Posted
Hi,
I might be missing something obvious, sorry. I would like to set up some devices/sounds with controllers, articulations etc. and then save all this to make it reusable across projects. The Synfire doc also suggests such an approach.
I am able to easily create custom devices + sounds, but I don't find a way to save these so that they are reusable. I found an entry Save (and Save As) in the context menu of the device browser, but these menu entries are grayed out.
As I said, I am probably missing something obvious, sorry.
Thanks a lot!
Best,
Torsten
Fri, 2022-04-29 - 22:21 Permalink
Sounds like a bug. I suppose you're operating in the arrangement rack: if that's the case, I can reproduce the behavior. In the meanwhile, the "Save" and "Save as" options are enabled in Device descriptions when you're in the global rack, so you can create and save your devices and sounds in the global rack.
Sat, 2022-04-30 - 00:05 Permalink
You are saving as presets, right?
Yes. It simply doesn't work in the Arrangement rack, which makes sense for the "Save" option, because you already save it when saving the project, maybe less sense for the "Save as" option, which could be used to save a preset.
Sat, 2022-04-30 - 12:14 Permalink
A Save As ... option would make sense, but this would open a file dialog and require the user to provide a folder and filename. This is not how devices are saved. Device filenames MUST under all circumstances be automatically derived from the device proerties (because they need to be renamed and moved by Synfire when you organize them in the devices tree and when you change their ID, manufacturer, etc).
That's why there is an Export To Gobal Rack option.
Maybe it should be renamed Save As Global Device and placed close to Save As ... to be more intuitive?
Sat, 2022-04-30 - 19:52 Permalink
Yes, it's a matter of intuitiveness.
Maybe get rid of those options at all when in the Arrangement rack; I don't know.
Update: fixed in last patch.
Mon, 2022-05-02 - 16:53 Permalink
Thanks for all the helpful feedback, and apologies for a late reply.
Indeed, it appears what I actually want to save are presets, namely a combination of all the settings of an instrument audio plugin, together with its corresponding device description. I noted that I can save a preset from the tab Sounds, subtab Arragement Rack, and then the three-way plugin button. Saving a plugin seems to work for me, thanks!
Trying to then drag-and-drop some saved plugin to the arrangement window for creating a new track appears to sometimes be able to crash Synfire, though, on my machine (Win 10). I tried to submit a report after restarting Synfire. At other times it works as intended.
Anyway, I conclude that likely I do not want to save an arrangement device as a global device, nor create a device in the Audio/MIDI Setup, as I actually want to not only create a device, but both the device and the sound (save also the plugin state). Right?
Concerning setting up custom sounds directly for a library, that sounds like something very useful. I was able to drag a previously created preset into the rack of a new library. However, I still fail to see how I can check whether this sound is actually used by individual phrase pools (in particular is the same or a very similar instrument is also used by the arrangement window. Seemingly the controls for this recently changed, or at least I cannot find anymore how I set this up earlier. There is now a (new?) wrench icon close to the phrase pool info (bottom left corner), that can be used for setting the sound. However, my preset (device or sound?) names can be very long (for clarity containing the full instrument name loaded into the plugin, which can be longish), and that name is only partially shown in the field with the sound name. Besides, I cannot see there which rack is actually used.
Mon, 2022-05-02 - 20:20 Permalink
Something else, but related: I would like to store controller settings and articulations as part of the presets. Is that possible?
I tried setting up controllers, but without success so far. I saw that controllers can be set up at different levels, the devices, sounds and instruments. I assumed I should add my controller settings at the sound level, because I want to store them alongside the actual plugin state (the sound, as far as I understand the terminology), because it depends for me how I set up certain plugins. By contrast, I thought the track-specific instrument would not be the right level, because I want to be able to reuse these settings across tracks and projects.
So, in order to set up the controllers at the sound level, I did the following: starting with an instrument in the arrangement (from which I can save a preset), in the structure tab from the track instrument properties I use the edit button (pen) to jump to the device descriptions, and have there access to a controller button that allows setting controllers at the sound level.
Now, my problem is that whenever I try to set something there, and then press the button [OK], these settings are not remembered. If I open the controller settings immeditately afterwards again, all the already made settings are gone. Is this the intended behaviour?
Long story short: what is the recommended workflow for setting up controllers and articulations for sounds that one later wants to save as part of a preset?