New test version

All about the development and use of SynthFont2
Cos
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Mar 18, 2015 2:32 am

Re: New test version

Post by Cos »

Happy New Year 2016 everyone!

Thanks Kenneth. Ideally one could add a message (lots of boxes needed) and being able to switch it on and off. For instance, Large Hall 1 sounds quite nice with orchestral music (but only with that in my experience) so people could switch off the SysEx message for..say..Hall 1, when necessary, so it defaults.

Ideally, you could also name each SysEx box containing the bytes. i.e. you have a Yes or No checkbox to enable/disable it, :) then the bytes of the message themselves and also you could name that box to Reverb Large Hall, Chorus 1, Chorus 2, Reverb Plate, etc etc etc

I say this 'cos I created yet another SYX file, adding chorus too.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/803 ... rbchor.syx

And the options are plentiful. Think of it as an overseer, effects manager, with the possibility to add lots of boxes to enable different effects, there are quite a lot of messages to play with.
Cos
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Mar 18, 2015 2:32 am

Re: New test version

Post by Cos »

Additionally, I think being able to also load external SYX files would be a great feature --and sending all the messages within after loading them. Also being able to save SysEx messages to a file or merge and save the ones you want to a single SYX file would be a perfect feature. :)

I.e. You add this data to Synthfont, call it Hall 1 Reverb etc, the structure of the feature could be similar to this (the Yes/No is in the code already). Function (Top), how it looks in the interface (below):

Custom Name----Box where you add the SyseX bytes--Enable/Disable effect feature-----Save SysEx option-------Load or Import from SysEx file
Hall 1 Reverb-----F0 41 10 42 12 40 01 30 03 0C F7-------Yes/No----------------------------------Save to a SysEx file------Load SysEx (Send All)
-
Custom Name----Box where you add the SyseX bytes--Enable/Disable effect feature-----Save SysEx option-------Load or Import from SysEx file
Chorus 1-----------F0 41 10 42 12 40 01 38 00 07 F7 -------Yes/No---------------------------------Save to a SysEx file-------Load SysEx (Send All)

This could be an example of the interface.
Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 671
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:22 am

Re: New test version

Post by Admin »

Cos has been talking about better support for external hardware like his Roland SD50 synthesizer. I have listened to him and together we have made some advances. It is all about System Exclusive messages. To be able to send these to your device every time a song is being played you need to do a few things. At first, you need to prepare a file called "SysEx.txt". Here is a file made by Cos for his device:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1733095/SysEx.txt

You are urged to define a group for each of your SysEx messages although this is for internal use only. For the moment you do not need to assign a device name, although this may become an important feature in the future. Mandatory items are send and data.
Toe see these and change the "send" state you may display this dialog box:
Image
To find it, go to Setup and click the button "Set GM and SysEx mode"
If you need more information then please ask.

I have spent a lot of time lately doing my best to facilitate better (=perfect) integration between SynthFont2 and Viena. This version is the first in the series. For SynthFont2 to be able to work with Viena you need the latest test version of Viena also.

Here is SynthFont2: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/173 ... t2026I.rar
Here is Viena: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/173 ... a0979A.rar

Important: the Viena archive contains TWO files: the stand alone normal Viena executable, and a DLL version of it, to be used by SynthFont2. Put both files in Viena's folder, or in SynthFont2's folder, if you like it that way.
Cos
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Mar 18, 2015 2:32 am

Re: New test version

Post by Cos »

Admin wrote:Cos has been talking about better support for external hardware like his Roland SD50 synthesizer. I have listened to him and together we have made some advances. It is all about System Exclusive messages. To be able to send these to your device every time a song is being played you need to do a few things. At first, you need to prepare a file called "SysEx.txt". Here is a file made by Cos for his device:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1733095/SysEx.txt

You are urged to define a group for each of your SysEx messages although this is for internal use only. For the moment you do not need to assign a device name, although this may become an important feature in the future. Mandatory items are send and data.
Toe see these and change the "send" state you may display this dialog box:
Image
To find it, go to Setup and click the button "Set GM and SysEx mode"
If you need more information then please ask.

