What is new in the latest SynthFont2 versions?

Here you can see the whole history of updates (PDF)

Versions 2.8.0.2, 2.8.0.1 and 2.8.0.0:

Version 2.8.0.2:

Bug fixes:

- Fixed two more obscure bugs in the new system for handling registrations. Should be working now.

- Fixed a bug throwing an exception immediately at start-up

- Fixed a few other minor bugs introduced in version 2.8.0.0

- The normal set of minor reported bugs fixed.

Version 2.8.0.1:

Bug fixes:

:- For version 2.8.0.0 a new database for the registration information was introduced and SynthFont2 was set to check the locally stored registration information against this database once. Due to an unfortunate bug, this check could occasionally fail. Version 2.8.0.1 fixes this single bug.

Version 2.8.0.0:

Bug fixes:

- Since a few versions back in time, SynthFont2 could save wrong values for Bank Controllers #0 and #32 when saving a MIDI file

- The default settings for the internal Reverb and Equalizer did not remain when changing MIDI file

- The normal set of minor reported bugs fixed.

New features

- There is one major new feature: much improved support for Karaoke, for example:

you can have two lyrics windows open, for two separate displays
you can choose the font for each window separately
you can choose colours and image background for each window
you can choose to display lyrics in two ways: with long lines filling up the width of the window, or using line breaks as defined in the MIDI lyrics
and more

- Full support for Creative Lab's SoundBlaster Live! Non Registered Parameter Numbers (NRPNs) for setting Low Pass filter parameters. You can switch this function on/off in Plug & Play, Other options. This feature was introduced in SynthFont(1), version 1.700 released in June, 2022. Read the document for SynthFont(1) to learn more about this feature.

- More text translated in to Italian, Spanish, German, French

Versions 2.7.1.3 and 2.7.1.2 and 2.7.1.1:

Bug fixes in 2.7.1.3:
- Version 2.7.0.0 and later crashed when playing to speakers or a file after having used live keyboard/input mode
- Since 2.5.0.0 Karaoke lyrics has been off sync

Bug fixes in 2.7.1.2:
- Just fixed a few reported bugs, for example, some strings had gone blank due to the new support for localization.

Bug fixes in 2.7.1.1:
- For live mode: ASIO was made inoperable by the introduction of WASAPI in version 2.7.1.0
- For live mode: WASAPI could not be initialized because the required DLL was missing from the distribution
- Fixed a bug introduced in 2.7.0.1: SoundFont Preset could not be changed in the tracks list
- The chosen language was not set for “Setup and Options”
- A few other minor reported bugs fixed

Versions 2.7.1.0:

Bug fixes:
- In live mode only the first note was played
- Since some time back, SynthFont2 has not been able to extract OGG files used by SFZ files
- A few reported bugs fixed

New features:
- For live mode a low latency audio output driver should be used. SynthFont2 now offers use of Windows’ own WASAPI (Windows Audio Session API), which is Microsoft's recommended method for accessing WDM (Windows Driver Model) audio drivers. WASAPI is a good alternative to ASIO. See Setup and Options:
- Previously SynthFont2 would optionally display MIDI Program numbers in the range 1..128 instead of the internal standard range 0..127 in connection to the option to display MIDI channel numbers in the range 1..16 (instead of the standard range 0..15). This is no longer supported for Program numbers.
- Many more strings translated in to Italian, Spanish and German

Versions 2.7.0.1 and 2.7.0.0:

Version 2.7.0.1
Bug fixes:
- A last minute change made version 2.7.0.0 play VERY silently… Fixed.

Version 2.7.0.0
Bug fixes:
- A few reported bugs fixed

New features:
- Fine-tuned the support for High DPI displays
- Support for SoundFonts in the new proprietary compressed format – SFKR. Only non-commercial SoundFonts are supported
- Rudimentary support for three languages in addition to English: Italian, Spanish and German. This is the first instalment. See menu item Language in main menu View for choices.

Version 2.6.0.1:

Bug fixes:
- A few reported bugs fixed

New features:
- Fine-tuned the support for High DPI displays
- Support for SoundFonts in the new proprietary compressed format – SFKR. Only non-commercial SoundFonts are supported
- Rudimentary support for three languages in addition to English: Italian, Spanish and German. This is the first instalment. See menu item Language in main menu View for choices.

Version 2.6.0.1:

Bug fixes:
- A few reported bugs fixed

Version 2.6.0.0:

Bug fixes:
- Many reported minor bugs fixed

New features:
- The support for High DPI displays is now nearly perfect.

