Microsoft XP wavetable horrible sound

#1 01-31-2008, 12:59 AM

Hello all,

I have purchased midinote composer and been using it for a month now and I love it. One thing I have noticed is that when I play back a composition thru my Yamaha keyboard it sounds just as I have composed it. The problem arises when I am forced to used headphones in my XP laptop. The song now sounds horrible!! I suspect the problem lies with the soundcard drivers but I don't know why it wouldn't sound the same via the keyboard or the headphones. When I say horrible I really mean it sounds totally different and becomes hard to write a song. I find myself adapting to the incorrect pitches when using headphones. Is there better drivers out there to make my lapetop via headphones sound like my Yamaha?

Thanks in advance!

Daniel

#2 01-31-2008, 11:03 AM

Hi, Daniel:

The problem lies in the Wavetable sound device, not in the drivers (and certainly not with Composer).

The Wavetable device is frankly awful, barely better than the old 2-operator FM synthesis that was the standard on soundcards 15 years ago.

You could try investigating some alternative software sound devices, of which there are many on line.

One possibility is using a freeware SoundFont player like rgcAudio's SFZ in conjunction with a virtual midi port like Maple Midi or Hubi's Loopback Device to send the midi from Composer to.

Good luck.

David

#3 02-02-2008, 07:20 AM

Hi Daniel,

Assuming, that you have tested your laptop’s audio and headphones by playing an ordinary CD, I agree with David that your problems are the use of the XP wave table. Your keyboard is a Yamaha keyboard while the XP wave table is a Roland wave table. The solution is to get of Yamaha a software synth or wave table that suits your keyboard. Nothing else will do, unless you are prepared to do a lot of experimenting and editing.

The Roland wave table is ok for what it is meant for and that is, that people can exchange midi files due to its universal availability. The problem arises when a midi file is played back by using a wave table that is different to the one the midi file was sequenced in.

Best wishes,

Herbert