Posted: 07-29-18 3:50 pm
Progress Update!
Actually, 10.5 is moving along quite rapidly, especially in the last two weeks. The BASSMIDI-based replacement synth for Windows and Android has been a delight to implement. Their API is very nice and it does most of the work for you, which is the opposite of what I'm used to!
It's much faster and (hopefully once I finish working out licensing with the Voice Crystal folks) I'm hoping to get an upgraded version of the sound set we've been using on the iPad (since 2012) with a higher-quality grand piano. That's a huge upgrade for Windows and something approaching a quantum leap for Android. It's so nice, I'm even considering adding it to the Mac and iPad versions, too, to have a nice, even, high-quality sound across all four platforms.
The latency is so much better, I was hoping to actually quantify it in a repeatable way this time so that the "X% faster" bullet point in the feature list will be based on real data. As a little hobby project in the evenings, I've been cobbling together a Teensy 2.0-based latency tester that will send out a MIDI note (via USB or MIDI port) and start a timer to see how long it takes before its headphone jack picks up any sound. (Most of the work has already been done by Google, but it's still been some fun. I don't get to tinker with hardware nearly as much as I'd like.)
Choosing the software synth on the Settings screen now gives you a new "Reverb" slider which -- used with some restraint -- can add some nice extra depth to the sound. (Without restraint you can make it sound like your piano has been installed in a public restroom!) And, if the background song scanner (that populates the song list) happens to stumble across any SF2 SoundFont files in the same folders, they're shown in a list on the same settings screen and you can choose between and audition them in a single click. That means you can bring your own favorite/preferred SoundFont quite easily, even on Android.
Other work in the meantime: the constant tide of Android bugs continues to assault and be pushed back. I think I may have found and fixed the current #1 source of Android crashes, which also coincidentally resulted in a nice speed/responsiveness improvement on that platform.
Remaining work includes a final bug fix before Chromebook support is complete, automatic latency detection for the new synth on Android (I've still witnessed some drop-outs using BASS's built-in detection, so hopefully we'll be able to layer another detector on top of that or at least include a manual slider), some UI wrap-up for the new built-in synth settings screen, actually measuring some MIDI latency , and the last handful of tiny bugs that have been reported recently.
Then this eight month(?!) "emergency" bug-fix release will be out the door and we'll be able to get back to work on Synthesia 11.
Actually, 10.5 is moving along quite rapidly, especially in the last two weeks. The BASSMIDI-based replacement synth for Windows and Android has been a delight to implement. Their API is very nice and it does most of the work for you, which is the opposite of what I'm used to!
It's much faster and (hopefully once I finish working out licensing with the Voice Crystal folks) I'm hoping to get an upgraded version of the sound set we've been using on the iPad (since 2012) with a higher-quality grand piano. That's a huge upgrade for Windows and something approaching a quantum leap for Android. It's so nice, I'm even considering adding it to the Mac and iPad versions, too, to have a nice, even, high-quality sound across all four platforms.
The latency is so much better, I was hoping to actually quantify it in a repeatable way this time so that the "X% faster" bullet point in the feature list will be based on real data. As a little hobby project in the evenings, I've been cobbling together a Teensy 2.0-based latency tester that will send out a MIDI note (via USB or MIDI port) and start a timer to see how long it takes before its headphone jack picks up any sound. (Most of the work has already been done by Google, but it's still been some fun. I don't get to tinker with hardware nearly as much as I'd like.)
Choosing the software synth on the Settings screen now gives you a new "Reverb" slider which -- used with some restraint -- can add some nice extra depth to the sound. (Without restraint you can make it sound like your piano has been installed in a public restroom!) And, if the background song scanner (that populates the song list) happens to stumble across any SF2 SoundFont files in the same folders, they're shown in a list on the same settings screen and you can choose between and audition them in a single click. That means you can bring your own favorite/preferred SoundFont quite easily, even on Android.
Other work in the meantime: the constant tide of Android bugs continues to assault and be pushed back. I think I may have found and fixed the current #1 source of Android crashes, which also coincidentally resulted in a nice speed/responsiveness improvement on that platform.
Remaining work includes a final bug fix before Chromebook support is complete, automatic latency detection for the new synth on Android (I've still witnessed some drop-outs using BASS's built-in detection, so hopefully we'll be able to layer another detector on top of that or at least include a manual slider), some UI wrap-up for the new built-in synth settings screen, actually measuring some MIDI latency , and the last handful of tiny bugs that have been reported recently.
Then this eight month(?!) "emergency" bug-fix release will be out the door and we'll be able to get back to work on Synthesia 11.