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Bavi_H
Posts: 115

Post by Bavi_H »

  • icuurd12b42 wrote: 12-13-21 1:22 pmthe program only responds to 7f so I need to tap it twice for the shortcut to work.
    (I edited my message a short time after I posted it. Did you see the "UPDATE" at the bottom? There's a hidden setting to allow Control Changes with a value of zero to be used as shortcuts. Changing that setting will remove the need to double-tap the button.)
    Bavi_H wrote: 12-13-21 6:57 amHold the Shift key as you start Synthesia to get the Synthesia Configuration Window.
    Go to the setting "System.IgnoreZeroValuedCc" and clear the check box.
icuurd12b42
Posts: 48

Post by icuurd12b42 »

Thanks. I just fixed it.
icuurd12b42
Posts: 48

Post by icuurd12b42 »

I keep forgetting to add this one...

In the note fountain could you add an indicator line extending from the bottommost notes all the way to the key in keyboard image?
indicatorline.png
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At my age it's a little harder to extend from the note drop downward to an actual key to extrapolate what key to soon press.
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jimhenry
Posts: 1899

Post by jimhenry »

I like the idea of the upcoming note line.
Jim Henry
Author of the Miditzer, a free virtual theatre pipe organ
http://www.Miditzer.org/
Nicholas
Posts: 13132

Post by Nicholas »

I actually recall jimhenry suggesting something similar a number of years ago. I think it was something closer to a "column of light". I tinkered with the effect a bit in the code but couldn't ever get it looking a way that was more helpful than it was distracting.

I haven't seen it in motion yet, but a thin vertical line (in the same color as the note) like this mockup seems quite a bit more "readable". I like this, too.

How early would you have the line show up? From the note first appearing at the top of the screen? When it's half a screen away? A certain number of seconds/beats?
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jimhenry
Posts: 1899

Post by jimhenry »

My guess is that the line should be 1 beat long and fall with the note so that the line would appear one beat before the note. I think anything that "bursts onto the screen" would be distracting.
Jim Henry
Author of the Miditzer, a free virtual theatre pipe organ
http://www.Miditzer.org/
Nicholas
Posts: 13132

Post by Nicholas »

I was thinking the line might start fading in as the bottom of the note reached the halfway point on the screen. It might fade in over the next quarter of the screen, so that it was fully opaque and useful for that last quarter which, (depending on your vertical zoom) might be 1-3 beats or so.

But I agree: nothing sudden.
icuurd12b42
Posts: 48

Post by icuurd12b42 »

Just have 3 ranged values we can setup in the options. or have an interface like this...
LineOpts.png
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Possibly another slider to define the maximum opacity would be useful

You can setup anything that way from never on, all lines to the right
to a fading hold a fade out
to a always full on. but by moving the markers...

and I agree it should really be screen position (%) relative
icuurd12b42
Posts: 48

Post by icuurd12b42 »

Was bored...

Here's and idea for pitch shift (left) and tremolo/note velocity (right)
pitchandtremolo.png
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Nicholas
Posts: 13132

Post by Nicholas »

Fading out is an interesting feature, too. In my head the line would simply until that tiny vertical margin above the keys and below the note block met and it simply winked out of existence. I'd probably try both ways to see if one way had any advantage over the other.
icuurd12b42 wrote: 12-24-21 3:25 amHere's and idea for pitch shift (left) and tremolo/note velocity (right)
Hehe, I haven't seen those before. I remember (maybe five years ago?) someone suggested the width of the note block might convey the note velocity, and then things like after-touch or sustain could be shown as the block tapering off. There might have been something in there about the initial velocity and the shape of the note's "head" at the bottom (more or less rounded, etc.)

But those wiggly shapes are a lot of fun. :lol:

There would be some substantial technical hurdles to clear (throwing most of my "absolutely simplest possible 3D polygon output" solution out the window in the process), but it would be fun.
icuurd12b42
Posts: 48

Post by icuurd12b42 »

Ribbon Trails are interesting to build. I made a few making games. From railroad tracks to missile trail, some smart some less so. You'll have fun playing with it if you try, I sure did.
icuurd12b42
Posts: 48

Post by icuurd12b42 »

3 more things :)

1) Could you move some of the The Custom Note editor options into the Practice Melody Mode. I've been chasing these 2 rogue notes in a song I manually set that are supposed to be for the left hand but assigned to the right. Unfortunately the song is setup via multiple channels, one of which is entirely right hands and 3 are custom. I made the mistake of making them all green. I could change the color to figure it out, but it made me think, here, I'm playing the song, the song is stopped from a badly assigned note... I wish I could reassign it or remove it right there...

2.1) I been hitting a lot of dual notes in a few midi files (left in picture) these have to be removed else, more often then none the Practice melody mode will just stop. especially if it's a chord. could you have an automatic note merge for notes impossibly close.. the example is in the custom note editor. I then realize this option should be in the Play mode because...
noteeditor.png
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2.2)...A similar issue for overlapping notes coming in from 2 channels surfaced. Both channels assigned to the right hand (right in image) because that note.

If the software was smart enough to realize that the second note cannot be played because it's impossibly close (same channel) or it's an overlap (from another channel) and the key is already down....
Nicholas
Posts: 13132

Post by Nicholas »

icuurd12b42 wrote: 01-12-22 1:46 amCould you move some of the The Custom Note editor options into the Practice Melody Mode.
Hmm, I think I've heard this request a handful of times now. It's one of those situations where the play screen already contains so much complexity (for both the user and when editing the code :lol: ), that I wanted to avoid piling more stuff on top. But in doing so, I've inadvertently added more steps and more confusion. Sorry for the trouble!

