Re: [Swami-devel] Re: [fluid-dev] FluidSynth 1.0.6 "Music to my ears"

[Gerald Pye]

Josh Green wrote:

> Well I suppose it wouldn't take too much to get me to release another
> version, since I know its probably necessary.
> (....)
> So if another version was released, what other features would be useful?
> I've got:
> - Sample exporting
> - Loop point import/export with samples
> - Remove useless message about not distributing saved SoundFont files

	Would it be at all possible that Swami could use an already-running Fluidsynth 
to generate the sounds, rather than using its own Fluidsynth? I may be asking 
the impossible (or even complete nonsense) here but my reason for asking is 
this: in my current project, I have a script that runs Fluidsynth (loading my 
soundfont), waits 5 seconds, runs aconnect to patch the MIDI through correctly 
and then starts a big bloaty java thing to process the incoming MIDI from the 
keyboards and feed then to Fluidsynth's MIDI channels. When I decide that my 
soundfont needs editing, I have to reverse all of the above procedure and then 
start Swami, edit, close Swami and start up the Fluid/aconnect/java system 
again. I was wondering whether I could have one Fluidsynth running all the time 
and then just start the java gizmo or Swami as appropriate. However, I'd 
consider this in the 'luxury' class so, if it means tons of upheaval, I'm happy 
to forget about it - I'd much rather have the loop-point import with samples 
working!

	There are two other problems I have when using Swami - I'm not sure whether 
they're due to a lack of a specific feature or ignorance on my part when editing 
soundfonts:

	Firstly, often I find that I want to tune a preset or instrument so that, 
obviously, all presets play in tune when the soundfont gets used in the final 
project. Because it's only possibble to play one preset at a time, I can't play 
the preset to be tuned simultaneously with a reference preset and then tune the 
one to minimise the beat with the other. In the past, I have resorted to getting 
an audio-frequency generator, setting it to, say, 440Hz and mixing its output 
along with the output of the PC to the amplifier's input. Is there a saner way 
in which one can tune presets? Does Swami perhaps need a feature that generates 
a reference tone against which a preset can be tuned?

	Secondly, I always seem to have a problem in getting Swami to work with a MIDI 
keyboard. I have managed it on occasions but somehow it seems that whether it's 
going to work or not is not predictable. When it has worked, I've needed to use 
ALSA Patch Bay to patch the MPU401 output through to the Fluidsynth input once 
Swami is up and running. Is there a possibility that there's an intermittent 
problem in Swami that's causing this not to work always? More likely it's 
something that I'm being dumb about, but I just wondered.

        Food for thought?

        Cheers,

                Gerald.