Posted
Hi,
I posted this in another thread but figured it should have it's own thread.
Synfire would be great as a virtual instrument. This would solve all sync issues and enable people who are making music using Ableton to get it running with sample accurate sync.
Also you wouldn't have to mess around changing applications etc. . .
I know they did that with Chordspace (which gave me the idea)
Cheers
TS
Thu, 2009-02-05 - 23:25 Permalink
Hm. I'm afraid Synfire's user interface is way too complex for a plug-in. Where should all the menus, dialogs and features go? That won't fit into a single-window popup view. Synfire Pro is a typical desktop editor software.
I could imagine a plug-in, though, that communicates with a running Synfire application. That is, the "instrument" would function as a powerful cable between the apps, much more capable than MIDI.
BTW; ChordSpace is nice, I like it. However, that's a very focussed tool that simply generates chords on mouse clicks. Even HN is a hundred times more complex.
Fri, 2009-02-06 - 01:22 Permalink
I think a plug-in might be possible.
look at Fl Studio, The whole of that loads as a vst if you want. It just has some audio outputs that you configure and the rest is just like it was a regular application.
I also like the idea of some sort of 'bridge' like Melodyne uses, but they use it for audio.
dw
Fri, 2009-02-06 - 08:47 Permalink
Hi,
DW, ah you beat me to it, i statred writing this last night but wanted to check through and was too tired!
I only used Chord space as an example of functionality within a host, not comparing the 2 softwares.
Ok, (IIRC Logic has now got a single window interface and is of a similar level of complexity. I know it's not a plug in ut it's all in a single window - so's Ableotn.
If that is the only reason then surely that shouldn't be a limitation, as you know (and you have been very helpful and patient, again thanks a milltion!) i am just getting to grips with Synfire.
Multiple windows would just be tabbed, ideally with a hot key type selection to to focus on whichever tab you wanted but just clicking on a t=selection of tabs at the top would work.
Multiple windows are possible within a plugin, check BFD by FXpansion, they have got a midi sequencer, audio and sample playback all running inside your host. . . or Kore By NI or Kontakt for ways of displaying multiple interfaces. .
I know it's totally different software - a drum plug-in however BFD deals with (IIRC 4 different pages, perhaps more).
Alternatively the plug in that communicates with Synfire could be cool, kinda like the new Volta application from MOTU (again totally different in application - this sends CV to your old analogue synths and fx) but shows that you can have a plugin that works outside of the main application. . .
However with this paradigm i am still going to have to go out of live to get back to Synfire which is where I am going to be doing a lot of the melody work. So no really ideal. I want to be able to do everything in one place, one master application which will save everything and reload at the touch of a button.
(Apart from the analogue but then we have external instrument freeze these days and digital cameras instead of patch sheets :)
Umm another application, again different purposes but is a programme within a programme is Melodyne by Celemony. I am sure you know of it. . not multiple windows but as mentioned it's rocking an application within host type functionality. . . That wasn't a vst until recently. . .
Basically it's a bit of a pain working between Live and Synfire, i don't want to change my working methods as Live is super good for groove based stuff and synfire is excellent for harmony / midi etc.
Unfortunately for the majority of electronic music people the harmony is as important as the groove (actually the groove is probably a little more important *sadly* with a lot of music - atonal minimal techno anyone?? So we *can't* just do it all within synfire, the groove dictates the music which dictates the groove and so on and on. So to separate the one from the other wierdly makes the process more static, All the *music8 would come from Synfire but there is tonnes of groove stuff that needs doing at the same time. . .
Anyway just a few thoughts, i ohope that they are not taken as me being negative as that is not the intention, I just hope that
Tue, 2009-02-10 - 12:56 Permalink
Hm. I like the idea of having some wrapper plug-in that can be loaded into each DAW track and that allows Synfire to remote-control the DAW far beyond just sending MIDI notes:
Synfire could issue commands to automatically load, unload, and setup the actual sound generating plug-in inside the wrapper. It would be able to query presets and save them along with an arrangement.
If the user pressed PLAY in the DAW, the plugin could ask Synfire to provide the most current MIDI notes and feed them to the loaded sound generator in synch with the DAW clock.
Using IP sockets, the DAW could even be running on another computer in the LAN.
This would keep away all the low-level quirks and fatalities of VI hosting from Synfire, while still allowing for full control from the comfort of your top-down prototyping environment.
Loading the entire prototyping studio as a plug-in however is pointless. Synfire needs to maintain all knowledge about structure, harmony and interpretation, which are things that affect /all/ instruments. A plug-in for a single DAW track can not do that.
Andre