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Synfire 1.7.8 Release

Posted

The current Synfire update ships with Audio Engine 2.0. The integrated audio host now features 64 Bit VST support on OS X and has been made more robust and integrates more smoothly with Synfire, especially during startup and shutdown. Several bugs have been fixed. This update is recommended for all users of Synfire Pro and Express.

Feature Enhancements

  • Engine: Upgrade to version 2.0
  • Engine: OS X 64 bit VST support for both drones and guest plug-ins
  • Engine: Scan any number of plug-ins, robust against crashes
  • Engine: Detect added or changed plug-ins automatically on startup
  • Engine: Smoother startup and shutdown
  • Circle Of Fiths: Hold ALT to switch root pitch only and keep scales
  • SMF Import: Support format 0 files (single track files)

Bug Fixes

  • Engine: Fixed crashes on shutdown
  • Engine: Fixed crash when closing arrangement while plug-in editor still open
  • SMF Import: Fixed a regression from an earlier update
  • SMF Import: Fixed several bugs
  • Matrix: Track selection should not jump inspector away from instrument tab
  • Various minor bug fixes as per submitted crash reports

Other Changes

  • Require that plug-ins on MASTER and AUX modules have input channels
  • Streamlined error messages related to Engine


Regarding 64 bit VST on OS X, you should be aware that some plug-ins may load but not show a user interface. For this format to work on OS X, plug-ins need to expect and use Cocoa, rather than the legacy Carbon framework, which is no longer supported by Apple on 64 bit. Contact a plug-in's developer and request an update, if you experience a blank user interface.


Fri, 2014-09-19 - 03:10 Permalink

Hi

Andre thanks for the update but the import midi file follows with the same error for me.In the import window i write offset 0m length 1m and the midi files appear with 4m, not 1m

 

Attachments

Fri, 2014-09-19 - 08:08 Permalink

For a library import, disable the switch "Create Phrase Pools", if you don't want it to split the file into chunks (the chunk size is 4m by default). This will end up with the 1m long master take only.

Fri, 2014-09-19 - 11:10 Permalink

It is now a pleasure to work with Synfire, because the problem that the program was busy ( froozen) after a while doing nothing seems to be solved.


A few times reported by me and others,  and it as it now looks... solved
Good job done. 

Fri, 2014-09-19 - 11:41 Permalink

Hi Andre, hi List

Synfire Pro 1.7.8 Build #5 (OS X) — Bug in Midi-Import: Imports now just the first four bars of a midi file. Same in Arrangement as a into-a-library Import.

 

best,

Michael

 

Fri, 2014-09-19 - 12:11 Permalink

I do have also another issue..Synfire Pro 1.7.8 Build #5 (Windows)
When i import a midi construction kit file into the library without the switch : create phrase pools, then i get the the whole midi
But with the switch on:  create phrasepool than there is a lot of missing phrasepool figures( 4 bars) from the master
Especially with chords is not much left and from the bass there is nothing left ( only one note for 2 bars pattern)
     


Only one track has usable phrase and all others are useless ( if i want phrases from the other tracks i must collected this out by myself out of the masterphrase )  
I don't know if this a normal behaviour of Synfire the translating of the phrase pools ?

Fri, 2014-09-19 - 12:42 Permalink

Imports now just the first four bars of a midi file.

I just double tested. It works fine here. Have you tried with different files? Change the import length entry?

Fri, 2014-09-19 - 12:44 Permalink

Only one track has usable phrase and all others are useless ( if i want phrases from the other tracks i must collected this out by myself out of the masterphrase )

This is normal behavior when creating phrase pools it looks for "interesting" sections and drops others that have only few content. Disable "Create Phrase Pools" and split the master take manually if you want a different splitting.

(The splitting has not changed with this update)

Fri, 2014-09-19 - 15:30 Permalink

Hi

Andre GUAUUUUUU that was the secret !!!!!  works perfect,then in the past also worked,simply is to unchecked create phrase pool

I have tested it and works fantastic,if you write in Length 1ms and uncheck create phrase pool the midi files imported appear with 1ms length.

Minkepatt try it and sure works.Uncheck create phrase pool.My laptop also has 10.6.8 ;)  an old macbookpro

Also now when i close Synfire the Engine does not crash.I tested in my laptop macbookpro in the imac not because i am traveling.In october i will test it but i suspect sure also works perfect

Andre a lot of thanks for your fantastic update and your great effort ;)

Brest

M

Fri, 2014-09-19 - 15:35 Permalink

@Minkepatt:

Thanks for the pictures. You pointed me to a strange bug: The "Create Phrase Pools" setting is remembered also for the arrange import.

Workaround: Do a library import and disable that switch. After this, the next arrange import will work as expected.

I'll publish a fix for this.

Fri, 2014-09-19 - 17:43 Permalink

Jo! At a first glance, it works fine now. Thanx a lot for fixing it so quickly!!

 

cheers

Minkepatt

Fri, 2014-09-19 - 23:10 Permalink

Since the update, none of my Midi Drones load automatically into the Global Rack after opening my DAW project.  I can add them back in manually by clicking the Add button, but previously they loaded automatically.

Has something changed in this update to make this happen?

