Editing a synthesizer |
Access to synthesizers configurations [Professional] [Composition Pro] A set of configurations, each one
representing a synthesizer of the
market, is provided with Pizzicato. It can be useful to
personalize a synthesizer, for example if you modify the
sound setup in it. If your synthesizer is not in the provided
original list, you can create a new configuration and
introduce in it all parameters and characteristics of your
synthesizer.
You can reach it by opening the Select synthesizer
dialog box. As we have already studied, this dialog box allows you to
select the synthesizer associated with a Midi port. The first
four buttons are used to modify and complete the list. We will
make a copy of the Sc-55 synthesizer in order to be able to make
modifications in this lesson. A synthesizer has a full name and a short
name. Fill in for example Test in the two text boxes and
click Create. Pizzicato copies Sc-55 and calls
it Test. The configuration dialog box appears : The dialog box is divided into 4 distinct areas which we will
study by order of importance. By using the instruments view, the user has two menus to
select a sound. The first selects the family of the instrument
(for example Strings) and the second allows to select one of the
sounds belonging to the selected family (for example Cello). The middle list contains the families of instruments defined
for this particular synthesizer. By selecting a family of this
list (by simply clicking on its name), the instruments defined in
it appear in the list next to the right. In order to understand
how to modify these lists, we will create a new family and add an
instrument in it. A new line is added at the end of the list. The text box
located just below lets you fill in the name of the new family.
Type Test family on the keyboard. As you type it in, the
text appears in the list. In Pizzicato, each family has an
identification number, shown here by a number (24) called ID
(Identifier). When you create a family, Pizzicato automatically
assigns the next available number. You can modify it by using the
text box which contains it. If you create a synthesizer from
scratch, we advise you to keep families and identifiers used by
other synthesizers, so as to ensure a compatibility with future
versions of Pizzicato. The main sounds available on a synthesizer are represented by
a number from 1 to 128 (or sometimes from 0 to 127 according to
the manufacturer). You should find the list with the
correspondence between names and numbers in the synthesizer
manual. This number must be placed in the text box entitled "N°".
By creating an instrument, this number is set at 1 by default. At the beginning of the MIDI system, 128 different sounds
largely met the needs of synthesizers. With the evolution of the
technical power, the current synthesizers always offer more
sounds and the limit of 128 different sounds is almost always
exceeded. The Midi message directly selecting a sound only
accesses 128 different sounds. To go beyond this limit of 128,
manufacturers use various additional messages allowing to divide
the sounds into various Sound banks. Specific Midi messages
(sometimes peculiar to each manufacturer) select a sound bank.
One can thereafter select a sound in this bank by sending a
number from 1 to 128. The sound bank to which the instrument
belongs may be selected in the menu labeled Bk.
Combined with the number (N°), Pizzicato can use this
information to select the sound chosen by the user. The 16 boxes located below show the possibility of using this
sound on the 16 Midi channels of the synthesizer. When Pizzicato
automatically allots the Midi channels, these boxes specifies to
it which channels can used for this sound. The Midi channel 10
is often allocated to the percussions sets. By defining an
instrument which is not a percussions set, uncheck channel 10. If
you define an instrument corresponding to a percussions set,
check channel 10 and disable all others, so that it will force
Pizzicato to use channel 10 when the user selects a percussion
set. So as to be able to convert a score written for different
synthesizers, an identifier is associated with each sound. It is
shown in the text box entitled ID. "0" means that the
conversion must not be done. IDs from 1 to 128 correspond to the
standard GM (General Midi) sounds. When Pizzicato loads a score
written for a synthesizer and different from your current
selected synthesizer, it automatically converts the numbers of
the sounds so that they correspond to the same instruments. This
operation is done only if the identifiers are present in the
configurations of the concerned synthesizers. If you want to use
this aspect, you just need to associate each instrument to an ID
corresponding to the number of the equivalent instrument in the
GM system. By following the method described above, you can thus add
families. To add an instrument, select the family and then add it
in the next list. To erase an instrument, click to select it and then click the
Delete button located under the instruments list. The
instrument disappears from the list. Similarly, to erase a family, select it on the list of
families and click the Delete button located under this
list. The family is erased and the instruments in it are not
visible any more. They are not erased thought, because if you
recreate a family with the same identifier as the erased family,
the instruments will come back there when you select this family
on the list. The left list is used to define the Midi controllers to which
the synthesizer can answer. The selection principle is the same
as for families and instruments. By clicking on a line, the
associated characteristics are displayed in the text boxes
located below the list. Midi controllers are messages which can be received by the
synthesizer and modify various aspects of sound. There are 128
possible controllers but only the significance of a small number
of them is really determined. To find a full list of them, please
consult a specialized book. Also consult the configurations of
