Tell me about MIDI Support
I intend to give Midi priority as sound cards today have good Midi support and using Midi takes a big load off the machine. MED requires some rework to more completely support MIDI. These changes will be implemented in the next Windows V2 due late 06 / early 07
Why no external sync?
Cuz’ it wasn’t designed in from day 1. Sync is derived from the output sound device, rather than from an external source. Only a complete overhaul of the sound driver routines can remedy this. ( intended for the next V2 release )
What is wrong with XM format, they don’t always play properly
XM’s use features that are not supported by the basic MED engine and it is impossible to accurately reproduce all XM’s without extending the MED format itself and we hope to sort this problem by the time V2 is released.
Note: the reverse command does not work when you use the ‘44k’, ‘22’ and the ‘11k’ commands. So until V2 arrives, down tune the loop by minus 2 to compensate by going into the samples properties.
Using Those Filters
The command 025E001 sets the resonance of the filter and the type. The last digit is the type, ie.,
1 = Hi bypass
2 = Low bypass and 0 = the original.
The E00 part is the resonant frequency, 000 is nothing with FFF being trippy. The best thing to do is to experiment with the settings until you find what suits, however, you won’t hear the difference until you start using the 24 - 23 commands.
You are advised not to make use of the 24 command unless filtering basses so that you don’t get that annoying click.
For sweeping, the command is 0230004.
Note that in the present V1.x, frequency sweeps can leak memory on some setups and shows up when you start to record a track.
If it contains a lot of frequency sweeps then whilst recording to WAV, you may find that pressing the STOP RECORDING button no longer functions.
The recording will take place as it should, but Med will become unresponsive due to those leaks and one way around this is to load up some small executable, ( like Notepad ), before you commence recording to WAV. Then, when you hit the STOP RECORDING button, if it doesn’t work, simply press Ctrl-Alt-Del and then close Notepad via the task manager window that has opened and as this releases some memory, you will now find that you are able to press the STOP RECORDING button!
We will have this Windows phenomena well and truly fixed by the release of V2!!!
To sum up, the problem is caused, primarily, by three things, the size of the WAV, the amount of proccesing power needed to handle that large WAV and also the amount of memory you have in your system. We are doing our best to alleviate these ‘windows’ memory problems in the next V2 release, but it is highly likely that to be able to run V2 at it’s best, (multimedia use), a P3, (or higher), with a minimum 450mzh processor and minimum 128MB RAM will be reccomended.
Problems with default pitch
if you have samples in your song playing at DEF, then save it, and load it again, rarely do they play at the correct pitch. this is because med is not saving or loading the ‘default pitch’ value in instrument properties correctly and altyhough this is being fixed for V2, you need a work round now!, here is some help from boz, (Alistair).
The “DEF” note points to the “default frequency” field in the instrument panel. At first glance, you might assume that this field is directly editable, but it isn’t! Imagine the scene… you’ve just “acquired” a brand-spanking-new sample… from a CD let’s say, or from a nice friendly free-sample web-site. This sample is typically going to be at 44,100Hz, the standard for “CD-quality” samples (I had it explained to me once… something to do with the human ear having a hearing range of 22KHz, and you double it to allow for anti-aliasing or something as technical as that). Unfortunately, as far as your music-editor is concerned, 44.1KHz isn’t a “standard” frequency for a typical musical note. The actual nearest frequency is 44701Hz, or “F-6” as it’s known in MED. Orpheus (bless 'im) anwered one of query, in that a “workaround” to this problem is to not use the DEF note, but to use F-6 instead, and then put -2 (minus-two) into the finetune field of the instrument. This way, when you save the module and subsequently re-load it, it will sound the same, according to the song-tempo you’ve chosen. There are other ways to overcome the problem, like slightly adjusting the song-tempo, pitch-changing the sample etc etc… As said, V2 will have this problem sorted but the best advice is Orph’s… use F-6 (as opposed to DEF) and finetune by -2. You could, of course, manually resample in another sample-editor.
Until George, the new main author has completed MED V2, James, a very enthusiastic MED user who, as luck would have it, is also a programmer, has decided to continue bug fixes and time permitting, hopes to add as many features that he can to this present V1.xx release.
Unfortunately Andy found his workload far heavier than he expected and made the mistake of assuring Ray and subsequently the users, that V2 would not be long.
He kept sending assurances that all was ok when Ray asked him and this continued
for nearly two years before Ray confronted Andy at which time he admitted he was having some personal problems and had done very little with programming V2.
Ray knew this was very bad news and told Andy he would have to look for new a programmer to take over and in mid 03 he signed up not one, but two, programmers to take over not just from Andy but also from Ray himself because he had now
lost the sight in one eye due to his tumour and decided he could only manage promotion and sales from now on.
The intended main programmer, Simon, made many claims regarding what he intended doing with V2, but after 6 Months he came back and said he was finding it difficult and had decided not to continue, so back yet again to square one!!
George fortunately stepped in and offered to take on all the work and is now
extremely busy working on V2 and has planned lots of new additions, DX plugins etc.,
just how long it is going to take is not clear at this time, but you can be
assured you will be kept informed in the news section of this web site.
UPDATE: DECEMBER 04
George has now also been joined by another MED enthusiast, James, who, time allowed is going to look into getting rid of the last few bugs found in V1.7a, so
there ‘might’ just be a v1.8
The Windows V2 of MED Soundstudio is now planned for release ‘sometime’ late 06 /early 07, we say ‘sometime’ because George intends to make
sure it offers as many new features as time will allow but he says it ‘will’ be completed this year.
