0.9b11 Release Notes
30/12/2002 AudioMulch 0.9b11 Release Notes
AudioMulch version 0.9b11 is now available from the download page. This version will expire on April 1st, 2003.
IMPORTANT WARNING - PLEASE READ
Significant changes have been made to code that reads and writes .amh documents in this version. To avoid possible loss of data due to as yet undiscovered bugs PLEASE BACKUP ALL YOUR .amh FILES BEFORE USING THIS RELEASE.
AudioMulch version 0.9b11 introduces a number new features and improvements to the user interface. New features include: a new scheme for locating missing soundfiles (see below for further details); a new Save a Copy... command which includes an option to save the document with a copy of all referenced sound files; support for VST programs and programs banks (.fxb files) via a right-click popup menu in the contraption editor's title bar; ability to refresh the VST Plugin menu without restarting the application; and the ability to rename contraptions by right clicking on them in the Patcher and choosing Rename from the popup menu.
The overall look and feel of the application has been improved through a number of enhancements. The most visible of these is the new Splash Screen and About Box featuring artwork by Esa Kotala and graphic design by Simon Kidd. The properties background can now be set to a user selectable color or background tile from the Appearance Tab of the Settings dialog. Some graphical user interface components have been updated to use the system color scheme, and many have been updated to be more legible when using a high-contrast color scheme such as white-on-black. The mouse scroll wheel can now be used with the Patcher, Properties and Automation panes.
Other changes made for this release include:
- Restored SoundIn and FilePlayer to pre-0.9b9 behavior - mono files are now played through both outputs
- Changed document format to reduce document sizes when a large amount of automation data is used
- Renamed Drums Mutes parameters to Enables so that both the contraption editor and automation check boxes have the same values
- Altered the naming of some elements in the XML document format to improve clarity
- Right-click on preset button, SoundIn and FilePlayer play buttons now shows the correct context menu for Automating, Quick-Map MIDI etc.
Please consult the History of AudioMulch Changes topic in the Help file for a full list of changes made for this release.
Bugs that have been fixed for this release are listed below. Some of these fixes should lead to significant improvements in stability.
- Fixed long standing bug which would cause an intermittent crash when opening or reopening a document while audio was enabled
- Fixed bug where deleting a contraption with automation and then undoing the delete caused duplicate automation channel panels to be created
- Fixed bug where registration codes were only stored for the currently logged in user, rather than being available for all users
- Fixed crash when playing a sound file with the Open Sound File dialog if the audio device was unavailable
- Fixed bug where floating point values were not stored in the document using their full precision
- Fixed bug where keyboard shortcuts for cut/copy/paste didn't work in the Set Value dialog
- Fixed bug where Automation Loop Points didn't snap when Automation Snap To was set to Grid (the Alt key can be used to prevent snapping if desired)
- Fixed bug that caused Fruity Loops VSTi to not sync to the AudioMulch clock
- Fixed bug which caused a divide by zero when clicking in the bottom margin of the parameter modulation midi mapping curve
- Fixed problem where sample load progress was not displayed unless audio was enabled
- Fixed problem where AudioMulch asked if you want to save the document even when no changes were made
- Fixed drawing glitch in bool breakpoint edit when dragging a point where previous point is checked
- Fixed bug where automation handles would not be drawn, or drawn in blue with some monitor settings
- Fixed bug which would cause a crash as soon as audio was enabled on some machines with multichannel Windows Multimedia sound card drivers
New Sound File Location Mechanisms
Both the way AudioMulch handles missing sound files and the way sound files are referenced in documents has changed in this release. The changes have been made to make working with sound files more convenient, especially when documents and soundfiles are moved around on your computer, or sent to other computers on the internet. Three major changes were made: firstly, the way AudioMulch automatically searchs for sound files when a document is loaded has been enhanced, secondly AudioMulch will now ask you whether you want to locate sound files that it can't locate automatically, and thirdly the old "Sound File Directories" search path settings have been removed.
