Mute or change Drums in Batch convert midi +more

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Trygve Larsen
Posts: 82
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:16 pm

Mute or change Drums in Batch convert midi +more

Post by Trygve Larsen »

Hi, I have a lot of Jazz Midi files that I want to batch convert to mp3. But I don't want to include the drums. I know we can mute ONE SINGLE track for saving as mp3, but can't see any option for this in the batch converting.. Is it possible? If yes, How? ''

2. When I tried around to figure it out, I also could not find how to Replace the drum soundfont with a VST drum. The Midi program correspond between the Plug and play window, and the override window for all the other instrument, but not the drums.. The override window shows only up to 127. when drums are from 128... I can change drums in the plug and play window, but that will ONLY be for current song... So, is there a way to change drums, for the whole batch convert?

3. Today I was reading in ur website som FAQ, and one that I did not know, was the; "Can SynthFont show Karaoke lyrics while playing? Can lyrics be saved in an MP3 file?
Yes, SynthFont can show lyrics. Press CTRL+T or choose a menu item from main menu View. SynthFont2 (not the freeware SynthFont1) can also save the lyrics in an MP3 file." So I loaded a file with lyric, pressed ctrl +T, played it to see the lyric, converted it to mp3, and tried it in 2 different players; VLC and CometPlayer..But it did not show any lyrics.. I have version 2.4.0.0
So, could u give a step by step guide here? And perhaps include that in the FAQ as well ?

4. In ur website, the home section bottom, u have; Listen to a few samples of what you can do with SynthFont:
I would love to have a detailed "tour" what soundfont u used and what VST effects, because it sounded really good, and I am not yet so familiar with using VST effects in my work...

I am really impressed with ur work Kenneth, and the more I use it, the more I understand how UNIQUE it is.. Just take time to explore it all...;)
Admin
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Re: Mute or change Drums in Batch convert midi +more

Post by Admin »

Hi Trygve,
Question1 - is a very good one! Right now I can't see another way than using a so called Macro file. I'll think about it an give you instructions if I can make it work.
Q2: You CAN use a VST instrument also for percussion. For example, to override the percussion #0 you have to expand the slot for MIDI program 0 and scroll down until you find the Bank Hi 128. Like this:
Override-128;000-with-VST-instrument.png
Override-128;000-with-VST-instrument.png (13.11 KiB) Viewed 18347 times
Q3: Looks like a recent bug, or something. I will investigate.
Q4: Well... That's some time ago... But take the Gimme some lovin', for example. The current arrangement makes use of SGM-V2.01 for all tracks except percussion which uses Princess soft 2.3.4. My standard setup for VST effects is a basic reverb and a compressor. Sometimes an equalizer. Nothing more, nothing less.

I'm glad you like my work!
I'll be back with more thoughts re Q1 and Q3.
Admin
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Re: Mute or change Drums in Batch convert midi +more

Post by Admin »

Q1: Here's a good solution: you can use a silent percussion SoundFont as an override. Here's one
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p9wd49ruydz15 ... s.sf2?dl=0

Q3: SynthFon2 seems to work... And at least THIS Karaoke player can read the lyrics in my MP3 files:
https://www.karaoke5.com/
Trygve Larsen
Posts: 82
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:16 pm

Re: Mute or change Drums in Batch convert midi +more

Post by Trygve Larsen »

Wow! Thank's Kenneth for ur quick answer and SOLUTIONS !

Q1; Yes, the silent drums font did the job... But, it was a bit hard to find ALL the different drums when I expanded... The Jazz files I wanted to convert, are all made from different people, and they all use different drums.. But, I think I found most of them... It would be a help if we could sort it by clicking the top column, Bank, Name etc...

Q2; Yes, Karaoke 5 did read and displayed the lyric in the Mp3 files... Just wonder why all the other I tried did not?

Q4; I downloaded and tried the SGM-V2.01 soundfont and it sounded good.. Not really sure if better then the Timbre of Heaven I use, but need to listen more to it. In ur opinion, is SGM-V2.01 better then Timbre of Heaven?
Is there any instruction, manual guide how to use FX? And can it be used in the Batch converting?