- In “Midi events” there is a new button that lets you save either System Exclusive (“SysEx”) or Sequencer Specific (“Seq-Spec”) data to a file. You can choose between a binary file or a hexadecimal file in text format.

- In “Midi events”, group “Edit event”, there is a button that previously was enabled only for text/lyrics META events. This button is now enabled for a few more META events, for example the binary SysEx and Seq-Spec events. As these are binary, the edit is performed with hexadecimal strings.

- In “Midi events”, group “Edit event”, the function “Add new event” has been changed. Previously you could only add one single event at a time, now you can add multiple events in on session. Furthermore, you can add both SysEx events and Seq-Spec events either by importing from a file (binary or hexadecimal text), or entering hexadecimal text in the window.

Version 2.5.0.2:

Bug fixes:
- Since 2.5.0.0 SynthFont2 has persistently insisted on opening the MIDI demo file “33H_R&P” when starting up
- Missing support for color scheme “Tablet Dark”

Version 2.5.0.1:

Bug fixes:
- Due to an unfortunate change (bug?) in the compiler used since version 2.3.2.0, the PianoRoll smooth scrolling mode would break up during playback when placing the mouse pointer above the vertical scrollbar, if a color scheme was applied. Because of this, the scrollbars are now not themed.
- A change was made in version 2.5.0.0 to better support installation on removable media, resulting in that the program freshly installed in the normal way (i.e. in Windows write protected Program Files folder) did not work.

Version 2.5.0.0:

Bug fixes:
The “Charcoal Dark Slate” color scheme didn’t look right
- The Setup program would not let you choose a folder for the installation. Neither was it easy to install on a removable disk medium
- The button “To Speakers” in box “Start playback” on page “1 Files / Folders” was wired to “To Files”
- Fixed a number of bugs in relation to retrieving Karaoke Lyrics, for example, SynthFont2 did not correctly handle Lyrics distributed over several tracks. Lyrics can be encoded in two ways and sometimes SynthFont2 did not find the correct one.

New features
- The Karaoke Lyrics window can now have a colored background - see “Color for window background”
- New choice in file open dialogue for VST plugins – checkbox at the bottom: “Show only new (unregistered) plugins” - to make it easy to find new plugins to add
- The SoundFont Override feature (shortcut CTRL+D) has been improved: you can now save Override setups in separate files (with the extension “.sf2ovr”). The choice of file will be remembered between runs and can also be saved in the Arrangement file.

Version 2.4.0.1:

Bug fixes:
- The preset selection for the internal reverb effect MVeerb did not change during playback although the user prompted for it (since version 2.2.4.1)
- MVeerb could occasionally cause sound disruption (since 2.2.1.1)
- You could not move playback position while in Pause mode
- Some MIDI Continuous Controller messages could be lost when starting playback from a position after these messages

New features
- Support for sending MIDI out to a COM port, introduced in version 2.4.0.0, has been further improved. Among other things, this feature made SynthFont2 slower at start-up and when the main window was re-activated.
- Also improved support for output to standard MIDI port
- When playing to both an external device through a port (MIDI or COM) and the internal playback engine, you can set the latency for the internal playback engine to correspond to the latency (if any) of the external device to keep playback in sync. See Setup, Options, Playback.

Version 2.4.0.0:

Bug fixes:
- The MIDI out (to a port) feature has been quite badly implemented and is much improved in this version.
- When looping a MIDI file, the Pianoroll playback was not in sync (since version 2.1.0.0)
- A rather large number of other minor bugs and annoyances fixed

New features:
- MIDI out can now be sent to a serial COM port as well as a standard MIDI out port. This is handy if you have a device connected to the PC through an emulated COM port, for example using a USB to serial converter. Be sure to set the Baud Rate at first. See left image.
- You can now change the MIDI program for multiple melodic tracks in one go. See right image. The three tracks selected will receive the same MIDI program. Note that the fourth track cannot be included as it is a percussion track.

Version 2.3.2.0:

Bug fixes:
- The context sensitive menu activated by the right mouse button in the tracks list (in “Plug & Play”) would not open
- Enter registration details by pasting did not work (copy the contents of the registration email and press the "Paste text" button)
- Some GIGA files were not correctly handled
- Fixed some issue when a standard MIDI track has been assigned to a MIDI channel from the extended range
- Track coded for percussion and assigned a SoundFont lacking any percussion presets was not read back from the arrangement correctly. SoundFont replaced by the default.
- Some other reported bugs fixed.

New features:
- Option to stop playback immediately at end mark. Look in "Plug & Play", "Other options" and "Other tools and options" to the far right.

