XMPlay MIDI plugin

[deus-ex]

deus-ex, know of any good trumpet sound banks?

Yes. Just the other day i found one which is that good it'll make you get tears of joy when listening to your favorite tunes, at least i got. Finally those MIDI's with a Trumpet and/or Trombone sounds just right.


If you want to compare old and new Soundfonts in ~realtime~ like i do, here's how:

• run XMP, go to the Options and Stuff dialog, enable "Multiple instances" in the Miscellaneous paneel
• close XMP, make a copy of the XMP folder (including all content) in a different location
• start both copies of XMP, add/replace any soundfont you like in the second XMP folder using the plugin configuration screen.
• now you can easily switch between both versions with ALT-TAB to compare your MIDIs with different soundfonts at the same time

Here are the instruments: Trumpet and Trombone. You'll need SFPack to decompress the soundfonts.


I'm still searching for good fonts for Guitar, Brass, French Horns and Saxophones.

[Ian @ un4seen]

Do you mean identify the files by modifying the signature to "MIDd"?

Naaaah!!!

Good!

I'm not thinking about modifying the header of the MIDI file itself (no way, sir), but a simple per-file-toggle which allows the user to notify XMP of such MIDI files thus handling those with the flag set as MIDI's with a second drum track. And eventually this flag could be saved within XMP's per-track-settings/playlists as well.

So in addition to your solution (which of course rox ) you may want to add the option to let the user decide when and when not to use the "Channel 16 = drum track" logic, because as you said, it doesn't detect all files, and on the other hand autodetection might trigger false positives.

The only way I can see that being possible is maybe via the library overridden tags (eg. something like a "drum16" comment), but plugins don't currently have access to those. I'll see what I can come up with.

[Grindill]

deus-ex, I appreciate your suggestions, but I'm not sure these work out. The trumpets stand out too much from the other instruments, taking too much focus away from the chorus. I would like to find something that has more realism to it, but is also soft enough to avoid standing out too much. (basically, something that would fit into a soft orchestra)

Thanks for your help.

[deus-ex]

The only way I can see that being possible is maybe via the library overridden tags (eg. something like a "drum16" comment), but plugins don't currently have access to those. I'll see what I can come up with.

Reading your comment i got another idea which is quite simple to realize. Optionaly the user modifies the filename of all those files which are known for certain to be "second drum channel MIDI's". Eg. something like this:

• You_Rock_D16.mid, or
• I_Rock.mdd, or
• We_Rock.mid.d16, or
• call me nuts, or
• you name it

This way there would be no need for flag handling and "how do i tell it the plugin" issues. Just a thought...

[deus-ex]

The trumpets stand out too much from the other instruments, taking too much focus away from the chorus.

Yes, the volume of these are higher than those of the SGM-180 font. But it didn't disturb me to much as these sound very good. And these are realistic samples btw, recorded with a real Orchestra. Optionaly you could modify the volume of these using a soundfont editor.

Or maybe Ian can implement volume settings to the plugin, at least on a per-soundfont-level? I was looking for such an option right today when trying out the Papelmedia Stringfont which is way to loud compared to SGM-180 which in turn has an overall low volume.

IMHO the SGM-180 is still the best collection, i just tried both the new "Airfont 380 final" and "RealFont v2.3" which are each bigger in size, but no match for SGM-180.

[Ian @ un4seen]

Yep, a per-soundfont volume level sounds like a good idea. I'll look into it. Btw, filters tend to make the sound softer, so some presets that sound loud now may be quieter once the filters kick in.

[deus-ex]

Any comments on my ~nuts~ idea above?


Two more things i would like to see in XMP:

1. A visual feedback for which samples have been played and which are currently playing, i.e. like you get to see in the Instrument List screen of Screamtracker/Impulsetracker (F3) while playing a module. For one this allows for easy spotting of the instruments/samples currently in use, usefull for comparisons of Modules and Soundfonts, and it helps to reveal unused instruments/samples in a Module.

2. A toggle for wether the Options and stuff screen (and plugin info screens) appear at the current position of the Mousecursor (current usage) or docked to XMP (maybe with location: top, below, left, right), as I'm uncomfortable with the current behavior.


Thanks for taking into consideration, Ian.

[Knurek]

deus-ex, I've gotten your Creative soundfont, added it to xmp-midi config (last, after SGM-180), and can't see it being mentioned anywhere. You sure there are some more samples here than in the other soundfonts?

[Zarggg]

I have the same problem. It grabs CT4MGM.SF2, but not CT8M.SF2 unless I load the 4M first and force the 8M to have higher priority.

[Tsorovan]

I like deus-ex's second suggestion. I've complained about the current behaviour before which is counter-intuitive and confusing, and just not practical at all for someone who knows how to navigate dialogs with the keyboard. I understand why it does what it does, but the fact remains that the options & stuff dialog has never ONCE popped up where I anticipated it to.

And it's reaaaaally annoying when running dual monitors.

[deus-ex]

deus-ex, I've gotten your Creative soundfont, added it to xmp-midi config (last, after SGM-180), and can't see it being mentioned anywhere. You sure there are some more samples here than in the other soundfonts?

