[iiwusynth-devel] Re: [Swami-devel] Not so quiet list anymore [was RE: Hi - Very quiet list - my first post]

[Peter L Jones]

From: "Peter Hanappe" <address@hidden>
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 11:22 PM
>
>
> Mark Knecht wrote:
> > Peter,
>
[snip]
>
>
> >    I need to determine how to map each specific soundfont to a specific
MIDI
> > channel. What I understood from the command line was that I entered a
list
> > of options, and then a list of soundfonts. I did not see how to
associate
> > the first soundfont with MIDI channel 1, the second with MIDI channel 2,
the
> > third with 3, etc. I still don't. I think (possibly) that's what Chris
was
> > asking about.
>
> You can't associate soundfonts, or rather the presets in the soundfont,
> to channels *directly from the command line*. Maybe that's something
> we should add (never thought about it). There are two other ways to
> do it. The iiwusynth has a command line interface once
> it's started. The commands you might want to look at are 'fonts',
> 'inst, 'channels', and 'select' (the 'help' command can give more
> details about these). In particular, the select command allows you
> to select a preset for a specific channel. The second way is to send
> a program-change MIDI message, possibly in combination with a
> bank-select MIDI message. If there's a configuration you use a lot, you
> can save all the select commands in a file, one per line, and then
> load the file using the 'source' command.
>
[snip]

I think I see where Mark's heading.

Now I've played with Windows for a while, all the tools I've come across are
incredibly restricted compared with Linux.  A "soundfont" synth, e.g.
Bismark BS-1, implements a single instrument under a software sequencer by
loading a single soundfont and responding to midi events.  The sequencer
decides which midi channel to send to the soundfont synth.

One of my "back of my mind" projects is to implement FluidSynth as a VSTi
plugin.  This would give the Windows world a real soundfont synth.  The
problem is, VSTi expects to only provide a single instrument that responds
on a single midi channel.  So I probably won't try this.

>From this, I think Mark saw FluidSynth as such a tool - a single instrument
synthesiser.

Of course, FluidSynth is designed for full GM/GS/XG Soundfont files, not
single instrument soundfonts.  This means it uses MIDI channel number and
MIDI program change messages to decide how to respond to each NoteOn
message.  (The point being to be able to play any Standard MIDI File
correctly given a GM/GS/XG soundfont.)

So...

To support single instrument or non-GM soundfonts, it would be nice to be
able to assign the desired bank and program numbers, overriding those in the
soundfont.  SWAMI or FluidSynth?

Support for multiple GM/GS/XG soundfonts would be improved by allowing a
"base bank" or "bank offset" to be supplied.  SWAMI or FluidSynth?

I'd like to be able to load multiple soundfonts and pick instruments from
each and call that a bank -- this is definitely into SWAMI territory...

(One day I'll have time to have another go at getting this working on
Windows...)

-- Peter