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Version 2.0.0 (15 July 2015) |
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The sampler's code base has seen substantial changes in the last six years, |
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since the last release of LinuxSampler. The sampler engine code base has |
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been unified to a set of abstract base classes which cleared the way for |
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two new sampler engines: The SFZ2 format engine (.sfz) and the SoundFont 2 |
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engine (.sf2). So LinuxSampler is not limited to the GigaStudio/Gigasampler |
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format (.gig) anymore. Another major new feature is support for real-time |
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instrument scripts, which may be bundled with sound files to extend the |
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sampler with custom behavior for individual sounds. You may know such scripts |
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from commercial software samplers. Find out more about instrument scripts |
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on http://doc.linuxsampler.org/Instrument_Scripts/. At the moment this |
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scripting feature is yet limited to the Giga format engine. Also noteworthy |
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is the new command line application "lscp", which is a text based shell for |
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controlling the sampler from the command line, providing colored output, |
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type completion, help text while typing LSCP commands and other convenient |
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features. You may now also load external effects directly into the sampler |
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(only LADSPA plugins yet). The LSCP network protocol (v1.7) has been extended |
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to manage such effects respectively. Also new with latest LSCP version is the |
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ability to trigger MIDI CCs by LSCP commands. You may have heard that the |
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GigaStudio software has seen its last version with GigaStudio 4. Tascam |
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officially discontinued this product, its intellectual property has been sold |
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several times among companies and there is currently no way to buy a new copy |
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of GigaStudio anymore. However the GigaStudio format is still under active |
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development with LinuxSampler. We not only added support for the latest |
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features introduced with GigaStudio 4: iMIDI rules for example which allow to |
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trigger notes by MIDI CC and allow i.e. defining a set of legato samples; for |
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the first time ever we also added our own extensions to the Giga format: one |
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of it is the previously mentioned new instrument scripting feature and a more |
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minor extension is support for various other MIDI CCs which were never |
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supported by GigaStudio before. The sampler's host plugins have also seen |
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some enhancements: the LV2 plugin now stores and restores the sampler's |
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overall state with your DAW application's song, the LV2 and AudioUnit |
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plugin's outputs were increased from 2 audio channels to 16 upon request by |
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some users and the VST plugin now uses the sampler's MIDI instrument mapping |
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system to show a list of available sounds to allow the user to switch among |
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them. And last but not least the VST plugin may also be used on Mac now. |
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Version 1.0.0 (31 July 2009) |
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This is the first release which allows the sampler to be used as audio |
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host plugin, namely supporting the standards VST, AU, DSSI and LV2. The |
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sampler's limits for max. voices & disk streams can now be altered at |
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runtime by frontends, no need to recompile the sampler anymore. The Mac |
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version now also supports CoreAudio as audio driver. The Windows version |
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finally supports the sampler's instruments DB feature as well, however |
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expect it still to be unstable at this point. Along to the already |
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existing JACK audio driver, Jack MIDI support has been added in this |
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release. The sampler allows frontends now basic MIDI control, that is to |
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monitor incoming MIDI data on MIDI input devices and sampler channels and |
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to send note-on and note-off MIDI events to sampler channels, which |
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allows frontends to provide a virtual MIDI keyboard to the user. Besides |
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these major changes there were countless bugfixes and optimizations. |
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Version 0.5.1 (6 December 2007) |
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This is the first release for the Windows platform, providing a MME MIDI |
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input driver and ASIO audio output driver. Note that the instruments DB |
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feature is not yet available for Windows systems, since the respective |
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code base has yet to be ported. Needless to say that there still might be |
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plenty of issues on MS systems. Beside that support for Windows, this is |
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merely a bugfix release (i.e. fixing one serious crash) with only minor |
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new features. |
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Version 0.5.0 (15 October 2007) |
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This release comes with a bunch of important new features. We implemented |
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a very powerful and easy MIDI program change mapping, which not only |
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allows you to define which instrument to load on which MIDI program |
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change number (and bank select number), it also allows further parameters |
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like whether the instrument shall be pre-cached or loaded only when needed |
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(and likewise freed when not needed). You can create arbitrary amount of |
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effect sends for each sampler channel, each having an arbitrary MIDI |
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controller for controlling the effect send level in realtime and can |
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flexible be routed to some of the sampler's audio output channel, i.e. |
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to a dedicated one for a certain effect type. The new instruments |
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database allows you to keep track even of largest instrument library |
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collections. You can order them in categories and search by various |
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criteria. The sampler now allows third party applications to offer so |
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called 'instrument editor plugins' which the sampler can use to spawn |
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an appropriate instrument editor application for a selected instrument |
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and for allowing to edit instruments with such an external editor |
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application on-the-fly, that is all modifications made with the editor |
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will immediately be audible with the sampler. No need to reload instrument |
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files anymore. Checkout our brand new instrument editor application called |
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'gigedit' which you can use for this feature. Loading huge instruments may |
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take a long time, that's why the sampler now allows to play an instrument |
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while loading. That way you can i.e. play and hold notes on the keyboard |
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while loading a new instrument on the same sampler channel at the same |
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time. Beside these new features, you can find the common huge list of bug |
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fixes and quality improvements. |
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Version 0.4.0 (24 November 2006) |
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Finally a new release after a long development cycle. The sampler now has |
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a completely revised synthesis core. Note that due to this, most of the |
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assembly code became incompatible and is thus deactivated at compile |
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time. So don't bother trying to activate the assembly option, it won't |
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compile! That's not an issue though, because even without assembly, the |
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new synthesis core is faster than the old one with assembly. The |
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Gigasampler engine now has real support for 24 bit samples, that is they |
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won't be truncated anymore, and finally supports all filter types of the |
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Gigasampler format. A lot of effort has been put into making all filters |
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under all parameters being as accurate as possible, compared to the |
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original Gigasampler ones. Analogue to hardware mixers, sampler channels |
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can now be muted and solo-ed and there is support for GM portamento and |
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GM mono mode (single note per channel) as well as support for sostenuto |
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pedal. Beside LSCP, third-party applications can now also link against |
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liblinuxsampler directly (using the sampler's C++ API). Beside these, |
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there have been of course a huge bunch of fixes and quality improvements. |
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Version 0.3.3 (15 July 2005) |
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Another bug fix release. It solves one usability issue regarding small |
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fragments / high sampling rates of audio drivers, fixes some compile time |
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errors with GCC 4.0 and fixes a minor efficiency bug. |
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Version 0.3.2 (24 June 2005) |
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This is more or less just a bug fix release. Beside a bunch of little |
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fixes it solves a serious crash in conjunction with voice stealing and |
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slightly improves Gigasampler format playback accuracy. |