VirtualMIDISynth 2.x - Release Candidate 2 released

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Posts: 1972
Joined: 25 Mar 2012 - 01:19
Re: VirtualMIDISynth 2.x - Release Candidate 2 released

I've just seen that 2.x doesn't switch between tabs with Control+TAB shortcut key anymore.
The feature disappeared between 1.x and 2.x, sorry for that.

Could you please confirm that screen readers switch between tabs using that shortcut? (I have very limited experience on screen readers, sorry).

Will fix it ASAP anyway.

Posts: 6
Joined: 31 Ott 2016 - 00:50
Re: VirtualMIDISynth 2.x - Release Candidate 2 released

Yep. Screen readers do allow one to switch tabs with Control+TAB under normal circumstances.

Posts: 27
Joined: 4 Dic 2016 - 18:13
Re: VirtualMIDISynth 2.x - Release Candidate 2 released

I tried rc2 and created two VirtuMIDISynth devices but I couldn't select them as output devices in WinJammer Pro because something kept saying they were already in use by a certain PID, which didn't actually seem to exist.

I went back to 1.17.1 for now, but maybe I could continue with rc2 if I just use one device, and aways use it via the MIDI mapper.

Posts: 43
Joined: 5 Giu 2015 - 12:43
Re: VirtualMIDISynth 2.x - Release Candidate 2 released

VMS rc2 + Windows 10

1. Coming back to VMS rc2 after not using it for a while, I discovered that it had disappeared from the list of my installed apps! I'm pretty sure that I did not uninstall it myself, but can't be completely sure about that...

2. Turned off my Virus protection, and reinstalled VMS. Then restarted Windows. VMS failed to load.
Tried starting VMS by clicking on its icon in the installed directiory, and discovered that the configuration file was missing.

3. Uninstalled VMS, then reinstalled it. This time I restarted VMS, but did not reboot Windows, and everything seemed okay.

4. Selected two VMS devices, and checked Options/Appearance/"Suppress 'device is already in use' message".
This time I got an error dialog saying something like:
"The device is not available for 32-bit and 64-bit versions, please select one that is. Failure to do so can result in unpredictable behaviour."
Sorry, but I dismissed the dialog too quickly. I should have made a screenshot.

5. Dismissed the error dialog. Closed the configuration dialog. VMS says that there's an error because I need to select a font for the device. The error happened because I have a font selected for device #1, but not for #2.
Re-opened the confguration editor, and turned on device #2 next to the font that is selected for #1. Everything now feels fine.

Remarks/Consequences:  

Re 2. Restarting Windows before saving the VMS configuration file was my mistake. Maybe the "Please restart VMS" dialog could be clearer or replaced by a "Save configuration?" dialog.

Re 4. Are you sure everything is okay with support for 32-bit and 64-bit versions? Maybe that's a problem that caused Windows to uninstall VMS while I wasn't looking?

Re 5. It would be more convenient if, by default, new devices inherited the soundfonts from an existing device. Configuring soundfonts for different devices could always be done later, if required.

 

http://james-ingram-act-two.de/

Posts: 1972
Joined: 25 Mar 2012 - 01:19
Re: VirtualMIDISynth 2.x - Release Candidate 2 released
Draq wrote:
Yep. Screen readers do allow one to switch tabs with Control+TAB under normal circumstances.

Now fixed, you'll find it in RC3 (if any) or in final release.
Thanks for pointing it out.

bdg2 wrote:
I tried rc2 and created two VirtuMIDISynth devices but I couldn't select them as output devices in WinJammer Pro because something kept saying they were already in use by a certain PID, which didn't actually seem to exist.

Each virtual device has a watchdog that checks its owning PID; if it dies unexpectedly, the device is released.
Watchdog check time is 2 to 4 seconds.

Now I'd like to know why the shown PID does not exist.
Are you sure you've opened Task Manager in Administrator mode (pressing the Show tasks of all users button)?
I've seen unexpected system processes (like Comodo Firewall) trying to open media devices...

notator wrote:
1. Coming back to VMS rc2 after not using it for a while, I discovered that it had disappeared from the list of my installed apps! I'm pretty sure that I did not uninstall it myself, but can't be completely sure about that...

