Topic: XMPlay MIDI plugin

[Rich Nagel]

That's strange. It doesn't do that here (on an Audigy2). Is there some special way of loading the soundfont to make that happen? I used the Soundfont Bank Manager v1.00.21.

I'm not sure about the Audigy (or SB Live!) line of cards. On my AWE32s I use the AWE32 Control Panel (the AWE64 uses the same control panel). Maybe it's how the EMU8000 handles the soundfonts. I'm not sure of what the specific chip is used in the Audigy or Sb Live cards, (I think it's an EMU800(#), a newer version of the EMU8000, maybe something like EMU8004?).


I uploaded an example pic to the FTP (awe32_control_panel.gif / awe32_control_panel.txt). This is the standard AWE32/AWE64 Control Panel applet that ships with all of the AWE cards. In addition to using it to load in SBKs and SF2s, it also allows you to select/control which AWE device device to use (in the case of multiple AWE cards in a single PC), as well as displaying the amount of total and free onboard RAM on the card (in the case of these pics, 8MB/8192KB(*) of total onboard RAM).

Pic 1 of the collage: Where you load in the main base soundfont (which is always bank #0).

Pic 2 of the collage: Where you load in soundfonts to the various user banks (in this case, bank #1).

Anyhow, when loading in the base 8MBGM.SF2 soundont (in bank #0 - it's always bank #0 - located on the "Synth" tab) and the POWER.SF2 in user bank #1 (located on the "User" tab), the toms/snare/kick drums come from the POWER.SF2, while the rest of the GM Power kit (patch #16, MIDI channel 10) come from the base 8MBGM.SF2 soundfont.


The following is just an FYI: On the 'WaveFx" tab is a pretty cool feature of the AWE Control Panel which has the ability to load in any single patch number from a soundfont (as well as any standard WAV file - see below(**)), and then assign it to any specific instrument/patch number.

Pic 3 of the collage: Selected instrument/patch number 0, and opened the soundfont file 1MGM.SF2.

Pic 4 of the collage: After clicking the "Apply" button, this window pops up. You then select which of the instruments/patches that you wish to use.

Pic 5 of the collage: After clicking on "000 006 Harpsichord" in pic 4, the AWE Control Panel loads this instrument/patch (originally patch #6 in the 1MBGM.SF2 soundfont file) into instrument/patch slot number 0 (that I had selected in pic 3).

The result is that the harpsichord (previously loaded from the 1MGM.SF2 soundfont) will now be used/played when any MIDI file plays GM patch #0 (Piano 1) -:)


(**) Hehe the usage of regular WAV files with this feature can be pretty fun as you can load in any WAV file "on the fly" for any GM instrument/patch number, and use it for MIDI playback... lot's of fun with burps or other such obsure rude noises <LOL>!


(*) P.S. (To anyone asking/saying "What a minute! I thought you previously said that you had a bunch of AWEs with 32MB RAM?! LIAR!" <LOL>) That AWE32 isn't in my "main" MIDI machine, hence only the 8MB of onboard RAM <G>. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd have fired up my MIDI machine and took pics of the installed AWE CPs in it... six AWE32 cards each with 32MB onboard RAM, running installed in a 486-DX100 under Windows 3.11 WFWG <LOL>!

[Nichel]

The latest changes don't seems to be working right on my side.I'm trying to substitute preset n°41(Viola) on my personal soundfont with the one included in Chorium but instead it gets substituted with preset n°61 (Brass). What I do it's loading my personal sf first then I double click on viola and  I choose  Chorium on the open file dialog window. If I do the opposite(loading Chorium first then substituting Viola with my private one) I get preset 46 (Harp) in place of the Viola.Using beta 12.

[Ian @ un4seen]

The following is just an FYI: On the 'WaveFx" tab is a pretty cool feature of the AWE Control Panel which has the ability to load in any single patch number from a soundfont (as well as any standard WAV file - see below(**)), and then assign it to any specific instrument/patch number.

Pic 3 of the collage: Selected instrument/patch number 0, and opened the soundfont file 1MGM.SF2.

Pic 4 of the collage: After clicking the "Apply" button, this window pops up. You then select which of the instruments/patches that you wish to use.

Pic 5 of the collage: After clicking on "000 006 Harpsichord" in pic 4, the AWE Control Panel loads this instrument/patch (originally patch #6 in the 1MBGM.SF2 soundfont file) into instrument/patch slot number 0 (that I had selected in pic 3).

The result is that the harpsichord (previously loaded from the 1MGM.SF2 soundfont) will now be used/played when any MIDI file plays GM patch #0 (Piano 1) -:)

That's another thing the "Soundfont Bank Manager v1.00.21" doesn't seem to do ... When loading a soundfont into a patch/preset, it just uses an arbitrary one from the soundfont, eg. it's always "5th Saw Wave" from the Chorium soundfont.

I don't know if these are just driver/software differences, or whether it's the hardware. Looking back at the "Tremelo Strings" thing, do you notice the same frequency limit that I did on the Audigy2?

