MidiSoundSynth news

Many bug fixes
For example: when saving an arrangement file (extension “.mss”) as a MIDI file, the extension was not automatically change to “.mid” and the arrangement file was overwritten.

New features

Support for VST instruments
Try some of our commercial SoundFonts in SFKR format for free for 15 days
Autosave playlist
Floating tool windows
Drop target for dragging and dropping files
Send us messages from within the program
The program now remembers the screen position. This works also on multiple screens.
Since version 2.0.1.2 all 16 MIDI channels have been show in page "3 MIDI Channels" with unused channels disabled. In this version there is an option to hide these channels
NOTE: This version makes use of a new online database: Make sure to give access to it in Windows Firewall, if asked

New feature: support for VST instruments
->

New feature: Try some of our commercial SoundFonts in SFKR format for free for 15 days
->

New feature: Autosave playlist:
->

New feature: Floating tool windows:
->

New feature: Drop target: Press the button with three dots to show or hide a window for dragging and dropping files
->

New feature: Registered users can send us messages from within the program
->

New feature: Hide unused MIDI channels
->

2.0.1.2 contains various bug fixes.

Bug fixes (2.0.1.1):

⦁ The registration procedure in 2.0.1.0 did not work

Bug fixes:

Most bugs reported through exception reports handled - thanks for sending these!
MIDI files with Sequencer Specific data may not have been correctly saved in arrangement files
Function “Add single file” to add a single VST plugin did not always work

New features:

Main window full screen mode is again enabled due to a system bug being fixed. The shortcut keys for Enter Full Screen (CTRL+SHIFT+F) and Exit Full Screen (CTRL+ALT+F) thus sets the main window into full screen or normal mode. (Both shortcuts work in toggle mode and have the same functionality)

The whole “Options” page has been re-designed to include VST effects options, to the right. At the top right (VST Folders) you can select the folders where you keep VST effects. Below you will see all found (64 bit) VST effects listed. You can still here add a single plugin file or remove one (or all).

New features (cont):

If you use loopMidi from Tobias Erichsen, MidiSoundSynth can create an internal MIDI input port called “MidiSoundSynth-Internal”. This port can bee seen as a MIDI output port by other software, but not used as an input port by other software. This port is less prone to loosing data than a regular loopback port.
The channel effects page has some new features, for example, a mini pianoroll and more volume control items:

Bug fixes:

Most bugs reported through exception reports handled - thanks for sending these!
Main VST Effects list was not correctly saved when program was closed
Main window Full Screen mode was very buggy due to a system bug. In this version main window Full Screen is equal to a maximized window
The Default SoundFont could not be changed in Live MIDI Input mode
VST Effects used on MIDI channel 1 were not fully silenced when playback was stopped

New features:

The shortcut keys for Enter Full Screen (CTRL+SHIFT+F) and Exit Full Screen (CTRL+ALT+F) sets now the main window into maximized or normal mode. Additionally, both shortcuts work in toggle mode and have hence the same functionality (are exchangeable)
In the Pianoroll display of all notes in all MIDI channels, the Karaoke lyrics is now displayed at the top together with bar numbers. Note that the Horizontal scale may need to be increased to avoid overlapping text.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Version 2.0.0.1 is unable to download the update so you have to do it manually. Here is the update file. Run to install 2.0.0.2

Bug fixes:

Most bugs reported through exception reports handled - thanks for sending these!
Other bugs: when playing files in the Explorer list ("Play Files" pressed) in "2 Files and Playlist" and double-clicking on a file to jump to it, the next file after was played instead

New features:

It is possible to edit two MIDI Continuous Controllers in the "Pianoroll for MIDI Channels": The two CC's are: #7 Volume and #10 Pan.

NOTE 1: ALL values for the MIDI channel will be affected, not only the first one.

