Announcing new important release: yoshimi 1.3.2 is up!

[Constantin Teodorescu]

Hello Ubuntu developers,

just wanted to announce an important release of Linux audio synthesizer,
Yoshimi, version 1.3.2 stable, and I just wanted to make a link between the
package maintainer of Yoshimi on Ubuntu and the main developer, Will
Godfrey.

I hope that isn't too late to include this updated version of Yoshimi in
the next 15.04 release of Ubuntu Studio.
Thanks a lot,
Constantin Teodorescu

yoshimi 1.3.2 is up!
There has been a lot of work on on this release so here is just about
everything
we've done!

The main feature of this release is the revision of root directories and
banks.

In the first place, you no longer have the concept of a default root
directory,
but a current one. This can by changed at any time without requiring a
re-start, so there is now no longer a need to display the (confusing)
contents
of all roots. Also, roots now have ID numbers associated with them, but no
changes have been made to the actual directories to achieve this. Instead
the
IDs are stored in the config file. The same ID system is used for banks,
again
without making any file system changes.

At first run (and whenever new root directories are set) unknown roots and
banks are given these IDs. Once set they will not change no matter how many
more roots and banks are later added. You can however, manually change root
directory IDs in 'settings'. Bank IDs can be changed via the config file,
and
in the near future the GUI will be updated to manage this. With these IDs,
roots and banks can be grouped/ordered by function instead of
alphabetically.
When using the GUI you will always know exactly which root and bank you
fetch
an instrument from.

The significance of all this is that your MIDI sequencer can now reliably
use
these ID numbers to select roots, banks and (already available) instruments.
That Rosegarden or Muse file you save today will be just as valid in the
future, unless you make the deliberate choice to change some IDs. Indeed,
you
can now start with an 'empty' Yoshimi, and via MIDI, set roots, banks and
load
instruments into parts (enabling the parts as you do so) swapping banks and
roots as necessary. While the MIDI file runs it can silently pull
instruments
from any root/bank into any non-sounding part without disturbing the playing
ones.

In Yoshimi->Settings->CC you can enable or disable all these MIDI features,
and
can define which CCs you want to use. Bank can be either MSB or LSB (as
before). Root can be any non-reserved CC but including the one not in use
for
Bank. Also, Extended Program Change now has the same restrictions as Root,
and
these three are all cross-checked against each other. As an example you
might
set Bank to LSB and Root to 0 (MSB), effectively giving you extended bank
control compatible with all sequencers.

Also, different instances have their own config files so that you can have
(say) the main instance with current root(9), bank(23) while instance 4 has
current root(2), bank(6). You can call up instances by number and thus
access
saved settings for that instance. As each instance has its own MIDI and
audio
ports, they can behave more-or-less independently.

In doing all of this we have completely changed the way we manage the
structure
internally, resulting in much greater efficiency, at the cost of only a
slightly slower startup. Swapping roots performs *no* file operations.
Swapping
banks only fetches the directory list of the newly selected bank. Changing
an
instrument doesn't have to search for a file, only load from its already
known
location.


Following on from that, we now have a startup splash image that appears
instantly so you always know Yoshimi has started even if some later error
causes it to abort. The actual image may change - we have requests out for
artwork.


So much for the high visibility stuff!

More work has been done on LV2, including integrating the new root and bank
controls.

The main window and the mixer panel are now fully in sync.

Ambiguities in instrument names have been resolved and Yoshimi will no
longer
save unnamed or default instruments. If you load a Zyn (or older Yoshimi)
file
that has unnamed instruments they will be given the name 'No Title'.

You are now prevented (with an explanation) from attempting to change a bank
entry in a non-writeable area. Previously it would seem you had done so,
but the
changes would not (of course) have been saved to file - this goes back very
many years!

And... a few bug fixes - where do they come from?


--
Will J Godfrey
http://www.musically.me.uk
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