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Topic: Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 trouble with NWC (Read 4344 times) previous topic - next topic

Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 trouble with NWC

I have a rather tricky problem.

I have a sound blaster live! 5.1 for my computer, which runs Windows 98 SE, and I want to add a reverb effect to my MIDI instruments. I go into the EAX control panel, and I go to the MIDI tab, and I cannot map the reverb effect. As many Sound Blaster Live! users know, you can set up to two effects simultaneously for MIDI playback (this includes effects such as reverb and chorus), but I can't set anything for the reverb, regardless of how many effects I've set up (which is none!) I understand you can set multi-point controllers to map reverb effects but it doesn't work that way either. I am using soundfonts. Do I have to edit every soundfont I'm using to make the reverb work!? If I on't have to, then what can I do?

Re: Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 trouble with NWC

Reply #1 –
I'm not a Live User (many here would agree) !!

But this information comes from the Live Centre Web Site.
--------------------------------------
CC 91 - Reverb
Controller number 91 controls the amount of reverb added to the signal (or whatever effect you've assigned this controller in the Environmental Audio control panel). A value of 0 adds no reverb, and a value of 127 will add full reverb, as set in the Environmental Audio control panel. (make sure the reverb isn't turned off or the Master reverb amount is set to 0). How much reverb that is actually added to the sound also depends on the settings of the SoundFont instrument.
--------------------------------------
I believe that you can only have two effects mapped.
(Live users please confirm)
If you have two already you will have to unmap one feature before applying Reverb (CC91)

For good info on the SB Live check out:-

http://listen.to/sblive

All the stuff on the site is worth investigating.
Particularly the - "Soundfonts How To.." and the "Live Centres MIDI Pages".
These links may be found via the:-
Information
Article Index
MIDI and Music  - Link in the left pane of the home page.

Barry Graham
Top Brass Events Band
Melbourne, Australia
http://www.topbrass.com.au

Re: Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 trouble with NWC

Reply #2 –
I have the same problem as described!! Did you get it to
work already? Please send me an email if you did.
tuffe71@hotmail.com

Re: Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 trouble with NWC

Reply #3 –
EAX only “processes” the reverb that you have already “programmed” into your song.  If you haven’t “programmed” in any reverb, either at the sound font editing stage, or at the midi file sequencing stage, then EAX has nothing to work on.  Creative’s GM soundfont instruments only have about 7% reverb included at the sound font editing stage, and even with 100% reverb setting in EAX, you can hardly tell it’s there.
If you don’t want to edit your sound fonts, then, as Barry says, you can use controller 91 to insert reverb into your midi file – that is if you are using a sequencer such as Cakewalk.  If you are using Noteworthy Composer (which I assume you are!) you do this by inserting a multipoint controller message at the beginning of each stave. i.e MPC/Controller: Effects (Reverb Dept)/ Style: Absolute/ Controller Value: 0-127 as desired

Re: Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 trouble with NWC

Reply #4 –
I'm having trouble with soundfonts, I loaded one and every long note, it plays only the beggining of it and then stops, some staves it doens't play (when there are too many already) and such. Also, I can't unload the standart soundfont, I unload it, but it keeps it there, only not showing, any clues?

Re: Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 trouble with NWC

Reply #5 –
Ok, I corrected it the same soundfont problem, I just had to delete it. I still have the too much sound problem, which causes notes to only attack but don't sustain.

Re: Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 trouble with NWC

Reply #6 –
You don’t say what sound card or sound font you are using - so I am only guessing here!  But it sounds like it could be a polyphony problem.  If you are playing a lot of tracks (i.e. a lot of voices or instruments) simultaneously, and if you are playing big chords, you can soon go over the top of the polyphony limit with a Sound Blaster Live! card – which is about 64 voices.  If you are using a SBLive! 5.1 or Audigy card, you have to assign some of the tracks (voices/instruments or NWC staves) to Synth A and some to Synth B in order to get optimum polyphony.  Furthermore, there doesn’t seem to be any logical procedure for doing this – you have to do it by ‘trial and error’.

Re: Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 trouble with NWC

Reply #7 –
This is a Live! 5.1 thread, I thought it was implicit which card I was using.
I have 14 tracks, 32.50 MB of soundfont. I guess the soundfont is too big for the card.

Re: Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 trouble with NWC

Reply #8 –
Almost certainly it is a polyphony problem.  It’s not the actual size of your soundfont that is the problem.  At 32.5 MB you should be OK.  Rather, it is the number of voices that you are accessing at the same time.  When you get a note that fails to sustain, how many (notes in the chord) x (number of instruments being accessed) do you have?  If it approaches 64 you are in trouble.  14 tracks x 1 instrument per track x 4 notes per chord = 56 units of polyphony.  But bear in mind that some instruments are made up of more than one layer of samples, so that will increases the number of ‘voices’ speaking at the same time.
And even if your total is less than 64, you will still have polyphony drop-out if you don’t assign some tracks to Synth A and some to Synth B.
I first encountered this problem when I got a SBLive 5.1 card.  Before then I never had the problem with a SBLive Player 1024 or SBLive! Value card, because with the older cards, you don’t have to assign some tracks to Synth A and some to Synth B.  Unfortunately, it is not a matter of simply assigning half the tracks to Synth A and the other half to Synth B.  You have to try different combinations until the problem disappears.  (Which is why I abandoned the 5.1 card and went back to a 1024…)

Re: Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 trouble with NWC

Reply #9 –
PS – Sorry, I meant to include this:
To prove that it really is a polyphony problem, try muting all the tracks except the track(s) where the long notes are failing to sustain.  Then play your song.  If the long notes now sustain OK, you have definitely got a polyphony problem.

Re: Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 trouble with NWC

Reply #10 –
Thanks, I'll try that. The strange thing is that I recently upgraded from WindowsME to Xp, when I had the ME I had no such trouble.

Strange indeed.