->Falcosoft
Please add in Your MT-32 VST Synth automaticaly FLAT GM channels in GM mode with one runned copy ) I mean channel structure 1-16 channels by default with all working channels.

Roland user:
Ok, here's a proof of concept for you to try. The visualization is absolutely broken, so please do not report it.
http://falcosoft.hu/munt_vsti_13_beta.zip
(And let's continue further conversation regarding MuntVsti in FSMP topic: Falcosoft Soundfont Midi Player + Munt VSTi + BassMidi VSTi)

YES!!!
This is Good ) Verry verry good )
Thanks!

But they probably will not approve of this here.
If anyone wants, I can lay out the assembly from MUNT VST , OPL3 VST, YMF262 Software Synth, Software OPL3 Synthesizer, HyperCanvas (portable), YAMAHA S-YXG50 (portable), YAMAHA S-YXG2006LE, Purity (portable), M-Audio GM Module (portable) , Bass SoundFont Synth VST, Roland SoundCanvas VA (portable)
All based on SavHost and LoopMIDI
This is dream for play in old games )

I'm a little confused after reading through this thread as to what the "best" way may be to use Sound Canvas VA.

I'm aware of the VSTi plugin for the Yamaha S-YXG50 which is awesome because it's a very "set it and forget it" type of solution. Does a similar setup exist for using Sound Canvas VA with DOSBox games?

You can set up the VSTi for Sound Canvas VA, and even force a particular simulation of a lower spec synthesizer, which has noticeable results sometimes. I would suggest using a frontend application with a MIDI loopback driver, so you may keep the synthesizer resident and avoid the startup delay incurred by the copy protection. You might try this, if you can build it, but I can't guarantee it will work for you. Loopback driver required, of course.

kode54 wrote:

You can set up the VSTi for Sound Canvas VA, and even force a particular simulation of a lower spec synthesizer, which has noticeable results sometimes. I would suggest using a frontend application with a MIDI loopback driver, so you may keep the synthesizer resident and avoid the startup delay incurred by the copy protection. You might try this, if you can build it, but I can't guarantee it will work for you. Loopback driver required, of course.

Can I get an "explain like I'm 5" version of this?

So I tried using the VSTi and it does load, but when I play games I get no sound whatsoever. With the Yahama, it works fine (except everything seems to be in a higher pitch/key for some reason).

https://f.losno.co/midiport.zip

You'll need SCCore.dll from the 32 bit VSTi folder in the same directory as that executable.

As explained by the (currently commented out) help section in the main.cpp:

printf( "Usage: midiplay <#deviceid> <flavor> <reverb> [initial instrument] [initial bank]\n" ); printf( "ESC closes.\n" ); […]
Show full quote

printf( "Usage: midiplay <#deviceid> <flavor> <reverb> [initial instrument] [initial bank]\n" );
printf( "ESC closes.\n" );
printf( "Available flavors: default, gm, gm2, sc55, sc88, sc88pro, sc8850, xg\n" );
printf( "Reverb enable is either 0 or 1\n" );
printf( "\n" );
printf( "ID\tName\n" );

Run it once without any arguments to dump a list of MIDI input device IDs and device names in JSON format, and use the correct number with the full argument list.

midiport 0 sc88 1

For the bare minimum setup, assuming your input device is 0, and you want SC-88 mode. And maybe kindly kill Roland for charging so gosh darn much money for this plugin, when it's so conveniently usable for plain music playback, even though they clearly tell people it's not for that purpose. Maybe they'd rather people use the shitty iOS app for that purpose, it's the same engine, only statically linked into an executable.

Completely unrelated to the discussion above but I thought I should mention it here.

SC-VA has exactly the same amount of headroom before clipping as the hardware SC-55.

Using the attached midi files I created I could match the volumes between SC-VA and hardware SC-55.
"Sine Mono.mid" will play a sine tone at 440Hz (A5) with Patch 80 (Squarewave) Variation Bank MSB 8 (Sinewave).

"Headroom.mid" will play a bunch of notes together to reach maximum volume where the SC-55 clips internally before the volume control.
I found that SC-VA and SC-55 have the exact same headroom amount when matched using "Sine Mono.mid", they both clip at the same volume.
SC-VA clips at -0.1dbFS which is the maximum volume of the digital domain, and SC-55 will clip at -0.5dB at the inputs of the audio interface (mixer) while not clipping the inputs.
So once again, Roland did a fantastic job with SC-VA.

Moreover, I use this test midi files to have consistent and accurate balance between DOSBox (or real DOS) and the SC-55/SC-VA.
All I need to know is the delta between a PCM sound in dosbox (or DOS) using MPXPlay (440Hz.wav) and the output of SC-VA using "Sine Mono.mid", then I can adjust volume of DOSBox have a perfect balance.

