This seems to be at the heart of the problem...
sudo -u timidity timidity -Os -iA
No protocol specified
xcb_connection_has_error() returned true
Home directory not accessible: Permission denied
No protocol specified
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1052:(snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
Can't open pcm device 'default'.
Couldn't open ALSA pcm device (`s')
This seems to "fix" things
chown -R timidity: /etc/timidity
which allows a ~timidity/.config/pulse directory (and content) to be created
after which timidity seems to start
having /etc/timidity owned as timidity isnt ideal. but this is the
source of the problem
