Any Batch edit of midifile possible?

All about the development and use of SynthFont2
Trygve Larsen
Posts: 82
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:16 pm

Re: Any Batch edit of midifile possible?

Post by Trygve Larsen »

Ok, thank's again Kenneth, for trying to help me out.. I finely figure out this VSTi thing and why I could not see the VSTi prog... BUT, it does NOT work with whole playlist, unless I overlook something..

This is what I do when I want to convert a whole folder to Mp3;
1. I open the Files and folder option and select the folder I want to play/convert..
2. I then open the Plug and Play window and click the VST instrument button..Selecting my kontakt instrument, and click PLAY TO FILE... And it start.. BUT, it plays ONLY one of the selected files!
3. And as I said, the Sustain Pedal need to be adjusted.. So I go to the Piano Roll window, selecting 64 Hold pedal, and can see it is full 100%.. So I hover my mouse over and a pop up messages tells me; "You can draw and erase event here".. BUT, when I try to click to do that, a box coming up, saying; Switch On/Of... So, I cannot figure out how to draw a line so it comes down where I want them, like in all other piano-rolls I have tried in other software's..
Admin
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Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:22 am

Re: Any Batch edit of midifile possible?

Post by Admin »

That's good!
Now when it comes to using a VST Instrument for a playlist, we are getting into historic domains... Many, many years ago another user was pushing this forward. I tried several alternative solutions but finally ended up with this one: use the SoundFont Override concept. This means assigning a VST instrument to become the default override for a particular MIDI program.

Here is an image that hopefully describes the process:
UserBanks and Overrides - using a piano VST instrument instead of Acoustic Grand in a SoundFont.
UserBanks and Overrides - using a piano VST instrument instead of Acoustic Grand in a SoundFont.
UserBanks_and_Overrides_using_VST_instrument.png (197.53 KiB) Viewed 19366 times
Warning: this function fails if you do not have any MIDI file loaded into SynthFont2 at the moment. This is a known bug I will surely fix NOW.

About editing Pedal Hold events: Normally drawing in the controller window in the PianoRoll is the method of choice. Pedal Hold - like many other CC events - are actually ON/OFF events. Although you can give it any value between 0 and 127 the only meaning is - below 64, it is OFF, above 64 it is ON. Some software out there might like to try and be clever and use the value to make the Pedal Hold harder/softer, but this is not according to the original specifications and it only becomes a mess. Hence SynthFont2 treats it as a ON/OFF event. Here is picture showing which CC's should behave in this way according to original specs:
Some ON/OFF MIDI pedall events
Some ON/OFF MIDI pedall events
MIDI_ON_OFF_EVENTS.png (32.35 KiB) Viewed 19366 times
BUT, this said, I realize it becomes very hard to edit existing events in this way in the controller graph, as you cannot easily draw anything there. This is something I will have to focus on a bit later. For now, I can only suggest two options for you: use the MIDI Events editor or wait until I let you try out my new Macro feature (works already 95% but requires some fine tuning.
Admin
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Re: Any Batch edit of midifile possible?

Post by Admin »

I decide to use this moment to talk about the Event editor as a lot of people are afraid to use it. Understandable.
Look at this image:
Midi_events_editor_with_Hold_Pedal_events.png
Midi_events_editor_with_Hold_Pedal_events.png (32.78 KiB) Viewed 19366 times
This show the "Midi events" page in SynthFont2 for a piano track with lots of Hold Pedal events. Now, to focus on anly these I have filtered out all other events than Controllers. See the box to the right for the filter options "Show these events". You see that there are numerous events - some switch pedal ON and some OFF. We want to set all to OFF. This can of course been done one-by-one if there were only a few of them, but not in this case. So we can turn to the function "Search and Replace" at the bottom right:
Midi_events_editor_with_Hold_Pedal_events_Search_Replace.png
Midi_events_editor_with_Hold_Pedal_events_Search_Replace.png (18.56 KiB) Viewed 19366 times
Fill in the required entries and press Find to list only the entries that switch the pedal ON.
Next, press the Replace button next to Find and this window pops up:
Midi_events_editor_with_Hold_Pedal_events_Use_Replace.png
Midi_events_editor_with_Hold_Pedal_events_Use_Replace.png (13.01 KiB) Viewed 19366 times
Select as in the image - the value can of course in this case be anything below 64 - and press "Replace all".
You're done!
Trygve Larsen
Posts: 82
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:16 pm

Re: Any Batch edit of midifile possible?

Post by Trygve Larsen »

Wow ! This is awesome ! Really... Now the fun starting... :lol: This overrides is more then I was hoping for.. I have wished for it in Band in a Box for years... I think Synthfont is the only software that can do it... Do it also works in the free Synthfont1? Because if, then I will tell all the guys over in the BiaB forum about it.. Over there is always discussing about the best GM midi solution.. But nothing can beat a combination of soundfonts and VSTi... And since Synthfont was included from 2019, all having it..