synthesizers provided with Pizzicato. A section of a synthesizer manual usually shows which Midi
controllers it can answer. It is the Midi Implementation Chart
which is often at the end of the manual. With it we have encoded
the provided configurations. For example, we will add the sound
reverberation controller which bears number 91. To erase a Midi controller, select its line and click the
Delete button located under the controllers list. In the left lower part of the dialog box, you find the full
name, the short name and the manufacturer. Four buttons give you
access to 4 different dialog boxes: Miscellaneous, Percussions,
Messages and Banks. The text box entitled Multitimbral up to
parts
specifies the number of different sounds the synthesizer can
generate simultaneously. The Polyphonic up to ... voices specifies the
maximum number of notes which can be played simultaneously,
all sounds together. A multiple choice specifies if the classification of
sounds is expressed from 1 to 128 (Roland, Yamaha, Korg) or
from 0 to 127 (Proteus for example). The numbers introduced
by creating the instruments must correspond to the choice
selected here. The central part of the dialog box contains 6 lines of
check boxes. For each line, the 16 columns correspond to the
16 Midi channels of your synthesizer. The lower part of the dialog box determines the metronome
characteristics and the Midi channel can be selected. The
notes and their velocity can be specified by text boxes, as
well for the start of a measure as for beats which divide the
measure. Note 60 corresponds to the treble clef low C. Click OK. This dialog box is used to define percussion sets
contained in the synthesizer. Most synthesizers propose one
or more sonorities representing for each note of the keyboard
a percussion instrument. It is also the case for some special
effects like laughs, steps, rain, applause
Midi channel
10 is often reserved for these percussion configurations.
When several are present, it is necessary to send a program
change message (1 to 128, as for the instruments) which
selects the desired configuration. The instruments representing these percussions must be
encoded as others and must be classified exclusively in the Percussions
- Kits family (ID = 21). For each configuration, the detail of each keyboard note
should be located in the synthesizer manual and can be
entered using the above dialog box. Click Add. You get: A new line is added below the selected line. Type for
example Bongo-1 on the keyboard. It is the name of
the instrument. Three text boxes are associated to this
instrument. The first gives the number of the note which
activates it on the keyboard. Its value can be between 0 and
127, 60 corresponding to the treble clef low C. This value is
normally specified in the percussion instruments list of your
synthesizer manual. The number located below is the number of
the percussion configuration. It corresponds to the number
(from 0 to 127) used to select this configuration in Midi.
The following number is an identifier which is used by
Pizzicato to do an automatic conversion of percussions when
you load a score composed with a synthesizer different from
your current selected one. "0" means that no
conversion is done. The numbers from 1 to 128 correspond to
the GM configuration. When you create a percussion
instrument, associate with it the number of the equivalent GM
note and add "1" to it. To erase a percussion instrument, select it on the list
and click Delete. Click OK. It is used to define special messages (also called
exclusive messages) which can be sent to the synthesizer. The
use of the exclusive Midi messages requires a very good
understanding of your synthesizer, of the Midi system and
hexadecimal notation (counting system which uses figures 0 to
9 and letters from A to F). Some information which follows is
thus intended to the specialists, because the complete
explanations would leave the framework of this course. If you
wish to look further into these aspects, consult a
specialized book on MIDI. The use of the exclusive Midi
messages gives you access to all internal features of your
synthesizer. To create a new message, click Add and give it a
name. You have 24 bytes maximum to structure the message.
They must be specified by two hexadecimal digits. Some codes
are used to parameterize the message. When you send one of
these messages, the parameters are then replaced by the
values given with the message (there can be 4 parameters, see
the instruments view and its column "ms").
Here are the codes you can use: To consult or modify a message, click it in the list. Its
contents is then displayed in the 24 text boxes. To erase it,
use Delete button. It allows you to create/delete/modify sound banks. Each
bank defined in the list contains a name, an identifier and
24 bytes (to the maximum) used to define the Midi message
associated with the sound bank. The principle is similar to
the preceding dialog box. The bytes must be defined in
hexadecimal and the following codes is used to insert Midi
channel in the message: When Pizzicato needs to select a sound bank, it sends this
message on the Midi channel associated with the concerned
staff. This message depends on your synthesizer and it is
normally found in the Midi characteristics of its manual. If you wish to consult or modify another synthesizer, select
it in the list and click Synthesizer setup
You
will get the same dialog box as above. If you wish to look
further into this aspect of Pizzicato, we suggest you consulting
several different synthesizers in order to see how they were
encoded. The button Create a synthesizer
initializes a
new synthesizer in which all lists of instruments, families,
percussions,... are empty. If you wish to encode new
synthesizers, we advise you to start with the synthesizer called Modele-1
in the list and to click Copy synthesizer by giving it a
new name. Modele-1 contains already the main standard
Midi controllers as well as the families with their identifiers.