Strange volume swells in DLSMusicDevice, general midi playback, since Lion upgrade

Hi all,
Like many people, I upgraded to Lion when it first came out, and overall, everything's been working great. I'm a composer though, so I make frequent use of Sibelius. My problem isn't specific to Sibelius, so don't worry if you don't have experience with it. My problem seems to be with the OS-bundled DLSMusicDevice that, together with the Quicktime Music Synthesizer, is used to playback general midi. Ever since upgrading, playback volume seems to swell randomly, from low to high, making playback of my compositions extremely irritating since it won't play at a constant, consistent volume. Is there anyone else experiencing this? If the DLSMusicDevice is the problem, is there any way to reinstall it without reinstalling the OS? I'm trying my luck with this issue both here and on the Sibelius forums, just in case. Thanks for your help!

Hello,
My problem is similar of yours.
That is unusually small sound by attached plug-in of DLS music device,
on sequence softwares, and playback SMF file with Quick time and finder.
I tried MacOSX ver. 7.0 to 7.2 with installed to external USB hard disk,
but there aren't improvement.
And It heard for me peculiar limiter effect sound, by listening carefully.
I've been searched that some one encountered status like my problem, with posted in japanese Apple communities, from July.
But, no body replied to now.
So, I searched english sites with my poor english abilities, and I found your contents.
My environment is :
Macbook pro (late 2008, 2.4GHz Core2Duo, 8GB RAM)
Logic Express 9 and Metro (is music sequencer)
I expect fixed this problem in near days, by update OSX version, or i'll find any other answer for it.
If I leave this distress, I will announce about it.
Thank you reading my unskillful sentence.

Similar Messages

Midi / USB drop out since Lion upgrade!

Hi all, i have had great responses and success in the past with this forum, i really really hope this will continue.
I have been gigging using mainstage 2 and a M-Audio Oxygen midi keyboard controller for a few years now and until lately it's been fantastic. I will never go back to a stand alone manufactured synth. I am using a macbook pro, 2.93ghz with 8 gb ram. I initially upgraded from snow leopard to lion when it was launched but had to go back as Creative hadn't any lion drivers for use with my emu 0202 audio interface. Last month i found that they had done them and i re-upgraded to Lion. Since the upgrade i am experiencing Midi drop outs. This is to say that whilst performing i get an error message saying something like midi input device no longer available. This has happened a few times now but last night (new years eve!!), not only did i get this message which i sorted with a reboot but a few minutes later i had a midi note hang and i noticed that there was no longer any usb supplied power to my keyboard. The answer again at this stage was a reboot.
I would ideally not like to reinstall snow leopard as there are quite a few great things in lion which i would miss, but obviously if i can't resolve these issues i don't see that i have any other choice.
Any possible suggestions as to what may be causing these problems will be very much appreciated.
Thanking you in advance
Mark
PS Happy New Year

My experience with Lion was great for a while, it was effortless, everything I had attached still worked with no problems aside from needing occasional drivers. Once Lion 10.7.2 was released, I updated my system and again, no problems. If I recall correctly, 10.7.2 was released in October. Suddenly in December, I began having random software and midi issues all around my system. I do not use Mainstage but I have noticed others have had similar problems with various software and USB midi controllers, and have not seen a fix.
I regularly use Pro Tools 8, Ableton Live 8 and occasionally Reason 5. I also have an M-Audio Axiom 61 and Korg padKontrol attached via USB. After about 2 months of trouble-free operation, Live and Reason would not open and the accompanying software for my padKontrol no longer would either. These apps would just "hang" and I would eventually have to force quit them. In addition, Audio Midi Setup would also hang when attempting to switch to the midi preferences page. Pro Tools still worked, but I could no longer receive midi signals. I also use a wireless USB stick to connect to my home wifi signal and that no longer worked and neither did the accompanying software.
It's possible that there are deeper issues in your system as well as mine and the others having similar problems.
At times, I wonder if there is some kernel errors embedded in my computer. I got my MacPro when Snow Leopard was fairly new and had numerous kernel errors resulting in many applications not functioning. I eventually sorted them out but ran into similar USB related issues with the Snow Leopard 10.6.8 update, so I remained on 10.6.7 until Lion was released.
The only successful fix I've had is switching from Lion back to Snow Leopard 10.6.7 after erasing my entire hard drive. I've tried reinstalling Lion through both upgrading from Snow Leopard and a clean install of 10.7.2 after erasing my hard drive again.
I believe my USB and midi problems stem from kernel errors somewhere but cannot find them (I have used Disk Utility many times). I really liked using Lion but I lose so much functionality and my internet connection so I have determined that I will not be using it. I may try Lion again when 10.7.3 is released but am wary. If anyone has ideas on how to fix these issues, I would love to hear them.

