Posted
I cant play an arrangement.
Every time I hit the play button I get
"New Attangement"
Trumpet 3
Parameter Figure not allocated.
I was forced to make a snapshot for the harmony but i have no Idea what to do here.
Fri, 2009-05-08 - 01:21 Permalink
Another thing Im struggling with is that midi through doesnt seem to work.
I hear sounds when I play back and I see that Synfire is receiving the notes but I cant head any sound when I play directly on the keyboard. I have been tearing through all of the menus as well as trying controlled experiments to get it to work.
These issues are absolutely deep sixing a six month long project with a deadline this sunday. Any support would be greatly appreciated.
Fri, 2009-05-08 - 03:27 Permalink
Record doesn't work.
I got the midi in to work by disconnecting my midi solutions breath controller box from the main midi chain.
Midi through works and I can get Synfire to play if I draw in some notes, but it will not record.
Also is there anything special that needs to be done to get breath cc's into Synfire? I seed the data coming in on the interface and it works fine in Nuendo but no dice in synfire
Fri, 2009-05-08 - 06:28 Permalink
With the SMPTE code, how can I input the Cue Time where the last digits are the frame?
As it is it spans the full range, 10.235, 05.954 etc as opposed to 09.23, 09.23, 10.00
I am still unable to record from my keyboard but I still wish to use synfire for this project.
Fri, 2009-05-08 - 15:07 Permalink
Thanks for the quick feedback.
[quote]Parameter Figure not allocated.
This message indicates there is nothing to play (it did so before 1.1 too) . Your arrangement doesn't seem to have any phrases that generate output. Check for mutes, pauses, etc. For any CC data to be rendered, at least a single MIDI note is needed that accompanies it. Synfire assumes the output of a phrase is empty if it can't find any generated MIDI notes. Whether that should be changed is another question.
[quote]Another thing Im struggling with is that midi through doesnt seem to work.
For MIDI Through to go to the right sound, you need to click on it in the arrangement first. It should also work after selecting a sound in the Audio & MIDI Setup window. Otherwise Synfire can't know where to send the events.
Question: Do you have problems sending CC data via MIDI Through only, or with any kind of data?
[quote]Also is there anything special that needs to be done to get breath cc's into Synfire?
Yes. By default, Synfire ignores CC data that has no relation to the device or sound. You need to define one of the A, B, C or D custom controller parameters to be used for Breath. You can specify that for your device or the individual sound. Otherwise it will not be accessible through the GUI.
Whether Synfire should support more CCs out of the box, is a good question. Breath is indeed a top candidate for this. Votes are welcome.
Another alternative is to record a parameter directly, but that would convert it to the know controller you have currently selected, e.g. Volume, Pan, Modulation, etc. This is certainly not what you want.
[quote]With the SMPTE code, how can I input the Cue Time where the last digits are the frame?
Just edit the input text using the same format. The last 3 digits are milliseconds, however. An exact conversion to and from the project's frame rate is not yet implemented. We're still unsure as to how the global SMPTE offset affects this. The frame rate is also not yet stored with the project but kept as a global setting. We will definitely need to gather all sync and time related settings and attach them to a project.
I would also be interested if you rather would like to see the global SMPTE time in the GUI (incl. offset).
Fri, 2009-05-08 - 18:42 Permalink
Hi Andre,
Of course I clicked on the track in the arrange window before trying to record. I selected a sound. I can hear the sound as long as the breath controller isn't plugged in.
I spent eight hours fighting with Synfire with a inflexible deadline looming two days off. I have been putting in 16 to 20 hour days, seven days a week for five months on this project.
It will not record. I have read the manual, several times.
Heres is a detailed rundown.
Start Synfire.
Select default sound, changed to a piano.
Hit record -- record button turns red, nothing happens
Hit play with the record button red get error (Parameters Harmony not allocated) Figure not allocated)
Click ok
Make a snap shot of harmony and draw in a few notes -- (this is sort of silly... I should be able to open synfire, select an instrument and hit record, but oh well.)
Playback works fine
Try to record again... No error but NO NOTES ARE LAID DOWN. The track is selected. Every other program is recording fine.
I can follow this procedure till the cows come home and it will not record a thing. I never had a problem before 1.1. It will not record in the arrange window, nor in the figure editor. It will not let me record to a parameter.
I did set up the breath controller as cc2 for every device.
I've read the manual twice.
