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Unable to Set Soundfont for Fluidsynth-DSSI
21 October, 2024 - 00:52 — Thomas Henry
Hello,
I'm having trouble with the fluidsynth-dssi plugin in Qtractor. In particular, when creating a new track to use it, the little panel doesn't show the option to choose which soundfont to use. See the first pic, below.
Not being able to set the soundfont, means that I get no sound. By the way, this is on my studio laptop which runs under Linux Mint 22 Xfce.
However, my upstairs laptop, which runs under Linux Mint 20.3 Cinnamon, brings up the panel as expected. See the second pic, below.
As you can see, this panel lets me choose the soundfont.
I'm basically a novice at this sort of stuff, so can any of you experts suggest a solution? Thanks.
Thomas Henry
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 on Mint 22 Xfce | 32.41 KB |
| on Mint Cinnamon | 47.94 KB |
Forums:
I've never used any of the
I've never used any of the DSSI plugins but would suggest you try the Calf FluidSynth LV2.
Thanks for the suggestion,
Thanks for the suggestion, but it gives me the same results: the Calf Fluidsynth plugin panel is once again barebones, with no way to indicate the desired soundfont. So, no sounds, of course.
Moreover, on the Mint Cinnamon laptop, it's even worse: the Calf panel comes up in a totally blank window.
Also, I forgot to mention that I'm using Qtractor 1.3.0 now.
Thomas Henry
re. Unable to Set Soundfont for Fluidsynth-DSSI
hi,
some probable reasons for the problem you're having:
hth. cheers
Calf GUIs are not visible in
Calf GUIs are not visible in the appimage version.
What is the reason?
I guess it's because it looks for its libraries "/lib/calf/" inside the "tmp" that the appimage generates and doesn't find them.
Just curious.
Thank you very much for your
Thank you very much for your suggestions, Rui. I still haven't figured out the difference in behavior on my two computers (the older Cinnamon runs the Fluidsynth-DSSI plugin nicely, the newer Xfce doesn't), but I'll keep experimenting by following the leads you kindly supplied. I'm fairly new to the Linux world, but do enjoy learning and am always up for some detective work.
In the meanwhile, here's a work-around in case anyone else is having a similar problem. I stumbled upon the Ardour-LV2-Plugins in the Software Manager. It includes a fluidsynth module which works very well in Qtractor. In particular, it opens up with a panel letting me set the soundfont to be used.
So, with this, I'm back in business. As a recap, on one of my computers Fluidsynth-DSSI doesn't let me choose a soundfont. But the Ardour supplied LV2 one works just fine instead.
And while I'm at it, a big thanks, too, to you Rui for all your hard work on Qtractor! It really is an excellent program, easy to use and producing professional results. I truly appreciate your generosity in sharing it with us all.
Thomas Henry
You could try CALF Fluidsynth
You could try CALF Fluidsynth or Carla. Carla can do much more but it can play SF2-soundfonts.
He is working with the AppImage
Calf suite and Carla do not work correctly in the AppImage, because they are plugins with dependencies on their own libraries.
In the AppImage the dependencies are not searched for in the system, but within the AppImage, which is basically a zip that recreates the "Unix" directories.
He solved it with ACE Fluidsynth (Ardorur Fluidsynth), which is a plugin without dependencies.
___
A related reflection that is always present when there is a problem in Linux:
All these problems that Linux has with dependencies and so on are nothing more than a failed conception: Unix. The conception of Unix directories is a conceptual error that breaks the minimum requirements of Freedom.
For something to be free:
- It cannot have dependencies, but rather be self-sufficient.
- It must be defined and have identity. Unix dismembers the identity of applications into bin, lib, share....
- It must not be hierarchical but self-organized. In other words, there should be no ORDER, but ORGANIZATION.
In order, the structure is based on a hierarchy, on the organization of the properties of the individuals that make it up, relating to each other.
Etc, etc, etc.
We have free operating systems, based on UNIX, whose hierarchical conception violates freedom.
And of course, this inconsistency creates problems and headaches.
Everything that makes Linux difficult and cumbersome is caused by this hierarchical (and therefore failed) conception of UNIX.
Few people have realized this, or have expressed it publicly.
Others have realized the problems caused by the dictatorship of the UNIX hierarchy, although perhaps they have not realized the deep philosophical implications of why these problems arise, and it is because UNIX is the opposite of freedom.
An attempt to solve these problems is:
https://www.gobolinux.org/
re. He is working with the AppImage...
no, no and nope.
not all system libraries or dependencies are bundled or included in the AppImage and that's in fact one of its implementation/build options, by design.
for the most glare example, it does not include the JACK client API library: it is of the user responsibility to install those, provided by genuine jack or pipewire-jack prior to run the qtractor.AppImage in particular
there are many other so called external dependencies that might be missing, specially regarding plugins like the Calf suite: mainly the gtk2 and gtkmm2 stuff, which again cannot be provided by the AppImage--you'll have to install on your own on your system.
re. Carla, well it's a dang dependency hell on python and python-qt5 et al., which yes again, is not even there on sight nor hidden beneath the AppImage.
so please don't distress or blame on the *nix file-system model or whatever you ranted about--it is not the issue here.
byee
Logic tells me:
If it were a problem with the dependencies installed on the system, Calf and Carla would not work either in Qtractor installed via .deb, or compiled.
This is not the case. Calf and Carla work without problems with Qtractor installed on my computer. The error only appears in the Qtractor AppImage.
Hence the explanation I have found, which of course may be wrong: The AppImage prevents access to the system resources by replacing them with its own.
However, what you are explaining does not explain what happens either:
A computer with all the dependencies of Carla and Calf installed and working correctly in Qtractor installed, does not work with the Qtractor AppImage.
Something is happening
re. working with the AppImage...
your explanation is partially wrong...
the problem is rooted on plugins that have external system dependencies that are not aligned to what is provided or bundled in the AppImage...
AppImage's are strongly recommended to be built to a system level equivalent to the oldest Ubuntu LTS still in support, which at the time of this writing is 20.04 (focal fossa).
If some plugin uses or needs any system feature or ABI that is not backward binary compatible to that, it just fails and most surely crash the whole show.
That is the most right explanation, and again, not to general file-system organization whatsoever. It's about plugins and the jungle out there :)
sorry.
Thanks for the clarification :)
That someone with your knowledge has the patience and willingness to help us resolve our curious and restless doubts is of inestimable value, we are aware of it.
PS:
My intolerance with UNIX has implications that go beyond the software framework and reach philosophy.
I think I am right.
That should not be a reason for confrontation with other perceptions. I do not impose anything.
I simply express my perception, which of course is not the only one, nor does it have to be correct for everyone.
What does a free model consist of? Maybe I should write a philosophical essay about this and share it. The applications would be generic, not just to the software world.
It would certainly be more productive than complaining about UNIX :).
re. Thanks for the clarification :)
you're welcome
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