EDIT: I have since discovered that if I add a drone back in manually (as above), it is still there next time I open the projects but the MIDI Drone button is no longer ticked.  This seems similar to Onium's problem regarding drones 12-21.

Sat, 2014-09-20 - 08:54 Permalink

next time I open the projects but the MIDI Drone button is no longer ticked

Can't reproduce it here. Make sure you save the rack/arrangement first, THEN also save the DAW file.

Nothing with the drone management was changed with the last update. If you see this behavior now, it should have also happened before the update.

Sat, 2014-09-20 - 10:56 Permalink

These are MIDI drones Andre, so the rack is never saved and saving the DAW file is not important.

Sat, 2014-09-20 - 11:28 Permalink

Yes that's right, transient MIDI drones.  I'm going to try to reinstall 1.7.7 and check if the problem is the same....

Sat, 2014-09-20 - 17:38 Permalink

I have re-installed 1.7.7 and can confirm that everything now works fine, so there seems to be an issue with 1.7.8.

Andre, you said that the update includes various bug fixes from submitted crash reports. Well, I submitted a few when I was using transient midi drones, so perhaps you changed something that you've forgotten about?

EDIT: I have attached 2 GIFs showing the different behaviour

Sun, 2014-09-21 - 17:47 Permalink

Thanks for the great GIFs. Knowing you are talking about transient drones is important. They work quite different that others, as they are basically orphans not belonging to any rack in Synfire. Will have a closer look.

Sun, 2014-09-21 - 18:56 Permalink

Hi Pete


Did you managed to get the transient drone acting as multi-timbral Vst drone in Cubase ?
It seems to be impossible?
Perhaps adding 16 drones via -add instrument and organise this in a folder and then add one HAlion 5 multitimbral (also via add  instrument) to all 16 drones ?
Adding 16 Halion5 instances is not handy  
Cubase 7.5 has the new functionality to add instruments tracks what can be assigned to a multi timbral Vsti ?.. 
No .. a cognitone drone is for one midi channel..is this documented ? before we go further by trial and error ( stupid)  

Sun, 2014-09-21 - 23:03 Permalink

Thanks Andre, that's great as I'm pretty much at a standstill now because I'm only using transient drones at the moment.  Sorry for the confusion, I didn't realise there was a difference between transient drones and MIDI drones.  I thought that ticking the MIDI drone button meant is was a transient drone, so I just referred to them as MIDI drones.

Jim, I haven't checked that no, because Cubase should automatically update any new dll's.  It's worth checking though and I'll look tomorrow.  Hopefully it will be as simple as that, but it would make me feel a bit silly!

Jan, yes I got it all working.  A cognitone drone can handle 16 channels no problem so you could have one drone and one instance of Halion for 16 tracks.  Once I get this problem sorted, I will do a video or GIF in a new topic if you like, to show you how to set it up?

Mon, 2014-09-22 - 12:11 Permalink

Just tested the transient drones now. No issues here. The MIDI drones reappear after loading the DAW file.

Note that you need to save the DAW file with all drones in the correct state, that is, set up as MIDI drones, if you want to see them restored in that state. The best (and AFAIK only) way to do this is to assemble a global rack, setup the drones as desired, and save it with Synfire and the DAW. You can disregard the Synfire file, if you no longer need it, but I recommend keeping it around so you load it if you want to edit your drones. Otherwise they will be more or less hidden in the DAW file.

Mon, 2014-09-22 - 12:29 Permalink

O, yes that's great you have got it working have a video or animated gif for the Halion Sonic 2 and Halion 5 users to work with transient drone(s) setup  in Cubase 7.5
 

Mon, 2014-09-22 - 13:06 Permalink

Thanks Andre, but I don't understand this.  You can clearly see from my GIFs that it isn't working for me anymore.  Obviously my DAW file is set up correctly, otherwise it wouldn't have worked in 1.7.7.

There should also be no need to save a global rack, it worked before with an empty rack.  Again, you can see this is the 1.7.7 GIF.

Have you tested this with Windows and Cubase?

Mon, 2014-09-22 - 13:10 Permalink

Jan, I suggest we keep this topic focused on the 1.7.8 update.  Once I can get my issue solved, I'll start a new topic for setting up drones, templates, etc.

Mon, 2014-09-22 - 14:27 Permalink

The operating system doesn't matter. Only Cognitone software is involved (drones & Synfire), the DAW does just load the drone VST and restore its state as every DAW does.

You need to create and edit the drones with a global rack. There is no other way to reach them (the drone's user interface has no control to make it a MIDI Drone and you can't assign it a DD without Synfire).

It's true that you don't need the rack once the drones are saved with the DAW. Still it's good to keep the rack around if you need to add more drones to your DAW, for example, or change the DD. You can unload the rack after you finished editing.

I have no idea why it would work differently with 1.7.7. I tested with 1.7.8 and it works as described. 

Mon, 2014-09-22 - 14:44 Permalink

To summarize: The drone needs to know it is global. In your second GIF, the drones are 'reserved', i.e. unused.

You can add them to the global rack, save the DAW templates, and throw away the global rack. Do NOT delete the drones from the rack, which would turn them to 'reserved' (unused) status.