Automatic Sound File Location
The automatic location system works best with documents saved with the new version, as some information which is needed for automatic location was not stored in documents saved by previous versions of AudioMulch. The automatic location feature is designed so that AudioMulch can automatically locate sound files in the following common scenarios:
- a document is moved, but the sound files it references are left in their original location
- a folder containing sound files and documents (or subfolders containing them) is renamed or moved to a new location
- a new version of AudioMulch is installed, and sound files are moved from the old to the new versions's samples directory
In general, the best ways to ensure that AudioMulch never looses track of the location of a soundfile are either to always keep your sound files in a fixed location, or to always keep soundfiles used by a particular document in the same folder, or a sub-folder of the folder that the document is saved in, and to move both the document and the folder(s) containing the sound files together. The Save a Copy.. menu item in the File menu provides an option to save the document along with a copy of all the sound files which it uses. This is an easy way to store all the referenced sound files in one place before moving the document and the sound files to another computer.
For documents saved using the current version of AudioMulch, the auto-locate feature searches for sound files in the order listed below. The first location in which a sound file is found is used.
- If the sound file was stored in a folder which shared a common ancestor to the document when it was saved, and the document has moved, then AudioMulch calculates the sound file's path relative to the old document location and uses this relative path to look for the sound file relative to the document's current location.
- If the sound file was stored in a folder which shared a common ancestor to the AudioMulch application folder when the document was saved, and the application folder has moved, then AudioMulch calculates the soundfile's path relative to the old application folder and uses this relative path to look for the soundfile relative to the application folder's current location.
- AudioMulch looks for the sound file in the original absolute location stored in the document.
Manually Locating Missing Sound Files
After AudioMulch has tried to locate all sound files referenced by the document using the automatic location system described above, it will display a message asking whether you wish to manually locate any sound files that it can't locate automatically. When you manually locate a missing sound file, AudioMulch uses the new location of the file to try to locate other missing sound files that were stored in the same folder or a folder relative to the folder the file was stored in. This means that if all of your sound files were stored in one location, and you moved them all together to a different location, you will only need to manually locate one missing file in order for AudioMulch to automatically find the rest.
AudioMulch will only ask you to locate sound files which it cannot find automatically. The process of locating a missing sound file will never cause AudioMulch to consider a file which it has already located to become missing. If you choose to skip, or skip all, the missing soundfiles that have been skipped will remain missing - you will be asked to locate them again the next time the document is opened.
VST Program Management
AudioMulch now provides access to VST plugin's internal programs and to program banks distributed as .fxb files. VST programs can be accessed by right-clicking on the title area of a VST plugin's contraption editor. The VST Programs submenu provides options to select a program, and to load and save program bank files. Some VST plugins have a default set of programs loaded when you create them, others require you to load presets from a preset bank file.
VST programs are supported to provided access to existing program banks and default programs. AudioMulch does not save edited VST programs when a document is saved, as AudioMulch already has its own contraption preset system which is integrated with Automation and MIDI control. If you need to save, or switch between multiple settings within AudioMulch you should use AudioMulch's preset system. The Save VST Program Bank (fxb) As... option can be used to export VST programs after they have been edited.
A Note for FruityLoops VSTi Users
This version of AudioMulch allows FruityLoops VSTi to be synced to AudioMulch's clock. FruityLoops users are advised that if the time offset setting provided by FruityLoops VSTi is set to 0, the first beat of the FruityLoops sequence will not be played. This is a known bug in FruityLoops, you should contact FruityLoops support for futher details.
Previous Release Notes
You can review the release notes for the previous version (0.9b10patch1) here. All previous release notes are archived here.
Thanks
Thanks to Arguru for supplying example code for reading and writing VST preset bank files. Special thanks to everyone who assisted with testing leading up to this release. All the best for the new year.
AudioMulch software, documentation and web site copyright ©1997-2006 Ross Bencina,
All Rights Reserved. AudioMulch is a registered trademark.