Aha, that makes sense. So if a file contains no explicit SysEx, your player assumes it is GM (by default), correct?
Yes, the 'grey GM mark' means no explicit known SysEx found so GM is assumed as the most common midi system. But a 'black GM mark' means explicit GM System ON SysEx is found.
That checkbox is problematic! If I select it, then it complains every time I choose a new VSTi - it gives me an error saying that the configurations settings don't match the module (which I think I understand). Could you make this a bit more user-friendly? If there is a .FXB file with the same file name as the DLL in the same directory, couldn't you just assume this was the desired settings file and then load it? Otherwise this function becomes pretty useless if you use multiple instruments.
I don't think such automatism would be good at that place. E.g. getting a 'clear plugin state' would be hard without deleting the same named setting files...
Otherwise it's not an error, just a warning message. It does not prevent you to load the plugin and then load right settings files for it. Enabling that checkbox and 'Autoload at Startup' should be the final step when you are ready defining your (startup) configuration.
But the most important thing is, this is not the way it's meant to be played 😀 For using multiple instrument/VSTi plugins follow the author's recommendations:
Falcosoft Soundfont Midi Player + Munt VSTi + BassMidi VSTi
That part of the interface is for defining a configuration. You can try different plugins/settings without checking 'Autoload Last used Settings File'. Checking this control is only useful when you are done with your experiments and you are ready to save the whole configuration as a configuration preset. Let's see a real world example why configuration presets are much more convenient than your current usage pattern. You want to use 3 plugins regularly:
1. Sound Canvas-VA for GM/GS midis.
2. S-YXG50 for XG midis
3. Munt(VSTi) for MT-32 midis.
But there's a problem: it's not enough to change the plugin in the way you currently do to get a proper environment for different midi files. Since besides the plugin:
1. You have to also change the reset type: GS for SC-VA, XG for S-YXG50, MT-32 for MUNT.
2. You should also change the instrument definition file to get proper instrument names on channels. (Instrument -> Custom patch definitions).
3. You should set 32 KHz sample rate for Munt VSTi, 44.1 - 48KHz for S-YXG50.
4. Optionally you may want to set 'Use patch info for Capital Tone Fallback' for SC-VA or other things such as ideal SysEx delay between chunks etc.
You do not want to do this all the time you need to use a different config that is ideal for some kind of midi files. Instead you should save your whole configurations as presets:
1. Sound_CanvasVA_001
2. S-YXG50_002
3. Munt_MT32_ROM_003
4. MUnt_CM64_ROM_004
You have to do this only once! After this you only have to load the preset you need and you get back your whole perfectly fine tuned configuration.
By loading I mean:
1. Press CTRL + ALT + 1 to load Sound_CanvasVA_001, CTRL + ALT + 2 to load S-YXG50_002 etc.
2. If you hate hotkeys (as I suspect) you can still use just your mouse to navigate to 'Storage of Settings -> Configuration Presets' and double click the preset name or press apply on the selected preset.
3. Hybrid version: Press Ctrl + Alt + P to open Configuration Presets dialog and then double click the preset name or press apply on the selected preset.
4. Besides the above you can also define shortcuts on your desktop for your different presets (detailed in the above link)
5. Advanced users can also change presets by sending SysEx messages e.g. from DosBox:
https://youtu.be/6CdJ7sEt8UM
I hope I finally succeeded in convincing you 😀
But if you do not believe me Phil recommends the same (and he was very satisfied with his results):
https://youtu.be/vSk9S1bkRS8
I see, thank you. I was previously just resetting the virtual synth - reminds me of when I used to switch off my MT-32 and then back on again, just to be sure. 😊
You can also send your selected reset messages manually whenever you want be pressing the first aid like reset button of FSMP. If the synth understands the selected SysEx reset message it should have the same effect as 'rebooting' the synth but it's faster.