readme

A GTK sound font editor. Sound font files are used to synthesize instruments from audio samples for

+-------------------------------------------------------+
+	Smurf Sound Font Editor	- README		+
+	Copyright (C) 1999-2001 Josh Green		+
+	Email: [e-mail]		+
+	Smurf homepage: http://smurf.sourceforge.net	+
+-------------------------------------------------------+

*******************************************************************
* NOTE: This will be replaced by a real manual in the near future *
*******************************************************************

** New documentation for Smurf v0.52.5! **
"Troubleshooting drivers (or why does Smurf crash on startup?)"

** New documentation for Smurf v0.52! **
"Using new Wavetable and Piano interface"
"Virtual Banks"


=====================================
1. What is Smurf Sound Font Editor?
2. License
3. Requirements
4. Supported sound cards
5. Features
6. Future plans
7. Troubleshooting drivers (or why does Smurf crash on startup?)
8. Using new Wavetable and Piano interface
9. Creating Preset/Instrument zones
10. Using the sample viewer
11. Undo system
12. Virtual Banks
13. Sound font information, links and other resources
14. Thanks
15. Trademark Acknowledgement
16. Contact
=====================================

1. What is Smurf Sound Font Editor?
-------------------------------------
Smurf is a GTK based sound font editor. Sound font files are a collection of
audio samples and other data that describe instruments for the purpose of
composing music. Sound fonts do not describe the music itself, but rather the
sounds of the instruments. These instruments can be composed of any digitally
recordable or generated sound. This format provides a portable and flexible
sound synthesis environment that can be supported in hardware or software.

2. License
-------------------------------------
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA
02111-1307, USA or point your web browser to http://www.gnu.org.


3. Requirements
-------------------------------------
Look at the INSTALL file for instructions on compiling and installing the
Smurf Sound Font Editor and for more details on software requirements.

Version numbers listed are what I developed Smurf on, older or newer versions
of the listed software may or may not work, but give it a try! And do let me
know if you encounter any problems.

Smurf has the following requirements:
- Linux or other *nix system that happens to work
- GTK+ v1.2
- libsndfile 0.0.5 or Audiofile 0.1.5
  (libsndfile or Audiofile 0.2.0 recommended)

Optional (required if you want to hear anything):
- AWE 32/64 or SB Live! sound card
- ALSA 0.5.11, ALSA 0.9.0beta8 or Open Sound System with
  AWE32/64 driver (comes with Linux kernel),
  ALSA is recommended (I use the latest 0.9.0beta myself)

audiofile homepage: http://www.68k.org/~michael/audiofile/
libsndfile homepage: http://www.zip.com.au/~erikd/libsndfile/
ALSA homepage: http://www.alsa-project.org
OSS homepage: http://www.4front-tech.com
GTK homepage: http://www.gtk.org


4. Supported sound cards
-------------------------------------
The AWE 32/64 and Live! are supported. The ALSA driver is recommended. It allows
multiple sequencer clients (connect MIDI sequencers to Smurf) and has several
fixes to the AWE driver that the stock AWE driver with Kernel 2.2.x doesn't
have.

My dream is of someday having direct Timidity++ support for good
software based wavetable emulation.  This may occur via ALSA patch
loading (when it is available) which would then allow Smurf to be used
with other wavetable devices (hardware or software). For now sound fonts will
have to be loaded manually with Timidity++ (rather than direct loading with
Smurf).


