Unknown PCM cards.pcm.side
ALSA lib pcm_route.c:886:(find_matching_chmap) [error.pcm] Found no matching channel map
ALSA lib pcm_route.c:886:(find_matching_chmap) [error.pcm] Found no matching channel map
ALSA lib pcm_route.c:886:(find_matching_chmap) [error.pcm] Found no matching channel map
ALSA lib pcm_route.c:886:(find_matching_chmap) [error.pcm] Found no matching channel map
FluidSynth runtime version 2.5.3
Copyright (C) 2000-2026 Peter Hanappe and others.
Distributed under the LGPL license.
SoundFont(R) is a registered trademark of Creative Technology Ltd.

fluidsynth: warning: Failed to set thread to high priority
Type 'help' for help topics.

@> fluidsynth: warning: Failed to set thread to high priority
fluidsynth: Ignoring unrecognized meta event type 0x21
fluidsynth: Ignoring unrecognized meta event type 0x21
fluidsynth: warning: No preset found on channel 0 [bank=0 prog=0]
fluidsynth: warning: No preset found on channel 1 [bank=0 prog=32]
fluidsynth: warning: No preset found on channel 2 [bank=0 prog=24]
fluidsynth: warning: No preset found on channel 3 [bank=0 prog=25]
fluidsynth: warning: No preset found on channel 4 [bank=0 prog=25]
fluidsynth: warning: No preset found on channel 9 [bank=128 prog=48]

My /etc/conf.d/fluidsynth is

# Mandatory parameters (uncomment and edit)
SOUND_FONT=/usr/share/soundfonts/FluidR3_GM.sf2

# Additional optional parameters (may be useful, see 'man fluidsynth' for further info)
OTHER_OPTS='-a alsa -m alsa_seq -p FluidSynth\ GM -r 44100'

So, both wildmidi and fluidsynth won't play sound, with or without mpd. This seems to be in need of a general change.

How would I choose a hardware alsa device? I thought that having the /etc/asound.conf takes care of that. Uncommenting the line with device "iec958:CARD=0,DEV=0" didn't help.

[MaxKellermann]

Since both Fluidsynth and Wildmidi were unable to play your MIDI file, the best chance to get this working is to disable those two decoder plugins in MPD and use MPD's Timidity plugin instead.

But using an ALSA HW device is a good idea in any case. I can't assist with asound.conf - this file exists only to set up virtual software devices and is irrelevant for HW devices. You can do anything you want if you know what you're doing - but if you want to be sure that ALSA plugins aren't messing with your sound, use HW directly. I told you how to get a list of ALSA HW devices, and it's up to you to choose the one that works; I simply don't have any information about your setup, your hardware and about your list of HW devices. (You didn't even answer all of my questions. You make it difficult to help you.)

[emk2203]

It seems I forgot to add the log with one midi and one mp3 file playing (or not). Sorry for that. Is there anything else I forgot? I thought I answered all your questions.

