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more midi part 4 (wip)
kw: fluidsynth and midi for windows
Some info from github:
Historical background
Why did we do it
The synthesizer grew out of a project, started by Samuel Bianchini and Peter Hanappe, and later joined by Johnathan Lee, that aimed at developing a networked multi-user game.
Sound (and music) was considered a very important part of the game. In addition, users had to be able to extend the game with their own sounds and images. Johnathan Lee proposed to use the Soundfont standard combined with intelligent use of midifiles. The arguments were:
- Wavetable synthesis is low on CPU usage, it is intuitive and it can produce rich sounds
- Hardware acceleration is possible if the user owns a Soundfont compatible soundcard (important for games!)
- MIDI files are small and Soundfont2 files can be made small thru the intelligent use of loops and wavetables. Together, they are easier to downloaded than MP3 or audio files.
- Graphical editors are available for both file format: various Soundfont editors are available on PC and on Linux (Smurf!), and MIDI sequencers are available on all platforms.
It seemed like a good combination to use for an (online) game.
In order to make Soundfonts available on all platforms (Linux, Mac, and Windows) and for all sound cards, we needed a software Soundfont synthesizer. That is why we developed FluidSynth.
reference:https://github.com/FluidSynth/fluidsynth
also got midi mappers for windows working better with a registry file.
Question:Is it possible to setup FluidSynth as the Windows default MIDI device?
libfluidsynth must be the api?– because it has lib in the name, and site has documentation for programmers.
news: midi technology moving towards usb: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2646682/what-happened-to-the-windows-midi-mapper
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2646682/what-happened-to-the-windows-midi-mapper
Qsynth frontend:
What’s Qsynth ?
Qsynth is a fluidsynth GUI front-end application written in C++ around the Qt framework using Qt Designer
found another vst. https://www.kvraudio.com/product/granulab-vst-by-ostinato/downloads supposed to be free
Qemu hotswap devices or hotloading
wanted to simply swap disks, had a hard time finding this on the web. https://xilinx-wiki.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/A/pages/821428366/QEMU+Options+and+Commands
Under Hot Loading:
can also maybe use front-end qt-emu. not working for Windows.
-device loader,(file=<file_name>|data=<value>)
That command did not work.
found out you may use:
a command to go to the qemu-monitor
get info about the current media.
swap that disk
https://eaasi.gitlab.io/program_docs/qemu-qed/usage/qemu_monitor/
worst link: https://blog.chrishowie.com/2019/09/19/hot-swapping-virtio-disks-on-qemu/
PortAudio for Windows, SMFmidi
https://github.com/adfernandes/precompiled-portaudio-windows
didn’t help
SMFmidi was used with Audacity, to play notes according to readme: https://github.com/rbdannenberg/portsmf
Notes on LMMS 1.2.2/1.1.3
NOTES USING LMMS Piano Roll (updated 8/18/23)
still can’t get to work, so this may help get piano roll going. labeled notes parts I,II,III, IV
farther updated notes: things are not working well with new nightlies and newer lmms. Switching to 1.1.3
had old mmpz files will try with older version. Can’t seem to use mmpz files and older version crashes under new os. But instructions on 8/11/2023 should help users with latest stable version.
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was updated 8/11/2023
I.
C4 and D4 just mean the note C or D in a particular octave. On an English keyboard the keys map to notes Q=C, W=D, E=E, R=F, T=G, Y=A, U=B then I=C5 (C again but higher), P=D5 etc. The mapping is similar again on the bottom row but an octave down so Z=C3 (C note but lower than the C on the Q key), X=D, C=E, V=F etc. So if you really want to play A to G notes then start on N then M, then QWERT.
II.
The reason they’re set up that way is because, just like on a piano keyboard, it’s most common to think of octaves/notes going from C to C rather than A to A. Music is strange that way.
III.
But the easiest way to see exactly which notes are where on your keyboard is simply to open piano roll on an instrument e.g. Triple Osc, hit record then press all the keys in order and look what notes are recorded
YUQWERT =1-7
IV.
In the song editor you can double-click on patterns to open them in the Piano Roll.
http://www.audiomelody.com/software/tu2/
Scolily score recorder
Sprite Editor, SVG Editor
Another Sprite Editor https://csdb.dk/release/?id=233956
SVG editor/Desktop Publisher: inkscape 1.3 is out.
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