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Synfire 2.4.5

Posted

This update deals with issues that came up while preparing for new tutorials. 

Synfire Express now also supports library racks. We believe this is necessary for a productive workflow, especially for electronic music. Furthermore we added the ability to generate more variations of existing phrases in libraries, so users can clone stuff for different time signatures and lengths (found on the right sidebar). Creating and editing factories however remains an exclusive Pro feature.

These experimental features are beta. You need to enable them in global Preferences. There are still performance issues that need to be addressed. Editing snippets during live playback may cause hickups.

Feature Enhancements:
- Snippets: Ability to edit phrases on Snippets page (experimental)
- Factories: Generate variations of generated phrases with Express (experimental)
- Factories: New melody factory "Develop A"
- Library: Library racks for Express

Resolved Bugs:
- Factories: Most piano factories did not re-generate well due to wrong setting
- Factories: Bundle selection should always select a usable factory by default
- Snippets: Snippet removed from memory slot when restored after preview
- Factories: Fixed "Repeat Last X" mode with Step sequencer
- Layout: Progression page w/Snippets visible corrupted sidebar
- Parameters: Fixed a crash with rhythm templates
- Fixed crashes with parameter templates
- Snippets: Fixed issues with harmonic context display during playback
- Switching language should also flush help cache
- Factories: Fixed several crashes and bugs

Other Changes:
- Factories: Each factory should suggest a default number of measures
- Snippets: Turning off speaker should restore snippet backup
- Palette: Separate colorings for Intersection Subsets, Supersets
- Factories: Drums should allow MIDI pitch entry per instrument
- Library: Ability to copy harmony & tempo from linked track
- Library: Revised and improved example libraries
- Library: Indicate when a phrase pool required conversion for Express, Sparks
- Convert phrases with unsupported symbol types (Express, Sparks)


Fri, 2024-03-29 - 13:31 Permalink

Hi.

re:  Snippets: Ability to edit phrases on Snippets page (experimental)

I've done this:

What else is necessary, and/or what steps are to be followed in order to try editing of phrases on the Snippets page?

Thanks.

Fri, 2024-03-29 - 14:06 Permalink

What else is necessary, and/or what steps are to be followed in order to try editing of phrases on the Snippets page?

 

Have you tried completely quitting Synfire then relaunching it? That's what worked for me.

Fri, 2024-03-29 - 14:21 Permalink

Did the full restart, thanks.

What I see is that double-clicking on a snippet takes me to the Structure page, where I can edit the snippet.

Isn't this what used to happen in previous releases as well?

What are we supposed to see for:

Snippets: Ability to edit phrases on Snippets page (experimental)

Fri, 2024-03-29 - 14:45 Permalink

Hmmm . . . not sure why it's working for me. It shouldn't take you to the Structure page. In my case, it stays on the Snippets tab and I see the figure editor at the bottom.

I just thought of something else that worked for me. Try this: while still on the Snippets tab, click the phrase editor button in the top left hand corner (the pencil on pad icon). You should then see the editor on the bottom.

Fri, 2024-03-29 - 14:49 Permalink

click the phase editor button in the top left hand corner (the pencil on pad icon)

There it is!.    Thanks.

Fri, 2024-03-29 - 15:28 Permalink

There's a lag after selecting another snippet when the editor is open. Selecting a figure stops playback. Issues like this are still being resolved.

Sat, 2024-03-30 - 16:12 Permalink

Synfire 2.4.5 Build #3

  • Improved performance of snippets playback
  • Edit snippets during playback
  • Increased tooltip delay
  • Bug fixes

Sat, 2024-03-30 - 21:33 Permalink

Edit snippets during playback

This is very slick, and will be very useful.

I see we can undo each edit, if necessary, immediately with Ctrl-Z.   Nice!

Q:  Is there a way to abandon a failed editing effort and revert to the original snippet?

 

Sat, 2024-03-30 - 23:26 Permalink

I'll note that Synfire Pro v2.4.5b3 has been operating very smoothly here this afternoon.   Thanks for this fine new release!

 

 

Sun, 2024-03-31 - 13:47 Permalink

With constant editing and experimentation across multiple snippets it's difficult to say what counts as the "original" snippet that you would want to return to. Undo is all we have at this point.

I have another issue here that bugs me. I am observing a long delay (about 1s) before the phrase editor is loaded with contents after selecting another snippet. In my development environment this delay doesn't occur, only at runtime. I have no idea why.

Does anyone also observe this, or is this specific to my studio setup?

Sun, 2024-03-31 - 14:50 Permalink

what counts as the "original" snippet that you would want to return to

That would be as it existed before any edits.

IOW, as it existed when the file was opened for the current session.

It's 'Revert to Saved' on the individual snippet level.

This all because during an editing session, where we hope to make improvements, some of our edits will actually be improvements and some will be regressions compared to what we started with.  Being able to compare what we've come up with against what we started with is pretty important, IMO.

Without 'Revert to Saved' on the individual snippet level, it becomes necessary to make a copy, set it aside (which is messy to the whole matrix, and which there might not even be room for), and then compare edits to the copy.  Once you switch to playback the copy, it's not even obvious any longer where the edited snippet lives. 

