Re: [fluid-dev] fluidsynth 2.1.1 not creating a server

[Knute Snortum]

Thanks Marcus,

I think I will just use the shell script solution you proposed, since
I don't use Frescobaldi all the time.  Thanks again for all your help!

---
Knute Snortum
(via Gmail)

On Sun, Aug 9, 2020 at 4:27 AM Marcus Weseloh <marcus@weseloh.cc> wrote:
>
> Hi Knute,
>
> as your Ubuntu is using pulseaudio as sound server by default, alsa is
> configured to use pulseaudio as the output "sink". So if you want to
> keep the default system configuration of your ubuntu, then it makes
> sense to use the FluidSynths pulseaudio driver as alsa will simply
> forward all audio to pulseaudio anyway.
>
> That the FluidSynth user service works fine when started manually but
> breaks when enabled and executed at login seems to indicate a timing
> problem. I suspect that pulseaudio just takes a little too long to
> start accepting connections. So you could try to add a little delay to
> your unit file, maybe with an ExecStartPre command:
>
> [Service]
> ExecStartPre=/bin/sleep 10
>
> Please bear in mind that once started, FluidSynth is always "active",
> even when you don't send MIDI events to it. So when you start it
> automatically at boot, then it will constantly eat some CPU cycles and
> also cause pulseaudio to have a higher load. So when you need it
> mainly as a synth for Frescobaldi, another solution could be to simply
> create a shell script that starts fluidsynth and frescobaldi together.
>
> Cheers
> Marcus
>
> Am Fr., 7. Aug. 2020 um 17:33 Uhr schrieb Knute Snortum <ksnortum@gmail.com>:
> >
> > Thanks, Marcus.
> >
> > I disabled the system config for fluidsynth and enabled the user
> > config.  I took PulseAudio out of the config and just used ALSA.
> > Status looks good and MIDI plays from Frescobaldi when I start the
> > process "manually" after boot.  But when I reboot, I get no MIDI
> > output and systemctl --user static fluidsynth produces this:
> >
> > fluidsynth.service - FluidSynth launched in server mode
> >      Loaded: loaded
> > (/home/knute/.config/systemd/user/fluidsynth.service; enabled; vendor
> > preset: enabled)
> >      Active: active (running) since Fri 2020-08-07 08:18:57 PDT; 1min 18s 
> > ago
> >    Main PID: 1810 (fluidsynth)
> >      CGroup: 
> > /user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/fluidsynth.service
> >              └─1810 /usr/bin/fluidsynth -a alsa -m alsa_seq -i -l -s
> > -p FluidSynth /usr/share/sounds/sf2/FluidR3_GM.sf2
> >
> > Aug 07 08:18:57 knute-NUC7PJYH systemd[1798]: Started FluidSynth
> > launched in server mode.
> > Aug 07 08:18:57 knute-NUC7PJYH fluidsynth[1810]: fluidsynth: warning:
> > Failed to set thread to high priority
> > Aug 07 08:19:27 knute-NUC7PJYH fluidsynth[1810]: ALSA lib
> > pulse.c:242:(pulse_connect) PulseAudio: Unable to connect: Timeout
> > Aug 07 08:19:27 knute-NUC7PJYH fluidsynth[1810]: fluidsynth: error:
> > Failed to open the "default" audio device
> > Aug 07 08:19:27 knute-NUC7PJYH fluidsynth[1810]: Failed to create the
> > audio driver
> >
> > Any ideas why ALSA is trying to connect to PulseAudio?  Is there some
> > other way for me to start FluidSynth at boot time?
> >
> > ---
> > Knute Snortum
> > (via Gmail)
> >
> > On Thu, Aug 6, 2020 at 3:21 PM Marcus Weseloh <marcus@weseloh.cc> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi Knute,
> > >
> > > you say that you used a user unit file file in .config/systemd/user/,
> > > but the output from the status command is a report from a system unit
> > > file in /lib/systemd/system/fluidsynth.service.
> > >
> > > If you want to use user-unit files, you need to prefix all systemctl
> > > commands with --user. So you could try the following:
> > >
> > > First make sure your system-wide fluidsynth unit is stopped:
> > > $ sudo systemctl stop fluidsynth
> > >
> > > Then reload your user-systemd just to be on the safe side:
> > > $ systemctl --user daemon-reload
> > >
> > > Then try to activate your user-unit and check it's status:
> > > $ systemctl --user start fluidsynth
