Tracktion Software

Paresh · Post by **Paresh** » Sat Aug 25, 2018 7:50 pm

Hi - I'm on a new computer, win 10 & now T-6. I've always used synthfont as a GM player but can't get it to work in T-6 (32 bit). My old synthfont crashed t-6 & I dnloaded an update & that won't open. Or is there an alternative someone could recommend that will work? thanks

Watchful · Post by **Watchful** » Sat Aug 25, 2018 9:27 pm

Sforzando makes a highly stable 32-bit sound font player. I used it with T6/32-bit with no issues.

Paresh · Post by **Paresh** » Sun Aug 26, 2018 5:16 pm

Thanks i will check it out.

Watchful · Post by **Watchful** » Sun Aug 26, 2018 8:29 pm

Paresh,

http://www.plogue.com/products/sforzando.html

Paresh · Post by **Paresh** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:54 am

thanks

Paresh · Post by **Paresh** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 7:58 pm

I hate to be dense but I've been using synthfont where I could play all the different instruments in a song without having to load an instrument for each track. Is there a way to do this or a link to show me how? The sforzando directions don't seem to discuss this & no reply from their tech support yet. I'm not sure what the correct terminology is - a GM file that plays all of the instruments in the correct tracks? Thanks!

Watchful · Post by **Watchful** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 9:01 pm

I can try, and you're definitely not dense!

You would load your MIDI file into Waveform, and insert Sforzando as a .VST into the right side of the track.

Click on the plug in after it's positioned, and it should open up its own window.

Drag your favorite GM sound font onto there and let Sforzando convert it to a .sfz format (if it isn't already)

The MIDI file should then output to Sforzando, which then plays the parts with the correct instrumentation.

There are some ways this can fail.

1. The .sfz file wasn't a full, 128-program GM file, but only partially so. As a result, you might get some sounds not playing that you expect, or mapped incorrectly, or they just sound strange because the instrument is incorrect. Many .sfz files are "one instrument only," so you'll hear just a cello, or just a bassoon. You'll want a sound font that has all 128 sounds in it.

2. The MIDI file has all the notes merged into a single channel. A single MIDI track can have a bunch of tracks safely merged into it, provided each track is on a separate channel. If, however, the channel information is lost because all the notes got merged together, well, you'll wind up with gibberish.

3. If the MIDI file is already broken into different tracks, Waveform may load those as individual tracks as well.

I'm not sure which scenario is happening for you, or if your question was more general about getting Waveform to play a Sforzando VST, but I am hopeful this explains some things.

Paresh · Post by **Paresh** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 9:08 pm

Thank you so much for taking the time! I will go through it step by step.

Watchful · Post by **Watchful** » Mon Aug 27, 2018 9:13 pm

One more thought--if you aren't strictly opposed to the idea, there are benefits to breaking a MIDI file into individual tracks per channel.

Doing so allows you to insert a different VST output for each track. So you can get the *exact* bass sound you want, or if you don't like the violin sound that comes with one VST, you can insert a different (better) one in. And remember that you can load multiple copies of the same VST down the tracks if you *do* like one better than the others.

Assume we have a MIDI file for a string quartet, with each instrument on a different channel. If I open that in Waveform, it can create four, separate tracks at once, each on a different MIDI channel.

I like a particular double bass sound in a sound font, so I might then load dblbass03 into Sforzando on track 1.

And let's assume I have a decent cello sound as well, so I might want to load cello1.sfz sound font into a second instance of Sforzando on track 2. Just drag and drop the same vst onto Track 2.

But let's say I have a really nice viola sound on a VST named "XYZStrings." I might load that VST on track 3.

And finally, a great violin part on track 4, and I really like this new sound font I just found. I drag a third copy of Sforzando onto track 4, open it, drag the violin sound font onto it to convert it to .sfz... just the one time... and now I have it loaded onto track 4.

Pressing PLAY now outputs all four tracks to the respective VSTs, and I'm really enjoying the result.

But, in three months, someone releases a really good cello sound on a dedicated VST plug in. I can always swap out the Sforzando plug in on track 2 with this new one... and now the result is even better.

I'm not sure what level of familiarity you have with Tracktion/Waveform, or working with Sforzando, so I'm hopeful this answers some additional questions you or other users might have.

Paresh · Post by **Paresh** » Tue Aug 28, 2018 5:13 pm

Thanks Watchful! I have moderate familiarity with t-6, but little with soundfonts except synthfont which just output every instrument to the correct font. I will try yr instructions tomorrow when i have more time. My initial attempt was drum output but i find that confusing as there are so many sounds all in 1 drum kit.

Watchful · Post by **Watchful** » Tue Aug 28, 2018 8:32 pm

Most welcome.

Be cautious with drum tracks and sound fonts. Although there is a GM standard for drum tracks, it's very limited by today's technology, and many sound fonts and VSTs ignore the mapping. You may unexpected results, and will have to transpose notes up or down (easy to do in Waveform or Tracktion) to remap the notes to the correct drums. Good luck!

Paresh · Post by **Paresh** » Tue Aug 28, 2018 8:44 pm

thanks again!!

zzz00m · Post by **zzz00m** » Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:24 pm

I never used Synthfont, but it appears to me to be a multi-timbral plugin, so one instance of the plugin can play back all of the instrument parts in a MIDI arrangement. So that way you can map MIDI channels to designated instruments. http://www.synthfont.com/

By comparison, sforzando only plays one instrument at a time, so you would need a separate instance of the plugin for each instrument. https://www.plogue.com/products/sforzando.html

The sforzando player is based on the ARIA Player that powers Garritan Personal Orchestrator 5 (64-bit only), but that ARIA Player for GPO has 16 instrument slots and is multi-timbral. Don't think it has GM sounds though, so you would still need to manually assign instruments to each channel. https://www.garritan.com/products/perso ... ia-player/

It appears that GM players are getting rather rare these days... as are new 32-bit apps...

Paresh · Post by **Paresh** » Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:26 pm

Thanks - yr right!

zzz00m · Post by **zzz00m** » Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:39 pm

I converted the SF2 file "FluidR3_GM_SF2" into sforzando successfully with drag & drop, so those instruments are now all available for manual selection by me, one at a time.

I'm sure you could do the same with any SF2 file in your collection, but it does remove the automatic mapping of parts you get with a GM player when you open a GM file. It becomes a manual task, but once you have a song setup you can save the project.

But by the time you go to that trouble, there are much better instrument sounds available for use today in Kontakt, SampleTank, or something like that.