Much better I think  would be to be able to A/B the original with the edit, all in-place, just like the speaker icon now allows us to A/B the original with a phrase substituted from a Library.  (Thanks again for that, it's great!)

Sun, 2024-03-31 - 15:16 Permalink

I have another issue here that bugs me. I am observing a long delay (about 1s) before the phrase editor is loaded with contents after selecting another snippet. In my development environment this delay doesn't occur, only at runtime. I have no idea why.

Does anyone also observe this, or is this specific to my studio setup?

I'm not observing that here.   So far, I'm seeing the newly selected snippets enter the editor nearly instantaneously.

 

Sat, 2024-04-06 - 17:33 Permalink

Synfire 2.4.5 Build #4

Faster response on macOS on the Snippets page and when switching pages in general. Improved snippets handling and bug fixes.

  • Snippets: Inspector should have a tab for snippet container
  • Snippets: Double-click on snippet should open phrase editor
  • Snippets: Harmony snippet should be labeled with auto-transposed progression
  • Snippets: Harmony should be auto-transposed to default Harmony (if there is any)
  • Snippets: Snippet selection should select an available parameter
  • Snippets: Moving or replacing a snippet should retain its playback status
  • Snippets: Improved selection coherence across arrangement pages
  • Figure recognition on inspector locked up user interface
  • Library button should indicate activity while working
  • Fixed issue with undo after container edits
  • Verify thread safety of Undo/Redo 
  • Fixed issue with Parameter menu on menu bar
  • (macOS) Improved responsiveness of user interface
  • Fixed several crashes

Sat, 2024-04-06 - 20:39 Permalink

Thanks for Synfire 2.4.5 b4 !

re:

  • Snippets: Harmony snippet should be labeled with auto-transposed progression
  • Snippets: Harmony should be auto-transposed to default Harmony (if there is any)

Could you please explain what is meant here?   What is meant by "auto-transposition", and what is its relationship to the snippets default harmony? 

Thanks.

Sat, 2024-04-06 - 23:32 Permalink

When you browse harmonies in a library and have auto-transpose enabled (first of the green switches) each progression is transposed to the key of the default harmony or container.

Sun, 2024-04-07 - 18:14 Permalink

When you browse harmonies in a library and have auto-transpose enabled (first of the green switches) each progression is transposed to the key of the default harmony or container.

Can you share a screenshot of this? I've been looking everywhere (including the manual) for an auto-transpose switch and I can't find it. Not sure where to look for it.

EDIT: Nevermind, I found it.

Sun, 2024-04-07 - 18:34 Permalink

Snippets: Harmony snippet should be labeled with auto-transposed progression

Does this mean the that chord names in a snippet should change to correspond with the default harmony? If I choose a default harmony, select auto-transpose, and drag an All Purpose harmony (for example, I-V-vi-V) into a blank snippet track, the chord names stay the same no matter what the default harmony is. The be clear, the actual chords do change to correspond with the default harmony, but the chord names do not change. Just want to make sure that I understand this updated feature.

Sun, 2024-04-07 - 19:31 Permalink

If the harmony is transposed the name will now change accordingly. This has been a bug. The wrong chord names appeared as snippet label.

Mon, 2024-04-08 - 00:33 Permalink

Nevermind, I found it.

Could you post a picture for the rest of us please?

Mon, 2024-04-08 - 03:26 Permalink

You will have to take these steps:

While in the Structure or Snippets tab (whichever you are using at the moment), open the Harmony Examples or whatever chord progressions you have saved.

You will have to first click the "Link Phrase" option (fourth to the right) and then the "Auto-Transpose" (second from the left).

Drag a chord progression to the the Harmony outlet in the header (to the right of the memory slots in the Snippets tab) to set the default key. Every chord progression you select should now conform to the key of the default harmony.

You can see both options selected in the attached image.

Please forgive the picture quality. I cannot get the screenshot function to work on my computer, so I took a picture using my crappy phone camera.

Attachments

Mon, 2024-04-08 - 03:29 Permalink

If the harmony is transposed the name will now change accordingly. This has been a bug. The wrong chord names appeared as snippet label.

Thanks for the clarification. Yeah, this is still a bug for me.

Mon, 2024-04-08 - 12:41 Permalink

There's an unexplainable error with factories on Windows. Unexplainable, because the code is literally identical on macOS, where however the error does not occur.

When you select a generated phrase on the Library page, the associated factory is supposed to be selected too. That's important if you want to generate additional variations of a phrase. On Windows, the selection remains stubbornly at the default Bass factory, no matter which phrase you select.

We are investigating this mystery. 

Mon, 2024-04-08 - 13:53 Permalink

Ok, no mystery. Turned out there's a bug that depends on experimental features. And these are not enabled on this particular Windows installation.

Until a patch is online, please simply enable "Experimental Features" in global Preferences.

 

Mon, 2024-04-08 - 15:00 Permalink

UV, thanks for the steps and the picture.   They were very helpful for me.