Advice for best possible (and affordable) General MIDI playback

Hello!
I'm looking for the best possible sound quality for my collection of MIDI files from games. I use an Audigy 1 card and have several Soundfont banks from 4 to 500 MB. They are all free GM compatible sets and rated between OK and pretty good.
Now I've learned that there are not only Soundfonts, but also soft synths like Bandstand.
My question, what would you buy? A big Soundfont like Pappelmedia (20 Euros), or Sonivox 250MB (100 Euros), or a soft synthesizer like Bandstand (190 Euros), or something better for under 300 Euros?
Thanks!
PS my experience with Sonivox:
I wanted to buy the Sonivox 250 MB GM Soundfont bank, but I was unable to make a deal with them because I do not own a credit card and PayPal requires it as well. My mails to them got "lost" somehow, because I never got an answer from them regarding cash payment by mail. However, I looked around for an alternative and I have found the Pappelmedia Soundfont for 20 Euros, which sounds to me much better than the Sonivox for 100 Euros. Your opinion regarding the two Soundfonts?
Message Edited by WKjun on 05-21-200712:16 AM

Man,
I have done that before just to mess around with different complex musical arrangement. I DL'ed this midi file and imported into cubase sx 2. If you do not select anything then it will go by the midi map that windows produces. But if you would like to replace those sounds I would suggest getting some good plugs. Check into native instruments. I think that will totally round everything that you are looking for. You can also do the cheaper way and run into Reason 3.0 and then just use samples to replace it or their factory synths. I do not know if that is what you are looking for but Reason will work really well for a cheaper and easier way of messing with premaid midi files.
[email protected]
www.sevensixdesign.com
www.myspace.com/falumiallamly

I am getting really strange Finder behaviuors since Lion upgrade!

Hi
I have now upgraded all three of my Macs to Lion and there are some weird things going on with Finder.
My MacBook Air seems fine and the new Finder window looks okay.
My Mac Mini on the other hand while in general is fine the Finder window is showing the OLD type of dividers in Lisy view!
My iMac is showing teh Lion type dividers in List view BUT when I change Preferences to New Finder Window Opens Documents, then the left hand Favourites Column disapears, pick most other options and it comes back, pick Documents again and it is gone.
And yet on my other two Macs, they are set to Documents and are working fine and as expected!
On my iMac I cannot set a background on one of my monitors!
Lastly, well for this list anyway, I can not Share Screen of my Mac Mini on ethernet, if I connect to its WiFi address I connect fine.
On Ethernet, I can access and shre files from the Mac Mini but cannot Share Screen which is kind of important as it does not have a screen attached!!!!!!!!!
AAahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Try the following:
- A reset. Nothing is lost
Reset iPod touch: Hold down the On/Off button and the Home button at the same time for at
least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.
- Restore from backup. Sometimes when you update and do other things files will be corrupted and make the "other" category large. Restoring from backup usually reduce the other .
- Restore to factory settings/new iPod.

I've imported some midi tracks, used the mixer to set pan, volume etc, but when I stop playback and restart it sets every midi track back to '0'. I've been using LE for years, this is a new one, any ideas?

I've imported some midi tracks, used the mixer to set pan, volume etc, but when I stop playback and restart it sets every midi track back to '0'. I've been using LE for years, this is a new one, any ideas?