2026-04-22T16:15:03 event: RTIOThread could not get realtime scheduling, continuing anyway: sched_setscheduler failed: Operation not permitted
2026-04-22T16:15:03 state_file: Loading state file /home/emk2203/.local/state/mpd/mpdstate
2026-04-22T16:15:22 client: [127.0.0.1:37588] client connected
2026-04-22T16:15:22 client: [127.0.0.1:37588] process command list
2026-04-22T16:15:22 client: process command "add \"_Transit/soihdut.mid\""
2026-04-22T16:15:22 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:15:22 client: [127.0.0.1:37588] process command list returned 0
2026-04-22T16:15:22 client: [127.0.0.1:37588] disconnected
2026-04-22T16:15:22 client: [127.0.0.1:37592] client connected
2026-04-22T16:15:22 client: [127.0.0.1:37592] process command "play"
2026-04-22T16:15:22 playlist: play 0:"_Transit/soihdut.mid"
2026-04-22T16:15:22 decoder_thread: probing plugin wildmidi
2026-04-22T16:15:22 client: [127.0.0.1:37592] command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:15:22 client: [127.0.0.1:37592] process command list
2026-04-22T16:15:22 client: process command "status"
2026-04-22T16:15:22 decoder: audio_format=48000:16:2, seekable=true
2026-04-22T16:15:22 output: OutputThread could not get realtime scheduling, continuing anyway: sched_setscheduler failed: Operation not permitted
2026-04-22T16:15:22 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:15:22 client: process command "currentsong"
2026-04-22T16:15:22 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:15:22 client: [127.0.0.1:37592] process command list returned 0
2026-04-22T16:15:22 client: [127.0.0.1:37592] disconnected
2026-04-22T16:15:22 alsa_output: opened "default" type=PLUG
2026-04-22T16:15:22 alsa_output: buffer: size=64..1048576 time=1333..21845334
2026-04-22T16:15:22 alsa_output: period: size=32..524288 time=666..10922667
2026-04-22T16:15:22 alsa_output: default period_time = buffer_time/4 = 500000/4 = 125000
2026-04-22T16:15:22 alsa_output: format=S16_LE (Signed 16 bit Little Endian)
2026-04-22T16:15:22 alsa_output: buffer_size=24000 period_size=6000
2026-04-22T16:15:22 output: opened "HDA Intel PCH" (alsa) audio_format=48000:16:2
2026-04-22T16:16:52 player: played "_Transit/soihdut.mid"
2026-04-22T16:16:52 playlist: stop
2026-04-22T16:16:52 output: closed "HDA Intel PCH" (alsa)
2026-04-22T16:17:22 state_file: Saving state file /home/emk2203/.local/state/mpd/mpdstate
2026-04-22T16:17:40 client: [127.0.0.1:53902] client connected
2026-04-22T16:17:40 client: [127.0.0.1:53902] process command "clear"
2026-04-22T16:17:40 client: [127.0.0.1:53902] command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:17:40 client: [127.0.0.1:53902] process command list
2026-04-22T16:17:40 client: process command "status"
2026-04-22T16:17:40 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:17:40 client: process command "currentsong"
2026-04-22T16:17:40 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:17:40 client: [127.0.0.1:53902] process command list returned 0
2026-04-22T16:17:40 client: [127.0.0.1:53902] disconnected
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: [127.0.0.1:49006] client connected
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: [127.0.0.1:49006] process command "clear"
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: [127.0.0.1:49006] command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: [127.0.0.1:49006] process command list
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: process command "status"
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: process command "currentsong"
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: [127.0.0.1:49006] process command list returned 0
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: [127.0.0.1:49006] disconnected
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: [127.0.0.1:49016] client connected
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: [127.0.0.1:49016] process command list
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: process command "add \"Aramzamzam.mp3\""
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: [127.0.0.1:49016] process command list returned 0
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: [127.0.0.1:49016] disconnected
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: [127.0.0.1:49022] client connected
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: [127.0.0.1:49022] process command "play"
2026-04-22T16:17:56 playlist: play 0:"Aramzamzam.mp3"
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: [127.0.0.1:49022] command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:17:56 decoder_thread: probing plugin mpg123
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: [127.0.0.1:49022] process command list
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: process command "status"
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: process command "currentsong"
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: [127.0.0.1:49022] process command list returned 0
2026-04-22T16:17:56 decoder: audio_format=32000:16:2, seekable=true
2026-04-22T16:17:56 client: [127.0.0.1:49022] disconnected
2026-04-22T16:17:57 alsa_output: opened "default" type=PLUG
2026-04-22T16:17:57 alsa_output: buffer: size=21..349525 time=656..10922657
2026-04-22T16:17:57 alsa_output: period: size=10..174763 time=333..5461334
2026-04-22T16:17:57 alsa_output: default period_time = buffer_time/4 = 500000/4 = 125000
2026-04-22T16:17:57 alsa_output: format=S16_LE (Signed 16 bit Little Endian)
2026-04-22T16:17:57 alsa_output: buffer_size=16000 period_size=4000
2026-04-22T16:17:57 output: opened "HDA Intel PCH" (alsa) audio_format=32000:16:2
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: [127.0.0.1:56828] client connected
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: [127.0.0.1:56828] process command "stop"
2026-04-22T16:18:14 playlist: stop
2026-04-22T16:18:14 player: played "Aramzamzam.mp3"
2026-04-22T16:18:14 output: closed "HDA Intel PCH" (alsa)
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: [127.0.0.1:56828] command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: [127.0.0.1:56828] process command list
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: process command "status"
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: process command "currentsong"
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: [127.0.0.1:56828] process command list returned 0
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: [127.0.0.1:56828] disconnected
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: [127.0.0.1:56830] client connected
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: [127.0.0.1:56830] process command "clear"
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: [127.0.0.1:56830] command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: [127.0.0.1:56830] process command list
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: process command "status"
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: process command "currentsong"
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: command returned 0
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: [127.0.0.1:56830] process command list returned 0
2026-04-22T16:18:14 client: [127.0.0.1:56830] disconnected

