2015-10-18 21:45:30 (edited by musicalman 2015-10-18 21:55:34)

The Blasting GD, that does indeed sound like a time base issue, basically the synth starts out with a certain amount of buffer, and for some reason it's using it faster than it is getting it, so eventually it won't have enough and crackle as you describe. Unfortunately I have no clue how to fix this, since I don't have those problems myself, and when I do, they are so rare that I only need to restart occasionally.
The Imaginatrix,
The issue is that the synth probably doesn't support those additional sounds. The way midi programs and banks work, is say you're on the applause sound which is program 126, bank 0. Let's say you switch to applause 2, which is program 126 bank 768. If a sound set doesn't have a sound on that bank, it will instead use the bank 0 version since that is the closest it has. In other words, if the synth doesn't support a sound, it will just pick one that's similar or start duplicating things as you describe.
Most synthesizers support the GM list fully, so in QWS you would assign them to the general  GM list, but that only gets you 128 melodic sounds and 1 drum kit. Some synths support the Roland GS standard which is like the general midi list with about 400 more melodic sounds and about 8 or 9 more drum kits. But the synth has to support that additional stuff for those instruments in the instrument list to do anything. If it doesn't, it will do what you are describing, and just play one sound through multiple instruments.
Also as K said, there is a drum kit on channel 10, program 56, and usually bank 0. It contains sound effects as well, one per key. I do have the sound font you're spoke of in your last post, and I would find it hard to believe that it doesn't at least have the basic sfx kit I just mentioned. Though it may not have the individual sound efffects that show up as separate entries in the list on the other channels. I haven't really checked it out to see what instruments it has.
And to Key:
My guess is that Coolsoft prioritizes sound fonts in a bottom up order like Bassmidi does. Basically if you want to use a high quality piano instead of the standard GM one with your normal font, the GM font you would put at the bottom of the list and the better piano sound you would put at the top. That would tell the synth to override the GM's piano with the custom one you put in. If that doesn't work, try reversing the order, the priority may go the other way. Also you have to make sure that whatever custom fonts you're putting in, that their programs line up with the GM standard. I.e. if you have a nice strings section but it put its sound on program 0 instead of the GM spec's program 48, then you'll run into trouble. This is one thing that annoys me about stacking fonts in most midi synths, because you can't easily reassign those things.
Edited to reply to the additional posts coming in while I wrote my initial reply. Lol

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2015-10-18 21:58:22 (edited by keyIsFull 2015-10-18 22:03:37)

How do I know what I'm overwriting, I guess? I can choose the port of coolsoft midi synth, then I am no longer using microsoft wavetable at all, so I didn't think I was actually "replacing" any gm instrments with it. Also how do I know what quality each of my synths are so I can put the lowest quality ones on the bottom so that I can use all the loaded soundfonts?
HM well found one problem, I downloaded some small sf2 fonts and don't know what programs they contain. Is there any way to know which programs can be accessed with each one? And how do i know which channel to select for each font, or does it go in the order of the soundfonts loaded, top to bottom so the first font would be channel 1, the second font is channel 2, etc?

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2015-10-18 22:04:32 (edited by musicalman 2015-10-18 22:06:19)

Hmm, I'm a little confused about what you're asking. I'll try to explain what I do and maybe it will clear it up for my sake. Lol
Let's say I have an average sounding GM sound font, but this midi I have features a piano, so I don't want to use the standard GM sound font's piano, I want to find a nice one and use its piano instead, and use the GM font for the rest since its sounds are adequate. So in Bassmidi, what i would do is, add the GM font to the list, then add the nicer piano. Then I would check the list, it sorts them so that the gm font as at the bottom and the piano is at the top. Or maybe it's the other way around, not sure. Anyway, when I go to QWS or whatever player I use, I select Bassmidi port A as its output synth, and if everything goes well, it should use the nice piano for the piano sound and the other GM sounds for the rest.
Not sure how Coolsoft does it but I think it's similar. Does that help at all?