I am familiar with the event editor from band in a box, and used it all the time, until I found it was much quicker to use the pianoroll editor, by just draw a line.. Mostly I use it for the velocity, sustain, notebends and volume.. So hope u can work out a way to make the draw function work..

When that is said, I guess it needs to be a script in order to delete sustain-pedal for more then one file at a time? Like in a batch convert operation ? Perhaps a general script that works for all the events, where we can just edit it for the event we want...?

What you said about the sustain pedal just of or on, make a lot of sense to me...;)
Trygve Larsen
Posts: 82
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:16 pm

Re: Any Batch edit of midifile possible?

Post by Trygve Larsen »

After finishing a few hundred track in different folders, I run into a problem here...
This is what happens;
1. I had the other day put 3 tracks in the favorite window, in my try this and try this trials and fails to make it work.. Those 3 tracks remained there when I loaded the next folder in the Files and folder window, and did not cause anything bad to happen...

2. But then, I happened to Rename that folder, outside the program.. So next time I played my next folder to files, at the end it came up a warning box telling me that a file could not be found, so I clicked OK, and another window open and told me to locate this file.. I just clicked Ok, and the window closed...

3. So the next folder I tried to convert, it started like usual analyzing files, bla bla, but then suddenly at the very bottom, it says Done! But without converting the files...

4.. I then tried to click the play to files again, but nothing happen.. Clicked exit, nothing happen.. So I had to go to the Task manager and close it from there.. This continued several times...

5. So I decided to uninstall Synthfont and install it again.. But to my surprise, everything was like before.. Nothing was changed.. The VSTi was there, the override soundfont was there, the last folder in the file and folder window was there... SO, obviously the uninstall does not uninstall everything...

So what do I do now?

And BTW, a few other points that need to be looked into.. When clicking play to file, there is no cancel option... It should be.. AND when rendering there is no PAUSE option, only stop option.. So if stopped, it will start from the beginning and just overwrite the files that was already done, if started again....
Admin
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Re: Any Batch edit of midifile possible?

Post by Admin »

Thanks Trygve,
I will investigate this playlist functionality in more details.
You dont' need to play through all files again. Look here:
Playlist_to_files_SynthFont2_options.png
Playlist_to_files_SynthFont2_options.png (29.61 KiB) Viewed 19353 times
Just check the box to skip previously converted files.

And, no, this SoundFont Override using VST instrument feature is not available in the free version. There must be some features worth paying for in a paid version. Think of it - for 15 € you get two boxes of cigarettes (in Finland where I live) or a license to both SynthFont2 and VSTSynthFont! In Stockholm, Sweden, lunch often costs you 15 € (150 SKR). To me, the price for SynthFont2 is ridiculously low, just simply too low. Only Bandlab's Cakewalk is cheaper (free).
Trygve Larsen
Posts: 82
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:16 pm

Re: Any Batch edit of midifile possible?

Post by Trygve Larsen »

Ok, thank's Kenneth, will have that in mind, next time, if I need to stop it...;)

Yeah, I agree to what u r saying about the override function should be only in the paid version.. I'll try to convince my mates over in the BiaB forum to invest in that, for that reason alone, +alle the other great stuff...;)

BUT, I need help ! How do I fix the problem I described above???? My conversion job stopped up and I still have many thousand of files to convert ! ;)
Admin
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Re: Any Batch edit of midifile possible?

Post by Admin »

Trygve, I'm looking at it. I have a deadline here - next week I will be out of office on vacation, so I have to find something for you within the next <48 hours.
Stay tuned.
Admin
Site Admin
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Re: Any Batch edit of midifile possible?

Post by Admin »

Anyway, your best choice is always to play files in the folders in the "Explorer" window at the bottom and skip the use of Favorites.
MY best choice it try to prevent the user from changing the name of a folder (or deleting it) while playing from it.

Pause? Well if you press the "Stop playing" button (main toolbar), a dialog box will ask you if you want to play this file to the end or stop immediately. A natural addition would be a "Cancel" button, which would let SynthFont2 continue playing files. I'll think about it.
Admin
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Re: Any Batch edit of midifile possible?

Post by Admin »

Here is a new version for testing:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5bnmb3ftbh7wo ... D.rar?dl=0
This file contains only the executable, SynthFont2220D.exe.

- Added an attempt to lock the folder with files to be played in a list.
- Added Cancel to the "Stop playing" dialog
- Additionally fixed a few other bugs not mentioned here or anywhere: sometime the cursor in the Pianoroll (large one or small one) would not match the actual position.
- Also, sometimes when clicking on the small Pianoroll above the tracks list in Plug & Play while playing to move to a certain position would move the song to totally the wrong position.
- Etc, etc...
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