10.5.1.4893 & 4900

Post by **Nicholas** » 01-24-19 4:57 pm

SYNTHESIA 10.5.1.4893
Download from the pink box above front page of the site!

New Settings (mostly promoted from the advanced configuration window)

Settings → Advanced → Performance Fanfare (controls post-performance confetti and jingle).
Settings → Advanced → Touchscreen Mode (enable if you've got a touchscreen).
Settings → Advanced → What's New (disable to hide title screen news).
Settings → Advanced → Recently Played (disable to hide title screen song list).
Settings → Gameplay → Song Title (disable to skip song title bar).
Settings → Gameplay → Points (disable to hide all score boxes during play).
Settings → Gameplay → Praise Feedback (disable to hide "Great!"-type text and combo counter).
Settings → Gameplay → Progress Loss Warning (disable to hide the "Progress will be lost" box).
Settings → Gameplay → Restart Loop After Errors (adjust slider to automatically restart a loop after that # of errors).

PC/Android Synth Improvements

SoundFonts are loaded completely into memory for faster/smoother first instrument notes.
Switched to the higher quality BASSMIDI plate reverb (instead of the BASS DX8 room reverb effect).

Fixes and other new stuff

Added Thai language support.
Synthesia now uses the entire screen on the 11" iPad Pro.
Fixed v-sync on macOS Mojave so CPU won't be stuck at 100% anymore.
MIDI input outside the usual 88-key range (A0 through C8) is now ignored. This filters some of the junk events from bad MIDI adapters.
Extremely short notes (say, from MIDI drum pads) will no longer be ignored in melody practice.
It's now easier to assign hands and finger hints to very short notes without hunting down individual pixels.
The Synthesia window's size and position is now saved on Windows again. (This was accidentally broken in 10.5.)
A few performance improvements during song loading and during play.
Fixed a dozen Android crashes and a few general crashes on all platforms.

I skipped the dev preview step for this one. (We'll see if I regret it! EDIT: I did!)

There were some critical fixes that I wanted to go out sooner rather than later.

In any event, now we're back on track. And it finally feels safe to report that I've gotten back into a proper development groove with new work being done at the same time each day, every day for the first time since my son was born (nearly three years ago now)! I'm going to go out on a limb and say that 2019 is going to finally be the year of Synthesia 11.

We're jumping right into the "Multiple Lines of Notation!" milestone from the Synthesia 11 roadmap post, next!

Fr3dY · Post by **Fr3dY** » 01-25-19 3:50 am

Hi Nicholas,

Thanks for your work!!
I'm wondering if Synthesia 11 will be focused on learning how to read sheet music and play piano from scratch just out-of-the-box (well, not only for beginners... intermediate and advanced stuff should be included too).
I mean, will it have the necessary songs/exercises for anybody to start learning step by step without having to search or download anything by themselves?

Post by **Nicholas** » 01-25-19 10:25 am

It'll certainly be a lot closer. And those are the sorts of things that can be addressed right afterward, if not. All of the built-in music is going to be reworked as MusicXML. I've got another dozen or so new pieces (composed by the same friend that did all of the arranging for our music store) that will also be included. They're short and simple like a lot of the included folk music, but something no one has ever heard before. Those will also be MusicXML.

For intermediate/advanced, OpenScore already has a few piano concertos that we could include with Synthesia.

draco2023a · Post by **draco2023a** » 01-26-19 10:45 am

Any Idea when we might be seeing the multiple lines of sheet music? Kinda been waiting for a few years now, although I fully understand doing this soft is a lot of work...looks like it might finally be in sight!

Post by **Nicholas** » 01-26-19 12:35 pm

I haven't given release dates in years and years because I'm always late, but I'm feeling pretty good right now. Let's say before April of this year. That's pretty aggressive, but I think I might be able to do it.

draco2023a · Post by **draco2023a** » 01-26-19 11:41 pm

Cool beans!

gpaper · Post by **gpaper** » 01-27-19 9:12 pm

Thank you! I just downloaded the latest version, but saw the Video Creator download has been removed. Was it rolled into the main program?

