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Topic: Tonal Quality? (Read 5614 times) previous topic - next topic

Tonal Quality?

A few days ago I installed an upgrade from Windows 98
to Windows ME (Oh the pain, the agony - Arrrrghhh!!)
(Not recommended unless you are a complete computer GURU!)
Well, anyway I have not changed audio cards or anything
else, however my tonal quality when playing back a NWC song
is now totally different. I mean that the songs sound like
they are being played with different instruments than before.

Has anyone else noticed this phenomonon? And if so, what did you do about it?

Thanks - The Hankster

Re: Tonal Quality?

Reply #1 –
Check and see what device is selected in your midi mapper (Control Panel -> Multimedia tab -> Midi) which will control the device that's used by anything that refers to the midi mapper to determine the device (such as Media Player, even NWC if midi mapper is selected as the playback device).

In NWC you can bypass the midi mapper and choose the desired device directly. When you installed the "new bugs for old" it may have altered the order in which the devices appear in the list.

Not /certain/ that this will solve your problem, but it's worth a look.

Fred
 

Re: Tonal Quality?

Reply #2 –
You should start by trying each of your available MIDI devices, one at a time, from Tools | Options.

If this does not help, you lost access to one of your soundcard's MIDI synths during the upgrade. You should check the card manufacture's web site for Windows ME drivers, and then update your system with them.

Re: Tonal Quality?

Reply #3 –
Thanx much Fred and NoteWorthy, I'll give all that a try.
I've changed the order of the playback deviced and have gotten different sounds alright, it's just that every playback device now sounds different from before (if ya know what I mean). Since I lost so many other things (Grrrr!) when I upgraded and had to find them again, it's quite possible that I HAVE lost a soundcard synth.

Thanx again and wish me luck.

The Hankster

Re: Tonal Quality?

Reply #4 –
>(Not recommended unless you are a complete computer GURU!)

Yup! I've been told Windows ME is the buggest OS Microsoft has ever made. Windows XP is supposed to fix that, but that was actually the purpose of ME!

Re: Tonal Quality?

Reply #5 –
Yes, there has been a long history of "New Bugs for Old" when it comes to Windows. Bottom line: if your system works, don't fix it!

Re: Tonal Quality?

Reply #6 –
Welllllll.... After moving things around in the Multimedia section of the Control Panel, relisting all the MIDI devices in NWC and also getting several update downloads off the net (this is an automatic function of Windows ME that can be activated and searches the net whenever you log on and downloads any upgrades it finds for Windows)I now am back to approximately where I wanted to be in sound quality. I'm afraid that I have to blame Microsoft for this problem. Perhaps one of the upgrades helped? Ah well....

Thanx to all for the advice and the sympathy :-)

The Hankster