Hi,
that's because Logic reads the volume information out of the imported MIDI tracks and sets the volume fader according to this information. The MIDI information overrides volume settings you have done, so you have to identify the MIDI events that contain volume (or expression or pan or whatever) information and delete them. You can use the event list editor for this.
Fox

Audigy 2 ZS Notebook MIDI playback problem

Hi guys, I have a following problem. I recently obtained PCMCIA SB Audigy 2 ZS Notebook. I'm running it on an older DELL Inspiron 5160, Win XP (latest possible service pack and drivers), P4 3.0GHz, 2 Gigs of RAM (max). Onboard audio SigmaTel is disabled.
I had no problem installing driver from Creative CD, playback and recording works fine. I can even play midi files in Windows Media Player. I knew I had to install drivers from CD in order to be able to use soundfonts, latest drivers do not support that.
There is the only problem - when I try to use the software keyboard in the Bank Manager, where I loaded up my sf2 banks, it does not make a sound. For writing midi songs, I used to use old MidiSession program. I can't hear anything there either. Strange thing is, when I play any midi file in the Widows Media Player - at the exact same time, both things mentioned above work, keyboard or MidiSession. I have no idea why that is. I tried to uninstall and reinstall Creative drivers and software, nothing. Since I can't update to a newer driver, I'm at loss here.
I used to have the same setup on my desktop (except the PCMCIA version) and all worked just fine.
Does anyone has any idea what could be causing this? Thanks.

? A soundfont cannot contain alle drumkits, and it is not nessecary at all. I dont know a soundfont bank wich contains a complete set of drumkits, too. There are only some soundfonts like the crysis soundfont (to big for its "bad" quality) wich have some dummy-drumkits/ entrys or slightly modified sounds for each than usual. If all drumnkits would be stored in high-quality, the soundfont would be huge... Every synth i know uses the standard drumkit, if the chosen one is not existent. This is not optimal, but it will guarantee, that the the MIDI file or Program/ game will work. The KXDrivers wont do this. SO they are not useable for General MIDI. Only for MIDIs and soundfonts fitting together. But thats not the point of General MIDI. CMSS isnt working with these drivers, too. Dolby decoding/ encoding isnt possible with them, either. These drivers are not bad, but if you want a completely working card, KXdrivers are worthless.

SbLive! Value Devices - Midi playback differen

Creative SbLi've! Value.
Have available devices:
. SbLi've! SynthA(DCEO) General MIDI
2. SbLi've! SynthB(DCEO) General MIDI
3. SbLi've! SWSynth (DCEO) General MIDI
4. SbLi've! MIDI Port (DCEO) General MIDI
5. Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth
6. Kontakt Player Silver (Sibelius 3 music notation program)
All test OK for playback. But SynthA (item ) is much louder than the others. Also playing MIDI scores SynthA does NOT read some text marks, like the volume (ff, pp) instead plays volume uniformly loud ignoring volume (velocity) notations but accepts for ex. tempo notation.
What is the difference between the devices (for example SynthA vs. SynthB)? Where can I find a good explanation how these devices suppose to work, how SbLi've reads Midi instructions in scores etc.
In playing Midi scores I wish to use my own soundfonts (sf2) which are generated by downloading existing ones and modifying them. Is there a limit for their size in SbLi've! Value board?

