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<title>LinuxSampler For Windows</title> |
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<h2>LinuxSampler for Windows - howto by Benno Senoner </h2> |
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<br> |
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December, 7 2007<br> |
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<br> |
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the LinuxSampler development team is happy to announce that<br> |
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LinuxSampler, the most advanced free, open source sampler now runs on |
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MS Windows too (requires at least Windows 2000).<br> |
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(see below for the download link)<br> |
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More information and documentation will be added here soon, so check |
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back frequently.<br> |
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<br> |
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for the latest LinuxSampler Windowsversion always check <a |
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href="http://www.linuxsampler.org/downloads.html">LinuxSampler |
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Download Page</a><br> |
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<br> |
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If you have questions or want to help subscribe to the <a |
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href="http://www.linuxsampler.org/developers.html">LinuxSampler |
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mailing list</a><br> |
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<br> |
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or since I did most of of the porting, you can write me directly (to |
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Benno) about Windows related questions.<br> |
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you can find my email address here: <a |
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href="http://www.linuxsampler.org/developers.html">LinuxSampler |
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developers</a><br> |
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<br> |
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To report bugs please use our bug tracking system <a |
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href="http://bugs.linuxsampler.org/">http://bugs.linuxsampler.org/</a><br> |
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<br> |
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<br> |
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For now it supports Windows Multimedia System (MME) at MIDI in and ASIO |
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output out.<br> |
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<br> |
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This means that currently it runs only as a standalone application.<br> |
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A VST interface will follow soon, along with a network module to run |
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multiple sampler slaves on<br> |
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Windows or Linux machines (Linux provides better performance) all |
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controlled from a Windows box running <br> |
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the VST sequencer.<br> |
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LinuxSampler is implemented as a client/server application. This means |
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the sampling engine (the server) runs<br> |
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independently from the GUI (the client). Sampling engine and client can |
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be run on the same box or<br> |
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on different machines too, connected over the network.<br> |
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<br> |
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The MS Windows version provides all the features of the Linux version |
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since it is built from the <br> |
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same source code base. This means when new features will come out the |
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Windows version will always provide<br> |
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the same feature set as the Linux version. This was made possible by |
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the very modular design of both<br> |
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low level, operating system functions and flexible audio/MIDI driver |
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system.<br> |
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<br> |
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The Windows version comes as a self extracting .exe file which will |
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install all the necessary modules<br> |
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to run both the server ( linuxsampler.exe ) and the GUI client.<br> |
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In installs 2 GUI clients. One is QSampler, based on the cross-platform |
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Qt4 GUI toolkit, and a java<br> |
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GUI client called JSampler Fantasia. At the moment the latter more |
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advanced than qsampler as it <br> |
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implements all the functionality present in the LinuxSampler engine.<br> |
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Due to the Java virtual machine it uses a bit more memory than the |
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qsampler GUI (around 30MB or so)<br> |
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but on a 1GB+ RAM box the difference should be negligible.<br> |
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<br> |
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Quickstart:<br> |
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start<br> |
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LinuxSampler -> LinuxSampler<br> |
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then<br> |
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LinuxSampler -> Fantasa<br> |
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<br> |
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<br style="font-weight: bold;"> |
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<big style="font-weight: bold;">1) setting up MIDI input</big><span |
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style="font-weight: bold;">:</span><br> |
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once the GUI opens, click on the left round button in the MIDI devices |
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tab.<br> |
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At this point a window will open where you can create a new MIDI device.<br> |
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Press Create. The window will close and the MIDI device will be created.<br> |
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(MIDI Device 0 MME).<br> |
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Now click on the right arrow which points downwards.<br> |
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You can see that a MIDI device with a single Port (Port 0) was created.<br> |
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Under Windows MME LinuxSampler always creates MIDI devices which are |
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connected to a single <br> |
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MME port.<br> |
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To select the MIDI input port you must click on the field located on |
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the left of PORT. <br> |
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A combobox pops-up where you can select the Windows MIDI port.<br> |
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<br> |
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You can create an arbitrary number of MIDI input devices by repeating |
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the procedure above.<br> |
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Each MIDI input device is connected to a single Windows MME MIDI port.<br> |
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This means LinuxSampler has no limitation in terms of number of MIDI |
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ports. <br> |
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Each MIDI device can be routed to arbitrary sampler channels.<br> |
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<br> |
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<br> |
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<big><span style="font-weight: bold;">2) setting up AUDIO output:</span></big><br> |
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<br> |
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LinuxSampler currently uses the ASIO driver model for audio output.<br> |
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ASIO drivers ensure reliable low-latency operation and are virtually |
