No sound from Composer but OK with Player

[Steven Taylor (steventaylor)]

Hi
I REALLY want to buy Composer and have the demo of both progs. Why can I get sound to my Roland Piano with Player but not with Composer? I have read all posts and checked settings. I can record from Composer and checked the Config settings box and there are outputs showing on the graphic. Everything is fine with Player, full orchestral playback possible.
Am I missing something obvious? Is it something to do with the trail version???
I have checked all the assigning my USB and everything there seems fine otherwise Player would not output as it does.
If I can't get it to play I am afraid of buying the full version.

Regards

Steve

[Sherry Crann (sherry)]

Hi Steven,

I'm glad you're enjoying the trial version of Composer. It is fully functional for 30 days, so there's nothing "crippled" about it that should be causing the problem with sound from your Roland unit.

Since you get the sound you want with Player, there are a couple of quick and easy tests you can do.

Test 1

1. Open Composer and one of the files which is not giving you the playback you want.

2. Use Staff/Setup, and see which Playback Device is listed for the staves that sound wrong.

3. If the Device is something other than your Roland, click the Device heading and you can then enter a Device that will be set for all the staves of the song.



Test 2

1. Use Windows Explore and navigate to c:\Program Files\Notation\Composer\MidiDev.cfg

2. Rename that file to something like "MidiDevComposer.bak" (this way you can recover it later if you want.)

3. Now find c:\Program Files\Notation\Player\MidiDev.cfg

4. Copy that file into the c:\Program File\Notation\Composer folder.

5. Run Composer and play a file. Does that change the resulting sound?


If neither of the above resolves the problem, do let us know.

ttfn,
Sherry

[Steven Taylor (steventaylor)]

Hi

Thanks for such a swift reply...now that is service. I really want this to work as I think the product is superb. I did get it playing, for some odd reason, it suddenly came on! then it just went off again, then came back with what seemed like stuck notes, or at least the software not sending the correct timings on note. The music vaguely sounded correct.
Going back into Notation Player and everything is fine.
I loaded the demo on another laptop and same problems.
I have other midi software (Band in a Box) and that plays with no problem at all.
I can't think it is my laptop, unless Composer requires far more processing power than Player, but that wouldn't fit with the time that it played OK.
Any further advice would be welcome. THe amazing thing, when it played, was that I could play my Saxophone with it after transposing the melody part, all the others fit. Awesome!! so I am desperate to get it working and buy the software.
Regards
Steve

[Mark Walsen (markwa)]

Hello Steve,

Sherry's Test 2 idea digs deeper than Test 1 with a high chance of succeeding. Have you tried that?

If it works, I'd appreciate your sending to Sherry and me at support@notation.com the MidiDevComposer.bak file and the MidiDev.cfg file that you copied from Player's directory to Composer's.

Cheers
-- Mark

[David Jacklin (dj)]

Hi, guys:

Steven wrote: I did get it playing, for some odd reason, it suddenly came on! then it just went off again, then came back with what seemed like stuck notes, or at least the software not sending the correct timings on note. The music vaguely sounded correct.

That sounds suspiciously like that old nemesis, the IRQ conflict. But if it works with Player, it should work with Composer.

"Curiouser and curiouser," said Alice.

David

[Mark Walsen (markwa)]

Hello Steven,

Oops. My post about the Windows Multimedia Player is probably irrelevant. If the problem is still with sound to your Roland Piano, then the Windows Multimedia Player won't be involved. If so, you can ignore my last post.

Cheers
-- Mark

[M G Jacobs (mgj32)]

Hi Mark and Steven,

I am using Composer 2.51 and have the same problem of WMP lowering the mini synth volume. How much it lowers it depends on the volume at which I set WMP. If I set it in the middle, I find play control set at half volume for midi synth. I have solved the problem my using the KMPlayer, a free multi-media player, with lots of bells and a few whistles. For some reason it produces better sound than WMP, too. I think because it has a better equalizer. The one problem I've found with it is that it's not easy to get into options and preferences. But since it doesn't change the system volume, it tends to confirm that WMP is, indeed, a problem.

all best,
mgj

[Sherry Crann (sherry)]

Howdy guys,

David mentioned IRQ conflicts above, and in doing some research I found a "layman's terms" article at http://www.cakewalk.com/support/Docs/HardwareConflicts.asp about eliminating conflicts. So if anyone else is having problems, you might want to review that page.

ttfn,
Sherry

[Steven Taylor (steventaylor)]

UPDATE!!!

Well, I finally got it all working! Many thanks to Sherry for all the e-mails that flew across the Atlantic.

The problem was that I had to run Composer BEFORE switching on my Midi device (Roland Digital Piano). This is not the usual order of events and we had been trying for ages to sort out why I could use any other midi software but not Composer, which I love!

Anyhow, in the words of the bard..."All's well that ends well" ...or those of Jerry Herman "It Only takes a moment".

So, here's to hours of time playing along with my Sax when I should be doing other things round the house....but then that's what life's about!

Steve

[Sherry Crann (sherry)]

Howdy folks,

It's not obvious here on this thread, but Steven and I had a very long conversation going for about a month via the helpdesk, where he was working very hard with me to figure out the problem. Kudos to him for sticking with it, and for finding a very simple solution that may help other folks who feel (as I was about to) that they are at their wit's end if they're unable to hear sound from a MIDI device http://www.notation.com/discus/clipart/happy.gif

ttfn,
Sherry

[David Jacklin (dj)]

Congrats, Steven.

Odd solution, that but if it works, it works.

Now, maybe you can have some fun.

David