Post by **Nicholas** » 01-27-19 10:16 pm

Not yet. I just tucked the old download link under the (2nd) "Older Versions" section at the bottom of the page. There is a note there about how it has been a little fussy on certain computers. There are a variety of different known issues on both Mac and PC and I haven't had a chance to iron things out in a way that I can be proud of, so it's been relegated to more of a "use at your own inconvenience" status until Synthesia 11 is out the door and I have a little more time to give it the attention it deserves.

You are correct that the plan is to eventually roll the video creation features into the main Synthesia app itself. It makes a lot more sense as a button on the song settings screen than it does as a separate utility.

wacher · Post by **wacher** » 01-28-19 3:48 am

Could you make videocreator windows DPI aware or resizeable? I can't use it in UHD enviroment, half of the window is missing (see picture).
BTW... Is something changed at keyboard press evaluation in this new version? I have to press the keys EXACTLY when the rolling bar touch the virtual keyboard. The smallest imperfection, early pressing is punished by stopping. Is this real or just I woke up too early? I changed back to r4818 there isn't so many stop.

Post by **Nicholas** » 01-28-19 8:30 am

Like I said in the post just before yours: the next time we update the video creator, it's going to be rolled into Synthesia itself. That dialog is going away completely!

wacher · Post by **wacher** » 01-30-19 5:24 am

And what about the other topic? Something has been changed?

Post by **Nicholas** » 01-30-19 10:02 am

Oh, sorry, I didn't see the other half of your post!

You are correct! That was a bug! I fixed it yesterday:

SYNTHESIA 10.5.1.4900

Fixed completely broken MIDI input+output on Android.
Restored less touchy/pedantic timing requirements in Melody Practice (on all platforms).
Reworked the "Recently Played" code so that list doesn't get wiped on the iPad each time you update the app (and Apple inexplicably moves all the app's data to a new, random location).
Fixed the file permissions so the Mac version of the app can be used by other users on the same machine again.
Another ~3 or so minor fixes.

The new PC, Mac, and Android versions are all available from the usual places. The iPad update has been sent in for review and will hopefully be approved in another day or two.

During the fix, I actually discovered there is another bit of "picky" timing that has always been there (as long as Settings --> Gameplay --> Continue When --> All Notes Are Held At Once is selected). If you press the correct note and also release it before the song has reached the beginning of the matching note, your input will still be ignored (the same as ALL input was in r4893). If you change the "Continue When" setting, the problem goes away, but I like the "Held At Once" behavior as the default.

It doesn't seem like that bad of a problem--made more plain because no one seems to have reported it in many years--but if you've got a MIDI device (like a MIDI drum pad) that generates extremely short notes, it would be just as miserable as the bug in r4893 just now. It's going to take a little more work to fix that one, but that will hopefully make it into 10.6.

wacher · Post by **wacher** » 01-30-19 5:57 pm

Oh, yes, it's good now

Thank you!

rumpole · Post by **rumpole** » 01-31-19 7:49 pm

Hello Nicholas,
1:Have downloaded 10.5.1.4900 in order to install the new Sound fonts;

2:Cannot find any .SF2 files;

3: Under "Music output" only "Microsoft GS Wavetable Synthesizer" comes up, not "Built-in MIDI Synthesizer".

Can you assist?

Frank

Post by **Nicholas** » 01-31-19 8:06 pm

How did you install the new update? In order for the built-in synth to appear, Synthesia.exe needs to be sitting alongside bass.dll and bassmidi.dll.

Once those are there, the synth should appear and the new guide should point you in the right direction.

kiwi · Post by **kiwi** » 03-04-19 8:27 am

Thank you Nicholas!

rumpole · Post by **rumpole** » 03-04-19 7:10 pm

Nicholas wrote:How did you install the new update? In order for the built-in synth to appear, Synthesia.exe needs to be sitting alongside bass.dll and bassmidi.dll.

Thank you, Nicolas. Now properly installed and working. However, the actual sound does not sound any different. I have downloaded several different soundfonts, including the one that comes up in your reply, yet the sound emanating from the DGX640 is the same.

Thank you,

Frank

Post by **Nicholas** » 03-04-19 8:30 pm

The newer sounds and custom SoundFont feature will only apply if you're using the "Built-in MIDI Synthesizer" from the Music Output list on the Settings screen. If you're still using your keyboard's synth, those sounds can't be replaced by external MIDI apps like Synthesia.

(So, to get a better idea of the built-in synth, be sure to disable your keyboard's synth first.)