charlesh wrote:
Creative SbLi've! Value.
Have available devices:
. SbLi've! SynthA(DCEO) General MIDI
2. SbLi've! SynthB(DCEO) General MIDI
3. SbLi've! SWSynth (DCEO) General MIDI
4. SbLi've! MIDI Port (DCEO) General MIDI
5. Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth
6. Kontakt Player Silver (Sibelius 3 music notation program)
All test OK for playback. But SynthA (item ) is much louder than the others. Also playing MIDI scores SynthA does NOT read some text marks, like the volume (ff, pp) instead plays volume uniformly loud ignoring volume (velocity) notations but accepts for ex. tempo notation.
What is the difference between the devices (for example SynthA vs. SynthB)? Where can I find a good explanation how these devices suppose to work, how SbLi've reads Midi instructions in scores etc.
In playing Midi scores I wish to use my own soundfonts (sf2) which are generated by downloading existing ones and modifying them. Is there a limit for their size in SbLi've! Value board?
I have an SB Audigy (not the Value edition); and I have the same available MIDI devices (except the 'Kontakt Player', which is probably a software synthesizer that you installed)
I think the SynthA and SynthB should behave similarly because you can select one or the other (in SB AudioHQ - SoundFont - Options - Soundfont Device). I haven't been playing MIDI files for sometime, and it's good you mentioned that it doesn't read some text marks (I didn't know about this... but I don't compose MIDI music... so it doesn't matter that much to me)
The SWSynth is Creative's software synthesizer, I suppose (the SynthA and SynthB are hardware synthesizers -- check them using DXDiag.exe which will list these devices and their capabilities).
MIDI port is if you have a MIDI device and cables connected to the MIDI port (I don't have a MIDI keyboard so I'm guessing...)
The MS Software Synthesizer is Microsoft's DLS Software Synthesizer... and I think it occupies some amount of memory and CPU time (ie. probably more than if using Creative's built-in synthesizers). It's possible that Microsoft's synthesizer is the de facto synthesizer for playing sound (esp. for other sound cards that don't have a MIDI hardware wavetable synthesizer).
Ok, these comments from an ordinary SB Audigy user. :-)

What is general midi?

Hi,
can anybody shed some light on this for me?
thanks
Rob

Well, the point of general MIDI is to have a common set of sounds when transferring data between multiple pieces of MIDI hardware. Similar to Jim's example, a MIDI file recorded on a computer and played back on a MIDI keyboard would have the same basic instrument sounds on any general MIDI keyboard--even though different keyboards have different sound banks.
It is relavent to the recording process in that your computer and MIDI keyboard will communicate which sounds are being used. For example, if you are recording MIDI into Logic using a MIDI keyboard with its own sound bank and speakers, you record the data to the program, but the sound (both in recording and playback) will come out of your keyboard's speakers. You can select what instrument you want in Logic, and general MIDI tells your keyboard what patch to select. All in all, it's set up so that you don't have to worry about it.

Using general midi loops in ultrabeat

I want to keep it SIMPLE. I don't want to hassle with programming drum sequences.
This is what I want to do, take GENERAL MIDI loops from actual live drum performances into Logic Express 8, use them to trigger hi resolution acoustic drum samples in Ultrabeat to create natural, REAL sounding drum tracks at 24 bit/96 resolution. Here is an example of the type of 3rd party midi loops I would like to use:
http://www.smartloops.com/products/mididrumloops/mididrumloops1.html
Is this possible and easy to do in Logic Express 8/ultrabeat and how do I do this?

kent swearingen wrote:
I looked at one of the Logic Pro books, and it said to transpose by using the transpose function in the inspector, but that only lets you transpose by octaves!
Put the mouse pointer on top of the transpose number, which is zero, hold down the left mouse button and drag up or down to transpose by steps. At the beginning of either the getting started or Logic manual there's an explanation of the different types of mouse/key behavior, if you're not used to using Logic it's a good idea to go over these.
Also, Logic does not always use simplified Mac conventions (thank the stars for that), as a result you have a lot more variety of data input, it varies according to the task at hand.

Installed iTunes on my laptop Windows 7 64 bit and I now have the following problems 1) iTunes volume won't adjust with the laptop volume control, only within iTunes, 2) playback doesn't work unless I click play twice and 3) the iTunes Store won't open

Installed iTunes on my laptop Windows 7 64 bit and I now have the following problems 1) iTunes volume won't adjust with the laptop volume control, only within iTunes, 2) playback doesn't work unless I click play twice and 3) the iTunes Store won't open

Installed iTunes on my laptop Windows 7 64 bit and I now have the following problems 1) iTunes volume won't adjust with the laptop volume control, only within iTunes, 2) playback doesn't work unless I click play twice and 3) the iTunes Store won't open