NOTE 2: The “Edit” button in the Channel Effects window introduced in version 1.1.2.0 has be removed. This feature will be replaced with a better MIDI editor soon

NOTE 3: When you save the MIDI file you will be presented with the option to choose which changes you want to save:

Bug fixes:

Normalize file would make sound monophonic
Many reported bugs have been fixed

New features:

MidiSoundSynth Version 2 is still free! However, without a paid license you have access to these four new V2.0 features for 14 days.
Support for writing Lyrics text and Chords into MP3 files
Support for playing MP3 files, also with Lyrics text and Chords
Support for VST Effects (third party VST Plugins based on VST technology from Steinberg)
Pianoroll-type of display of all notes in all MIDI channels separately

See online help for more details.

Bug fixes:

MidiSoundSynth could occasionally halt, if internet connection was not available
Selected font size (for not-automatic size) was not saved for later
Most other reported bugs fixed

New features:

MidiSoundSynth Version 1 is now free! (Donations are gladly excepted, go here)
Support for creating WMA compressed audio files
New shortcut: CTRL+SHIFT+F to enter Full Screen mode. Use CTRL+ALT+F to exit from Full Screen mode.

Bug fixes:

Midi files: XG mode not recognized. XG mode makes use of Continuous Controller #32 to select Bank while GM/GS mode uses CC #0
Most other reported bugs fixed

New features:

Karaoke Lyrics: You can select the font as before, but now also select “Automatic font size” (see image). The “Full screen font” alternative has thus been deleted.
Karaoke Lyrics: “Sync Time Correction” (in fractions of seconds) can now be both positive and negative. A positive value makes the text show earlier and a negative later. This value will be saved in the Arrangement
Karaoke Lyrics: New button “Remove” (see image) - to remove a background image from the internal list.
Options: In section Midi Playback, Fade In and Fade Out (in second). Also, “Always play file after opened” checkbox, and “Repeat all files in Playlist or Explorer” checkbox (see image)
Create audio file: For the Maximize volume level, you can choose the level, in dB. Zero dB is maximum level (see image).
When selecting a SoundFont for a channel and the desired Bank:Preset pair is not found in the SoundFont, a dialogue pops up to let you select an alternative SoundFont Preset.
The dialogue box for assigning a Preset to a channel now has two alternatives (see image) for showing the available Presets in the SoundFont:
The dialogue boxes for selecting SoundFont for a Midi channel and selecting Preset now stays open until closed. This makes it easier and quicker to test various alternatives. Additionally, most dialogues shows up again at the previous position.
Files and Playlists: New buttons to make it easier to select which of the two lists - Explorer or Playlist - to play: “Play files” (see image) for Explorer and “Play list” (see image) for the Playlist. Also, new button for the Playlist: “Remove All” (see image)
You can now start a clean version of MidiSoundSynth by keeping the SHIFT key down while the program boots up

Version 1.1.2.1:

Bug fixes:

This version fixes a bug introduced in version 1.1.2.0: Exception occurred in page “Files and Playlists” if no Explorer folder has been defined. Additionally fixed some other minor bugs.

Version 1.1.2.0:

Bug fixes:

This version is a major update with many bug fixes, improvements and new features

Bug fixes:

MidiSoundSynth did not read some MIDI files correctly
The two checkboxes “Open and play when double-clicked” and “Repeat All” was not enabled for files in the “Explorer” (to the left in in "Files & Playlist") if there were no files in the Playlist (to the right)
In "Files & Playlist", in the “Explorer” list, the checkboxes to enable selecting multiple files (to the left of the list of files), were not always visible
The Reverb amount was not saved for standard effects
Several reported bugs fixed

New features:

Play/Transport buttons also in the Channel Effects window
A new “Edit” button in the Channel Effects window and a button to save a new version of the current MIDI file. MidiSoundSynth can save a new MIDI file with some changes for certain MIDI controllers, like CC#7 Volume. Also MIDI Program changes and Transpose (Pitch) are saved. NOTE: The new MIDI file does NOT contain any specific arrangement details, like choice of SoundFont
In "Files & Playlist" you can sort files, both in the Explorer list (left) and the Playlist (right) by clicking on the header in the list
In "Files & Playlist", all selected files are now outlined and the file having the focus is is shown in bold
Data extracted from SFKR files are by default stored in the folder C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\SynthFont. You can now in Options select another drive and folder for storage.
When writing audio files, you can now select to maximize the volume level

