On Fri, Jan 28, 2005 at 12:05:05AM -0800, Dave wrote:
> This patch did allow the midi keyboard to be used.  Using /dev/rmidi* was
> also necessary.  However, now SpiralSynth is intolerably slow (about 1
> second response time).

Hi Dave,

My brother gave me a MIDI interface for my birthday, and now I am able
to test some of this stuff at home again.

Would you try:
	pkg_delete spiralsynth
	cd pkgsrc/audio/spiralsynth
	rm patches/patch-an
	make mps
	make patch

Then apply the patch again:
--- Synth.C.orig        2005-01-27 21:22:26.000000000 -0800
+++ Synth.C     2005-01-27 21:27:14.000000000 -0800
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@
        LoadPatch(1);
        
        MidiDevice::Get()->SetDeviceName(SpiralInfo::MIDIFILE);
+       MidiDevice::Get()->PackUpAndGoHome();
 }
 
 Synth::~Synth()

Then install and see if it works better?

At home I get a delay, but it is less than 1 second and there is no
difference between the delay on the PC keyboard and the delay on the
MIDI keyboard.

I think SpiralSynth on NetBSD may just be unsuitable for playing MIDI
input in real time.  You might be interested in audio/csound4.  It has a
steep learning curve, but the language is more powerful than the
SpiralSynth GUI, and it is more responsive to MIDI input.

Cheers,

Ben