New test version

All about the development and use of SynthFont2
Admin
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Re: New test version

Post by Admin »

Ok, guys, I got it. I have been experimenting with a larger playback buffer (just below 2 sec at 44100 Hz output rate). It does help a little bit when playing midi files that have short bursts of high voice numbers, but the side effect is the delay upon acting on the arrangement while playing. The original playback buffer size was just below 0.5 sec (at 44100 Hz output rate). I will reinstate it.
ray890
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Re: New test version

Post by ray890 »

Again, can the playback buffer amount be made customizable by the user via setup? Also it would be nice to have the GUI updates compensate and have the same latency as the playback buffer does if possible.
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Re: New test version

Post by Admin »

The buffer size could indeed be customizable and the the GUI updates given the required latency. In fact the volume levels already have this feature, but not the Voices counts. That's an easy task. Originally I also thought it would be easy to make the user changes occurring more in real time - by going back and redoing the events coming after a change - but that has proven to require a bit more work so I will have to leave until later.
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Re: New test version

Post by Admin »

Finally version "W" (as in Working ;) ) is here!
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/173 ... t2012W.rar
  • Tracks with notes for multiple channels had notes shown in black in the Pianoroll. This was for my own testing only. Removed.
  • The side-bar on the Pianoroll shows "Track 001" instead of the track name - fixed.
  • MIDI EVENTS display showed only track number with a simple scroller to switch track - changed to similar system like in the Pianoroll.
  • Version V get out of sync with the piano roll during playback - fixed.
  • For the split tracks "Yes to all" dialogue there is now a setting in Setup (Options 1, down right).
  • There was a glitch that occured when selecting a VST instrument: If you didn't click on the instances menu it disappeared and you had to select another VST instrument button to get it back. This is flaw in the Delphi library and my workaround has been to move the menu up to cover the VSTi button.
  • "Anti-Chlorobenzene 1 million" has been fixed. There is an odd METAEVENT in track 1 I've never seen before - I call it "Sequence Name". Sequence number is a standard event, but Sequence Name seems to be an undocumented (?) feature.
  • "Alstroemeria Records - Bad Appel" sounds the same played un-splitted and splitted. OK now?
  • About the non-percussion soundfonts being treated as a non-percussion instrument issue - nothing new. Leave for later.
  • Clicking and dragging mouse along the Virtual Keys cause infinitely sustained notes - hmm -- can't repeatedly reproduce, but fixed a couple of flaws. Any better?
  • If the track you wanted to play om the Virtual Keyboard was muted nothing was heard. Changed.
  • Scrolled down MIDITracks' activities don't automatically update until something in the area is selected - tried to fix. Any better?
  • There has been a noticeable delay between sound and the playback activity GUI updates during playback for track activity. This has been fixed.There is still a problem with latency related to changing arrangement parameters, like muting tracks or switching SoundFonts or presets while playing.
  • In Setup, Options 2, there is a slider to change the size of the playback buffer.
  • And, as usual, I've fixed a number of unreported bugs!
I must get this version out soon, so please do your best to find only the really, really nasty bugs!
ray890
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Re: 2.0.1.2 "W"

Post by ray890 »

As for most critical bugs that haven't been fixed yet, I would say:
  • Editing (renaming, deleting.etc) MIDITracks larger than 10,000 notes triggers an error and causes servere instability until program is restarted
  • Playing an empty MIDI file causes the program to crash
  • Clicking and dragging mouse along the Virtual Keys cause infinitely sustained notes {Video}
All three of those bugs have originated from 2.0.1.2S.

