Does anybody have a recommendation for an inexpensive external midifile player? I've used my PC into my amp but am looking for something external that will play Midifiles, has a line-out (preferably 1/4"), and some type of smart media storage. Closest thing I have found so far appears to be the Yamaha QY100, but it has all of the sequencing, patterns, etc, that I don't really need right now.

As always, thank you for any suggestions.

The least expensive alternative is to look for a used Roland MT-300 or
MT-300S(S=with speakers). Both are discontinued, but have a floppy drive,and
have built-in SoundCanvas sounds.
Another choice is the Roland MC-80EX which
has the Roland Sound board expansion, but
this is much more expensive since it is Roland's flagship sequencer.
There are also arranger modules such as the discontinued Roland RA-800 (has floppy). Also,I believe General Music still makes the "WK2 arranger module" that has floppy and optional hard drive. Korg also used to
make the i40 arranger module(floppy).
Hope this helps.

Viscount makes a floppy driven sequencer that is really inexpensive that has a remote control. Roland made something similar called the soundbrush (discontinued).

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Paul Davis
Generalmusic
Generalmusic.US

What about an X4 instead of the XD9? (Have I got that model number right?)

RJM

The Tascam Pocket Studio 5 offers a multi track recorder with a GM sound module built in and it accepts up 128MB compact flash cards for storage. The Retail Price is $495.00 and sells for $399.00 and you get a four track digital recorder with great effects such as Reverb, Delay, etc. included.
Here is a blurb I took out of the Tascam Web site:
"The Pocketstudio® 5 is the new compact multitrack digital recorder from the world leader in digital audio technology...TASCAM! It's a portable four-track digital recorder that uses innovative Compact Flash cards for media. In addition to its four audio tracks for your vocals, guitars and other instruments, the Pocketstudio 5 features an internal MIDI tone module, so it can be used to play back sequences along with its audio tracks. Plus, you get 100 standard MIDI files included, so you can plug it in and immediately start jamming over multiple genres of backing music! For completely polished productions, the Pocketstudio 5 adds over 100 built-in great-sounding effects for instruments and vocals. As if that weren't cool enough, you can make a final stereo mix in MP3 format, and send it to your computer with the Pocketstudio 5's USB port for placement on web sites and emailing to friends!

The Pocketstudio 5 is truly a portable digital recording solution, with its compact design and its ability to run for two hours using standard AA-sized alkaline batteries as its power source (an AC power supply is also included). You also get a 32MB Compact Flash card to get you started, as well as a built in condenser microphone and a headset mic. You can also edit your tracks with the Pocketstudio 5 with automatic punch-in/out capability, track bouncing, copy/paste editing of audio and MIDI using bars-and-beats and more!

If you're looking for the most powerful affordable compact recording system that will maximize your creativity, there's only one that offers computer interfacing, MIDI sequence playback and the quality which has made TASCAM the first name in recording for over 25 years: Pocketstudio 5."
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

It's worth mentioning that with the falling prices of computers that low-to-mid power used laptops are on the market for cheap. Playback of midi files requires very little CPU or memory so older laptops make great midi file players. Having a hard drive and/or floppy drive for storage rather than limited and expensive smart media might also be a plus.

I have a Roland Sound Canvas and Soundbrush tother with Harmony vocalist all in a flight case. A really neat setup for stand alone midi backing and vocal.
Bernie

I forgot to mention the also discontinued Roland SD-35.
I don't know what fidelity you are looking
for, but for the best sound, I would
recommend a unit with onboard effects(if
you don't already have decent effects in
your sound system).

The "OkyWeb" SmartMedia player looks interesting. I don't know waht it sounds like!

I think its an italian product originally.

Info here: http://www.bck.co.uk/

I'd second the idea of the used laptop. You wouldn't need anything very up to date or powerful. If you had a Yamaha Softsynth installed with Van Basco's MidiPlayer you could display Karaoke Lyrics too! PLUS, you would, for very little more money than any of the other solutions offered, have yourself a nice laptop which you could use for lots of other things (like storing/display of your sheet music, cakewalk sequencing, etc., etc.). $500 would do the trick easily.