Andre - Would it be difficult to do the following:
1. Creating and Editing a "Shared Rack" could ONLY be done in a "Setup Window"
2. Once a "Shared Rack" is used in a song, an editable copy would automatically be saved in the Song's "Private Rack"
OR
2. Once a "Shared Rack" is used in a song, if the User wants to edit it, they can only do so by first saving it as a "Private Rack" which can then be edited.
Juergen you have an interesting workflow, it seems you are creating a shared rack for each new song, just to keep the sounds separate from the arrangement. Do you have to manually switch/load the setup when you load a project?
I have to create a new shared rack manually if I start an entirely new musical project. Of course, mostly I can copy sounds from the old shared rack and make only the necessary changes. But once that is done, every arragement or sketch file, which I will produce within this project (and it can be a lot of files) will then have direct access to the sounds of this specific shared rack. I don't have to manually switch the setup when I load different files of the same musical project. But I would have to do so, if I would switch between files of different musical projects. But I don't do that.
Typically I start a project, create a shared rack for it, work say 2 or 3 month on that project and when I'm done I start a new one, create a new shared rack for it, and so on.
Janamdo if you had never seen the shared rack option you would be happily using a private/song rack without any issues.
Can't follow you here..do you know my of idea of making music ?
Juergen you have an interesting workflow, it seems you are creating a shared rack for each new song, just to keep the sounds separate from the arrangement. Do you have to manually switch/load the setup when you load a project?
This is not a extraordinairy workflow using a soundrack for more than one arrangement
Example: i like to make two songs with my classical Shared rack..you can make variations in these two songs, but that is not possible it seems
As for the naming, I meanwhile think that "Global" would best suit all:
Global Rack
Global Devices
Global Instruments
The global instruments are saved and restored with the global rack (as are the audio preferences and settings), so why not name them this way? Telling global and per song apart is more difficult than getting the idea that an instrument is something different than a sound (a terminology most samplers use anyway).
I never liked "Device Description", though. How is "Device Definition" ? Or just "Device" ?
The first problem I see here is differentiating the curent meaning of Global, a subset of devices in a rack for instant plyaback, from the current meaning of shared racks.
As I understand, the only reason we need make a distinction between instruments and devices is so that SFP can have a prototyping definition.
Why couldn't an instrument simply be a single preset locked to a specific midi port and channel in a rack. Then have the AI portion defined not in the instrment/ device, but in the track?
Then to save particular setups for future use, simply have presets.
This would more closely mirror DAW midi track use and simplify all kinds of things.
I use different shared racks for different musical projects […] I don't have to manually switch the setup when I load different files of the same musical project.
juergen, that workflow uses the concepts of Synfire exactly the way they were originally designed for. Having multiple files for the same project (versions, approaches) is what the prototyping idea is about.
Make a shared rack for filmmusic, make one for rockmusic , make a shared rack from whatever you want.
Also a valid workflow. How many different shared racks you will want to create, depends on the variety of music you compose.
I tend to use 'private racks' with sounds created on the fly. So I love the fact that a project loads all the vsts and exact sound setups not just presets.
Another valid workflow! Now that Synfire has module presets, putting together a private rack is a snap.
Everyone is following a different path to composition. Some view a single file as their "project", being the center of all activity. Others pile up a host of different files, libraries, variants, snippets, and call that their "project". Synfire can accomodate both ways.
Maybe a compromise is to store arrangement sound racks as separate files but have them auto load with the project. That would allow you to swap out complete sound setups to try different things out without having to alter the global rack?
Erm, I think two types of racks are more than sufficient. Adding a third type would be even more confusing. Using the shared rack on a per project basis, as juergen does, is the proper way to achieve this.
1. Creating and Editing a "Shared Rack" could ONLY be done in a "Setup Window"
2. Once a "Shared Rack" is used in a song, an editable copy would automatically be saved in the Song's "Private Rack"
That's how the private rack works now (if the shared sounds are not shown on the arrange window, the SETUP window opens when the user wants to edit the shared rack). Albeit individual devices and plug-ins are copied, not the entire rack.
