Windows 10

[Reinhold H.]

It looks like that not even Microsoft's Media Player can play MIDI files on Windows 10 when only the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth is installed. Meanwhile Microsoft shifted the bug report around and around in various forums but other than that, there is no single response. Such business behavior is simply unacceptable.

Therefore, I decided to start the planning and implementation of an own internal software synth solution for a new version 3.0.3. We will call this new software synth "Notation Software Synth". The concept will be as such that we will distribute a basic soundfont .sf2 file as part of the installation. This soundfont file will become the standard software synth similar to the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth as of today. That new "Notation Software Synth" will be visible in the device manager in addition to all the other existing software synths. Furthermore we will implement a new feature that everybody can load his/her most favorite soundfont directly to that Notation Software Synth.

In our lab we have a prototype of this Notation Software Synth running on all Windows platforms (XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10) and with Wine on a Mac. With this concept we can further launch version 3.0.3 on Linux. With Wine we have the prototype running on Linux Ubuntu 14.04 and Linux OpenSuse 13.1.

Version 3.0.3 will only contain this new feature in order to have a solution available for Windows 10 as soon as possible. Those who won't switch to Windows 10 do not need to update. For version 3 customers this update is free, of course.

My current view is that I hope to have this solution available by end of October this year (2015) but without guarantee. So, there is still plenty of time to do the free upgrade to Windows 10 which Microsoft offers in the first year for Windows 7, 8, 8.1 installations.

Reinhold