The latest changes don't seems to be working right on my side.I'm trying to substitute preset n°41(Viola) on my personal soundfont with the one included in Chorium but instead it gets substituted with preset n°61 (Brass). What I do it's loading my personal sf first then I double click on viola and  I choose  Chorium on the open file dialog window. If I do the opposite(loading Chorium first then substituting Viola with my private one) I get preset 46 (Harp) in place of the Viola.Using beta 12.

The plugin will currently use the first preset in the soundfont (I had single-preset soundfonts in mind). I guess it would be a good idea to use the same chosen preset number, if it's present in the soundfont. I'll look into it.

[Rich Nagel]

I don't know if these are just driver/software differences, or whether it's the hardware.

I have a hunch that it may be hardware (maybe the updated EMU chip, that is if your card has one). Like I replied previously, the POWER.SF2 instance isn't all that important (as it's really an obscure sort of instance, of a custom non-standard SF2). If it's easy to add what I was describing that would be great, if not, no problemo :thumbsup: -:)

Looking back at the "Tremelo Strings" thing, do you notice the same frequency limit that I did on the Audigy2?

Yes, the limit appears to be the same on the AWE cards.

The plugin will currently use the first preset in the soundfont (I had single-preset soundfonts in mind). I guess it would be a good idea to use the same chosen preset number, if it's present in the soundfont. I'll look into it.

That would be similar to what I was describing in my previous post about the "WaveFX" tab (using SF2s) of the AWE Control panel -:)

[Ian @ un4seen]

The "use the chosen preset if present in the soundfont" thing is in there now. Support for the custom loop-point thing is in now too, but requires an EXE update...

   www.un4seen.com/stuff/xmplay.exe

Note the "MOD only" looping option includes MIDI files now, as they have proper loop detection (the loopstart marker), rather than the generic "if there's sound at the end, let's loop"

[Rich Nagel]

The "use the chosen preset if present in the soundfont" thing is in there now.

It works great Ian, thanks! :thumbsup: -:) BTW, a small feature request (if possible): The ability to select a specific preset/patch from the replacement SF2 to replace the clicked-on patch number. In other words, I noticed that if there isn't a matching patch number in the replacement SF2, the plugin defaults to to the first preset/patch number within it. Would be handy to be able to select any of the patch/preset numbers within the SF2 -:)

P.S. If it's not possible, then I'd say that "That's a wrap!" (i.e. ready for final release) for the MIDI plugin... if it is possible, then after that feature I'd say "That's a wrap!" <BG> -:) Again, thanks for all of your hard work on this thing, and especially for listening to all of my inane sensless babble <G> -:)

Support for the custom loop-point thing is in now too, but requires an EXE update...

:thumbsup: -:)

[WingZero]

The "use the chosen preset if present in the soundfont" thing is in there now. Support for the custom loop-point thing is in now too, but requires an EXE update...

   www.un4seen.com/stuff/xmplay.exe

Note the "MOD only" looping option includes MIDI files now, as they have proper loop detection (the loopstart marker), rather than the generic "if there's sound at the end, let's loop"

   Just downloaded this and now all my shortcuts default to "Open with XMPlay" instead of their normal shortcut-to-some-other-executable-ness. I suspect it has something to do with that "XMPlay resetting itself" thread.

{edit}
Actually, it seems that it wasn't the shortcuts, but all applications are associated with XMPlay now, making it pretty hard to do, well, anything, really. I can't seem to find the broken .EXE setting under Tools->Folder Options; have to go look in the Registry, if I could get it to open, that is.
{/edit}

[WingZero]

Ah, I see; the XM-EXE plugin automatically associates XMPlay with EXE's but it doesn't show up in the Integration tab . I'd rather the archive plugins not have their extensions associated with XMPlay automatically, so ZIPs and stuff open in an archive manager and EXE's actually open like they should. I'm not sure why this never happened before...

[Zarggg]

Note the "MOD only" looping option includes MIDI files now, as they have proper loop detection (the loopstart marker), rather than the generic "if there's sound at the end, let's loop"

Yay!!!!!

Ah, I see; the XM-EXE plugin automatically associates XMPlay with EXE's but it doesn't show up in the Integration tab .

Ouch...

[Ian @ un4seen]

BTW, a small feature request (if possible): The ability to select a specific preset/patch from the replacement SF2 to replace the clicked-on patch number. In other words, I noticed that if there isn't a matching patch number in the replacement SF2, the plugin defaults to to the first preset/patch number within it. Would be handy to be able to select any of the patch/preset numbers within the SF2 -:)

But that'd require the hassle of a popup window

I think I'll save it for later. Another update is up now though, with auto looping configuration (determines when to "auto loop").

Just downloaded this and now all my shortcuts default to "Open with XMPlay" instead of their normal shortcut-to-some-other-executable-ness. I suspect it has something to do with that "XMPlay resetting itself" thread.

I don't think it's related to that (or the XM-EXE plugin ), but it could possibly be the "another update to try". There was a little bug (uninitialized variable) in there. It seems unlikely, but I guess if you were freakishly unlucky, it could've associated itself with bad stuff ... That bug is fixed in the "stuff" version now.

