==============================================================================
       TiMidity++ -- MIDI to WAVE converter and player

                    Masanao Izumo
                    <mo@goice.co.jp>
                    Jan.5.1999
                    version 1.0.0 or lator
==============================================================================

  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
  modify it under  the  terms  of  the  GNU  General  Public
  License  as  published  by  the  Free Software Foundation;
  either version 2 of the License, or (at your  option)  any
  later version.

  The original version of this program was written by Tuuka Tiovonen
  <tt@cgs.fi> until TiMidity 0.2i (he discontinued development
  because he was too busy with work). Masanao Izumo <mo@goice.co.jp> and
  other people began to hack it, then we officially released the new
  version, which is called TiMidity++.

  TiMidity was originally a converter that converted MIDI files to WAV
  audio files. But now TiMidity++ is not only a converter but also a
  real-time player that can play a MIDI file in real time. TiMidity does
  not requires an external MIDI instrument module to play MIDI file; it can
  perform with software power only.

  TiMidity++ uses GUS/patch (Glavis Ultrasound) as the voice data to play.
  It can also handle SoundFont data for voice data.

*Features of TiMidity++:

  - Plays MIDI files without external MIDI instruments
  - Converts MIDI files to various audio file formats
    (ex. wav, au, etc.)
  - Uses GUS/patch and SoundFont for voice data
  - Displays some information about the music data during playback
  - Various user interfaces are available (ncurses, motif, xaw, etc..)
  - Plays MIDI files over a network
  - Plays MIDI files in archive files
  - Plays not only SMF files but also MOD, RCP/R36/G18/G36
  - Can handle 32 channel data
  - Can handle user interfaces as dynamically linked modules
  - Can display a sound spectrogram
  - Automatically detects the mode of a MIDI file (GM/GS/XG)
  - Automatically detects drum channels (GS/XG)
  - Trace playing
  - Low load
  - The following MIDI events are supported:
    NoteOn/Off, KeyPressure, Program, ChannelPressure, Pitchwheel,
    ToneBank, ModulationWheel, MainVolume, Panning, Expression,
    Sustain, Portamento, DataEntry, ReverbEffect, ChorusEffect,
    RPN+/-, NRPN, RPN, AllSoundsOff, ResetControllers, AllNotesOff,
    Mono/Poly Part, RandomPan, KeyShift,
    TempoChange, Lyric, InsertText, KARAOKE-Part(@KMIDI),
    MasterVolume, MIDI-Reset, SystemExclusiveMessages

*Playing a MIDI file in an archive file:

 TiMidity++ can play a file contained in various kinds of archive file. The
 following archive formats are supported:

  - tar           (*.tar)
  - gzipped tar   (*.tar.gz, *.tgz)
  - zip file      (*.zip)
  - lzh file      (*.lzh)

 If you want to specify a certain MIDI file in the archive, describe the
 #<MIDI-filename> expression following the archive name.  The
 expressions after the # are allowed to use regular expressions (case
 insensitive).  Note that the single quotes are needed to prevent the
 shell from misinterpreting the # character.  For example:

              timidity 'file.zip#file.mid'
                     Plays file.mid in file.zip

              timidity 'file.lzh#*.mid'
                     Plays  any  files that  match  the  regular
                     expression '*.mid' in file.zip

              timidity 'file.tgz#*'
                     This  expression is the same as 
                     timidity 'file.tgz'

*Playing a MIDI file over a network
 TiMidity++ can access a file over a network. Supported network protocols
 include HTTP, FTP and NNTP(NetNews); specify these as http://foo,
 ftp://foo, and news://foo respectively.  An archived file is also
 accessible over a network.

 With NNTP, if you specify a newsgroup in the message-ID field TiMidity++
 plays all MIDI files posted in the specified newsgroup. These MIDI files
 must be encoded using uuencode or the Multipart encoded
 uuencode/base64/hexbin.

*Availability:
 The latest release of TiMidity++ is available at these sites:

     http://www.goice.co.jp/member/mo/timidity/
        (Unix version; the developer's site)

     http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~gb7t-ngm/timidity/
        (Macintosh version)

     http://www2.off.ne.jp/~dai/timidity/timidity-izumo.html
        (Windows version)

 The original release of Tuukka Toivonen has been discontinued.  If you
 want to get the original, please download from the following URL:
     http://www.goice.co.jp/member/mo/timidity/dist/timidity-0.2i.tar.gz


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This document was translated from the original README.jp (written in Japanese).
Translator: NAGANO Daisuke <breeze_geo@geocities.co.jp>
            (And modified by Masanao Izumo <mo@goice.co.jp>)
Proofreader: Mike Vanier (mvanier@bbb.caltech.edu)
If you have any comments on or corrections for this translation, please tell us.