Zynewave's Forum Page

@Poobah wrote:

Hi,

Hi. Thanks for the feedback.

Issues

1. There are no MIDI outputs available in imported midi files. When you import a MIDI file, it seems that each track in the file is converted to a master in Podium Free. Although these masters’ audio outputs default to the application-configured MIDI outputs, when you try to set the outputs, you can only set them to the audio outputs; you don’t have all of the options you normally have for non-imported MIDI tracks.
2. You can’t use VST instruments for imported MIDI file tracks. If you assign a VST instrument to one of these tracks or anywhere else in the arrangement, the background colour of the instrument name turns red, and the tooltip text reads, “The device produces audio but there is no parent track device that processes audio.”. I have not found any way to produce such a “parent track device that processes audio”. The only solution I have found is to copy the track or its contents into a new arrangement so that it becomes a child of the new arrangement’s master. Perhaps a solution to this problem is to import the MIDI tracks as children of a standard master track. (However, I figure that the current implementation works the way it does for a good reason, so excuse my ignorance in this area.)

It should be possible to have instruments assigned to the tracks of an imported MIDI file, but it requires that the instrument are present in the project before the import. There is a youtube video that shows how it can be done:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV1Eg7zToZw&list=UU5f_La02aUXMdDIWfYa_QNA&index=5&feature=plcp

Bugs:

1. I found a reproducable way to make Podium freeze using one of the adjust tempo context menu commands.

   1. Download this Flight of the Bumblebee MIDI file and import it.
   2. Execute the “Adjust Tempo and Stretch to Align Grid at Cursor” command anywhere on the timeline. Podium should freeze.

Thanks. This is now fixed.

I found another way to crash Podium, this time using the SampleTank Free VST.

1. Set any track’s source to SampleTank.
2. Play the arrangement containing the track.
3. Open Preferences and change the value of “Bypass processing when detecting CPU overload”.
4. OR change audio settings such as sample rate or ASIO driver’s buffer size.
5. Click OK or Apply. Podium should crash.

I don’t know if SampleTank is at fault here or not. I have tried doing the same sort of thing while running the VST in MiniHost, and I didn’t experience any problems. I observed that MiniHost seems to stop all of its audio processing while the audio settings and ASIO settings windows are open.

I have SampleTank, and I believe I remember it crashing for me too when changing Podium settings that will cause a reset of plugins. The safe way to do it, is to first unload the plugins by switching off power in the arrangement, and then configure the engine preferences.

Bounced tracks appear to be corrupted in certain situations.

1. Bounce a non-empty MIDI track.
2. Make a new track and record some audio (not MIDI) into it until the recording passes the length of the bounced track.
3. Delete the audio recording you just made (not the track or arrangement).
4. Turn off bounce playback for the bounced track.
5. Increase the tempo significantly (this makes the bug more noticeable). For example, increase it by 50%.
6. Bounce the track you originally bounced.
7. Repeated step 2, except re-use the same track rather than creating a new one. Once the recording passes the length of the bounced track, the previous bounced track at the previous tempo should start being appended to the bounced track.

This is an issue that has been brought up before. It is because Podium so far have not truncated any previously bounced audio when doing a new bounce. In cases where you shorten an arrangement and redo the bounce, the result is that only the new range is overwritten, and the old audio beyond the new range is not deleted. I have now changed this so that the bounced sound gets truncated every time a new bounce is rendered.

If you mean the popup menu, then no. You’ll have to use the inspector parameter panel.

@Cris17 wrote:

Hello everybody, my name is Cris and I am a little new to the DAW world and these forums.

Welcome to the forum, Cris.

1) I saw that many people would really like support for midi plugins. An arpeggiator (maybe something like energyxt?) would be highly appreciated. Or even support for one would be wonderful. Is this going to happen soon?

I just made a reply to a similar question:
http://www.zynewave.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2850

2) Is there any possibility to implement some basic staff view of the midi notes? I don’t think it would be too complicated. I often write in midi and would like to be able to see the music in notes.

I currently don’t have plans for a staff view. In the distant future I can see myself experimenting with this, but that is years away.

Frits

It’s not on the top of the todo-list, so I can’t say when it will arrive. Sorry about that. I’ve tried to give estimates on these larger features before, but the priorities on the todo-list is often in a state of flux. I work best when I don’t have to rush through a feature implementation road-map.

You select the automation parameter from either the right-click menu, or the parameter panel in the inspector.

In case you haven’t watched any yet, there are a few videos on the Zynewave youtube channel that shows how automation can be used:

http://www.youtube.com/ZynewaveDotCom

@michi_mak wrote:

so what happened to the list with 50+ request you had bookmarked?

I haven’t lost it, if that’s what you’re thinking.

It is not a problem running Podium on ARM processors. I already have Podium running on ARM with the experimental iOS port I did a while back.

What is more problematic is that Microsoft is rumored to only support Metro style apps and not desktop apps, with Windows 8 on ARM based tablets. The new Metro API is called WinRT, which replaces the old Win32 API. With WinRT, Microsoft has understandably chosen to cut out some of the older redundant technology. For example, the Win32 GDI graphics system that Podium uses, is replaced by Direct2D in WinRT. So, I’ll need to implement support for Direct2D in Podium. There are other problem areas, such as with the audio and MIDI support in WinRT, but I’ll just have to deal with them one at a time.