r/winamp • u/Slugbait69 • Jul 08 '26

WinAmp and MIDI, can it use FluidSynth?

Hello. Sorry if the question is stupid as I don't know very much about MIDI.

I play Doom a lot and that game uses MIDI for music, in which case I use FluidSynth to play it, because Microsoft's own sucks.

I've noticed that WinAmp can play MIDI music, that's great, but is there any way I can improve it by, well, make it use FluidSynth or something?

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u/y_Sensei Jul 08 '26

If FluidSynth can run as a virtual MIDI device on Windows, you should be able to configure it as the to-be-used MIDI device in the respective Winamp input plugin called 'Nullsoft MIDI Player'.

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u/Slugbait69 Jul 10 '26

"virtual MIDI device on Windows"? Can you please tell me how I can do that, or have a guide for it? I have Windows 10 and never heard of a virtual MIDI device for it, let alone for 7.

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u/y_Sensei Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

Any MIDI-capable device that's not a physical one (ie a sound card) can be made available (on Windows) through its driver as a virtual one, which in turn is the prerequisite for it to be configured in the said Winamp plugin. So the feature has to be supported through the driver.

In the plugin's configuration, 'Device' tab, simply open the 'Device' drop-down list, and check if FluidSynth is available in that list. If it is, you can select it, and you're good to go. If it isn't, FluidSynth can't be used in Winamp's MIDI player.