5. Features
-------------------------------------
Current features include:
- Loading of multiple sound font 2.x files *.SF2
- Saving of sound font files
- Loading, saving and editing of virtual bank (*.bnk) files (not complete)
- Copy Samples/Instruments/Presets between and within Sound fonts
- Multiple undo/redo tree system, allowing for multiple redo "branches"
- Load and export audio sample files (WAV, AU, etc)
- View/set Preset, Instrument and Sample parameters
- A GTK piano widget to play notes with computer keyboard/mouse
- Wavetable loading of entire sound fonts with sample caching
- Piano MIDI controls (Pitch bender amount, volume etc.)
- Flexible driver system that supports OSS and ALSA sequencers
- MIDI thru interface for external MIDI keyboard/device
- Sample cut support
- Sample waveform generation (in experimental stage)
- International language support


6. Future plans
-------------------------------------
The following are in the works or planned:
- More undo support
- Copy/Paste generator parameters
- Graphical manipulation of generator parameters
- Other wavetable device support (integration with iiwusynth)
- Other sample editing functions like pasting, normalize, etc.
- Implement SF 2.1 modulators
- Loading of sound font 1.x files via conversion utility


7. Troubleshooting drivers (or why does Smurf crash on startup?)
-------------------------------------
Some new command line switches were added to help with trouble shooting
problems with Smurf. Crashes experienced on startup of Smurf are often caused
by audio drivers.  Type "smurf --help" to get a list of usable switches.
Since Smurf, by default, tries to open the drivers on start up, a way to
disable this behavior was added. "smurf -d" will cause Smurf to start, but
drivers will not automatically be opened. Once started you can change your
driver preferences (set certain ones to NONE) to try to determine which
driver is crashing. Then issue a Control->"Restart Drivers" to cause the
drivers to be re-opened.

Smurf Sound Font Editor v0.52.5
Copyright 1999-2001 Josh Green <[e-mail]>
Distributed under the GNU General Public License
Usage: smurf [options]
Options:
-h, --help       Display this information
-d               Disable drivers (try if Smurf crashes on start up)
-c               Ignore preferences and use factory defaults


8. Using new Wavetable and Piano interface
-------------------------------------
The wavetable and piano interface have been changed in Smurf v0.52.  Some of
the new features include:
* MIDI channel control (on toolbar, titled "Chan")
	Sets what MIDI channel the piano plays on. All other MIDI controls
	(bank, preset and MIDI controls on pop up menu) are remembered for
	each channel.
* MIDI bank and preset controls (also on toolbar)
	Sets the current bank and preset for the selected MIDI channel. These
	are often changed automatically by the user interface when selecting
	items in the sound font tree, they can be changed manually as well.
* Entire sound font loading
	Allows you to load an entire sound font. This is particularly useful
        to make a sound font available for sequencing with other programs.
* Sample caching
	Samples can now be "cached" or shared so parameter changes and other
	editing operations occur much quicker now. This currently does not work
	for sample parameter changes due to lack of support in AWE driver.
	You'll need an AWE driver that supports this feature, see NOTE below.
* Controls for changing how interface works with wavetable
	Wavetable caching
		Enable/disable sample caching. Not sure why would want to
		disable it, unless you don't have driver support.

		NOTE: Symptoms of no support for sample caching: items are
		only audible the first time they are selected, selecting
		another item and then the other again, will result in silence.

	Piano follows selection
		When enabled: virtual keyboard will "follow" the sound font
		tree selection. This will cause the selected item to be the one
		heard on the piano. If selected item is a Preset in a loaded
		sound font, then the piano will select the Bank:Preset of that
		item. Otherwise it is set to the Temporary Audible Bank:Preset
		(configurable from preferences, defaults to 127:127). By
		disabling this feature you can have more control over what is
		being played by the virtual keyboard.

	Auto load temp audible
		When enabled: selected items in the sound font tree that aren't
		Presets in a loaded sound font, are automatically loaded into
		the wavetable device. They are mapped to a temporary
		Bank:Preset which is configurable from Preferences. Disabling
		this allows for faster editing, if one does not care to hear
		items.

	Recursive bank refresh
		When enabled: all Presets in a loaded sound font will be
		updated if an Instrument in the same sound font is changed.
		In the future the same will occur for Samples, but there are
		currently some limitations in the AWE driver.

	Reset wavetable
		Clears all samples in the wavetable cache and unloads any
		loaded sound font