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2015-10-18 22:14:51 (edited by keyIsFull 2015-10-18 22:16:35)

Oh, I'm using sf2 soundfonts that aren't complete gm I think. In fact, if I set coolSoft's instrument list to to the gm instrument list that microsoft wavetable uses, and select an instrument, it won't play anything at all. Before I tried this I had tried manually changing the program on each track to see if I could get at other instruments, and weirdly, program 3 always worked to play this trumpet sound I'd loaded, and changing to any other program broke everything and nothing would even be heard so I had to start qws over. The higher quality soundfont I'd loaded always  played, no matter what order I'd put the soundfonts in in the list. Is there any way to like analyze a .sf2 file to see what programs activate the instruments on the font? These fonts are usually like a single instrument on one program, not a full gm set, though I am downloading the sonatina symphonic orchestra font now, and I know that has multiple instruments

Edit: the sonatina package has a different sf2 file for each instrument, so it's the same kind of setup as the others

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2015-10-18 22:15:06

(I'd like to be able to reasign program numbers, too! It seems like every sound font for a single instrument just sets it to the first slot, which makes combining multiples impossible, never mind if you actually want to use an acoustic grand piano.)

At the Blasting GD: Does the crackling persist if you pause, then unpause the player?

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2015-10-18 22:19:15

Hmm, in that case I guess I have to download a sf2 editor, so I can edit each font to change it to a unique program number, oh joy. Unless even that won't work and I'm wasting my time, or there's an easier sollution?

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2015-10-19 00:24:54

@Raygrote:
I found the drumkit using Channel 10, but apart from a couple whistles and chimes, all the options are just drums/percussion instruments of some form and nothing above the fifth octave, which sucks. Surely they could find sounds to fit in with everything!

Not having the sound effects wouldn't annoy me so much if I wasn't having the options waved temptingly just out of reach. If I can't use them with the synth, they shouldn't be there! And if the synth can support some sound effects, it should support others too! *pouts*

That said, any suggestions for another soundfont/synth I could download to get the sounds I want? It kinda has to be free, but there are still plenty of those.

2015-10-19 01:11:21

Normally, there are multiple drumkits, depending on what you set as the program (somewhere around 40 is usually more orchestral percussion, for example, while 25-ish is more rock drums, and the sfx are in the 50-60 area). This is true even for the GS wavetable synth that comes with Windows, but I've also found it true for SGM. I don't remember if I tried it with the Arachno soundfont or not.

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2015-10-19 01:17:19 (edited by The Imaginatrix 2015-10-19 01:30:30)

I'll do a bit more messing around, then. See what I can find.
I'm already composing a multitrack piece for my game, incidentally. That's the major reason I got into midi things in the first place. big_smile
Edit: I've changed the instrument list several times and it doesn't seem to be making a difference even though the list appears to change. Why must you mock me with options I cannot use, QWS? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?

2015-10-19 07:14:35

Okay, so I  found it, and whoever said those sounds were in a separate drumkit was right, but I can only use it with the MS Synth and half of them sound horrible and distorted. I read the Arachno Sound documentation and it said there were nine supported drumkits, but I've only been able to access one so far with that soundfont. Is there something I'm doing wrong?
Also, I've downloaded some more Soundfonts and am trying to work out how to use them. I've tried selecting one and pressing the Up button, but it's not making any difference! If I'm not enabling them properly, I'd like to know how to make sure they are enabled using the NVDA Screen-Reader. I've tried pressing space while having the name selected in the list and using screen review to scroll down and select them before pressing space, but I'm not being told a checkbox was checked, so I don't know if I was successful or not. I had to re-enable Arachno Sound earlier (before I had installed any of my new sound fonts in CoolSoft, mind you) and it took me several tries before QWS didn't flag a warning telling me there was no sound font loaded/enabled. It was loaded, but had been disabled for some reason.
I'm also not able to configure Bassmidi at all. I tried to uninstall it but it said it couldn't go on unless I turned off several applications, including my Screen-Reader! Naturally, that wasn't something I could do and continue the uninstallation unassisted. But when I tried to open the configuration application, I got a secure screen asking me if I wanted the program to make changes and when I said "Yes", I was plonked back in the taskbar with no window popping up. This was working fine the other day—I still needed admin privileges, but it worked. What's the deal?