Also, I am confused about two things.

What is the timidity plugin? It's not mentioned in the manual, a search for timidity yielded only the config entries for the wildmidi plugin.

Secondly, is the uncommenting of the device line in the mpd.conf file enough? I posted my aplay -l as the first thing in the answer before. I can use

audio_output {
        type          "alsa"
        name          "PCH"
        # Optional
        device        "hw:0,1"
        mixer_control "PCM"
}

which works, but has no change for the issue. Since neither wildmidi nor fluidsynth work from the CLI, using timidity as a plugin would be the best bet. Can you point me to a working config for it? Just using

decoder {
        plugin "timidity"
}

isn't enough, I tried and got no sound.

[borine]

wildmidi needs a different config from timidity. Try:

wildmidi -c /etc/wildmidi/wildmidi.cfg file.mid

If that works, then use in mpd.conf:

decoder {
        plugin        "wildmidi"
        config_file "/etc/wildmidi/wildmidi.cfg"
}
audio_output {
        type          "alsa"
        name          "HDA Intel PCH"
        device        "iec958"
}

FYI the ALSA device iec958 is a hardware device, but it sets up the S/PDIFF interface parameters appropriately before starting the stream, which the hw device does not do. You do not need plug with mpd.

[emk2203]

Thanks. That was sound advice to set up the output device, with the background information needed.

Regarding the setup of wildmidi.cfg, I used the suggested default from man wildmidi.cfg in ~/.config/wildmidi/wildmidi.cfg, commenting out the gravis directory and using /etc/wildmidi/wildmidi.cfg:

# dir ~/guspats/
source /etc/wildmidi/wildmidi.cfg
bank 0
0 acpiano.pat amp=110 env_time4=300
1 brpiano.pat amp=100
drumset 0
25 snarerol keep=env amp=225 note=60
26 snap	note=65

and wildmidi's source code for the default wildmidi.cfg in /etc/wildmidi/. This contains a reference to a freepats directory which doesn't exist after installing freepats, only a soundfont gets installed in /usr/share/soundfonts. I changed this reference to /usr/share/soundfonts. The Gravis Ultrasound directory is also not existing; is it needed? And is it correct to put the local config in ~/.config/wildmidi?

wildmidi with your suggestion of -c /etc/wildmidi/wildmidi.cfg is still silent, as is -c ~/.config/wildmidi/wildmidi.cfg.

[borine]

My point is that mpd uses libwildmidi, so for that to work you must first configure libwildmidi correctly for your system. If the wildmidi demo program is not working then clearly libwildmidi is not correctly configured. This is the MPD project repository; wildmidi is off-topic here. Please seek help from your distribution of from the wildmidi project. When you have libwildmidi correctly configured then put the path to the config file in mpd.conf and it should "just work".