Bug fixes:
This version is a major update with many bug fixes, improvements and new features

Bug fixes:
    • Version 1.1.1.0 crashed at startup on a fresh installation
    • MidiSoundSynth could not start if no internet connection was found
    • When playing a playlist to audio files, MidiSoundSynth got stuck on the last song
    • MidiSoundSynth could not create MP4 files
    • Pan for midi channels did not work
    • Some midi file karaoke events were not correctly read from file
    • Since 1.1.0.2, the SoundFont Preset was reset to the default when playback started
    • When changing Tempo, the song length was not updated

New features:
    • The "Explorer" in "Files & Playlist" now receives a notification from Windows if a file or folder is changed by another program (for example, renamed)
    • You can choose the playlist to play to audio on the page "Create audio file"
    • Lyrics can now be displayed as "long lines" filling up the whole page
    • The primary lyrics window can now be a floating child window (as the secondary)
    • Improved support for midi channels with multiple midi program changes

This version is a major update with many bug fixes, improvements and new features

Bug fixes:
• Fixed a large number of other reported defects

New features:
• Support for Karaoke files. An new button, “Lyrics” in the row of main buttons:

• More Options in a new page (“Options” in the image above)
• You can now also change the Volume level, Loudness level, Pan position and Pitch for each channel in Channel Effects:

• You can now let MidiSoundSynth use values for Continuous Controllers #91 and #93 to set Reverb and Chorus for each channel. See “Options” for how to activate. (You can still add your own Reverb and Chorus effects on top of these)
• In the row of playback buttons, there is a new button to play all files in a list – either in the Explorer folder or in a normal Playlist

• The buttons Play Previous file and Play Next file now works also when not playing files in a list (using the new button above)

• In “Create audio file” there is now an option to create audio files for all files in a list (Explorer or Playlist)

• MidiSoundSynth now handles System Exclusive messages the make MIDI channels 8 and 11 act as percussion channels

• MidiSoundSynth now handles Creative Lab’s SoundBlaster definitions for NRPN messages for setting low pass filter cutoff frequency and resonance.

• There are several new keyboard shortcuts. See documentation for a list (for example online help)

Bug fixes:
    • This version can now correctly identify and install new versions of purchased SFKR files
    • Some odd Playlist-related bugs fixed
    • A few other minor reported bugs fixed

New features:
    • The button “New playback” in “Create audio file” turns into “Stop” to enable you to interrupt the writing process
    • If a Playlist has been changed but not saved, you are notified of this when switching to another Playlist
    • In the files list in “Files and Playlists”, the list header with the text “[X]” can be used to change the check state of all files.
    • In “Search”→ “Files found” files now have checkboxes and there is a button for adding all checked files to the current playlist. There is a button to change the check state of all files. See image:

Other:
    • This version is compiled with Google's Skia graphics library. Skia is an open source library for drawing 2D Text, Geometries, Images, focused on accurate, high quality and high performance rendering, which provides common APIs that work across a variety of hardware and software platforms. Skia serves as the graphics engine for Google Chrome and Chrome OS, Android, Flutter, Xamarin, Mozilla Firefox and Firefox OS, and many other products. (The file sk4d.dll has to be present in the same folder as the executable.)

Bug fixes:
- Since version 1.0.2.0, the menu for selecting a SoundFont for a MIDI channel has been empty
- The option to always keep MIDI channel 4 muted (in Options) was not applied to the currently opened MIDI file
- The SoundFont information for the newly introduced Berlin Orchestra SoundFont was missing in all other languages than English
- Tried to fix a few other reported bugs as well

New features:
- The button "MIDI Channels" has now a dropdown menu with two items: one to play all channels - useful if some channel has been muted - and an alternative way to set the "Keep MIDI Channel 4 muted" status without going into Options (see image)

Bug fixes:
- A few reported bugs fixed

New features:
- The About dialog has a new button, "Open Registration code file", which you can use if you have saved the registration code file MidiSoundSynth.slp in another location than "Documents" or "Documents\MidiSoundSynth"
- MidiSoundSynth now keeps track of SoundFont versions for commercial SoundFonts in the SFKR format and offers to download and install the latest version
- MidiSoundSynth now displays available SFKR+MidiSoundSynth packages (in page "Install SFKR files") as a scrollable list.