2015-10-19 08:56:53

The Imaginatrix,
QWS isn't tormenting you with options that don't work, it's simply stating the standards that have been set, and it is up to the synth to meet them. Since you found the other drum kits with the Microsoft synth, my only guess is that either Coolsoft or the sound fonts you are using are complicating things. I've been meaning to re-look at Coolsoft for a while, and I think in order to help you figure this out, that is what I'll have to do. I know you're new to this and that alone can make it daunting, but it sounds like there's something else going on as well that neither you or I can pinpoint at the moment. I can think of a myriad of things, some of which I have tried to point out here, but without sitting down and looking at it in detail along with you, I wouldn't be able to say anything definite. Since I have nothing better to do for a while, I might just download Coolsoft and load up Arachno or one of the other fonts you mentioned, and see if there really is a significant issue on the software end of things.

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2015-10-19 09:37:28

Everything else with Arachno is wonderful. The instruments are truly superb. It's the fidly bits and all these types of pianos and other things, and program numbers that don't seem to point to anything, and only being able to access one instrument attached to a program number despite the bank numbers being different. And getting the sound fonts enabled is proving a pain. I have quite a few new ones I just downloaded that I want to test out, but I can't until I know how to get them enabled.
And Bassmidi not cooperating doesn't give me any other option. sad
I'd appreciate any help you can give me. I am still new to this and I could be missing something important that could solve all my problems, haha.

2015-10-19 11:31:38

Lol I'm sure there's a reason. I went through your troubles in some form or another and through my own troubleshooting, I learned a lot. Not sure if we should continue this privately or not, I'll leave it up to you. Maybe our own difficulties could help others. As you are able to see by now, it's not 1 2 3 go with this stuff, or at least not always.

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2015-10-19 17:15:16

Hello.
The reazon you can't use the sfx kits is that arachno doesn't include a
GS instrument in it's banks.
I'm uploading a GS soundfont (3mb) that you can use with Arachno.
About the drum kits, you can use them changing the program of channel 10.
For example, program 0 is the standard kit, 16 is the power kit...
Ah, I forgot the file uploading.
The link is:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0eqxob8u14c07 … S.sf2?dl=1

Remember, the problem is not in VirtualMidiSynth, the problem is that
the soundfont doesn't include the sounds.
So, to have the GM and GS sounds, you'll need to use this soundfont in
conjunction with Arachno.

2015-10-19 20:22:53

CAE, If I pause the player while it's crackling, it'll still crackle once I resume the song. Yesterday, once the crackling started, the song would die away. No matter whether I paused and unpaused the song or if I told it to restart from the beginning, it wouldn't play a thing anymore - well it did play, but I couldn't hear it -, unless I closed the player and reopened it afterwards. Today however, the whole song plays. It stutters every now and again, sometimes it crackles, but after it has faded out, the sound comes back. The stuttering happens in irregular intervals, and there isn't a fixed time the buffer will take to "recover" while the song is muted. Because that's what I think is happening during those silent parts. Raygrote said that for some reason, the synth uses up buffer faster than it is getting it. Yesterday, it wasn't able to get more once it had died away, but today for some reason it is. At this point there has to be said that yesterday I hadn't rebooted my computer after trying out bassmidi. I restarted after the installation, but that was it. Between my previous post and my last attempt to play the song, my PC was turned off, so the restart is the reason for this change in its behavior, though I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

Errare humanum est!

2015-10-19 20:33:24

Okay, I tried it again, and this time it was the same as yesterday again. Once it was silent, it stayed silent, no coming back anymore.

Errare humanum est!

2015-10-19 20:59:38

Thggamer, which font did you upload? I'm just curious, since it's only 3 MB I have to wonder if it's one of the EMU ones. If that's the case, those fonts do support a few GS instruments in addition to GM.
Blasting GD, what you describe makes me sad. It's good that a restart temporarily holds it off or at least relieves it for a time, but in the brief periods of time when I had the issue myself, it was damn irritating. The only time it really got in the way was with VST plug-ins, which are considerably easier to fix issues with since most vst plug-in hosts have an easy way to reset the buffers, so that when they start acting up I can just do a few keystrokes and get them back. Bassmidi, however, does not. If it were a VST, it might work better for some people. No scrap that, it would work better for everyone, as it would allow things not possible in standalone. But that's for another discussion I believe, we haven't gotten into VST yet, and a fair amount of confusion is already in this thread.
The only explanation I can think of for the behavior is either poorly made sound drivers, or sound drivers which the synth just doesn't like. I wouldn't dare touch them unless you know what you're doing. If you have an external sound card, you could try that. Just set your system default sound device to the other sound card, Bassmidi should follow.

