Thanks.
> 1) Try whether timidity works using artsdsp (artsdsp timidity ipanema.mid).
>    Not a really big chance it will, though.
timidity segfaults.
All the other options work.
> 1a) Have timidity use stdout for sound output (-Or? It's been a while),
>    and pipe that through artscat
$timidity -Or -o - ipanema.mid | artscat # OK
> 2) Keep an artscontrol panel open - you can suspend the arts sound daemon
>    there, which will release the sounddevice
> 3) Disable a lot of the KDE sounds, so artsd gets to sleep moreoften and
>    longer
> 4) Lower the default timeout (30 seconds) before artsd goes to sleep (see
>    the control center for that)
>
> FreeBSD has vchans for this, but sadly, we don't :(
Actually I first tried kmid with no success:
# kmid ipanema.mid
Player :: There are no midi ports !

I browsed the control center, KDE docs and the web
but couldn't find any answer.
Can someone help?
What's the best option to play midi files with KDE
(though I'm happy with option 1a)?

Best regards,
Thierry.