As far as the SMPTE is concerned. I am reading the cues from the video file which are of course in frames. I am using Humanitc Chain Gang as a video player, which isn't known for perfect sync. The only way I can use the cues is to calculate the ms offset for each frame keeping in mind the pulldowns and all the rest. Please no.
Fri, 2009-05-08 - 19:06 Permalink
Hm, that's strange. I could not reproduce the recording issue. I did exactly what you described: Open a new empty arrangement, pick a piano, press Record, play something, press Stop and everything is ok.
I found a bug with recording custom CCs and am about to fix that. However, that shouldn't affect the recording in general.
[quote]I can hear the sound as long as the breath controller isn't plugged in.
How is the breath controller connected to your computer? Does it modify the incoming keyboard events? Or is it connected to a separate MIDI plug on your interface?
As to the frame rate: Which frame rate are you using right now? If its a plain rate without drop frames, I might find a quick solution.
Do you use a SMPTE offset other than zero?
Fri, 2009-05-08 - 19:13 Permalink
Initially the breath controller came after my keyboard into the interface.
I have since pulled it and am plugged directly into the interface. I am using the midi through on the keyboard to power the breath controller and plugging it into another port on the interface. The keyboard is not sending any data through the through, which I can confirm on the interfaces status lights.
I can hear the keyboard through when midi through is enabled but not when it is not. I am avoiding a sequencer for testing and just using a stand alone copy of pianoteq routed with MIDI Yoke. I am not using the direct addressing.
Is Synfire supposed to start recoding when I hit record or Record and play?
I am using 23.976 fps. A 0 offset is fine.
Aside from the fact that it wont record any notes. Why would it give me the error that a figure is not allocated, as I'm trying to record (Pianoteq - Parameter Figure not allocated)? I can avoid the error by drawing a few random notes before hitting record+play but why add random notes?
Fri, 2009-05-08 - 19:31 Permalink
As far as I can tell it is still not recording the breath controller.
I have set it up and it displays as Breath in the Phrase editor but there is no recorded data.
Again, I see the input on the interface and it is working fine on my other software
p.s. Synfire doesn't seem to like impersonations of sun ra... A few swipes across the keyboard gave it a crash happy heart attack.
Fri, 2009-05-08 - 19:41 Permalink
Thanks for the information.
It seems to me that due to some circumstance your keyboard notes get lost or modified when you have the breath controller plugged in. Synfire simply captures everything that it receives from any of its input ports and merges that into the current recording.
I would perhaps check with MIDIOX what's actually being received and how the events got modified. Unfortunately I don't have the breath controller at hand, so I can't test here.
[quote]Is Synfire supposed to start recoding when I hit record or Record and play? Record alone does it.
[quote]I am using 23.976 fps. A 0 offset is fine. The zero offset is fine. Converting milliseconds to frames will be no problem. However, you will need to set the appropriate global frame rate in Audio & MIDI Setup. This should do it for a while.
[quote]Why would it give me the error that a figure is not allocated, as I'm trying to recordThat's actually not an error message but rather a diagnosis report explaining why no output is being generated. This only happens when the entire arrangement is empty.
I'm about to fix the frames thing right now.
Fri, 2009-05-08 - 19:52 Permalink
The keyboard notes are recording fine when I enable the Synfire metronome.
The issue with the figure parameter error was that I was hitting record AND play. This was because record is broken when the metronome is off. This is no longer a problem.
The keyboard and breath are plugged into different ports on the interface. It does record fine into nuendo.
Do you know of a program other than midiox? It crashes when I select midi devices to set it up.
I am delighted that we are at least back in the ballpark of a workable solution for my deadline.
Fri, 2009-05-08 - 20:08 Permalink
The reason it doesn't record the custom controller is a bug that I just fixed. Glad to hear it records the keyboard at least.
The empty arrangement and lack of the metronome made the transport think there is nothing to play, so it did not start. Sometimes granting too much intelligence to too many objects is not good ;-)
There's no need to use MIDIOX anymore. I'm about to test the fixes and will upload a new build soon.
Sat, 2009-05-09 - 01:16 Permalink
The fixes are now online. Downloading the same file once more will deliver the latest build. Please backup your project and Config folder before you install --- just in case!
There's a detailed list of changes in the announcements forum.
Let me know if it helped. I'll be out of the office for the night, but will check email early tomorrow (CET = your time + 9 hrs).
Andre