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available<br> |
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for any soundcard.<br> |
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(For consumer audio cards which do not come with their own ASIO drivers |
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you need<br> |
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to install ASIO4ALL: http://www.asio4all.com/<br> |
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We recommend to use version 2.7 , perhaps on Vista 2.8beta1 works |
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better but<br> |
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we did not perform tests on Vista so we cannot tell it. Let us know |
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about your findings<br> |
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so we can share them here)<br> |
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<br> |
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Click on the left round button in the Audio Devices tab.<br> |
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At this point a window will open where you can create a new MIDI device.<br> |
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When creating the Audio device you can set several parameters.<br> |
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- CARD : the name of the soundcard, in case you have multiple cards |
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installed.<br> |
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it will show the default value (first card found)<br> |
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- CHANNELS: number of audio output channels, can range from 1 to |
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maximum number<br> |
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of channels your soundcard supports. We recommend to leave the default |
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value which<br> |
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is maximum number of channels.<br> |
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- FRAGMENTSIZE: ASIO buffer size in samples. The card's default value |
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is shown.<br> |
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If you experience clicks and pops during audio playback then initialize |
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the <br> |
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audio output device with bigger values. <br> |
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(better if it's always a power of 2: eg. 256, 512, 1024)<br> |
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<br> |
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SAMPLERATE: sets the samplerate. The default value is shown.<br> |
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<br> |
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Now Press Create. The window will close and the Audio device will be |
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created.<br> |
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AUDIO DEVICE 0 (ASIO)<br> |
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<big style="font-weight: bold;"><br> |
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3) Loading samples:</big><br> |
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<br> |
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In the middle of the screen below the volume slider you see the sampler |
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channel strip pane.<br> |
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press on the round button located on the left. <br> |
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This will create a new sampler channel.<br> |
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- click on Load Instrument <br> |
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this opens a dialog which allows you to select an instrument to be |
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loaded in the sampler channel.<br> |
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(For information on how to use orchestras <a |
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href="http://www.linuxsampler.org/jsampler/manual/html/jsampler.html#USING_ORCHESTRAS">click here</a>)<br> |
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On the row "Select instrument from file" click on the orange icon |
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located on the right side.<br> |
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This opens a file dialog which allows you to select a sample to be |
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loaded <br> |
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(currently only the GIG format is supported).<br> |
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select the sample to be loaded and then click on Open.<br> |
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At this point the fields Instrument file shows the filename.<br> |
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You can click on the Instrument index and select the specific |
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instrument contained in the<br> |
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instrument file.<br> |
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Now press OK<br> |
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While it loads you see: Loading .. 90% .. 100% <br> |
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Once loaded you see the Instrument's name: ie FreePiano<br> |
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<br> |
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On the left side of the sampler channel click on the arrow below |
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Options.<br> |
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This pane permits to set MIDI input device, port and channel and oudio |
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output channel.<br> |
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Notice that under Windows MME the Port value is always 0.<br> |
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So the only values you can change MIDI device (normally 0 if you |
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created only a single<br> |
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MIDI input device) and the MIDI channel (from 1 to 16).<br> |
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<br> |
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Saving a sampler session:<br> |
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click on the 3rd icon from the left on the row where you see the round |
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icon with the S logo.<br> |
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<br> |
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Now select the directory where you want to save the file to ( extension |
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.lscp = Linux Sampler Control Protocol).<br> |
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enter the name and press save. (add .lscp at end of file otherwise you |
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will not see it when loading it)<br> |
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<br> |
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Next time you can load a sampler session by clicking on the second icon |
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from the left <br> |
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then select a .lscp file in the file dialog and press Open.<br> |
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This will automatically set up the MIDI devices and audio devices, |
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create the sampler channels<br> |
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and load all the samples that were loaded.<br> |
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<br> |
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Bugs and Problems: <br> |
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<small><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></small></span>since the |
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Windows port is very young there could be several bugs which we hope to |
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root out soon.<br> |
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so be sure to report them using our bug tracking system <a |
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href="http://bugs.linuxsampler.org/">http://bugs.linuxsampler.org/</a><br> |
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<br> |
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some bugs and problems I discovered:<br> |
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- when adding a channel there noises could occur while playing on other |
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channels<br> |
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- if you overload the sampler (CPU overload or disk overload) it |
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produces noises<br> |
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- then editing an instrument using gigedit<br> |
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<br> |
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<br> |
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