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Anyone ever successfully used the famous Sylenth1 VST / AU plugin with Synfire ?
By successfully I mean: Select a preset other than the preset 01 and have the preset correctly loaded again after reopening the arrangement ?
I had no luck so far: After reopening the arrangement always the first preset on bank 0 is selected.
As suggested by cognitone I set it up as sampler with one fixed channel/sound (expecting that no bank or program changes are sent).
Here are the detailed steps I've done to set it up in arrangement rack with a new arrangement:
Selecting preset 038 in the editor:
The correct preset 038 (selected only via plugin editor) is played:
I haven't changed anything in those settings:
I haven't changed anything in those settings:
After reopening the song the sounds /module looks like just fine however it plays the preset 001 on the first bank :
My guess is: Synfire cannot correctly load the preset blob into the plugin again. However all other software is able to do so! The plugin has been updated in 2017 and is availbe in 32/64 Bit for both WIndows and Mac. So please, @cognitone (or any other user), if you havn't got a hint just by looking at my documented steps, download the demo and try it on your Mac (or for better comparison, on a PC) and find out how this plugin can be used ! Thanks!
So., 10.12.2017 - 18:28 Permalink
Thanks for taking the time to upload the pictures.
Does Sylenth respond to MIDI program messages, or does it rely on the host to select programs via plugin preset selection? You can test this by sending it program change messages.
We will double check if there are any program messages sent after restoring the blob.
Mo., 11.12.2017 - 09:31 Permalink
It responds to program changes (I also tried the variant with MSB LSB and Program and I could select the desired preset the first time, but not after reloading the arrangement. But even if it would work, I guess that any changes to preset's parameters would be lost)
Mo., 11.12.2017 - 10:23 Permalink
Thanks. Synfire saves and restores preset blobs without looking into them. So the only possible bug could be that it sends an extra program change where it shouldn't. Or Sylenth may be especially picky about the exact sequence in which it is instantiated and loaded. Will have a look.
Mi., 20.12.2017 - 22:57 Permalink
I tested with multiple different synth plugins and all restored their program selection and state properly on load, regardless of device type (sampler or synth w/programs). If there was a bug with Synfire's sending of program change messages, all these synths would have come up with factory defaults, or program #1 for that matter.
Only Sylenth insists on resetting itself to program #1 no matter what. Something inside Sylenth seems to rely on the host (DAW) doing something specific (possibly at a specific time) that is non standard, or at least not compatible with the use of MIDI messages for patch selection. Unfortunately this is beyond our control.
I'll do another test with a different host here and let you know.
Do., 21.12.2017 - 18:54 Permalink
with a device description extracted from the plugin, Sylenth does come up with the patch last selected here.
That would be great - but I tried this over and over again, with no success.
What are the exact steps to achieve this (starting with an empty arrangement and add a new sylenth module to the arrangement rack ) ?
Do., 21.12.2017 - 19:23 Permalink
This is what I did:
- Add rack module to arrangement & load Sylenth plugin
- Extract device description (or select the one you already have)
- Switch to Arrange tab, instrument & pick desired sound from sound browser (click on level meter)
Note that you'll need one instance of Sylenth per each instrument. It is not multi-timbral.
Fr., 22.12.2017 - 19:05 Permalink
thanks - I got it working now ! It would be more comfortable to select the preset via the plugin editor, but I can live with it.
Why does synfire not choose an existing "matching" device description if I add a new rack module with the same plugin (it could pick one automatically because the name of the plugin dll is the same) ?
So., 24.12.2017 - 11:52 Permalink
If I understand it correctly the "Sound" name is part of the device description, so re-using the device description does not make too much sense because per plugin/module you have different sounds. If I first add a module and name the sound "Slow Strings" and add another module with the same plugin (a new instance of it of course) and use the existing device description and name the sound "bass" then the sound label will change on both modules to "bass".