Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth has disappeared

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Posts: 4
Joined: August 13, 2016 - 14:27
Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth has disappeared

Ciao!  I just came across your excellent driver today.  I had been using BASSMIDI previously but I prefer VirtualMIDISynth.  Thanks for writing it :-)

So far, so good... but I just noticed something strange.  The default "Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth" option has disappeared completely!  All I see is VMS, and my sound card's MIDI ports.  Does your program remove the default option?  I realize it's kind of crappy, but I would still like to keep it around...

I am attaching a screenshot.  Using Windows 10 64-bit (clean install).  FYI the GM.DLS file is still in C:\Windows\SysWOW64\drivers\.

Thanks in advance!

Attachments (Only registered users)
VirtualMIDISynth - MIDI Mapper.png
Posts: 1972
Joined: March 25, 2012 - 01:19
Re: Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth has disappeared

VMS does not remove the bundled MS Synth, it only adds itself as an additional output device.
Attached here you'll find the devices status on a clean Win10-X64 machine, together with the relevant MIDI devices registry keys.

Since there's something really strange on your side, I'd like to have a look at your registry status:

  • open regedit.exe and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32 key
  • right-click on Drivers32 folder and select Export, then give a filename to save to (something.reg)
  • now go to the other key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32 and save it to another file
  • pack the 2 files in a ZIP and post them here

Next steps:

  • uninstall VirtualMIDISynth and check if the MS Synth gets back
  • install VMS 2 (actually in Release Candidate 1, you can find the download together with the 1.x versions) which is much more Win10-aware and check if you still have the same issue
  • VMS 2 also features an integrated "debugger": open the about tab and click on Debug report to have a debig file generated for you
Attachments (Only registered users)
VMS_1.17.1_Win10.png
VMS_1.17.1_Reg_X86.png
VMS_1.17.1_Reg_X64.png
Posts: 4
Joined: August 13, 2016 - 14:27
Re: Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth has disappeared

Thank you!  Registry exports attached.

Looking at your registry snapshots, I think I was able to correct the mess in mine...  I mow have VirtualMIDISynth.dll as midi1, the rest are all wdmaud.drv.  Looking at Putzlowitsch's selection tool, I can seen M$'s GS Wavetable Synth again!  See attached.

Although now VirtualMIDISynth is nowere to be found?!

Hmm...

Attachments (Only registered users)
drivers32.zip
Putzlowitschs Vista-MIDIMapper.png
Posts: 4
Joined: August 13, 2016 - 14:27
Re: Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth has disappeared

Can't figure out how to edit my post, sorry, but I just wanted to add the reason VirtualMIDISynth is gone must be because I uninstalled it ;-)  It's still under midi1 in the registry though.

I will be busy this weekend but will continue my investigations on Monday!  In the meantime, thanks again.

Posts: 1972
Joined: March 25, 2012 - 01:19
Re: Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth has disappeared
Schallmeik wrote:
Can't figure out how to edit my post, sorry

Posts can be edited within 30 minutes frm creation...

Schallmeik wrote:
...the reason VirtualMIDISynth is gone must be because I uninstalled it ;-)  It's still under midi1 in the registry though.

That's really really strange.
I've double checked the uninstall procedure (on a clean Win10-X64 VM) and it replaces any occurrence of VirtualMIDISynth.dll with the default wdmaud.drv.

Are you sure you've updated regedit view (pressing F5) after VMS uninstallation?
Did uninstall complete successfully or asked for reboot?

As for your registry, you can now:

  • install VMS 1.17.1 again, then immediately remove it OR
  • replace key values manually, setting them to wdmaud.drv
  • any midi* key with value wdmaud.drv can be safely deleted (wdmaud.drv is the default value)
Posts: 4
Joined: August 13, 2016 - 14:27
Re: Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth has disappeared

Thanks, I've now successfully installed VirtualMIDISynth (and several more MIDI drivers, see first screenshot)!  They're all accessible, including Microsoft's GS Wavetable Synth (which can't even handle GS files...)

The registry settings seem to make no sense though (see second screenshot), for some reason VirtualMIDISynth is in there twice?  Well, as long as it's working...

Attachments (Only registered users)
Putzlowitschs Vista-MIDIMapper (all).png
Drivers32.png
Posts: 1972
Joined: March 25, 2012 - 01:19
Re: Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth has disappeared

The two VirtualMIDISynth keys you see are there because you installed both VMS1 and VMS2: while VMS2 can detect VMS1 presence (and refuses to install), this is not true for VMS1 (because at that time VMS2 was not available).

In your case, midi1 is VMS2 and midi2 is VMS1.