diff -ru ../ams-1.8.8-rc1/m_midiout.cpp ./m_midiout.cpp
--- ../ams-1.8.8-rc1/m_midiout.cpp	2003-10-23 11:24:12.000000000 +0200
+++ ./m_midiout.cpp	2007-04-28 12:33:13.000000000 +0200
@@ -92,7 +92,10 @@
 }
 
 void M_midiout::generateCycle() {
-
+  
+  if (!synthdata->seq_handle)
+    return;
+  
   int l1, l2, l3, mididata, velocitydata;
   snd_seq_event_t ev;
 
diff -ru ../ams-1.8.8-rc1/modularsynth.cpp ./modularsynth.cpp
--- ../ams-1.8.8-rc1/modularsynth.cpp	2007-04-20 20:53:28.000000000 +0200
+++ ./modularsynth.cpp	2007-04-28 12:26:58.000000000 +0200
@@ -309,8 +309,10 @@
 
 int ModularSynth::go (bool withJack) {
 
-  synthdata->seq_handle = open_seq();
-  initSeqNotifier();
+  if (synthdata->seq_handle = open_seq())
+    initSeqNotifier();
+  else
+    fprintf(stderr, "Could not open ALSA sequencer, MIDI will not work!\n");
 
   if (withJack)
   {
@@ -400,7 +402,7 @@
 
   if (snd_seq_open(&seq_handle, "hw", SND_SEQ_OPEN_DUPLEX, 0) < 0) {
     fprintf(stderr, "Error opening ALSA sequencer.\n");
-    exit(1);
+    return 0;
   }
   snd_seq_set_client_name(seq_handle, "AlsaModularSynth");
   clientid = snd_seq_client_id(seq_handle);
@@ -408,14 +410,16 @@
             SND_SEQ_PORT_CAP_WRITE|SND_SEQ_PORT_CAP_SUBS_WRITE,
             SND_SEQ_PORT_TYPE_APPLICATION)) < 0) {
     fprintf(stderr, "Error creating sequencer port.\n");
-    exit(1);
+    snd_seq_close(seq_handle);
+    return 0;
   }
   for (l1 = 0; l1 < 2; ++l1) {
     if ((synthdata->midi_out_port[l1] = snd_seq_create_simple_port(seq_handle, "ams",
             SND_SEQ_PORT_CAP_READ|SND_SEQ_PORT_CAP_SUBS_READ,
             SND_SEQ_PORT_TYPE_APPLICATION)) < 0) {
       fprintf(stderr, "Error creating sequencer port.\n");
-      exit(1);
+      snd_seq_close(seq_handle);
+      return 0;
     }
   }
   qs.sprintf("AlsaModularSynth " AMS_VERSION " - %d:%d - (%d)", clientid, portid, synthdata->poly);