> > > $ systemctl --user status fluidsynth
> > >
> > > Cheers
> > > Marcus
> > >
> > >
> > > Am Do., 6. Aug. 2020 um 23:08 Uhr schrieb Knute Snortum 
> > > <ksnortum@gmail.com>:
> > > >
> > > > Thanks, Ceresa, I read that whole thread but it doesn't seem to apply
> > > > to my situation.
> > > >
> > > > I am on Ubuntu 20.04, using systemd now to try to start FluidSynth.  I
> > > > learned that PulseAudio won't start as root, so I added my service to
> > > > ~/.config/systemd/user.  It looks like this:
> > > >
> > > > [Unit]
> > > > Description=FluidSynth launched in server mode
> > > > After=sound.target
> > > >
> > > > [Service]
> > > > ExecStart=/usr/bin/fluidsynth -a pulseaudio -m alsa_seq -i -l -s -p
> > > > FluidSynth /usr/share/sounds/sf2/FluidR3_GM.sf2
> > > >
> > > > [Install]
> > > > WantedBy=default.target
> > > >
> > > > But when I do a systemctl status fluidsynth, I see this:
> > > >
> > > > fluidsynth.service - FluidSynth
> > > >      Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/fluidsynth.service; enabled;
> > > > vendor preset: enabled)
> > > >      Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Thu 2020-08-06 08:47:37
> > > > PDT; 5h 6min ago
> > > >     Process: 838 ExecStart=/usr/bin/fluidsynth -a pulseaudio -m
> > > > alsa_seq /usr/share/sounds/sf2/FluidR3_GM.sf2 (code=exited,
> > > > status=255/EXCEPTION)
> > > >    Main PID: 838 (code=exited, status=255/EXCEPTION)
> > > >
> > > > Aug 06 08:47:36 knute-NUC7PJYH systemd[1]: Started FluidSynth.
> > > > Aug 06 08:47:37 knute-NUC7PJYH fluidsynth[838]: fluidsynth: error:
> > > > Failed to create PulseAudio connection
> > > > Aug 06 08:47:37 knute-NUC7PJYH fluidsynth[838]: Failed to create the
> > > > audio driver
> > > > Aug 06 08:47:37 knute-NUC7PJYH fluidsynth[838]: FluidSynth runtime 
> > > > version 2.1.1
> > > > Aug 06 08:47:37 knute-NUC7PJYH fluidsynth[838]: Copyright (C)
> > > > 2000-2020 Peter Hanappe and others.
> > > > Aug 06 08:47:37 knute-NUC7PJYH fluidsynth[838]: Distributed under the
> > > > LGPL license.
> > > > Aug 06 08:47:37 knute-NUC7PJYH fluidsynth[838]: SoundFont(R) is a
> > > > registered trademark of E-mu Systems, Inc.
> > > > Aug 06 08:47:37 knute-NUC7PJYH systemd[1]: fluidsynth.service: Main
> > > > process exited, code=exited, status=255/EXCEPTION
> > > > Aug 06 08:47:37 knute-NUC7PJYH systemd[1]: fluidsynth.service: Failed
> > > > with result 'exit-code'.
> > > >
> > > > Any ideas why the PulseAudio connection fails?
> > > >
> > > > ---
> > > > Knute Snortum
> > > > (via Gmail)
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > ---
> > > > Knute Snortum
> > > > (via Gmail)
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Wed, Aug 5, 2020 at 2:41 PM Ceresa Jean-Jacques
> > > > <jean-jacques.ceresa@orange.fr> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Hi,
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > >How would you start FluidSynth at startup automatically? -
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Here possible solution.
> > > > >
> > > > > https://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/fluid-dev/2020-01/msg00032.html
> > > > >
> > > > > jjc
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > fluid-dev mailing list
> > > > > fluid-dev@nongnu.org
> > > > > https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-dev
> > > >
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > fluid-dev mailing list
> > > > fluid-dev@nongnu.org
> > > > https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-dev
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > fluid-dev mailing list
> > > fluid-dev@nongnu.org
> > > https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-dev
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > fluid-dev mailing list
> > fluid-dev@nongnu.org
> > https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-dev
>
> _______________________________________________
> fluid-dev mailing list
> fluid-dev@nongnu.org
> https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-dev