Can you run REGEDIT? If so, check the "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes" branch. Any entries that XMPlay created should be in there.

[WingZero]

Can you run REGEDIT? If so, check the "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes" branch. Any entries that XMPlay created should be in there.

Well, I managed to fix it by importing the HKCR\.exe key and now everything seems to be behaving well.

[Ian @ un4seen]

Actually, now that I think about it, the "unintialized variable" bug I mentioned couldn't have caused what you had happen. It could've only setup a random one of the normal registry entries, eg. something like Brian's "Add to XMPlay-library" thing.

So I don't really know what could've caused your problem. Did you find any funny entries at the registry branch I mentioned?

[Rich Nagel]

But that'd require the hassle of a popup window I think I'll save it for later.

No problem -:) I'd say "that's a wrap" then, everything seems to be working properly :thumbsup: -:)

[WingZero]

So I don't really know what could've caused your problem. Did you find any funny entries at the registry branch I mentioned?

   Unfortunately, I could only open the Registry Editor after importing the fixed key. Everything seemed to be fine after that, so I can only assume that XMPlay changed the "Default" setting from "exefile" to "XMPlay". However, deleting "ContentType" or "PersistentHandler" does not show any appreciable difference, so I cannot be certain whether XMPlay only changed the "Default" setting or replaced the entire HKCR\.exe section. The HKCR\exefile section seems to have been left alone. Since HKCR is a merged view of HKCU\Classes and HKLM\Classes, I can't tell you which one was changed (they're both correct now), but I assume XMPlay only changed HKCU\Classes.

[Mattias]

This is absolutely awesome. After adding the soundfont below my laptop suddenly sounds like a real piano and not like some cheap synthetic thing.

http://www.sf2midi.com/index.php?page=sdet&id=6654

Just out of curiosity - would it be possible to add support for MIDI input devices? I think that would definitely be a cool feature. 

Kudos to Ian for his excellent piece of work!

[Rich Nagel]

This is absolutely awesome. After adding the soundfont below my laptop suddenly sounds like a real piano and not like some cheap synthetic thing.

Hehe, the miracles of the ever-mysterious SoundFont <BG> -:) This is why I've always loved EMU(AWE) based MIDI hardware/sound cards... with a few quality or commercial soundfonts, one can generate quite realistic sounding music, even on a budget. A few good examples of the above here -> http://www.cmoo.com/~snor/weeds/ttmusic.htm -:)

Just out of curiosity - would it be possible to add support for MIDI input devices? I think that would definitely be a cool feature. 

That would be extremely cool, the ability to preview various soundfonts via your MIDI keyboard -:)

Kudos to Ian for his excellent piece of work!

I've said it once (or rather, several times <GB>), I'll say it again... a BIG ditto to that! :thumbsup: -:)

[Ian @ un4seen]

Just out of curiosity - would it be possible to add support for MIDI input devices? I think that would definitely be a cool feature. 

I reckon that'd be slightly extravagant/unnecessary for an audio player

But I intend to use the same code to create a MIDI add-on for BASS, with support for real-time events (not just files). So the sort of thing you're ask for could be done with that.

[Mattias]

I reckon that'd be slightly extravagant/unnecessary for an audio player

Yeah, it might be slightly extravagant.

But I intend to use the same code to create a MIDI add-on for BASS, with support for real-time events (not just files). So the sort of thing you're ask for could be done with that.

Sounds superb. I've used both BASS and MIDI in my Delphi projects before, so I'll probably figure out how to implement this.

[iCorp]

But I intend to use the same code to create a MIDI add-on for BASS, with support for real-time events (not just files). So the sort of thing you're ask for could be done with that.

Ian, at first thanks for XMPlay MIDI plugin!
When do you plan to release midi add-on for BASS?
If you need a beta tester, please let me know!
Now I use selfwritten DMO filter for converting midi files to wav via hardware device.
But I think your midi add-on will be much better!
Thank you!

[Ian @ un4seen]

When do you plan to release midi add-on for BASS?

I'm not sure at this point. I'm concentrating on BASS 2.3 at the moment, and I'm not planning to release the MIDI add-on before then, but I've not decided yet whether to have it ready for the BASS 2.3 release, or shortly after.

[iCorp]

Thank you any way.

[piovrauz]

What about adding in the MIDI plugin (in the config window) the ability to tweak sounfont bank/istruments parameters, like the Creative soundfont manager has?

I think it could be nice being able to tweak some intruments without modding the sounfont (example: you lower some percussion or synths that are too high).

[Cosworth]

It is interesting to me,at you the sound this MIDI is audible? , at me for some reason a sound is not audible. http://www.sendspace.com/file/bjmvx1

[piovrauz]

Here it's playing fine. Be aware that music ripped from keygens may be corrupted, since sometime the ripper may be not very skilled. Anyway, playing with XMplay, MIDI plugin and chorium.sf2, I can hear it.

[ZipoB]

Would it be possible to make midi plugin that can use hardware, 'cos i just can't spare CPU-time for some softsynth which doesn't even have real effects-processor... It just doesn't sound good enough after real synth.