Frank, here is that new thread you requested.

Thanks for the exciting news about
Vsampler3 and Ensemble.

BTW, have you looked into SampleTank XL 2.0
VST? It is supposed to respond to program
changes also.

I also just tried Live-Styler 5.0 and Forte
will not open because it says "no midi ports"
Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks.

[This message has been edited by Vquestor (edited 11-10-2003).]

Vquestor, Are you using midiyoke?
Available at http://www.midiox.com/
Dowlnload "midi YOKE". Midi-ox is something else, (also very useful).

Frank, who is "Branda of Germany"?
The name rings a bell. Are there photos of his setup available?

I put the separately dowloaded dll's
(Mxmidi16.dll, MxMidi95.dll, and MxMidi32.dll)
into system 32.
Do the 2 dll files:
xaudio.dll and livestylerDll.dll from the live-styler installation directory also have to be put into system 32? I didn/t but I'll try that also.

Jick, yes, I am using MidiYoke.
I just fixed the problem by deinstalling
DirectiXer. Now I just open Vsampler standalone, and LiveStyler, and it works!!
So Forte is not even needed in this scenario.

Vquestor, I have not tried the recent version of Sampletank. The previous version did not have sufficient benefits to warrant serious consideration (quality of instruments, effects and the usual GM - XG issues). So I have not gone back to it. Sonic Reality may be just as good a choice given that they do sampling for Sampletank.

Saddly, I gave VSampler 3 DXi a fuller run on my Music Computer with the following results:

1. It crashed my computer a number of times and is not yet ready for prime time. The crashes occurred trying to make adjustments in midi/audio options within VSampler.

2. The feature of copying the drums to bank 128 helps but it is not enough. VSampler assumes a complete GM standard including drums only in channel 10. So as is the case in many Yamaha styles drums can be found in other channels like 9, 10 and 1. This results in out of tune pianos playing - sad. I tried using M. Bedesem's MidiPlayer to change the styles to GM. This solved some of the problems but I was still left with VSampler picking only the Standard XG Kit rather than the called for say Jazz XG Kit - Oh my. Also, if you combine all the drum tracks to channel 10, you do not have the flexibility to apply separate kits, effects and volumes to the separate drum tracks - Oh my.

Well there is some progress. It is just not good enough. Best is to change the drum banks from 16256 to 127 and use VSampler in the standard mode.

3. The hanging notes on my general purpose computer seems to have been the result of the combination of Live - Styler and MidiOverLan. Using Midi Yoke on my music computer resulted in no hanging notes. In general, I would say Midi Yoke is the safer virtual cable to use.

Vquestor, I assume you set Live - Styler accompaniment out port (say Midi Yoke 1) to forte - LiveSynth Pro in port(Midi Yoke 1). This should work. You need to be careful in not setting up midi loops between forte and Live - Styler. There are so many possibilities for this to happen.

Vquestor, you do not need forte if you are going to use only one sampler for your accompaniment and your right & left lead/melody instruments.

Jick Duck, you placed the files in the right folders. The xaudio.dll and livestylerDll.dll files stay in the Live - Styler's main folder. You can check out Branda at the following site:
http://www.branda.de/

I hope this helps.

Frank,
Gosh, I guess it was too good to be true.
After I also played around with Vsampler,
it was also playing wrong voice assignments.
So I went back to Forte with LiveSynth
MidiYoked to LiveStyler. Things were better
for a while, but after a few minutes, LiveStyler just stops working or closes itself completely. I wonder if this is a limitation due to it's being a demo?

Vquestor, I think VSampler needs some tweaking but it is close to working properly for our needs. There is a version 3.03 on the VSampler site but not on Cakewalk's. My version is 3.02 which may explain some of the strange happening. If worse came to worse, I think I could get it to work properly along with the appropriate changes to the Yamaha styles. At the moment this is the next best alternative - Oh no!!!

The Demo version of Live - Styler should not be quiting on you. Usually demos either do not permit saving or stop sounding but not disappearing from the computer screen. You may have some installation tweaks to make with in Live - Styler which may solve this problem. You might try and only run the accompaniment part and set all the other left/right voice midi ports/channels to off. Similarly set only the import port to your keyboard to the appropriate midi port and leave the other two off/unassigned. I have had similar things happen but with some tweaking I have been able to get Live - Styler to where it never faults - touch wood!!!

Furthermore, ensure that you have only the required midi ports/channels running in forte/LiveSynth Pro (e.g., Midi Yoke 1)

[This message has been edited by Frank L. Rosenthal (edited 11-11-2003).]

(Besides the program crashing)
After about a couple of minutes, the box that says send an error report and the email address and website pops up. Everything stops and I have to reload the style to start playing again. Is this a demo limitation? I'm using my own style.

I forgot to say that when I select a solo preset there is some hesitation and noise.
Can this be fixed

Jick Duck, you are getting into areas I know little about. I believe however you should not be experiencing the faults you have identified in the demo. If I were you I would try and Email N. Stellberg and explain what is happening and see if he can solve these issues.

If that does not work then you may need to use other alternatives. Have you tried OMB? How does it work on your system? By the way if you are not stuck on Yamaha styles, there are a number of other reasonable style players:

Evolution (style support small)
Music Companion
JammerLive (not Windows XP compatible)
RMCA (not so good)

I just received a response from Soundtrek that they may begin work on JammerLive in December 2003 - but they said that last year at this time - and nothing happens.

I have just been contacted via Email by N. Stellberg to try a version of Live - Styler where you can call up NI's B4 and control it via Live - Styler. This is all very interesting and exciting. The more things are tried the more innovation we as users will realize. Although, my first inclination as stated previously is to have the producers of such software focus on very robust style players and other related arranger functions (harmonies, etc.) and less on esoteric things. This is especially true given that you can do most sampler, synth and effects things using a host such as forte Ensemble. Yes, and an excellent XG to GM converter built in would be nice


[This message has been edited by Frank L. Rosenthal (edited 11-12-2003).]

Frank, thanks for your suggestions. I have
been carefully assigning Midi Yoke as you
recommended, but still get a shutdown of
the program right after an error message.

I agree with you totally, that the robustness
of the style player program should be the first and foremost priority. The demo of OMB 5 is a much more stable program than LiveStyler5 on my system(so far).

I also think the midi file and mp3 player
features in LiveStyler are unnecessary, since
both tasks can already be accomplished by free and efficient programs(vanbasco and winamp).
Unfortunately, for software arranger Yamaha style players, OMB and LiveStyler are the only games in town.

I was wondering is it very difficult(for someone with your knowledge and experience)
to use ALIVE to create soundfonts of all
Yamaha drumkits that could be used in LiveSynth to play the styles correctly?
It seems to me, that ONLY you,I,or hopefully someone else, can make the appropriate soundfont to turn Forte and LiveSynth into a properly functioning Yamaha DEVICE that will allow proper functioning without Yamaha style
modification. If not, perhaps you can contact SynerGigs to make such an
"XG soundfont" to sell at a reasonable price.

Thanks.