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hello all: first use and first post here.
i'm bustin' to say a few things about what i'm finding on first installation
of Polyphone - it is constructive criticism, so don't take it badly. this may
belong in the feature request section but i'll make the observations here
to get started.
so: first off: quite a big problem: Polyphone opens full screen and covers
the taskbar (win10/64bit) which is not a good thing imo. a bit like someone
coming to your house for the first time and putting their feet on the sofa.
(um, as a first time poster, i might be doing the same thing right now
) )
and there is no top-right box (as standard) for closing and minimising the
program. imo it is much better to have this than to be 'innovative', in omitting
it.
next: i've managed to detach the Tree from the menu bar, and can't find a way
to put it back - assuming it really was up there in the first place? i now don't
know...
so the first thing i've done when opening this program is to close it
and
dump what i was trying to do. i think standardising the interface more is
important, because most people do not want to relearn how to use software
per program used; i know i don't (software fatigue?) - and there's the next
thing: *online* manual: the program will not always be used with an internet
connection; much nicer to have a standard Help file with a contents menu
for easy reference.
please consider it for use as a soundfont auditioner, eg: fast load, straight
into 'play'/edit mode; it's real drag having to open a program and then open
files you'd like to have associated with your favorite sf2 editor (this is what
i currently do with Viena, which i like a lot, but there's always room for
improvement) - i can call up the title, properties and author notes box any
time i want to see that, as a secondary action.
and then... i'm a bit lost, once i open an existing single sample sf2 i had
on my system. i have no idea how to approach it. i think this should all be
totally clear without having to consult any manual. the rtfm stage could
come much later.
ok, i'm off to do that now - while i have some time -
what is was hoping to find: i've tried most sf2 softwares over the years,
including, briefly, an early version of Polyphone: Vienna with soundblaster,
Viena (without), Soundfaction Alive!, VSampler, AWave and whatever else
i've seen, including SF2Patcher etc.
the main chore is always the keymapping. you want to get your samples
in there, autocreating keygroups(instruments) and presets according to
templates. the envelope and filter parameters are secondary and can
come later.
thumbs up for multiple sample import (ie: not possible in old Vienna) but
then i failed to put them quickly into instruments and presets (and then
the interface layout made me close, to have another go, i had the Tree
floating about by then)
*i would really like to find an easy drag+drop keymapping interface for
building sample programs/sf2* ! VSampler has a nice, but very cramped
view for this. it allows sf2 export, but NOT import ( at v.2.7, from memory)
-this, in order to build velocity splits, for example. if you could drag from
folders straight onto the interface, that would be excellent (maybe it is
possible, rtfm)
so that's my main hopes. i suppose a VST instance would be very nice
for VST users, too.
and a multi-clipboard could be nice, for browsing sound libraries on a drive,
auditioning and gathering samples before a bulk import (or copy to a new
work folder) - i did this with Alive and Clipmate, and it was great.
ok that's it for now, thanks for reading ! -
ok, i'm getting to grips with it
so some of those comments may be covered.
auto distribution does not seem to work on a batch of sample: got a first split for
the first stereo pair (that works well, stereo pairing), but all the other samples
ended up in one big split. maybe i don't know how to use this yet.
some templates would be nice. eg: 1 key per sample.
it was easy to do for a few samples in the instrument setup page,
but would be a fair bit of work with a full keyboard of samples.
the keyboard remapping is good, but some presets here would be nice.
actually, it does not appear to remap my keyboard and i have octaves
all over the place - confusing when combined with shifting the octave
addressed.
consecutive auto adjustment of root pitch would be nice for automapping,
ie: a drumkit.
so far so good. -
OK i have managed to produce first sf2
very good. not much hassle renumbering by hand in that page,
and copying the key number to rootkey.
sussed out 'minimize' for the page view, so that's ok - but fullscreen
is a bit weird, covering the taskbar (win) at the bottom.
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