If, when you say "coming back to VMS rc2" you mean you've "reverted to VMS1", then it could be that VMS1 setup forced you to remove VMS2 (the two are incompatible).
Otherwise... I don't know ;)

notator wrote:
2. Turned off my Virus protection, and reinstalled VMS. Then restarted Windows. VMS failed to load.
    Tried starting VMS by clicking on its icon in the installed directiory, and discovered that the configuration file was missing.
3. Uninstalled VMS, then reinstalled it. This time I restarted VMS, but did not reboot Windows, and everything seemed okay.

Will check it, but a default & empty config file is created by setup, you can only change it opening VMS after setup completes.
Missing file should not happen, will check it.

notator wrote:

4. Selected two VMS devices, and checked Options/Appearance/"Suppress 'device is already in use' message".
    This time I got an error dialog saying something like:"The device is not available for 32-bit and 64-bit versions, please select one that is. Failure to do so can result in unpredictable behaviour."
    Sorry, but I dismissed the dialog too quickly. I should have made a screenshot.

Already working on this issue, started from (I suppose) one of the latest Win10 updates...

notator wrote:
5. Dismissed the error dialog. Closed the configuration dialog. VMS says that there's an error because I need to select a font for the device. The error happened because I have a font selected for device #1, but not for #2.
    Re-opened the confguration editor, and turned on device #2 next to the font that is selected for #1. Everything now feels fine.

I agree with you about cloning existing devices (or at least device #1) configuration to new devices, but still trying to find the best solution for this.
Device number changes are applied after VMS restart; if, at start, VMS finds a new device (with empty configuration) it should clone #1 config to the new device.
But what if I have 2 devices and I want (for any reason) keep #2 unconfigured? Each time I start VMS it will clone #1-->#2, and this could be very annoying.
There should be someting like "last devices count" flag stored somewhere in VMS config, still wondering how to do it safely.

Posts: 43
Joined: 5 Giu 2015 - 12:43
Re: VirtualMIDISynth 2.x - Release Candidate 2 released
coolsoft wrote:
notator wrote:
1. Coming back to VMS rc2 after not using it for a while, I discovered that it had disappeared from the list of my installed apps! I'm pretty sure that I did not uninstall it myself, but can't be completely sure about that...

If, when you say "coming back to VMS rc2" you mean you've "reverted to VMS1", then it could be that VMS1 setup forced you to remove VMS2 (the two are incompatible).
Otherwise... I don't know ;)

I've never re-installed VMS1. I meant that when I looked (at Windows and my app), I discovered that I didn't have any version of VMS installed at all.

coolsoft wrote:
notator wrote:
2. Turned off my Virus protection, and reinstalled VMS. Then restarted Windows. VMS failed to load.
    Tried starting VMS by clicking on its icon in the installed directiory, and discovered that the configuration file was missing.
3. Uninstalled VMS, then reinstalled it. This time I restarted VMS, but did not reboot Windows, and everything seemed okay.

Will check it, but a default & empty config file is created by setup, you can only change it opening VMS after setup completes.
Missing file should not happen, will check it.

Great! :-)

coolsoft wrote:
notator wrote:

4. Selected two VMS devices, and checked Options/Appearance/"Suppress 'device is already in use' message".
    This time I got an error dialog saying something like:"The device is not available for 32-bit and 64-bit versions, please select one that is. Failure to do so can result in unpredictable behaviour."
    Sorry, but I dismissed the dialog too quickly. I should have made a screenshot.

Already working on this issue, started from (I suppose) one of the latest Win10 updates...

Great! :-)

coolsoft wrote:
notator wrote:
5. Dismissed the error dialog. Closed the configuration dialog. VMS says that there's an error because I need to select a font for the device. The error happened because I have a font selected for device #1, but not for #2.
    Re-opened the confguration editor, and turned on device #2 next to the font that is selected for #1. Everything now feels fine.

