Synthesia 0.7.4 Released!

[Nicholas]

Alright, another good month. Got to update the site a little more than usual this time: some FAQ changes, a few new lines on the Learning Pack page, and I'm going to add another "block" on the front page for lighted keyboard support when I get a chance. This particular price jump ($5) was because it hadn't changed in the last couple releases and especially because it's not going to be changing again for a while. My plan is to keep it right around that point through the rest of the year.

I kind of feel like Synthesia just became a real boy now that it doesn't depend on your desktop resolution anymore. That was always the most embarrassing advice to give in email: "just, uh... lower your desktop size and that might make it run better." I know if someone else told me that I'd just kind of stare at the email in disbelief.

Lighted keyboard support turned out cooler than I thought it would.

And totally unexpected, and only through Electrode's extreme patience and huge amount of effort, the English note labels got way better and the totally unplanned movable-do label style made it in too.

We're getting very close to Rock Band 3 now (56 days!) so the pressure is on. I don't have a totally cohesive plan for September yet, but there is a very good chance a large portion of it will focus on online scoreboard infrastructure. Beyond that, I'll probably be sticking with the critical section of the roadmap until all that stuff is covered.

[Kasper]

Lighted keyboard support is really cool.
And I must say that those new note labels are really helpfull to me. I never used the note labels in the past, but now they are correct, finding notes is so easy with synthesia, good job! And also thanks electrode.
I didn't care much about the resolution picker etc, but synthesia looks much better now, much sharper I don't know if this has something to do with the resolution picker etc.

Absolutely must make it in before 2010 is over!

* A simplified way to choose track settings in the one or two piano track case.
* Online scoreboard.
* Some specific visualization improvements and a couple new special effects.

So, you are focussing on these now ?
What does the first one mean ?
The other two are really important to make this 1.0 version a big hit I guess. I'm looking forward to see those.
What about manual note fingerings ? Do you think this will make it in the 1.0 version ?

[Nicholas]

So, you are focusing on these now ?

Yep, with a few small things thrown in here and there. I built the most of the internal list today. There is at least one surprise in there too.

What does the first one mean ?

simpleTrackSettings.png (18.58 KiB) Viewed 7283 times

(Pardon the creepy symmetrical hands. ) The "Advanced" (or "Custom" or whatever) button would expose something similar to what you have now. This would only appear for songs with 2 tracks where the left and right parts were reasonably well discernible (not much overlap, etc.) If I can't detect those conditions, I'll just show the advanced view by default. Otherwise, that's a one-click selection. You click "Play Right Hand" and you're on the play screen running. The buttons take care of changing all the "You Play"/"Played Automatically" stuff. I should also be able to get the detection to work properly if the only other tracks beyond those two are percussion tracks. They'll just automatically be "Played But Hidden".

What about manual note fingerings ? Do you think this will make it in the 1.0 version ?

Absolutely. It wouldn't be 1.0 without it. The end of the year isn't 1.0. The end of the year is just when you guys get to stop indulging me all these features to try and rope in a larger audience. While most of this stuff is hopefully useful to everyone, there is a tiny bit of marketing getting in the way of what's absolutely best for the project from a pedagogy point of view. That said, after all the Rock Band audience roping features are done, I'm moving straight back over to all the cool learning, lesson, fingering, and other stuff you guys are waiting on.

[Kasper]

Absolutely. It wouldn't be 1.0 without it. The end of the year isn't 1.0.

Do you have any clue about when version 1.0 will come out ?

While most of this stuff is hopefully useful to everyone, there is a tiny bit of marketing getting in the way of what's absolutely best for the project from a pedagogy point of view.

I totally understand that you first want to finish those three things first. I really hope for you that this program becomes a commerical succes you certainly deserves it !

Besides this, I think those better visualizations and online scoreboard will makes the game even more addicting, which from a pedagogy point of view really impressive.
You don't hear much people being addicted to learning something usefull.

That said, after all the Rock Band audience roping features are done, I'm moving straight back over to all the cool learning, lesson, fingering, and other stuff you guys are waiting on.

[Nicholas]

Do you have any clue about when version 1.0 will come out ?

Not at all.

While I don't think I'm going to require every single item on the voting list to be finished, it's definitely going to be the majority. The stuff I'd probably leave behind are ideas that don't really make sense anymore. As Synthesia evolves, and new ideas are rolled into it, some of the older unfinished stuff becomes a little less relevant. Looking at the list right now, nothing is really jumping out at me as an example. But I'm sure there have been new ideas in the past that obsoleted something I'd been planning to do.