Why couldn't an instrument simply be a single preset locked to a specific midi port and channel in a rack. Then have the AI portion defined not in the instrment/ device, but in the track?
There's no AI in the instrument. It's just meta data about the pitch range, category, etc (information that VST/AU and synth hardware can not provide). Since all of this meta data is required, it is useful to keep it somewhere so it need not be entered again and again.
With 1.7 however, you CAN do without devices, simply by hacking them on the fly with each new instrument you setup in the arrange window. You don't even need to visit the rack or devices editors at all. Check out picking a MIDI port from the inspectors popup menu, then enter required data in the form data below. Done.
Sun, 2013-09-01 - 18:06 Permalink
Andre - Would it be difficult to do the following:
1. Creating and Editing a "Shared Rack" could ONLY be done in a "Setup Window"
2. Once a "Shared Rack" is used in a song, an editable copy would automatically be saved in the Song's "Private Rack"
OR
2. Once a "Shared Rack" is used in a song, if the User wants to edit it, they can only do so by first saving it as a "Private Rack" which can then be edited.
Sun, 2013-09-01 - 18:53 Permalink
I have to create a new shared rack manually if I start an entirely new musical project. Of course, mostly I can copy sounds from the old shared rack and make only the necessary changes. But once that is done, every arragement or sketch file, which I will produce within this project (and it can be a lot of files) will then have direct access to the sounds of this specific shared rack. I don't have to manually switch the setup when I load different files of the same musical project. But I would have to do so, if I would switch between files of different musical projects. But I don't do that.
Typically I start a project, create a shared rack for it, work say 2 or 3 month on that project and when I'm done I start a new one, create a new shared rack for it, and so on.
Sun, 2013-09-01 - 18:58 Permalink
Explain more...
Can't follow you here..do you know my of idea of making music ?
This is not a extraordinairy workflow using a soundrack for more than one arrangement
Example: i like to make two songs with my classical Shared rack..you can make variations in these two songs, but that is not possible it seems
Sun, 2013-09-01 - 20:46 Permalink
The first problem I see here is differentiating the curent meaning of Global, a subset of devices in a rack for instant plyaback, from the current meaning of shared racks.
As I understand, the only reason we need make a distinction between instruments and devices is so that SFP can have a prototyping definition.
Why couldn't an instrument simply be a single preset locked to a specific midi port and channel in a rack. Then have the AI portion defined not in the instrment/ device, but in the track?
Then to save particular setups for future use, simply have presets.
This would more closely mirror DAW midi track use and simplify all kinds of things.
Sun, 2013-09-01 - 22:10 Permalink
juergen, that workflow uses the concepts of Synfire exactly the way they were originally designed for. Having multiple files for the same project (versions, approaches) is what the prototyping idea is about.
Also a valid workflow. How many different shared racks you will want to create, depends on the variety of music you compose.
Another valid workflow! Now that Synfire has module presets, putting together a private rack is a snap.
Everyone is following a different path to composition. Some view a single file as their "project", being the center of all activity. Others pile up a host of different files, libraries, variants, snippets, and call that their "project". Synfire can accomodate both ways.
Erm, I think two types of racks are more than sufficient. Adding a third type would be even more confusing. Using the shared rack on a per project basis, as juergen does, is the proper way to achieve this.
That's how the private rack works now (if the shared sounds are not shown on the arrange window, the SETUP window opens when the user wants to edit the shared rack). Albeit individual devices and plug-ins are copied, not the entire rack.
There's no AI in the instrument. It's just meta data about the pitch range, category, etc (information that VST/AU and synth hardware can not provide). Since all of this meta data is required, it is useful to keep it somewhere so it need not be entered again and again.
With 1.7 however, you CAN do without devices, simply by hacking them on the fly with each new instrument you setup in the arrange window. You don't even need to visit the rack or devices editors at all. Check out picking a MIDI port from the inspectors popup menu, then enter required data in the form data below. Done.