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MPT User, New to MT: How To Use SoundFonts?

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maxabbey
User

Joined: 08 Feb 2005
Location: Reims, France

Posted: Tue Feb 08 2005 19:39 MPT User, New to MT: How To Use SoundFonts?
Hi everybody, I'm a ModPlug Tracker user and I plan to switch to other tracker software in order to be able to use my own-made SoundFonts effectively. The problem with MPT actually, is that my SoundFonts are multi-layered (eg. several samples for one instruments), that's why there are not very well supported, single-layered work just fine). MadTracker would be THE alternative to MPT (easy-to-use and modern interface or, at least, painless to learn for a MPT user), because it's the only tracker I found along with MPT which has all the features I have in MPT and missing in other programs (IT/S3M/MOD/XM import and MIDI export, particularly). It does not support SoundFonts, but since MT 2.5 has VST support, I think that I cand use sfz to load my SoundFonts and use them in MT. But I can't figure out how to use it efficiently! Does using sfz (or any other VST) requires that a user who wants to hear my MT2s must have MT 2.5, this VST and the SoundFonts I've used? What I would like is being able to load SF2s like XI instruments (like ModPlug does, but with multi-layer support), is it possible to convert the output of a VST to a sample or an instrument which would be embedded inside my modules, thus, allowing any user to hear my sounds even if he does not have my VSTs or my SoundFonts? If not, it has no interest to save and distribute MT2s! WAV/MP3 would be the only real solution in that case? And, also, MadTracker claims that it can export to XM (would be interesting so that music can be played by most programs), but when I use Save As, the save dialog does not offer this format, only MT2! Is registration necessary for XM export? MIDI export works just fine (drum assignation is not buggy like in MPT) but, as the export is done by instrument, if an instrument is used in several tracks, it should be spread across several tracks in the MIDI file and not on only one channel (otherwise, individual track effects such as volume are lost). MPT does it just fine when you don't specify a channel for an instrument while exporting in MIDI, but with MT, if you don't choose a channel, the instrument is not exported... Sorry for a so long post... but I want to know if MT suits my needs. And for the english mistakes if any, I'm French! Bye Maxime (PS : Yannick, if you read this, "device" is translated as "périphérique" in French and not as "Périférique" with an 'f'! like you've wrote it in several parts of MT 2.5!)

Yannick
MadTracker Author

Joined: 16 Apr 2003
Location: Belgium

Posted: Tue Feb 08 2005 20:10
Hi and welcome Maxime! If you use sfz, the listeners will also need it. The plugin could have been bundled with MadTracker, but with the recent buying of rgc:audio by Cakewalk, this is unlikely to happen. (I received no reply/authorization to bundle it.) Another solution would be to use Xlutop Chainer to export individual notes of the VSTi as WAV. Or better, find a tool that can load SF2 completely and export as WAV the different layers. SF2 import is in my TODO list, but I don't know if I'll have the time to implement that in the final version of MT 2.5. To save as XM in MadTracker you first have to change the mode (menu Module -> Mode -> FT mode). I'll check the MIDI export thing. Yannick PS: Merci pour l'info!

maxabbey
User

Joined: 08 Feb 2005
Location: Reims, France

Posted: Tue Feb 08 2005 21:00
Hi Yannick, Thanks for answering so quickly! > If you use sfz, the listeners will also need it. Exactly what I do not want! I want an editable file format (not WAV/MP3 indeed) which can sound the same on any soundcard (the biggest advantage of module files on MIDI and MP3: editable, same sound on any hardware, uncompressed but still smaller than MP3s). > Another solution would be to use [...] find a tool that can load SF2 completely and export as WAV [...] Of course! I already thought about that, but if I must convert myself my SF2s to WAV and then to instruments (I think that some SF2 parameters such as attack or decay will require to be tuned up in order to be used in a tracker, even if the WAV is recorded with those parameters), why not keeping MPT which suits me better in some ways (I like it's pattern editor which uses different colors to distinguish between notes, instrument numbers, effects...)? Especially if I consider that I do not need the benefits of a registered version (WAV export or web hosting, I do already have a web hosting provider for my websites!) of MadTracker, and thus, that I'll not buy it in a first time (I'm a student currently)... I would not like to use the free version of your program knowing that it is actually a shareware program (even if it could be "legal" or "tolerated", it has no expiration date and saving is allowed in the shareware version) > SF2 import is in my TODO list, but I don't know if I'll have the time to implement that in the final version of MT 2.5. It would make MT the only tracker I know of (along with MPT, of course) to support SoundFonts natively. And you could take advantage of your own MT2 format to add support for several samples by instrument, in WAV or any other format (I did not check if it is already in MT or not), it would ease multi-layered SF2 import. Having a custom format to play with is the strength of your software compared to MPT, which, because of sticking with old formats (IT/XM), brakes the compatibility of those formats with older software if small new features are added. And the developers can't add bigger features, such as multiple waves by instrument, if their tracker does not have its own format. This issue is well discuted on ModPlug forums... > To save as XM in MadTracker you first have to change the mode (menu Module -> Mode -> FT mode). I knew that it was something like that! Could not believe that MT2 saving was allowed in the free version and not XM Sorry, I should have read the documentation more carefully! > I'll check the MIDI export thing. Thanks for implementing such a feature! I was really disappointed to see that MPT was the only tracker to do that... MIDI export is so important for me... that way I can hear my mods on my SB Live! synth with better quality thanks to SoundFonts, and thus, detect mistakes more easily... > PS: Merci pour l'info! Mais de rien ! Quite funny we talk together in english knowing that we could speak french easier, eh? But otherwise, other non-french-speaking people on this forum could not understand and take advantage of the discussion! But a french section in the forum would be a good (?) idea... Sorry again for a so long post, I can't prevent myself from writing a novel each time I'm discussing about my particular musical experience (people using "true" trackers are becoming rare, it's a shame)! Bye and keep up the good work! Don't change the free version license, also! Being able to work without time limits or nag screens, and save my work without having to register, is actually what encourages me to try a shareware program...) Maxime

Sunbuster
Registered User

Joined: 05 May 2003
Location: Finland

Posted: Tue Feb 08 2005 21:40
What is it with french people and long posts ->TNK / ATK: I think your postition as "Master of long posts" is being threatened, and by a fellow french person nonetheless

maxabbey
User

Joined: 08 Feb 2005
Location: Reims, France

Posted: Tue Feb 08 2005 22:08
LOL Sunbuster! I've explained myself about the length of my previous post: Sorry again for a so long post, I can't prevent myself from writing a novel each time I'm discussing about my particular musical experience (people using "true" trackers are becoming rare, it's a shame)! I don't think it has something to do with my nationality I'm just a guy who likes writing lines PS: Short post this time, only to contradict you, heh!

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