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Old 02-10-2012, 05:26 AM   #1
paddyx
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Default Sinking Bismark / soundfont help?

Hi,
First post here!
I've taken the day off to do some work programming a soundfont of the excellent drums from my SW1000XG on the old PC.
I turned on the macbook to try it out and Bismark BS1 comes up with a message to say that the plugin has expired and I need to upgrade. The "upgrade" requires OS 10.6 (I use 10.5) and appears to cost $20.
I feel like the victim of gangsters - "Gimme the money or you'll never see your sondfonts again"

Upgrading to 10.6 (apart from the cost and hassle) may well break some of the other software I use.

I've spent a few hours looking for other soundfont players but not found anything.
I've got quite a collection of self-programmed SF2s which I don't want to lose access to.

Any ideas what I can do? I Use Reaper 3.75 on an Intel macbook running 10.5
Thanks
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Old 02-10-2012, 06:58 AM   #2
Fex
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While the bs-1 is shareware, the bs-0 is freeware.
http://www.bismark.jp/products.html

Older versions are listed on the product page:
http://www.bismark.jp/bs-0/index.html

I can't see any legacy download links, but there is an email address for support:
http://www.bismark.jp/about.html
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Old 02-10-2012, 07:13 AM   #3
paddyx
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Default thanks 4 looking that up

Yes, I've already sent an email to Bismark - you can imagine what kind of email! ;-)
The free BS0 doesn't seem to work on my 10.5 either as far as I can see - I'm guessing that's 'cos I've not got 10.6
I read another post elsewhere about someone whose BS1 expired - they had to resort to setting their computer system date back in time!
It actually works!
I'm not particularly happy with running a computer with the wrong system date set, but maybe I'll have to go back in time a couple of years every time I run up Reaper if no one knows a better way to play SF2s on my mac.

Any more ideas, anyone? I've been all over the web today looking for Mac SF2 players.
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Old 02-10-2012, 08:14 AM   #4
Fex
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Quote:
Originally Posted by paddyx View Post
The free BS0 doesn't seem to work on my 10.5 either as far as I can see - I'm guessing that's 'cos I've not got 10.6
The version history is quite telling:
Quote:
version 4.1
Improved SoundFont Compatibility
[Mac OS X] Rebuid for Intel CPU, Mac OS X 10.6 or later
version 4.0.5
Maintenance Update
version 4.0.4
Maintenance Update
version 4.0.3
[Mac OS X] Supported for Mac OS X 10.4 again
version 4.0.2
Fixed some GUI issues
Fixed the rise of illegal CPU load
[Windows] Fixed incompatibility with REAPER
version 4.0.1
[Mac OS X] Rebuild for Mac OS X 10.5
[Mac OS X] Fixed bug on displaing preset name includes non English characters (Thanx ! > Lance)
version 4.0
First release
Note that bs-0 v4.0.1 works with OS X 10.5, but apparently didn't work with 10.4
v4.0.3 corrected this.

Websites offering v 4.0.5 point to
http://www.bismark.jp/bs-0/bs-0_MacOSX_v4.0.5.dmg
which returns a 404 error.

I had no luck finding another soundfont player for Mac, other than payware samplers.
You'd think it would be a simple thing to do - Windows users can roll their own soundfont players in synth-edit.

If Bismark don't play ball, your best bet might be to ask around all the audio forums to see if anyone has a v4.0.5 installer.
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Old 02-10-2012, 04:07 PM   #5
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Check if your version of OSX came with the AUi Apple DLSMusicDevice plugin. It will show in Reaper if it exists.

The only caveat is that it doesn't work properly with multi-bank fonts. It loads the instrument in the slot #0 by default, and in order to use other sounds, you have to use the JS "program_bank_onload". To read the bank numbers you have to have a BS-0 or equivalent, so it is a bit of a drag to use... Sounds better than BS-1 though.

Oh, and the fonts have to be located in ~/library/audio/sounds/banks. Deeper folders are recognized.
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Old 02-12-2012, 12:42 AM   #6
paddyx
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Default Thanks for suggestion

So that's how to get banks into that thing - I'd done it on Garageband before, but forgotten in Reaper.
DLSMusicDevice kind of works, but plays havoc with the tuning of bits of my home-made drum banks, and doesn't work with most of the other ones I've tried (maybe the patche isn't mapped to the right position like you said, mrelwood) so I guess I'll have to keep tricking Bismark BS1 by changing the system date - it feels like a very flakey and asking-for-trouble approach though.

I spent a lot of time looking around for alternatives; Kontakt, vsampler, various vanished projects and confusing SVN code sites, etc. What do most people use for their home-made soundbanks on Macs these days? I started out on a Soundblaster with SF2s (which I thought were excellent, with the Vienna editor on the PC - I've recently bought a SH SBlaster card specially for a PC so I can still edit them - much better than Polyphontics) then when I got an SW1000XG, I had to move over to Gigasamples, which I was never that keen on. They seem to have gone to the wall now.
Modern sound-making stuff seems huge and expensive and complicated. Where's the cheap'n'cheerful equivalent of the soundfont for Mac?
And a big thumbs down to Bismark for making their paid-for software kill itself without warning. I see no good reason for it except as a sneaky money-grabbing method. The reason I've stuck with 10.5 is because it's working well and I don't need to change it.
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Old 02-16-2012, 09:34 PM   #7
paddyx
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Default Having to live with it :-(

I never heard back from the Bismark person; my email wasn't offensive, just a bit annoyed... Oh well.
Anyone else with similar Bismark problems (I mean, who else writes *paid for* plugins with an expiry date?!!) should find that BS1 tracks on Reaper will still play back after the plugin has expired; you just won't be able to get in to edit them at all. In order to do that, set the system date on your mac back a few years; it works on mine even without re-opening Reaper. But save first!
In the meantime, if anyone knows a small, simple soundfont player plugin for OS x (10.5) that'll do what BS1 does without expiring, let me know.
Happy music-making!
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Old 03-04-2012, 07:00 AM   #8
paddyx
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Default Reply!

The Bismark person sent me a link for a download that would work! I must get around to saying thanks, and also finding out whether the new one's likely to expire....
And after all that, I decided it was just the *cymbals* that I was missing from my SW1000XG drumkits, so I've made the "cymbal spree" soundfont with the help of the good fols at freesound.org.
You can download the sf2 here:
http://panda-blog.org.uk/windchimes-samples/
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