Synfire Pro 1.6.4
The new update comes with a much improved MIDI file import: Now you can batch-import a library, reading all files in a directory (Pro). This is especially useful for importing drums or other phrases for a particular single instrument.
We also fixed a number of bugs and improved the interactive behavior of the Harmonizer, to make it more intutive.
One thing that may have annoyed users for a while already is playback start position while editing a phrase in a container. One of the previous updates changed this to add a pre-roll to playback, so the edit can be reviewed in a musical context (instead of playing straight from the currently selected note). This was fine, except that the pre-roll happened to be to long quite often. This was now changed to go no further than to the beginning of the current container. Difficult to explain -- you will notice when you use it.
On the Mac, all windows now have local menu bars by default. Unless you make a clean new install, you will however need to enable this in the preferences.
All changes, except the batch import, are also available in the Express edition (Express does not have a library import feature).
A complete list of changes can be found here;http://www.cognitone.com/developers/article.stml?o=119
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Comments
just two check box left to my Batch Import wishes
-Put all in one pool
-use track names as Master Take name.
Thanx Andre!!!!
SFP has really made a lot of tremendous growth in the last several months,, with each update it becomes more elegant. I can't believe the amount of work you put into it.. I love the copper theme. Importing is so much easier. Step by step you are refining the rough edges..
Congratulations to us all.
markstyles
Good work !
Yepp!! MIDI-Import is really great now! Workflow is speeding up! Thankx!
Minkepatt
can someone explain how to midi batch import? cant find documentation.
@duderanch: This works from a library window only: File >> Import >> Standard MIDI File.
ok. from library selected folder then what? selecting folder and do not see any other options.
Just import one file and it will also import all other files in the same folder.
thx
as a last wishes of the year
Batch Import :
-Use Current Settings for all files ( instead of Static Import )
-Use File Names for Take names
( i think this is better than my old use Track Names suggestion ...since we can easily rename bunch of files at once
even with windows+ also there is really cheap and useful auto renamer applications)
-and (please) put/collect all imports in to the one pool option.
Amen!!!
oh no, not instead …
Hi Andre and Mark (for writing a good comment!),
I have been using the old version of Synfire and will upgrade tomorrow (download) the new version --- my experience so far is that:
1) Thinking in terms of notes and phrases as "concepts" that are a part of "style" was not really obvious at the beginning when I was using Synfire Pro. In fact, I am somewhat humbled to say that much of what I have played is a re-gurgitation of what other people have played. By assembling my own phrase library, I have revealed to myself my limitations and stylye --- this has been AMAZING: in fact, I have actuall started to play the keyboard (my MidiBoard) in different keys, to listen to their different emotional tones and to shape my phrasing into something that does not repeat what I always usually do. This is not to say that I am a *parrot* or that what I do has been repetitive but that I was able to see blindspots in my compositional approach. I don't think I could have really seen it before.
2) I am forging ahead into new territory musically and I am more and more interested in the relationship between "sound" timbres (as in design) and phrasing: I have discovered that textures in sound, with phrases, both designed one for the other, are just not explored in contemporary music and I am delighted to report that I cannot think of any other software that lets me do this than Synfire (okay - I am still in a complexity of librarians, editors, midi-setups and other things, but this is very different to working with Ableton or Pro-Tools or Reason). There is actually no real comparison. I would imagine that Vangelis, Jarre, and others may not know about Synfire ... else I think they would use it. This is not "rote" or "recipe" or "computer-aided" composition, but I would call it "computer amplification" of what I do - I can see things that I did not see before and it creates a space for new possibilities.
3) It has been a while since I wrote anything on this forum but I am very happy with what I thought was a long-shot and a risky purchase as an "early-adopter". I would like to see the following, in the future, as features:
(a) A way to integrate sound design (as MIDI-sysex) in a better databases related to the notes - I have solved this in my own way already and it can be done with synfire, Filemaker Pro and other librarians ...
(b) A way to integrate gesture-based composition - in other words, being able to link dance-steps with music --- an ontology of dance moves to notes. This is a bit far out but, perhaps with a good open-API approach for graphics or data interchange it can be done. Gestures can be initiated as part of the attributes of a note and linked to synthesis parameters (example - filter sweep).
(c) A way to include algorithmic generators --- right now I use third-party software over midi but certain things would be nicer as built-ins to SP.
Please keep up the really great work - soon enough there will be work produced that people can credit aid from Synfire as a great tool.
Thanks!
Modcan,EIII,T8,CS80,Kyma,Pacarana,Rhodes Chroma,A6,Mac,Ableton,ProTools,Max,Synfire,DK Synergy,Solaris,G2X,M3...Be the change you wish to see in the world