Posted
Would it be possible to add a simpler ranges setup... This process takes a great deal of time. The specificity, while nice as an option is overkill for my needs.
It would be a great improvement to only set the low and high keys and then have a few knobs to adjust:
the amount of overlap in the ranges
how close to the edges the low and high centers are
an overall offset for the centers
Not only would this be much less work but it would have the advantage of allowing us easily to make adjustments on a project by project basis, or a quick adjustment while in the middle of a project.
ALSO, for synth sounds... Some presets
Low, Low and Middle, Middle, Mid High, High and Full 88 keys would be very useful.
Thu, 2010-02-11 - 10:05 Permalink
Yes, I absolutely agree. This is on our agenda already. Our current idea is to introduce a new Range parameter that deals with this.
We feel the static playing ranges per instrument do not suit well for non-orchestral projects. It'd be much better to have, let's say, a three color polyphonic curve that can be edited like any other parameter. The inspector might feature three sliders instead of one, and input fields for the absolute minimum and maximum.
For this to work properly, we need to refactor the way Synfire handles ranges internally.
If you have any more thoughts on this, your input is much appreciated.
Sat, 2010-02-20 - 06:09 Permalink
I had a few other thoughts after creating a whole bunch of instruments.
Learn low and learn high keys would be the best way to define the range using the midi keyboard. It is also important to add 'control ranges' many instruments have keys associated with nonharmonic functions, like guitar strums, fret squeaks or key switches.
As for getting rid of the tags and only using parameters to define variable ranges. Please don't do this until there is a strong workflow for moving all parameter data when moving figures, segements etc...
It is often very difficult to move a whole part laterally as each automated parameter must be activated, selected, copyied and pasted individually. Often this would include -- breath, mod, transpose, chromatic, pause, volume, pan, at least a few of the cc's... Adding the playing ranges to this would really make the situation worse... As it is I hold of on writing any of those other parameters till the end, for the very reason that moving this becomes difficult. I cannot write off playing range till the end.
Also, I dont know if I am alone on this, but I find the polyphonic parameters almost impossible to control. I always move them around with the gestalt and hope for the best. I think making the playing range with these controls would do very little to help the initial suggestion of making it easier to setup playing ranges quickly.