Can't init midi playback

I have troubles with midi initialisation. I use SB Live and ALSA drivers. mp3/wav/ogg playing so good, but I can't load midibank into SB with awesfx-0.5.d (and awesfx-0.4.4 too) from http://www.alsa-project.org/~iwai/awedrv.html
May be exist another way for midi bank load?
[vlad@vixen ~]$ lspci | grep Creative
01:08.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! EMU10k1 (rev 07)
01:08.1 Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Live! MIDI/Game Port (rev 07
[vlad@vixen ~]$ cat /etc/modprobe.conf | grep -v '^#'
alias snd-card-0 snd-emu10k1
alias sound-slot-0 snd-emu10k1
root@vixen vlad]# sfxload /mnt/storage/Soft/multimedia/midi_banks/8RealGS20.SF2
/dev/sequencer: No such device
!!! Why? But devices are presents:
[root@vixen vlad]# ls -l /dev/sequencer*
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 2006-10-22 13:57 /dev/sequencer -> sound/sequencer
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 2006-10-22 13:57 /dev/sequencer2 -> sound/sequencer2
[root@vixen vlad]# ls -l /dev/sound/sequencer*
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 14, 1 2006-10-22 13:57 /dev/sound/sequencer
crw-rw---- 1 root audio 14, 8 2006-10-22 13:57 /dev/sound/sequencer2
[vlad@vixen ~]$ lsmod | grep snd
snd_seq_oss 31744 0
snd_seq_midi_event 6784 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 48240 4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_pcm_oss 39424 0
snd_mixer_oss 14720 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_emu10k1 114592 4
snd_rawmidi 19968 1 snd_emu10k1
snd_ac97_codec 92580 1 snd_emu10k1
snd_ac97_bus 2560 1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm 68868 5 snd_pcm_oss,snd_emu10k1,snd_ac97_codec
snd_seq_device 7308 4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi
snd_timer 19204 3 snd_seq,snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 8200 2 snd_emu10k1,snd_pcm
snd_util_mem 4096 1 snd_emu10k1
snd_hwdep 7556 1 snd_emu10k1
snd 45444 17 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_emu10k1,snd_rawmidi,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_seq_device,snd_timer,snd_hwdep
soundcore 7776 1 snd
Please help me configure properly midi.
Thanks!

My soundcard does not support MIDI being an onboard card. But I've used timidity to along with alsa's MIDI routing capabilities to play MIDI files. Timidity acts like a MIDI playback engine by providing patch banks. First, load the snd_virmidi ALSA module. Then, execute timidity in daemon mode as so
timidity -iA
Then, use aconnect to determine the MIDI virtual connection port.
aconnect -o
client 20: 'Virtual Raw MIDI 1-0' [type=kernel]
0 'VirMIDI 1-0 '
client 21: 'Virtual Raw MIDI 1-1' [type=kernel]
0 'VirMIDI 1-1 '
client 22: 'Virtual Raw MIDI 1-2' [type=kernel]
0 'VirMIDI 1-2 '
client 23: 'Virtual Raw MIDI 1-3' [type=kernel]
0 'VirMIDI 1-3 '
[emmanuel@~/]$ aconnect -o
client 20: 'Virtual Raw MIDI 1-0' [type=kernel]
0 'VirMIDI 1-0 '
client 21: 'Virtual Raw MIDI 1-1' [type=kernel]
0 'VirMIDI 1-1 '
client 22: 'Virtual Raw MIDI 1-2' [type=kernel]
0 'VirMIDI 1-2 '
client 23: 'Virtual Raw MIDI 1-3' [type=kernel]
0 'VirMIDI 1-3 '
client 128: 'TiMidity' [type=user]
0 'TiMidity port 0 '
1 'TiMidity port 1 '
2 'TiMidity port 2 '
3 'TiMidity port 3 '
In my case, the output port will be 128:0
Now, you need to connect a virtual MIDI IN port to this out port. So use aconnect to view IN ports like so.
aconnect -i
client 0: 'System' [type=kernel]
0 'Timer '
1 'Announce '
client 20: 'Virtual Raw MIDI 1-0' [type=kernel]
0 'VirMIDI 1-0 '
client 21: 'Virtual Raw MIDI 1-1' [type=kernel]
0 'VirMIDI 1-1 '
client 22: 'Virtual Raw MIDI 1-2' [type=kernel]
0 'VirMIDI 1-2 '
client 23: 'Virtual Raw MIDI 1-3' [type=kernel]
0 'VirMIDI 1-3 '
I'm going to use port 20:0. So to make the connection, run...
aconnect 20:0 128:0
You will notice timidity will recognize the connection. Now, you can use a MIDI capable client to play MIDI files using timidity as the sound engine. One such application is seq24.
If you just want to play a MIDI file, all you need is
timidity myfile.mid