Confirmed. Because of your post i checked all my Midis (462 files) to see if any would require the CT8MGM.SF2, and none does. Previous to the SGM-180 i tried quite a lot of mega-fonts (as mentioned earlier in this thread) where the 8MB font was required by a few files, but currently it is obsolete. Good find, Knurek.

But during my check i found that 15 of the 462 Midis in my collection still require the 4MB font (CT4MGM.SF2). Interestingly the 4MB font holds a lot more instruments than the 8MB font, though in lower quality but still not to bad. If anyone is in need of the 4MB font or wants to have a peek at those 15 Midis let me know and i make them available somewhere.

I have the same problem. It grabs CT4MGM.SF2, but not CT8M.SF2 unless I load the 4M first and force the 8M to have higher priority.

You can safely remove the 8MB font from the plugin list as it currently serves no purpose anymore. You should only force those fonts to a higher priority, which definitely ought to replace SGM-180 instruments. SoundFonts at a higher position in the plugin list have precedence over all those which are placed below.

[deus-ex]

@Ian

A few suggestions i came up with while using the MIDI-plugin config dialog quite often:

1. Currently there is only one option to sort the soundfont list by using the "Top" button. With several soundfonts in the list sometimes it becomes quite a click-mania until one has the fonts in the desired order. And if you happen to click the "Top" button by mistake the sorting starts again. I'd like to be able to move the soundfonts individually up/down by one slot each, either by marking the font and using up/down buttons next to the list or/and by dragging the font with CTRL+hold-down-left-mousebutton.

2. Could you add an option to temporarily disable soundfonts in the list so that one isn't forced to remove them from the list?

3. Please add more space to both soundfont lists in the MIDI-plugin config dialog (resizable?)


Thank you.

[Zarggg]

I'd like to be able to move the soundfonts individually up/down by one slot each, either by marking the font and using up/down buttons next to the list or/and by dragging the font with CTRL+hold-down-left-mousebutton.

Agreed. Or at the very least, have newly added soundfonts go to the bottom of the list, not the top. :p

[Ian @ un4seen]

@Ian

A few suggestions i came up with while using the MIDI-plugin config dialog quite often:

...

I'll look into it

[D]

Thank you for this plugin, Ian! I've been waiting something like winamp's MIDI plugin. But winamp's plugin supports some more formats like HMP (e.g. music from Descent game). Can you add support for this format?

[Ian @ un4seen]

I'm not sure about that, but while Googling for some info on HMP, I found a converter you could try

   http://www.jades.org/files/hmp2mid.zip

[D]

Ок, I think converter is a good solution. It works fine. Thanx

[Nukkels]

The midi plugin is great! I'm a little sad that it is only a softsynth, since I'm sure my expensive hardware would make it sound better...

Anyway, I'm not entirely sure why, but playing midi files in winamp sounds different - better in general. I think it's due to winamp having hardware support, but I can't confirm or deny that.

Thirdly, the first line of any text data in the midi file is considered to be the title of the song, which is not always the case - sometimes it's blank or the name of an instrument. Mods have the same problem. Is it possible to have separate title display options for midi, mod and wav based files?

[Zarggg]

They probably do sound different in Winamp, since you have to define your soundbanks/soundfonts in this one.

[johnsonlam]

Sorry to repeat again.

Maybe I didn't get a good SoundFont (anyone willing to help?), I'm currently using tiMIDIty++ to play MIDI, it can use the superior .PAT sample, but it's development stopped.

Will Ian consider support .PAT? Don't want to waste the large amount of .PAT sample, it's quality great also have Open Source free patches.

http://freepats.opensrc.org

[Knurek]

Sorry to repeat again.

Maybe I didn't get a good SoundFont (anyone willing to help?), I'm currently using tiMIDIty++ to play MIDI, it can use the superior .PAT sample, but it's development stopped.

Will Ian consider support .PAT? Don't want to waste the large amount of .PAT sample, it's quality great also have Open Source free patches.

http://freepats.opensrc.org

I've asked about that already, quite a while ago. Ian says there are no plans to support them.

[leoave]

Hi, thanks for this great plug-in..it is really wanderful program+plug-in

I have a request:
would it be possible to have a buttom so I can modify de "key" or pitch of the midi been played?

this and turn off any individual channel (of the 16) is what I miss from vanbasco player.
('cause I use it to sing karaoke midis, and to turn off the lead voice channel is better for me)
Thanks
Leo

BTW It's still the best midi player w/o this details.

[heftig]

The plugin will crash XMPlay when no soundfont is selected (e.g. by clicking on the empty space to the right of the preset column) and the remove button is clicked.

[Ian @ un4seen]

The plugin will crash XMPlay when no soundfont is selected (e.g. by clicking on the empty space to the right of the preset column) and the remove button is clicked.

Here's an update to try...

   www.un4seen.com/stuff/xmp-midi.dll

Btw, this update also includes faster seeking.

[heftig]

The bug is gone (the remove button becomes unclickable when no soundfont is selected).

Thanks, Ian.