Also, I wouldn't worry about running out of numbers any time soon either. After 0.9.9 comes 0.10.0, so there is no risk there.

Besides this, I think those better visualizations and online scoreboard will makes the game even more addicting...

That's an excellent point that I forget about way more often than I should. The focus of the project has kind of been ping-ponging between being a fun game and being a useful tool. This happens every couple years. This Rock Band push is necessarily swinging it back over to the game side (and I like I said, I'll switch back over afterward).

The more I think about it, the more I like that. Hopefully I'm striking the right balance. All of this is going to be a moot point in a few years anyway when Synthesia is simultaneously the most-fun and most-educational thing out there.

[TonE]

The more I think about it, the more I like that. Hopefully I'm striking the right balance. All of this is going to be a moot point in a few years anyway when Synthesia is simultaneously the most-fun and most-educational thing out there.

From what you have done so far and how well you are caring and answering various ideas and questions in this forum here, I have no doubt at all that you will achieve this goal, and I wish it also greatly for you! You seem to have many great talents unified in a person, big respects! (I know too well how many crap hard and software musical products are in the existence, they are developed "professionally" totally not "hitting" any musician needs, rather than some marketing research, calculations, sales numbers... Nobody really needs those crap products.)

For example if I would see, read and feel in this forum the product development does not touch at all our/user needs, you would very soon never see me here again. At least not using the same nick name.

No, fun aside, I can only say again: BIG RESPECTS! I wish you all the best things in your life!

[Nicholas]

Thanks!

I'm happy to hear the right motivation is showing through. Really, any of the money stuff is just a means to an end: so I can spend more time working on the project. You just need the minimum amount necessary to free you up so you can do what you enjoy most and to do what is the most helpful for others.

(We're getting there too, by the way. I'm projecting *way* out into the future, so this could easily change. That said, running a few numbers, I might be able to switch to Synthesia full-time, exclusively(!) in something like 11-14 months.)

[phiktion]

Checking out the changes now, the only thing I can think of that I personally want is a way to turn Synthhesia volume up in game, even using a external sound card attached to two KRK Rokits I still have low volume unless I turn up my computer volume which varies on the midi file volumes some are super loud and some are just loud.

[TonE]

Checking out the changes now, the only thing I can think of that I personally want is a way to turn Synthhesia volume up in game, even using a external sound card attached to two KRK Rokits I still have low volume unless I turn up my computer volume which varies on the midi file volumes some are super loud and some are just loud.

Maybe a midi file preprocessor which "norms" the velocities might be an idea? Maybe even with some amount of auto-compression of velocities, if the dynamics range is too big? I could imagine setting a minimum velocity value for any note, maybe 50 or so, and all the other notes velocities will be also added/adjusted by this SHIFT amount, if they reach 127, then we will loose dynamics information, but not having too quiet midi files?

[Solarstar]

The last version I've been using was 0.7.0 Now that i upgraded I wanted to say thank you for the work you put into this!
My keyboard has only 61 keys (Technics) and it was kinda annoying that when i play songs that require me to play keys that i don't have lol . With the keyboard range this is fixed ! very good work. The search window to find songs is also very helpful. I downloaded midi's from websites and added them to my library and imagine you have to find a song under 200 in a list (maybe other ppl have more ). Keep the good work up.

[Nicholas]

Maybe a midi file preprocessor which "norms" the velocities might be an idea?

When I get around to the Track Volume item, that was one of the first things I was going to try.

There is a meta-event that is something like "Track Volume" but not every device out there supports it. I'm pretty sure supporting velocity is universal. For high-end sound libraries, that might actually change the quality of the sound though. I know for the guitar instruments in GarageBand, if you strike with a very high velocity, you can actually hear the string do a twangy sort of sound like you would on a real guitar if you picked it too hard. Still, that's a risk I'm willing to take. It'll be a tweakable thing anyway. So, if it sounds bad, the user can just turn it back down again.

Now that i upgraded I wanted to say thank you for the work you put into this!

Thanks for the feedback! I'm happy to hear you're enjoying the new stuff. The pace has really picked up recently and it's exciting to get all these things done I've always wanted to do.

[TonE]

I know for the guitar instruments in GarageBand, if you strike with a very high velocity, you can actually hear the string do a twangy sort of sound like you would on a real guitar if you picked it too hard.

You might choose for max_velocity something in the range 101..110, rather than 127.