Giters

munt / munt

A multi-platform software synthesiser emulating pre-GM MIDI devices such as the Roland MT-32, CM-32L, CM-64 and LAPC-I. In no way endorsed by or affiliated with Roland Corp.

Home Page:http://munt.sourceforge.net/

Geek Repo:Geek Repo

Github PK Tool:Github PK Tool

Suggestion: Allow changing instruments (program changes) from the QT GUI

wyatt8740 opened this issue · comments

commented

Hi.

I don't have a problem with the way Munt currently handles things, since I'm well versed in MIDI by this point, am able to roll my own tools, and use ALSA which gives a decent amount of flexibility and control, but I have a Windows-using friend who might benefit from this.

He makes music, and took interest in my (real) MT-32 when I showed it to him. He wants to use Munt to make some new music of his own. He has a MIDI controller keyboard, but it doesn't provide a button or means to do program changes on it, so his first question to me was "how do I change the instruments?"

So I had to do this nasty hack with VMPK (which only uses General Midi instrument names unless you edit config files) to get him a way to manipulate instruments on Windows, which he promptly forgot how to do.

So my suggestion is relatively straightforward. In that 'drop-down' area that contains the channel statuses and partial states, instead of simple labels naming the channels, maybe there could be QComboBoxes, each containing all of the preset instruments on each channel.

Perhaps stored instruments could be shown in the boxes as well - but I think just exposing the presets would be enough, since that's all that the LCD and controls on the front panel of an MT-32 can do. If a custom instrument is set, a new item with that instrument name could be added at the top or bottom of the combobox, which self-destructs (disappears) if another preset is selected.

In short, since the real MT-32 has functionality to (awkwardly) set instruments from the front panel, I think it'd be nice if Munt could do so as well in the GUI.

commented

Hi. Yes, this must be a useful feature. It is available on many other synths' UIs and some good MIDI players too. Apparently, it was already requested last year at SourceForge tracker as well as the ability to adjust volume per channel. I plan to tackle these having sorted out some more urgent problems, though.

Thanks for the suggestion anyway!

commented

For the time being, I'd propose you to have a look at a good MIDI tool for Windows which I've been used quite extensively.