On 27 Aug 2005, at 10:50 PM, David W. Fenton wrote:
I don't think it should require maintaining two different files. All you need to do is maintain two different sets of staves in your score, one set for GPO percussion, and one set for GM percussion.
You know, that's an excellent idea.
Yes, that's some work, but not nearly as much work as maintaining two complete files. And it's only relevant if you *need* both. I think the number of people who would need to maintain compatibility with both forms of playback is very small.
It's probably larger than you think. If someone is right on the borderline of the system requirements for GPO, they might well want to use the SoftSynth for "everyday" playback (to spot-check while composing or orchestrating, for instance) since that method is much less demanding on their system. That same person might want to switch to GPO playback when it's time to make a more thorough review of the piece (for the final audio review at the end of the day, for instance), then switch back to the SoftSynth next time they enter additional music.
I just can't conceive of circumstances where one would need to have a re-iterative process of maintaining both GM and GPO versions of percussion while still working on the file.
Well, time will tell, but I should note that MakeMusic spent a lot of effort this update trying to make it as painless as possible to switch from SmartMusic SoftSynth to GPO -- witness the new "auto- detect" support for GPO in Human Playback, the Unified Keyswitches, the Setup Wizard that configures for both GPO and SmartMusic SoftSynth, etc. They clearly felt that a nontrivial number of users would want this kind of functionality. And for the most part, it works seamlessly -- it only gets tricky when it comes to the unpitched percussion.
Also, here's an idea -- theoretically, it should be possible for someone to write a plugin that automatically re-pitches a General MIDI percussion staff for correct GPO playback (of course, it would have to make substitutions for all of the GM instruments that aren't in the GPO percussion set).
- Darcy ----- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Brooklyn, NY _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