I agree with you about cloning existing devices (or at least device #1) configuration to new devices, but still trying to find the best solution for this.
Device number changes are applied after VMS restart; if, at start, VMS finds a new device (with empty configuration) it should clone #1 config to the new device.
But what if I have 2 devices and I want (for any reason) keep #2 unconfigured? Each time I start VMS it will clone #1-->#2, and this could be very annoying.
There should be someting like "last devices count" flag stored somewhere in VMS config, still wondering how to do it safely.

Maybe the answer (for devices beyond #1) is not to display an error message when the configuration dialog closes, but to display the error when an attempt is made to actually use the unconfigured device.

On the other hand, I can't think of any reason for having an unconfigured device. If someone wants to configure the device differently every time they start VMS, they can still do that. Can anyone else say why they would want to have an unconfigured device? 

 

http://james-ingram-act-two.de/

Posts: 6
Joined: 31 Ott 2016 - 00:50
Re: VirtualMIDISynth 2.x - Release Candidate 2 released
coolsoft wrote:
Draq wrote:
Yep. Screen readers do allow one to switch tabs with Control+TAB under normal circumstances.

Now fixed, you'll find it in RC3 (if any) or in final release.
Thanks for pointing it out.

Awesome, thanks.

Posts: 16
Joined: 4 Set 2014 - 17:34
Re: VirtualMIDISynth 2.x - Release Candidate 2 released

Speaking of RC3/release, I'd like to make a small suggestion: have an option to not remove the blacklist when clearing the settings (while updating or otherwise).  Granted VMS isn't being updated all that frequently, it's still a good practice to clear the settings when you do update it and there's some weird things that like to pointlessly keep it active (Steam, my TV tuner's software, various VOIP clients, etc) which I'd rather just keep blacklisted, rather than having to figure them out all over again.

Posts: 1972
Joined: 25 Mar 2012 - 01:19
Re: VirtualMIDISynth 2.x - Release Candidate 2 released
notator wrote:
...I can't think of any reason for having an unconfigured device...

Well, you're right; maybe I was too much "prudent" about it since it will simply never happen.
I'm only afraid about something like this: clear all soundfonts from #2 (for no other reason than simply being able to do it), save config, close VMS, restart it after some time, find #2 configured (with #1 config), posting a bug that reads "config not saved" or "device SF configuration not saved", more forum posts to find out what's wrong...
Users can misdirect developers in a shot.

Thalyn wrote:
have an option to not remove the blacklist when clearing the settings

Don't worry, final releases won't have the "clear settings" option and configuration will always be upgraded.
Beta/RC versions have it because I'd like to be free to change my mind during development ;)

Posts: 43
Joined: 5 Giu 2015 - 12:43
Re: VirtualMIDISynth 2.x - Release Candidate 2 released
coolsoft wrote:
notator wrote:
...I can't think of any reason for having an unconfigured device...

Well, you're right; maybe I was too much "prudent" about it since it will simply never happen.
I'm only afraid about something like this: clear all soundfonts from #2 (for no other reason than simply being able to do it), save config, close VMS, restart it after some time, find #2 configured (with #1 config), posting a bug that reads "config not saved" or "device SF configuration not saved", more forum posts to find out what's wrong...

Okay, so you want to allow devices (beyond #1 ?) to be incompletely configured. That means its not an error, and the dialog that appears when config closes should be a warning (not an error). The reason I'm not happy with the current situation is that the error (warning) message doesn't tell me precisely what the problem is (#2 is unconfigured), so I don't know how to fix it even if I want to.
If you want to allow unconfigured devices, then I think you also need to add an informative error dialog when the user actually tries to use one.

My own instinct would be to go the other way, and insist that all devices are always assigned at least one soundfont. It should be a real error if that is not the case. In other words, the config file should not save with unconfigured devices. I agree with you that its a mistake to clone #1 automatically. Users should be asked to set undefined soundfonts manually. That way they know where they are.

coolsoft wrote:
Users can misdirect developers in a shot.

Yes, but you're the boss! :-)

http://james-ingram-act-two.de/

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