Audigy 2 NX & General MIDI Soundb

Hi, is there a better soundbank I could use instead of CT4MGM.SF2 which I think is what my Audigy 2 NX uses? I used to have a Soundblaster 4. Digital and you could use an 8MB soundbank with it which sounded excellent. I searched Google for CT8MGM.SF2 but couldn't find it, apparently it was supplied with the Soundblaster Li've! series.
I'm not sure how I'd go about replacing the default soundbank either, any suggestions?

Hello
I have exactly the same error with my Audigy Player. I can remember, having used MIDI EAX effects with my old Soundblaster Li've!. However CD, Line and everything else works fine with EAX, why not MIDI? I think it's a bug and I am using the newest Advanced HD 4.0 drivers. If you turn your speakers VERY loud you can even HEAR a small amout of chorus and reverb. But the Sources are up to 0.0 db and 00 %. So there has to be much more of it!
I don't know of any solution, yet. It's really frustrating, because MIDI playback is one of the primary things I had in mind when buying this junk audio card.

Sound Blaster PCI64 MIDI playback er

Hi!
When I start my computer a window opens, the window says: "The Creative Sound Blaster PCI64 driver cannot load MIDI waveset. MIDI playback has been disabled."
Does anyone knows what I have to do to make this window dissapear and enable MIDI playback again?

aarthas,
This Knowledgebase article SID930 should be able to help you.
Jason

I solved MIDI playback with Flash

The URL where you can check it out is
http://www.reginafierro.com
(it's an art gallery with some tasteful nudity)
The MIDI playback starts on page 2 (after you click 'enter'
on page 1)
and can be stopped / restarted by click on the Music On /
Music Off
links in Flash.
It works on our Macs in every browser. I'll test it on PCs
next, it
should be okay. If you need a detailed explanation how I did
it, drop
me a note here, and I'll spell out the steps.

karol wrote:Try this way: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 34#p899434
If you can't click on that video, try this one: http://www.w3schools.com/flash/tryit.as … yhtml_ball and reboot.
I freaking love you, the first one seemed to work! Thank you!
Posting it here aswell:
Anikom15 wrote:1. http://www.youtube.com/swf_test.html
2. right click on player
3. click settings
4. choose left-most tab
5. uncheck "Enable Hardware Acceleration"
Don't know how to mark a thread Solved so I just wrote it in the topic.
Last edited by raggerv8 (2011-06-07 19:08:45)

MIDI playback quality in Windows and "as inteded

Hi,?since the days of Windows 95 and OPL3 playback on SB6, AWE32, ect. I'm confronted with the problem that MIDI files, from games for example, sound differend in Windows (MediaPlayer, ect.) than they sound in the game itself or in pure DOS 6 environment with a Soundblaster playback program. Is there a way to playback the old MIDI files with hardware OPL3 and Windows as they where inteded to?Thanks!

WKjun wrote:
Hi,since the days of Windows 95 and OPL3 playback on SB6, AWE32, ect. I'm confronted with the problem that MIDI files, from games for example, sound differend in Windows (MediaPlayer, ect.) than they sound in the game itself or in pure DOS 6 environment with a Soundblaster playback program. Is there a way to playback the old MIDI files with hardware OPL3 and Windows as they where inteded to?Thanks!
Have you tried all different MIDI playback devices (HW/SW Synths) you have listed there to select from (Windows Audio settings)?
jutapa

Strange volume swells in DLSMusicDevice, general midi playback, since Lion upgrade

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for