From a user perspective, I don't suppose there's any reason this shouldn't exist. From the amount-of-time/effort-it-would-take-to-add perspective, there are all these little missing bits on the play screen that would make it harder. That screen would have to learn how to show/hide different parts while the song is playing. There are some under-the-hood optimizations that make it trickier to add/remove notes in-situ, too. Again, nothing insurmountable, just a lot of work that--from the user's point of view--would end up looking like I just moved the "Edit" button from one screen to another.

I don't usually like letting technical reasons get in the way of "what's best for the user" decisions, but for now I'm happy with where that editing screen is and how it works. Given a team ten times the size (of just me) and a shorter list of already fairly high priority feature requests, I could see trying to get it moved over, but I'm afraid I don't have the answer you're looking for today.
icuurd12b42 wrote: 01-12-22 1:46 amI been hitting a lot of dual notes in a few midi files (left in picture)...
I've seen that sort of thing when the MIDI author wants to create a sort of reverb/echo effect. The answer is usually just to turn those parts off or set them as background instruments. (Are the overlapping notes part of the same track?)

Is there any change in the behavior (regarding impossibly close notes) if you use Settings --> Gameplay --> Continue When --> Each Note Has Been Pressed? Many years ago there used to be a way to lump those together into a single input, but a lot has changed since then and I'm a little hazy.
icuurd12b42 wrote: 01-12-22 1:46 am... A similar issue for overlapping notes coming in from 2 channels surfaced. [...] If the software was smart enough to realize that the second note cannot be played...
I also don't like to defer to the "garbage in, garbage out" principle as an excuse for Synthesia's lack of features (this is two rare exceptions in one reply; sorry!) but at some point, the right answer is to open the song in a MIDI editor and smooth out the rough edges. The note hiding feature on the hand assignment screen was already a concession (because it was easy to add) to solve the most common case in "songs that aren't quite ready to practice as-is". But, without building a complete editing suite into the practice app, the right place to make these kinds of fixes is in a separate editor.
icuurd12b42
Posts: 48

Post by icuurd12b42 »

1) I would not use the Practice melody mode as the main tool to define what is played or not, but it would be really useful to reassign stray notes on the spot, really the only features useful would be assign left, right, none.

2)Yes, it's the same channel, as you see the picture is from the custom channel note editor. I had to remove/unassing them manually, which is very difficult to do without clicking the 2 notes, I thought would it be nice to have the app automatically detect those in the editor at first.

"Continue when Each Note Has Been Pressed" option fixes the "very very close" dual notes, but not the "very close" ones :)

I'm thinking Having a "Continue when Each Note Is Down" option would fix this maybe. this would allow entering the note with the key already down which I don't think is a side effect detrimental to the learning.

Thanks for considering :)
icuurd12b42
Posts: 48

Post by icuurd12b42 »

on a related note, while playing I can tell the notes I want removed are at time index 147.7 but the custom note editor does not show a time index. It also shows so little of the piano keys that I can't really tell what octave I'm on. so it more of a trial and error without that crucial info.
CustNoteEdit.png
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Nicholas
Posts: 13132

Post by Nicholas »

icuurd12b42 wrote: 01-12-22 12:30 pmI'm thinking Having a "Continue when Each Note Is Down" option would fix this maybe...
I worry that at that point you could just smash hands across all the keys and hold them there to get a "perfect" score. :?
icuurd12b42 wrote: 01-12-22 1:23 pm... but the custom note editor does not show a time index.
The measure numbers at the left side of the screen should be able to get you there. (Again, I agree that being required to effectively "take notes" of any kind of timestamp/measure before changing screens and finding them again is not ideal.)
icuurd12b42
Posts: 48

Post by icuurd12b42 »

>I worry that at that point you could just smash hands across all the keys and hold them there to get a "perfect" score.
Indeed, but that would just be cheating myself out of a practice... Hmm, so, the scoring is tied to the continue mode? Also, not to be argumentative, but I can hold many keys down and no be penalized for them, at least on the key error count. As long as I pressed them on a valid note.

>The measure numbers at the left side of the screen should be able to get you there
Ah, yeah... Falcepalm
icuurd12b42
Posts: 48

Post by icuurd12b42 »

I was able to install Coolsoft Synth along with a nice sound fount... It has better instrument than the internal synth. Pretty cool.

It was lagging like the MS one, but I found the setting to set the latency in the software which was set to a half a second. I'm not really sure why that option even exist lol. Anyway, I'm glad I got it to work
Nicholas
Posts: 13132

Post by Nicholas »

You can change the SoundFont in Synthesia, too. :D

(Coolsoft and Synthesia both use the same MIDI synth under the hood.)
icuurd12b42
Posts: 48

Post by icuurd12b42 »

Nice. I tried both with the same sound fount.

The built in synth is a slightly less crisp and slightly muffled compared with the default coolsoft configuration. I was able to set it to sound almost the same for kicks.

I still wonder about that 500 ms delay, why would the default have such a delay, would you not want the sound to play the moment you want it to? I guess for game background music in the 90's and early 2000 it would be useful cpu wise and not noticeable? But for playing the keyboard, it's a weird value... Assuming the MS Synth has the same weird default setting, I wonder where that setting be in windows...
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