- The Copy/Paste/Move tool has been raised to a top level page

- New options for program caption in "Setup an Option", page "Options" (See image) If "Show path and file name" selected, the text will be compressed to fit the caption.

If "Show path and file name" selected, the text will be compressed to fit the caption.

- Markers area above Pianoroll graph has changed functionality. To the left is new help button [?]

- Vertical zoom tool in Pianoroll has changed. New "Fit" button - useful with high res screen

Version 2.3.1.1:

Bug fixes:
- Version 2.3.0.0 introduced a bug: could not read play/mute status from arrangement
- The new feature introduced in 2.3.0.0 to allow SynthFont2 to start playback when evoked with a file parameter was enabled even if the Option checkbox was unchecked.
- Some other reported bugs fixed.

Version 2.3.1.0:

Bug fixes:
- After inserting new MIDI events into a track with the MIDI channel set to the extended range 16..31 (starting at 0), saving the file would cause the file to be corrupted.
- Did not read tracks layers from an arrangement (since version 2.2.4.0)
- File output separate channels to files did not work (since version 2.3.0.0)
- Some other reported bugs fixed.

New features:
- The number of internal MIDI channels has been increased to 64 from 32 (as in SynthFont1, version 1.740). Channels in the range 32..63 (starting at 0) are reserved for track layers. The range 16..31 can still be freely assigned to any standard MIDI track.
- Edit track name has a new feature - you can revert the name back to the one saved in the MIDI file (as in SynthFont1, version 1.740)
- MIDI Registered Parameter messages comprise a group of four MIDI events, RP Fine, RP Coarse, Data Fine and Data Coarse. These events can now be in random order. Registered Parameter is used to defined Pitch Wheel Factor and Master Fine/Coarse Tuning

Version 2.3.0.0:

Bug fixes
- The metronome did not work when using a sound in a SoundFont
- Using long file names when writing audio tracks for the separate MIDI channels didn't always work
- A few more random bugs fixed.

New features
- A search button in most file open or save dialog boxes (not in Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7 versions) to search for files in the current folder and sub-folders (see image 1)
- You can now pan the metronome left/right (image 2)
- VST plugins are now allowed to resize the editor window, using the dispatch method audioMasterSizeWindow
- SynthFont2 32 bit version can handle most 64 bit VST plugins and vice versa through bridging However, the recommendation is to use the same architecture plugin as the host. The menu window for assigning a plugin now contains checkboxes to select which architectures you want to see listed to choose from (image 3)
- New option: have SynthFont2 start playing immediately, upon startup, when a MIDI or an arrangement file is passed to it as a parameter from within Windows. You can pass a file using "Open with..." in Explorer or drag a file onto the SynthFont2 executable file or a shortcut (e.g. on the desktop). See Setup | Options | General for a switch (image 4).

User interface
- SynthFont2 is now almost 100% compatible with displays having higher resolution (DPI) than the standard 96 - for example 4K and UHD. Some UI controls have changed because of this; for example, some buttons have been replaced by checkboxes.

Version 2.2.4.1:

Bug fixes
- Version 2.2.4.0 introduced: "I cannot write to audio file. When I change the destination folder the 'Save' button is disabled."
- Fixed some other file dialog related issues as well.

Version 2.2.4.0:

Bug fixes
- Just a few random bugs fixed.

New features
- The tracks list has been redesigned. Instead of a checkbox to switch playback on/off for a track, there is now a button labeled "M", for "Mute". Next to it there is another new button, labeled "S", for "Solo". See image:

This example contains two track layers for track 2. Note that the "S" buttons for layers has a different color. The behavior is also different: if you activate Solo mode for a layer, it will be Solo only within the track, like this (see image):

- Arrangement alternatives - this is a very simple feature. You can have several arrangements for one particular MIDI file. This feature makes it easy to switch between them:

Version 2.2.3.2:

Bug fixes
- "Play to file" function created zero length files if you had VST effects enabled
- A few other reported bugs fixed.

New feature
- You can now set the desired BPM value directly using up/down arrows. The original method of using a factor value still works. NOTE: a factor is required in order to scale ALL tempo (BPM) values in the file accordingly.

Version 2.2.3.1:

Bug fixes
- Didn't work in 2.2.3.0: Getting the output folder for playing a playlist to files.
- A few other minor bugs

Version 2.2.3.0:

Bug fixes
- The Wet/Dry mix for VST effects in the VST editor window didn’t work correctly.
- A few other reported bugs fixed.

