[yoshimi] Re: Two Questions

  • From: Jonathan Brickman <jeb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: yoshimi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2015 09:39:58 -0500

I'm hip to "Instrument" remaining, it is true that it being of original
vintage it works :-) I have to agree that "Parameters" does not work for
me, whereas "Patchset" seems to be rather nice and helpful. The only
alternative to "Patchset" I can think of, in appropriate context, might be
"Instrument Set", which would be in keeping with context, and which as
importantly, is probably more friendly towards new users. I am certain
that given that we have "Instruments", "Instrument Set" does seem more
straightforward to me.

Concerning instances. It has been mixing together in my mind the last 24
:-) Would it be simplest overall to set it up thusly (and using
"Instrument Set" instead of "Patchset):

- We don't have "instances", we just have "Instrument Sets" which are
named, and the ability to load more than one at once.
- When a single Instrument Set is loaded, it has the default instrument
set name, a string, possibly "InstrumentSet001".
- The default instrument set name is automatically applied to every
single-instrument-set Yoshimi load, unless changed in the XMZ.
- When multiple instances are loaded, the instrument set name of loads
after the first, is incremented by 1 automatically if needed to prevent
collision.
- The default instrument set name, unincremented, is automatically saved
within every XMZ file, unless it is explicitly changed by the user.

By the above, we combine the simplest logic I can thus far imagine to do
the job, with automatic setup giving us known predictable results, with
full capability to design one's own multi-instrument-set setup with custom
names for everything. One would need to add one XMZ-file field, the
"Instrument Set Name" field, and a GUI place to set this. But we're
already starting numbered instances from within Yoshimi, correct? Yoshimi
menu / New instance with id ?

Concerning edit-window automatically opening. I think it is true that a
checkbox might be quite helpful, for the times when we need to be editing a
lot.

J.E.B.

On Sun, Sep 6, 2015 at 6:25 PM, Will Godfrey <willgodfrey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On Sun, 6 Sep 2015 17:14:12 -0500
Jonathan Brickman <jeb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hmmmm. Will, I'm glad you're thinking about the vocabulary, it has been
a
problem for me. Here's some thought. It will need improvement, because
Yoshimi is big enough that I cannot use most of its capability!, and it
is
possible that what we really need to do is take some or all of my words
and
use responses to my below to start a Lexicon for the docs wiki. Anyhow,
here's what I have in my head:

1. Patch. I think of a "patch" as one of the saved
configuration-entities
in Yoshimi which has a name (not just a filename) set and visible within
Yoshimi, and which can admit of a position in a bank. Yoshimi itself
calls
this an "Instrument" at this time, and saves it in an .xiz file. I
personally cannot use the term "instrument" for this in my thinking, but
then again my first synth experience was on a 1978 MiniMoog whose manual
I
had almost memorized once :-)

Yes, that's a bit unfortunate, but the term 'Instrument' has been used
since
the beginning of Zyn. and does actually describe exactly what it is from a
musical point of view. The term 'Patch' came from the wired patch panels
on the
original modular synths!

2. Patchset. I haven't used this word yet I don't think, but if I did,
I
would tend to think of it as the same as a saved-state of Yoshimi.
Yoshimi
calls this "Parameters", and saves it in an .xmz file. I do like
"patchset" for this, it seems to work well for me. However, there is
another item worth discussing with it:

Although 'Parameters' has also been around from the start, nobody I've
spoken to
is comfortable with the term. Also 'Patchset' looks very similar as well as
being more in keeping with what people recognise.

3. Instance. Here is a place I get confused. Am I correct that one
parameter-set (patchset) cannot include more than one instance? Even
regardless of the answer, perhaps we might want to invent something like
an
instance-set, defined as a collection of one or more named patchsets, to
handle multi-instance situations, and make overall setup easier to
handle?
The concept of a patchset-name would also have to be invented (right now
it's filenames only), but we could simply say that the patchset-name is
the
same as the instance-ID and be done with it. Also, we might want a
command-line method by which we can start up multiple instances by name,
calling multiple .xmz files :-)

I've thought about auto-starting instances, or by remote command (such as
MIDI). I've also thought about the idea of a group patchset or, more
likely, a
single group command which consists of instance number + patchset filename
+
location. The main issue is whether there's a way to start numbered
instances
from within a running yoshi!

Not sure I would open an instrument's edit window automatically (by
default
anyhow), sounds a bit dangerous :-)

My thought too. But the question was asked, so I thought I'd put it up on
the
list for comments.

--
Will J Godfrey
http://www.musically.me.uk
Say you have a poem and I have a tune.
Exchange them and we can both have a poem, a tune, and a song.

Yoshimi source code is available from either:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/yoshimi
Or: https://github.com/Yoshimi/yoshimi
Our list archive is at: https://www.freelists.org/archive/yoshimi




--


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