|
|
|
|
MED v1.5 had some very significant changes to the earlier v1.x
updates and although they may not be obvious because they are under the
bonnet and not visually apparent, it could not possibly be considered a
simple v1.x update.
Many users complained that the previous V1.x updates used too
much CPU power and those with older, slow PC's found that playing most
of their songs would quickly bring the PC to a halt.
Andy answered this question and a lot more, in beta tests playing a
32 stereo channel MOD in MED v1.5 had greatly reduced the CPU usage.
This improvement meant that when playing your songs, the response
time from the MED GUI has greatly improved and was now much
smoother, even with a song playing that contains many large samples.
To quote John Neil, the MED Help editor..............
Play back is smooth to the point of silky, and again those expecting the
same as earlier in this department will be very surprised indeed.
We have found that the 'pops n clicks' at the sample start have more or
less disappeared completely and the sound is a lot more full and the
lower tones (Bass) is much more apparent. (So turn down that bass knob
first).
Another major change in v1.5 was the online help system.
The old style Windows help files has been replaced by the Microsoft HTML
help.
This means you will be able to browse through the help files in the same
manner as you would through the Internet.
The new help system is mainly a conversion of the original by Ed Wiles,
but there are many additions and rewrites to some of the help documents
from the help author, John Neill who, like Andy, put a lot of
time and effort into v1.5
In addition to this, there have been even more changes in this
department, you will find that new bubble help (or Balloon) has replaced
the '?' windows dialog help and you can just place the mouse over
certain areas of MED and helpful information will pop up automatically
for you. Easy or what eh?
There have been other additions, which while small are very much
welcomed in this update such as the ability to preview samples from
within the Instrument Pool.
A number of features are under a new subcategory on the 'Settings' menu,
aptly named 'Others'. This is where a number of advanced settings will
be found. Note that all of these are stored directly in the Windows
registry, rather than the traditional MED configuration file.
ExclusiveSoundOutput:
If this value is set to false then MED and other softsynths or other
audio programs can share sound together.
ShowBalloonhelp:
This option was asked to be included by the beta testers, this gives you
the option to turn off the balloon help when using MED, useful if you
are a veteran and do not need the help provided.
OutputPlugin:
You can assign which plug-in Med will use to save your song to disk.
PluginDir:
You can now change the folder where you keep your MED Plugins.
SampleUndoCount:
Before if you wished to change the sample undo level this could only be
done by changing the value within the registry itself. The undo level
can now easily be changed from here.
You may want to consider adjusting this upwards if you have lots of free
memory, or downwards if you are memory constrained, or do not find the
undo function useful.
About v1.6
There were reports of regular crashes being caused when large samples were copied
into the sample editor, this has now been cured.
A few smaller parts of the code were also altered in the hope this will help those few users
who are still using old/slow machines although, to be honest, the use of old/slow machines
for this type of media usage is not recomended.
(Ensure you have the latest Microsoft DirectX installed)
About v1.7
After reading the above you will see that the previous MED v1.5 & v1.6 had some very significant changes to the earlier v1 thru v1.4 but as with all software, there is allways room for improvement and hence there was a v1.7 release (and now a v1.7a)
Until George, the new main author has completed MED V2, James, a very enthusiastic MED user who, as luck would have it, is also a programmer, has decided to continue bug fixes and time permitting, hopes to add as many features that he can to this present V1.xx release.
1. 0x20 tempo bug fix
If you enter command 0x920 for a tempo change it would change the tick/line to 1 instead of 32...
I found this bug since I wrote a mod in octamed and used 0x920 for one slow passage in beethovens 5th.
2. MMD0 MMD1 synth sound transpose bugfix
When loading a mod which was saved using MMD0 or MMD1 using synth sounds into v1.6, the octaves
were being transposed an octave higher...
This transpose was supposed to only apply to Sample and Hybrid sounds but not synth sounds.
I found this bug when testing a song I wrote using octamed.
I've tested... Synth, hybrid, and samples for MMD0 and MMD1, and now it appears to be working properly.
now to find the crackling noise problems...
3. Sample Editor's black on black bugfix
The change here will only be noticed by anyone who uses a black color scheme
(e.g. where your text is white on black).
When opening the sample editor the color you have chosen for your text will be the color displayed
for the waveforms in the sample editor.
For most people this has been black text on white, so no change will be apparent to them.
4. Added Read Volume checkbox for midi.
This is a much needed option which was originally available for the Amiga Octamed...
By default this option was not checked and so you could input your notes using midi-in and
change them without having to worry about the volume commands overriding any commands you
have previously put for this note.
About v1.7a
Again, few smaller sections of the code were altered, mainly in the hope this will help those few users
who are 'still' using old/slow machines although, to be honest, the use of old/slow machines
for this type of media usage is not recommended.
Also updated/tidied up the FAQ/presentation.
Unless James or I add a feature which can be considered signifant enough to warrant a v1.8, any further V1.xx bug-fix/additions that are added will be released with a suffix, (ie: v1.7b).
|
|