Bug fixes:
- Sometime when changing the SoundFont Preset while playing, MidiSoundSynth would randomly freeze.

- On rare occasions, randomly, the very first notes in a file with notes at time 0, may have been lost in playback

- MidiSoundSynth can save Arranagements in a special ".mss" file, but not everything was properly read back when the file was reopened.

- MP4 files were broken.

- Could not download and install the MSSKetronSD1000 XL SoundFont

- A few reported bugs fixed

New features:
- You can save the current set of Main Effects to be used as default when opening MIDI files in the future. On the Effects page, there is a new button. On the Effects page, a saved preset with the name "<Autosaved>" will show up in the list (see image down left).

- On the Effects page, a saved preset with the name "<Arrangement>" will show up in the list for an Arrangement file

- New language: French

- Effects: the range for the Compressor Pregain value has been changed from 0..100 db to 0..10 db. Also, the Threshold range is now narrower: -50..-10 dB

- The trial period length is now 30 days instead of 10 days

- In Options, you can set the size of the playback buffer to either 1024 or 2048 for the standard audio output. The default value is 1024, but on older systems 2048 may be better. In MIDI IN mode, use WASAPI.

- The dropdown list for SoundFonts to choose, now sorts the SoundFonts in alphabetical order.

Bug fixes:
- Some SoundFont Presets would play at a lower than expected volume due to MidiSoundSynth respecting the original SoundFont specifications to 100%. MidiSoundSynth flexes now and plays according to "SoundBlaster Live!" specifications, also used in all other programs in the SynthFont family.

- MidiSoundSynth could not save Arranagements for MIDI files with the extension ".kar" or ".midi", using the extension ".mss". The original extension was used, effectively overwriting the original file. Thus, to be able to open a ".kar" or ".midi" file overwritten in such a way, you need to change the file's extension to ".mss".

- The button to play the next song was not enabled when playing songs from an "Explorer" folder (on page "Files & Playlist")

- A few reported bugs fixed

New features:
- On the first purchase of a package MidiSoundSynth + GoldMidSF2 SoundFont, a file called "MidiSoundSynth.slip" is sent to you as an attachment in an email. You can now register your copy of MidiSoundSynth by saving the "MidiSoundSynth.slip" file in your "Documents" folder. Alternatively, if you prefer, you can save it in a "Documents\MidiSoundSynth" folder.

- New button in About box: "See version history" - to read the history (this web page)

- You can now also save the audio data for each MIDI channel (see image below, left)

- As many Karaoke files have the voice part in MIDI channel 4, it is now an option (in Options) to keep channel 4 muted when a MIDI file is opened (see image below, right). Note that the "Mute" checkbox "M" will be automatically checked for Ch 04

- Added one more product package offer to the list: "MidiSoundSynth + MSSKetronSD1000 XL GMGS SFKR", on page "Install SFKR files"

What is new in the latest MidiSoundSynth versions?

Version 2.1.1.0

Version 2.1.0.0 This version is a major update with bug fixes, improvements and new features

Version 2.0.1.0, 2.0.1.1 and 2.0.1.2

Version 2.0.0.3

Version 2.0.0.2

Version 2.0.0.1

Version 2.0.0.0 This version is a major update with bug fixes, improvements and new features

Version 1.1.4.0 This version is a major update with bug fixes, improvements and new features - and it is FREE

Version 1.1.3.0 This version is a major update with bug fixes, improvements and new features

Version 1.1.2.2

Version 1.1.2.1 - replaces version 1.1.2.0 that had a bug

Version 1.1.1.1 - replaces version 1.1.1.0 that had a serious bug

Version 1.1.0.2

Version 1.1.0.1

Version 1.1.0.0

Version 1.0.4.1

Version 1.0.4.0

Version 1.0.3.4

Version 1.0.3.3 and 1.0.3.2

Version 1.0.3.1

Version 1.0.3.0

Version 1.0.2.1

Version 1.0.2.0

Version 1.0.1.1

Version 1.0.1.0