[linux-audio-user] Re: ANN: bristol 0.9.5-60

[Nick Copeland]

Nice piece of work on the issue with the audio device access failing.

This does indeed happen - if the GUI does not get a response from the engine 
(that is started before it) then it kind of hangs. I will work on this. It 
had been reported before, but I rested on the case that 'it works on my 
system' so I could not reproduce it. Next release hopefully I can get it to 
exit gracefully if the audio device is not available, or that it responds 
correctly to other device specifications.

Yes, the gain is low, but I did not know it was THAT low. Can you try using 
the 'startBristol -gain 8', or more than 8 if you need, to increase the 
final stage output gain. Watch out for the B3 though, it still thumps out at 
quite a high level by comparison. I will mention that a fix other than the 
final output stage gain is a bit gruesome, since the internals rely on the 
signal levels used by the application - changing those would affect 
filtering levels, for example, and especially when the emphasis is high. If 
you are working with 16bit audio then using the output gain should not 
really reduce the quality, but at 24bits, if you have this resoution, then 
it is a non optimal solution for various reasons. Another alterntive is too 
buy a couple of mallets with which to whallop your master keyboard. No? Ok, 
I would not have gone for that one either.

Regarding MIDI support - what do need bristol to do? It should respond to a 
MIDI keyboard to allow you to play notes, but a the moment it will not link 
its controls to MIDI Continuous Controllers. That is also due to be changed 
as part of some usability enhancements: it should include controller 
mappings from the GUI, save the settings to a per synth memory (not per 
memory, just one setting per synth), it should support program change 
messages and allow the keyboard graphic to reflect the state of the midi 
keyboard (I am personally against this - tying two synths together allows 
one to play the other, but it does not cause the keys on one to be depressed 
via midi. Either way, people like it so it will probably be implemented).

Is this what you need? It something have put on the to-do list.

On a related issue, what are other wishes for bristol? My plans are the midi 
support, lash support, a korg ms-20 type synth, finalise the mixer and 
perhaps add a bristol modular although I don't like this last idea to much 
as it goes against the idea of being an emulator.

I will put the EMS Synthi on the list, although I don't have a breadboard 
patching and I was not aware they had patch cable controlled synths - this 
is EMS, no? I will admit to wanting to work on some of their synths already, 
but if I get a breadboard then perhaps an ARP 2500 is on the cards although 
that is a lot more work.

Kind Regards, and many thanks for the feedback. A wishlist would make me 
happy, above and beyond what is in this mail.

Nick.


>From: "Paul Coccoli" <pcoccoli at gmail.com>
>Reply-To: A list for linux audio users 
><linux-audio-user at music.columbia.edu>
>To: "A list for linux audio users" <linux-audio-user at music.columbia.edu>
>Subject: Re: [linux-audio-user] Re: ANN: bristol 0.9.5-60
>Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 08:16:22 -0400
>
>On 9/20/06, Jouni Rinne <jouni.rinne at luukku.com> wrote:
>>Sylvain Robitaille kirjoitti:
>>
>> > Bristol is working for me if I add "-audiodev plughw:1,0", though its
>> > output isn't very loud (compared to other audio applications)
>>
>>Why is Bristol's output so quiet? At first I thought it wasn't producing 
>>any
>>sound at all, but then I began to hear faint sounds when hammering the 
>>keyboard,
>>and found out that I had to turn my amplifier up quite a bit before the 
>>sound
>>was on level with the other audio applications.
>>
>>Is there something I could do to get more noise from Bristol? I'm using 
>>-jack as
>>an output.
>>
>>JR
>>
>>--
>>| me at home ~$whoami            ^ ^  | "Trust me, I know what I'm doing!" |
>>| Jouni 'Mad Max' Rinne      ('x') | - Sledge Hammer                    |
>>| me at home ~$man woman       C " "  | -------[ph34r t3h p3Ngu1n]-------- |
>>| Segmentation fault (core dumped) | l33tmmx at sci dot fi              |
>>
>
>Bristol has always been that quiet.  For years.  I don't know why the
>developer doesn't fix it.  Now htat it has jack support, that's easy
>enough to remedy.
>
>Can anyone familiar with the synths it emulates comment on their
>quality (besides lack of volume)?
>
>Now who's got a LASH patch for this?

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