The SC-VA is quieter than the other options. Do you know what it should be for the Yamaha, which is louder?

You should not look at it as quieter, but rather has more headroom before clipping, which is how a professional instrument SHOULD behave.
I can tell you that SC-VA has exactly the same amount of headroom before clipping as a hardware SC-55 has.
That means you have to LOWER other sound sources to be in balance with the SC-VA, and not boosting SC-VA.

In my experience for DOSBox to be in balance with SC-VA you should set Mixer Master to 50 in dosbox with the following command:

1mixer master 50

With the setting above Warcraft 2 CD Audio track matches exactly to the Midi track volume.
Doom and Duke3D sounds well balanced, as well as other games.

kode54 wrote:

https://f.losno.co/midiport.zip […]
Show full quote

https://f.losno.co/midiport.zip

You'll need SCCore.dll from the 32 bit VSTi folder in the same directory as that executable.

As explained by the (currently commented out) help section in the main.cpp:

printf( "Usage: midiplay <#deviceid> <flavor> <reverb> [initial instrument] [initial bank]\n" ); printf( "ESC closes.\n" ); […]
Show full quote

printf( "Usage: midiplay <#deviceid> <flavor> <reverb> [initial instrument] [initial bank]\n" );
printf( "ESC closes.\n" );
printf( "Available flavors: default, gm, gm2, sc55, sc88, sc88pro, sc8850, xg\n" );
printf( "Reverb enable is either 0 or 1\n" );
printf( "\n" );
printf( "ID\tName\n" );

Run it once without any arguments to dump a list of MIDI input device IDs and device names in JSON format, and use the correct number with the full argument list.

midiport 0 sc88 1

For the bare minimum setup, assuming your input device is 0, and you want SC-88 mode. And maybe kindly kill Roland for charging so gosh darn much money for this plugin, when it's so conveniently usable for plain music playback, even though they clearly tell people it's not for that purpose. Maybe they'd rather people use the shitty iOS app for that purpose, it's the same engine, only statically linked into an executable.

Thank you. I will experiment with this when I get home from work today.

Does midiport fulfill the same function as loopmidi, except it's more "behind the scenes" or something similar? What is the function of midiport?

It requires loopmidi to work with MIDI output in the system, but it hosts SC-VA in as minimal a space as possible, with no user interface to speak of, except for some pipe supported stuff that has no UI yet.

kode54 wrote:

It requires loopmidi to work with MIDI output in the system, but it hosts SC-VA in as minimal a space as possible, with no user interface to speak of, except for some pipe supported stuff that has no UI yet.

Pardon the potentially ignorant question, but, does this mean that I need to install loopmidi in addition to midiport, or is loopmidi included in midiport?

lukeman3000 wrote:

kode54 wrote:

...does this mean that I need to install loopmidi in addition to midiport, or is loopmidi included in midiport?

midiport is SAVIHost replacement, but without frontend, it REQUIRES loopmidi and it DIDN'T includes it in any way.

And it's single purpose: It only works with SC-VA, because it bypasses the VST interface. It's as minimal as it can get.

kode54 wrote:

And it's single purpose: It only works with SC-VA, because it bypasses the VST interface. It's as minimal as it can get.

I got SC-VA working with VSTi (wasn't using the 32-bit version of Sound Canvas VA.dll", however, I can't seem to make changes to the Sound Canvas plugin via the "configure" option of the VSTi GUI. The GUI of the Roland unit appears but it does not reflect any activity when midi is being played. Nor does adjustment of settings seem to have an effect. Though it does work.

With VSTi installed, I reference the VSTi midi device in dosbox. However, with this other option, I would need to install loopmidi and the only difference is that there's no VSTi GUI because it's not needed? To some degree it seems like six one way and half-a-dozen the other, but I'm sure I just am not knowledgeable enough to fully understand the situation. Trying to educate myself on this stuff but there is skmewhat of a steep learning curve for someone who has previously not heard of an SC-55 or had any understanding of what midi is.

kode54
Your Midiport only for x64 systems ?

I don't see why it would be for x64 systems only, it's a 32 bit binary. Of course, I may not have taken the precaution of building it for Windows XP. It's easy enough to rebuild, as long as you've got either Visual Studio or mingw-w64.

E: Here's a sneak peek at something I've cooked up:

Hi Kode -

I am still a bit unsure as to how exactly midiport is supposed to be used.

I like your vst midi driver, however, the vst editor seems to not make or save any changes, and it doesn't actually reflect anything that is happening when it is being used. Otherwise, it seems to be a, more or less, perfect solution for me. Am I doing something wrong for it to behave this way?

Also, I notice that it has two ports (a and b) -- how can I specify a different vst plugin for the other port, such as munt vst?

If I could specify port a for Sound Canvas VA and port b for Munt VST, that would be great. And additionally it would be nice if the VST editor saved changes and reflected activity properly.