[Alsa-user] External MIDI with SB Live Value

[Thomas V. <to...@wa...>]

Hello all-

I've seen posts similar to this but none with the
exact hardware/setup.  I've got an SB Live Value
OEM, so my external MIDI is only through the
joystick port on the card.

Audio out on the card is fine, and timidity is
able to play.  What I really need to do is read
and write MIDI to external devices, and I'm having
problems with that.

I can open /dev/midi for reading, but read calls
hang indefinitely, even though I've got MIDI
devices sending events to the card.

Any and all help or RTFM is appreciated.  I've
read up on the ALSA docs and have surfed Google
for similar setups, but nothing has worked.

Here's my setup:
 Red Hat 7.3 (2.4.18-3 kernel)
 ALSA v0.9.0rc3

%
% cat /proc/modules
snd-pcm-oss            43236   0 (autoclean)
snd-mixer-oss          11072   0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss]
snd-seq-midi            4448   0 (autoclean) (unused)
snd-emu10k1-synth       5344   0 (autoclean)
snd-emux-synth         31548   0 (autoclean) [snd-emu10k1-synth]
snd-seq-midi-emul       6780   0 (autoclean) [snd-emux-synth]
snd-seq-virmidi         4452   0 (autoclean) [snd-emux-synth]
snd-seq-oss            28864   0 (autoclean)
snd-seq-midi-event      5628   0 (autoclean) [snd-seq-midi
snd-seq-virmidi snd-seq-oss]
snd-seq                45548   2 (autoclean) [snd-seq-midi
snd-emux-synth snd-seq-midi-emul snd-seq-virmidi snd-seq-oss
snd-seq-midi-event]
snd-emu10k1            69476   0 (autoclean) [snd-emu10k1-synth]
snd-pcm                77664   0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss snd-emu10k1]
snd-timer              13920   0 (autoclean) [snd-seq snd-pcm]
snd-rawmidi            17184   0 (autoclean) [snd-seq-midi
snd-seq-virmidi snd-emu10k1]
snd-ac97-codec         29872   0 (autoclean) [snd-emu10k1]
snd-hwdep               5024   0 (autoclean) [snd-emu10k1]
snd-seq-device          5612   0 (autoclean) [snd-seq-midi
snd-emu10k1-synth snd-emux-synth snd-seq-oss snd-seq snd-emu10k1
snd-rawmidi]
snd-util-mem            3124   0 (autoclean) [snd-emux-synth
snd-emu10k1]
snd                    37576   0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss
snd-seq-midi snd-emux-synth snd-seq-virmidi snd-seq-oss
snd-seq-midi-event snd-seq snd-emu10k1 snd-pcm snd-timer snd-rawmidi
snd-ac97-codec snd-hwdep snd-seq-device snd-util-mem]
soundcore               6692  10 (autoclean) [snd]
autofs                 12164   0 (autoclean) (unused)

%
% cat /etc/modules.conf
# ALSA portion
alias char-major-116 snd
alias snd-card-0 snd-emu10k1

# module options go here...

# OSS/Free portion
alias char-major-14 soundcore
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0

# card #1 (SoundBlaster Live! Value)
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss

%
% cat /proc/asound/oss/devices
  2: [0- 2]: raw midi
  1:       : sequencer
  8:       : sequencer
 13: [0-13]: raw midi
  0: [0- 0]: mixer
  3: [0- 3]: digital audio
 12: [0-12]: digital audio

%
% cat /proc/asound/oss/sndstat
Sound Driver:3.8.1a-980706 (ALSA v0.9.0rc3 emulation code)
Kernel: Linux <hostname> 2.4.18-3 #1 Thu Apr 18 07:37:53 EDT 2002 i686
Config options: 0

Installed drivers: 
Type 10: ALSA emulation

Card config: 
Sound Blaster Live! at 0xa800, irq 11

Audio devices:
0: EMU10K1 (DUPLEX)

Synth devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Midi devices:
0: EMU10K1 MPU-401 (UART)

Timers:
7: system timer

Mixers:
0: mixer00

%
% cat /proc/asound/seq/drivers
snd-emu10k1-synth,loaded,requested,1
snd-seq-midi,loaded,requested,1
snd-seq-oss,loaded,requested,1

Thanks in advance!

    -Thomas