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2015-10-19 21:17:56

Hello.
I've uploaded the Fluid R3 GS soundfont.
This font doesn't include general MIDI instruments, only the fx portion,
wich I use in conjunction with Arachno.

2015-10-19 21:40:50

Okay, this part I get. smile

Now, how the frigg do I enable soundfonts and know they've been enabled? I use the NVDA screen-reader, and the Sound Font Property page says "Check the box to enable a soundfont" but pressing Enter activates the OK button and closes the window, and I don't hear anything when I press Space, either when I've selected the soundfont normally or through Screen Review. I just wish I knew I was doing the right thing but I can't know until I test it out. sad
And the soundfonts I have and am looking to collect seem to add different options if the titles have anything to go by. Where would I find those? Or am I understanding sound fonts wrong?

2015-10-20 20:38:34

Raygrote, I had already been using my external sound card all along. Therefore, I applied your advice vice versa and used my internal one, which resulted in the same odd behavior.
I think my next step - once I have enough time to do so - will be to try another synth, Coolsoft, for instance, as the attempts with bassmidi aren't getting me anywhere.
A few questions:

  1. Is Coolsoft free? If not, how much does it cost?

  2. Can I use the same font I used with bassmidi or do I have to get a new one for Coolsoft?

If anything else I should try regarding bassmidi comes to your mind, or if you have any other suggestions for a synth besides Coolsoft, please let me know.

Errare humanum est!

2015-10-21 00:40:54

Coolsoft is free, and you can add any soundfonts to it that you could add to Bassmidi, as they're both derived from the same core engine, or something. I don't really understand it. You can find it here.
For me, at least, it's tricky enabling the soundfonts once you've loaded them into the configurator, but you may have a different screen-reader, so that might not be an issue for you. I can do it, but I don't know whether or not I have until I test it out. I wish there was a way to check that...

2015-10-22 20:23:46

Finally some success. I've just tried Coolsoft with the font I had already used with bassmidi and it worked. First, I got a lot of lag, which wasn't the least surprising though, as the latency was set to 250ms. After adjusting that to a more pleasant number, 0 to be exact, the latency was equivalent to the one I had with bassmidi, which was around 0. The best of all, no crackling, and no stuttering anymore, besides the one time it stuttered when I was using the onscreen keyboard, but that's rare enough that I don't get annoyed. Even if it did happen more frequently, Coolsoft would have some checkboxes - "enable hardware mixing", for instance - that could be unchecked, or I could slightly raise the latency value, so as to decrease the possibility of stuttering. For now I'm content with how it works though.

Errare humanum est!

2015-10-23 12:31:16

What about fonts that are just a single instrument? If you place, say, a general gm synth at the top, and a single trumpet sound on the bottom, how does the midi synth know that you want to replace the gm instrument's trumpet with the special trumpet you've loaded? Can you select trumpet from the instrument list and it just makes the replacement? I think I tried that and it didn't work so  hmm.

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This is how I do it: Lie on a nice warm cozy bed, and dream dreams about how to rule the world!
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2015-10-23 12:53:32 (edited by The Imaginatrix 2015-10-24 11:54:03)

Deleted my last two posts because I was given the solution by someone on the QWS mailing list. YAY!

For those who, like me, want to examine the presets of the soundfonts they have so they know how to use them, get Viena. Get the getting started file from that page as well—you're gonna need it. It's an awesome little program, though, and you can make your own soundfonts with it! *squeal*

2015-10-24 17:33:52 (edited by the blasting gd 2015-10-24 17:35:34)

Is there a way to delete a single beat from a bar and move the rest one beat back? The reason why I'm asking is that when I copied a block and pasted it, the bar after the pasted ones had two quarter note rests at the beginning, instead of one, which it should have had. And how would you prevent such things from happening?

Errare humanum est!