I have spent a lot of time lately doing my best to facilitate better (=perfect) integration between SynthFont2 and Viena. This version is the first in the series. For SynthFont2 to be able to work with Viena you need the latest test version of Viena also.

Here is SynthFont2: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/173 ... t2026I.rar
Here is Viena: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/173 ... a0979A.rar

Important: the Viena archive contains TWO files: the stand alone normal Viena executable, and a DLL version of it, to be used by SynthFont2. Put both files in Viena's folder, or in SynthFont2's folder, if you like it that way.
This is just amazing to me. Thanks Kenneth!!

For those interested in this or use a hardware module, I created a SYX file and I'd wholeheartedly recommend this file with SysEX messages for the Roland SD50 -or any compatible device with SysEx messages, actually, which are MANY- that can be loaded into programs like VanBasco (or Synthfont 2 for that matter using the built-in exclusive messages options) and tone down the default reverb, especially, which is too overpowering, I think.

This is the file, the synth will default to GM2, Small Room reverb, Chorus 1 using it! :) I think this file is a must have because of that.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/803 ... rbchor.syx

The sound will be a bit like GS effects wise just with the higher quality GM2 touch and that makes up for a perfect combo, imho. :)
Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 671
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:22 am

Re: New test version

Post by Admin »

Friends,
Version 2.0.2.6 was released today, together with version 0.979 of Viena.
SolarEclipse
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Jan 30, 2016 12:43 am

Re: New test version

Post by SolarEclipse »

I tried the new version to find that it seems to be very buggy -
1. It won't save any arrangement
2. It won't remember my soundfont setup, ie any change in settings or whenever I leave that window, they are all gone,
3. It won't remember any settings when I restart the program.
It seems like there is something missing or unreferenced with the .ini files, or whatever it uses.
It plays just fine, but I can't use it in its current form.


These things make it very time consuming to use, and for now I'm going back to version 1, which does all of the above.
Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 671
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:22 am

Re: New test version

Post by Admin »

Sorry to hear.
But ... I can't reproduce anything of it. Which version are you running? Maybe you can give me some more information?
For example - what happens (or does not happen) when you save an arrangement?
Have you had the chance to check if the time stamp of the arrangement has changed, i.e. did SynthFont2 even try to write anything to it?
What about creating a new arrangement? Use the "Save As..." from the drop-down menu.
Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 671
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:22 am

Re: New test version

Post by Admin »

I tried the new version to find that it seems to be very buggy -
1. It won't save any arrangement
2. It won't remember my soundfont setup, ie any change in settings or whenever I leave that window, they are all gone,
3. It won't remember any settings when I restart the program.
It seems like there is something missing or unreferenced with the .ini files, or whatever it uses.
All of this sounds like you have been running it within a Sandbox!
Maybe your antivirus software did that to you?
Elven Spellmaker
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 3:02 pm

Re: New test version

Post by Elven Spellmaker »

Hi Kenneth,

I've recently noticed that SynthFont only now shows a border around the active track. While it's great to be able to easily distinguish the active track it makes the others look odd and sometimes very hard to see!

As an idea, what about re-instating borders around all tracks but with a grey colour of sorts and then the active track has the black border?
That way all tracks will be able to be seen on all colours and the current track will still be visible?

As an example, percussion tracks now appear as one continuous note often which is not the case!

c.f.
Image
and
Image
mike
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2015 10:14 pm

Re: New test version

Post by mike »

So I've had some time again to play around with SynthFont2 again and discovered some more issues:

- SynthFont will refuse to load this VST and outputs the following error message: "Unkown error: -4 Not a suitable VST file ..."
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/285 ... mp_1_2.dll

- I do have this MIDI file with multiple drum tracks. In my arrangement I want to feed them into different VST buses and so assign different MIDI channels to those tracks (SynthFont won't allow me assign different ones otherwise). Works all great, but once I save the arrangement all the bus assignments for those particular tracks will be dropped and I have to redo it when I want to continue my work.

I'm running Version 2028G.
used to be "likeaguest"
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