Another thing; I THINK I found a way to minimize the ram use. It does not matter to me if, for instance, the melody is played by a trumpet or a sax. So instedt of loading kontakt to each of those most common instrument, I loaded only kontakt for the trumpet, chose Kontakt Brass ensemble, then changed the soundfont for all the other brass instrument to trumpet, so all the other brass instrument mow play the trumpet soundfont, and by that, Kontakt Brass Ensemble, since that instrument library actually have ALL brass instruments, trombone, etc... Same goes for strings, I guess...;) Load Kontakt string ensemble for ONLY one string instrument soundfont, then override all the other string instrument with that soundfont...
Admin
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Re: Mute or change Drums in Batch convert midi +more

Post by Admin »

Q4: Well it is a matter of taste of course. But in a way, I probably prefer SGM over several other GM SoundFonts I have (quite a few of them). But some of the presets are not always the best ones, It depends a little bit on the mix. For one thing, and this is a common mixing issue, you should always try to make the instruments as much as possible occupy their own frequency range. So, sometimes you may find that a preset that sounds so good on its own or in one arrangement simply gets too little "space" in another arrangement with other presets. Then replace it! Another issue that may destroy a good arrangement is that you may have monophonic sounds for some presets and suddenly a stereophonic for another. Very unnatural!

You can use effects in batch conversion by saving a default setup. There is a button for it!. Go find it. (hint: it is called "Set default").
Trygve Larsen
Posts: 82
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:16 pm

Re: Mute or change Drums in Batch convert midi +more

Post by Trygve Larsen »

Ok, so I downloaded the free RoughRider compressor at
https://www.audiodamage.com/pages/free-downloads
loaded it and started a song. SF froze... Tried again, same. Loaded it in Biab to see if it worked, and it worked just fine there... Tried it a 3rd time in SF. and the midi started, but no sound. Then after some second it froze again... BUG? Or do I just do it wrong?

I was trying to find The button "Set default" for around an hour with no success.. :shock: So where is it hidden? I even copied all the text in the shortcut overview window to my Word pad, so I could search for it, to be sure I did not overlooked it, but it was not there also... :cry: So I guess that means there is no shortcut for it, at least..

Is it a button that save all my setting, included soundfont overrides and FX ? And IF so, how do I get that setting back after restarting SF2?
Admin
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Re: Mute or change Drums in Batch convert midi +more

Post by Admin »

I will have to investigate this RoughRider - never had a problem before.

Here is the button:
set_default_VSTFx.png
set_default_VSTFx.png (21.87 KiB) Viewed 18297 times
Admin
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Re: Mute or change Drums in Batch convert midi +more

Post by Admin »

I've found the RoughRider flaw - just a minor but silly issue.
I will make some changes to the code to prevent similar things from happening in the future.
Trygve Larsen
Posts: 82
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:16 pm

Re: Mute or change Drums in Batch convert midi +more

Post by Trygve Larsen »

OMG.. :oops: How could I overlook THAT ! Well, my wife use to say; It's because of ur long nose... But thank's for pointing it out for me...

Ok, since it is there, then I guess it just save it to the ini file?

The good thing with me looking really hard around, is that I see and discover things that I did not see before... One window that I did not see before, was a window where we can change the settings for various parameter, like volume, velocity dynamic, etc. and apply it to all tracks... I was happy to find that... :D But, there was no set default there, so that means it must be set for each file.. I'm kind of looking for a possibility to set a global parameter for volume, velocity and sustain pedal etc, so when I start a new conversion, this will make sure that those files with ridiculous high velocity or volume will be forced down to a normal set by me... And for piano files that I want to convert to brass, for instance, the sustain pedal could be set to zero..

Anyway, thank's again Kenneth for all ur hard work and fast and positive response to user problems and request... :)
Admin
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Re: Mute or change Drums in Batch convert midi +more

Post by Admin »

It's interesting that this task - converting a block of MIDI files to audio (mostly MP3, but not always) - pops up every now and again. I've probably have had more than a handful of users throughout these years asking about improvements related to this task. Many years ago, 2006 to be exact, I introduce something I called the Group file (see File nenu or use CTRL-G), but is doesn't work well. I'm improving it. This was kind a of a precursor to the Override concept. A Group file might have worked for you, except form the fat that you could only use SoundFont-type of files is a group, not VST instruments. The first version of the Override function did not allow VST instruments either.

Another featured introduced for batch converting is found in "Files /Folders", "What to play", "Advanced" - where you can play all your files according to a set of fairly complicated rules. This feature is still there but should probably best be forgotten.

The "final" and most versatile approach was the support for Scripts (originally called Macros). There is a menu item called Script [originally "Macro"]. SynthFont2 tries to install a file called DemoScript1.pas [aka DemoMacro1.pas] into the SynthFont folder in Documents and if you open the Editor it will show this file. This is the ultimate solution and should be fairly easy to use for anyone that has some programming language experience. Here is the documentation:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0j2ohtp4ab9q2 ... s.pdf?dl=0

Now, I don't expect you Trygve to jump on that wagon just like that, but my goal here is only to point out this possibility. I have made some scripts for other people and I guess I could create one for you as well. This script (or scrips) could set the volume, pan and such for a batch of files and write into audio files (of suitable audio format).
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