New features
- Improved support for Windows XP – new file open/save dialogs.

Other
- Page “2 Pianoroll”; the graphical Continuous Controller editor has been slightly changed: for CC events that are ON/OFF in nature – for example #64 Hold Pedal – you must now set the ON/OFF status (see image) before inserting an event into the graph. You can now also erase these events by using the “Erase” tool from the Draw drop-down list of tools.

Version 2.2.2.0:

Bug fixes
- Quite a few reported bugs fixed!
- Improved support for VST instruments, especially improved support for "bridging", i.e. using 32 bit VSTs in the 64 bit program version, and vice versa.
- Both the 32 bit and the 64 bit versions now support extraction of SoundFonts from sfArk files
- Changing the playback position by clicking in the mini Pianoroll didn't always work correctly
- Play to channel files when a VST instrument was set for a channel caused a crash

New features
- Introduced a scripting or macro language feature. Please read separate document for more information.
- Much improved support for using VST instruments as SoundFont overrides. NOTE: VST instruments may be wired to accept MIDI events on certain MIDI channels only (typically the first channel). Either you change the settings in the VST to "omni" mode, or you switch on the "Force to MIDI channel 0" in the VST edit window. See image:

Other
- When playing from a list the priority was by default set to low (slow) - good if you want to do other stuff on the PC at the same time, but not so good when creating hundreds of audio files. There is a new checkbox for this option; "Play in the background (slow)":

NOTE: This option is always turned off when playing to the speakers in order to avoid sound "hiccups".

Version 2.2.1.1 and 2.2.1.0:

Version 2.2.1.1
Bug fixes
- A few reported bugs fixed

Other
- The 64 bit version has now been optimized and is as fast as (but not faster than) the 32 bit version.

Version 2.2.1.0
Bug fixes
- Since 2.1.0.0, MP3 files did not contain tags
- Since 2.1.0.0, “Fade Out” in “Other options” did not work
- Since 2.1.0.0, OGG files where not extracted for SFZ files
- Since 2.1.0.0, playback of SFZ files not always working
- Fixed a bug in the function for moving notes in time (Pianoroll)
- Playback buffer size was too small for speaker output, which could cause random stuttering in the audio (for speakers only). The buffer size shown in Options was wrong (too large).

User interface
- Selection of notes in the Pianoroll graph by drawing a rectangle has been made smoother and with better scrolling.
- A few other UI glitches has been fixed as well.

Version 2.2.0.0:

Bug fixes
- Normalizing audio files to max peak level did not work in 2.1.0.0
- VST plugins lacking an inbuilt editor did not show anything in the edit window of the 64 bit version
- The choice to play VST effects in mix (50%/50%) mode did not work. A new improved mix mode has been created (see below)
- The inbuilt reverb – called Reveerb – had an unfortunate bug making it sound weird (since 2.1.0.0)
- The inbuilt SoundFont editor “Viena” crashed on start-up. Also fixed a few other “Viena” related bugs on par with ones fixed in the stand-alone version of Viena.
- ASIO was not well supported in version 2.1.0.0
- Pitch Wheel broken since 2.1.0.0
- Many other minor bugs have been cleared.

New features
- You can now choose to have two controller views side by side. See image below.
- New mix mode for VST effects. See image below.
- Three new visual themes: “Charcoal Dark Slate”, “Cobalt XEMedia” and “Onyx Blue”
- One alternative model for the inbuilt reverb. It is called MVeerb and is based on MVerb by Martin Eastwood. It sounds better than the original Reveerb model which is fast (less CPU hungry) but has a somewhat metallic sound. See image below.

Other
- The Continuous Controller # 123, “All Notes Off” used to turn of all notes, for all MIDI channels. The new behaviour is to turn off all notes only for the selected channel.

Click on a check box item in "Show here". For example "VU meters"

To remove the side view, click the button in the middle with a red cross.

New mix mode for VST effects. In this example 65% Wet and 35% Dry signal will be mixed.

MVeerb is an alternative model for the inbuilt reverb.

Version 2.1.0.0:

Bug fixes
- The usual range of minor bugs eliminated.

New features:
- SynthFont2 now comes in two flavours: a 32 bit version (the “old” SynthFont2) and a 64 bit version (the new SynthFont2x64). Both versions are able to use VST plugins of any architecture. The 64 bit version can use 64 bit plugins natively and 32 bit plugins through the included VST Bridge (SFVST32TO64). The 32 bit version can use 32 bit plugins natively and 64 bit plugins through another VST Bridge (SFVST64TO32).