What sound card works for MIDI?

[vodhner at cox.net]

I want to use Rosegarden to arrange music, but I can't find a sound card that works with MIDI.   No problem with basic wave sound, but MIDI won't play.

I had on-board sound that ALSA didn't work on.  The literature recommended SoundBlaster Live 24 bit, so I got that one.  No dice:  it turns out Creative has kept the name, but changed the chipset.  There is no MIDI support in ALSA for this one either, though they have tried and some have claimed eventual success.  The best I've gotten so far is . . . silence.

I even downloaded the "Musix" live CD that was supposed to have all the best stuff, but it couldn't find my sound card at all, even for basic wave performance.  Clearly it's time to get new hardware.

I am not really picky about sound quality or little glitches -- I have a beautiful system to refine the material on, but I just need to hear a pretty reasonable synth performance so I can rough out an arrangement.

I've looked for recommendations and found none.  So what is the sound card of choice, one that Just Works[TM] for MIDI?  I'm sure one exists, and I'm willing to invest, but I don't want to take another shot in the dark.

Thanks,

Vic