As part of my regular 2.0.1.2W testing, I have found yet another small batch of bugs:
  • The "Clicking Forward To Next Bar (or marker) super fast causes rewinding and/or pausing" bug has worsened (Since 2.0.1.2V)
  • External MIDI Output is delayed before outputting notes after a song position change under larger note workloads (Since 2.0.1.2V)
  • External MIDI Output (to a software synth like coolsoft virtualmidisynth) lags very easily under Black MIDI workloads (Since 2.0.1.2V)
Last edited by ray890 on Sun May 24, 2015 4:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
Admin
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Re: New test version

Post by Admin »

Here is the next one:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/173 ... t2012X.rar
  1. "Editing tracks larger than 10,000 notes..." I cannot reproduce this problem, so please tell me more.
  2. "Playing an empty MIDI file causes the program to crash" - fixed.
  3. "Moving mouse along the Virtual Keys cause infinitely sustained notes" - fixed.
  4. "Clicking Forward To Next Bar (or marker) super fast ... etc" - seems to work now?
  5. External MIDI Output should be more accurate in this version (but not perfect).
ray890
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Re: 2.0.1.2 "X"

Post by ray890 »

The infinitely sustained notes within virtual keys issue has certainly been reduced, but it still there. It's easiest to detect the bug happening when using gm.dls due to the other issue that dls files don't seem to decay properly while held down in SynthFont. Now to encounter infinately sustained notes, you need to drag your mouse back and forth at a much faster pace, and it seems to happen more with the higher notes.

The forward to next bar thing is in fact fixed now.

The bug where error and stability issues arise after manipulating MIDITracks with 10,000 notes or more seems to be easy for me to reproduce. The simplest way for me to trigger it is by simply selecting such track and deleting it. Here's a {Video}

I don't see a difference in the performance and cuing times when using External MIDI output; Again here's a {Video}, a comparision between what happens with older synthfont builds vs now.


Also, is it possible to implement a percentage indicator for the "Sorting events" stage just like what's been done to preparing data for playback?
As well, can you expand the range that the user can set buffer settings to? (example: min 0.1s, max 10s)
Last edited by ray890 on Sun May 24, 2015 4:48 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: New test version

Post by Admin »

Version Y is here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/173 ... t2012Y.rar

Virtual keyboard: I've done some minor changes, but as I haven't myself been able to reproduce this behavior in version "X", I can't tell if it is any better. But if you find that you can reproduce it, then please do it with DBWIN32 running (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1733095/DBWIN32.exe) and send me the output.

Manipulating MIDITracks with 10,000 notes ought to be fixed now.

Cuing times when using External MIDI output. Now, this has turned out to be a tricky one simply because I need to get three threads work together with very accurate timings. I think I am a lot closer now.

Percentage indicator for the "Sorting events" stage . Yes, it is possible, but it turned out to make the sorting routine a lot slower so I haven't implemented it (yet, I'll keep it in mind, or, get rid of the need altogteher). In this version, only half the number of events need to get sorted (done before adding events from the tracks) so it is somewhat faster.
ray890
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Re: New test version

Post by ray890 »

The MIDITrack stability bug appears to be fixed.

And, in this version I appear to still have the same infinitely sustained notes in virtual keyboard, but this time I hear them abruptly cutting out instead of going on forever, which to me sounds like a "workaround solution". Anyway, here's my output for a virtual keys attempt which created one or more sustained notes: http://pastebin.com/EWTd8djG

Also, this build has pretty much screwed up cuing pretty badly, I can't click skip forward more than 4 times per second without either the song refusing to play any further or the whole program hanging, even with the regular soundfont player. Cue times with midi out to virtualmidisynth don't seem to be any different to me in this release either.

And again the whole two bugs with the external midi out: cue times and slowdowns only started with 2.0.1.2V, and I'm starting to wonder if the slowdown bottleneck might be caused by unintentional MIDI-Out PPQ limiting or something.
chasp
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Re: New test version

Post by chasp »

Hello Kenneth,
When using themes....and the MIDI EVENTS PANEL
When using the Synthfont 2 standard colors.. All midi events show on the list and i guess now both current note on and note off events are highlighted which is ok for me..
However when using color themes...only the current (highlighted) note on and note off events show on the list. Seems also that randomly the first track with note on events... show only a blank list... Of course, its probably not a random thing for that first track with data but i can't seem to make it happen consistantly.
Cheers Kenneth,
chasp
PS the seemingly blank list is also true when using the new TRACK NAME display in the MIDI EVENTS panel...where when using themes ( it seems) no track name shows....but all appears ok with the good old fashioned standard SYNTHFONT 2 colors..( no fancy theme used)
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