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C# Synth Toolkit - Part I

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17 Aug 2007MIT13 min read 239.1K   6.4K   130  
A toolkit for creating software synthesizers with C# and Managed DirectX.
#region License

/* Copyright (c) 2007 Leslie Sanford
 * 
 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy 
 * of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to 
 * deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the 
 * rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or 
 * sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is 
 * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
 * 
 * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in 
 * all copies or substantial portions of the Software. 
 * 
 * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR 
 * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, 
 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE 
 * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER 
 * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, 
 * OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN 
 * THE SOFTWARE.
 */

#endregion

#region Contact

/*
 * Leslie Sanford
 * Email: jabberdabber@hotmail.com
 */

#endregion

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Sanford.Multimedia.Midi;

namespace Sanford.Multimedia.Synth
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Provides functionality for processing MIDI control messages.
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>
    /// Most, if not all, MIDI synthesizers respond to MIDI control messages. A 
    /// synthesizer may be setup in such a way as to use the control messages generated by
    /// the modulation wheel to control vibrato, for example. The ControlProcessor class
    /// is responsible for taking a control message and translating it into something 
    /// Voices can understand. It's then up to the Voices to decide how to respond.
    /// </remarks>
    internal class ControlProcessor
    {
        #region ControlProcessor Members

        #region Fields

        private List<Voice> voices;

        private VoiceAllocator allocator;

        #endregion

        #region Constructors

        /// <summary>
        /// Initializes a new instance of the ControlProcessor class.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="voices">
        /// The Voices that the ControlProcessor will process control messages for.
        /// </param>
        /// <param name="allocator">
        /// The VoiceAllocator responsible for allocating voices.
        /// </param>
        public ControlProcessor(IEnumerable<Voice> voices, VoiceAllocator allocator)
        {
            this.voices = new List<Voice>(voices);
            this.allocator = allocator;
        }

        #endregion

        #region Methods

        /// <summary>
        /// Processes a control message.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="type">
        /// The type of control message.
        /// </param>
        /// <param name="value">
        /// The value of the control message.
        /// </param>
        public void Process(ControllerType type, int value)
        {
            if(type == ControllerType.HoldPedal1)
            {
                // If this is a hold pedal 1 (sustain pedal) message.

                if(value < 64)                
                {
                    // If the sustain pedal is turned off.

                    allocator.SustainEnabled = false;
                }
                else
                {
                    // Else the sustain pedal is turned on.

                    allocator.SustainEnabled = true;
                }
            }
            else if(type == ControllerType.AllSoundOff)
            {
                // Else if this is an all sound off message.

                allocator.AllSoundOff();
            }
            else
            {
                // Else this is some other type of control message.

                // Convert control message value into a floating point value in the range of [0, 1].
                float fValue = (float)value / ChannelMessage.DataMaxValue;

                // For each Voice, pass along the control message.
                foreach(Voice v in voices)
                {
                    v.ProcessControllerMessage(type, fValue);
                }
            }
        }

        #endregion

        #endregion
    }
}

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License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The MIT License


Written By
United States United States
Aside from dabbling in BASIC on his old Atari 1040ST years ago, Leslie's programming experience didn't really begin until he discovered the Internet in the late 90s. There he found a treasure trove of information about two of his favorite interests: MIDI and sound synthesis.

After spending a good deal of time calculating formulas he found on the Internet for creating new sounds by hand, he decided that an easier way would be to program the computer to do the work for him. This led him to learn C. He discovered that beyond using programming as a tool for synthesizing sound, he loved programming in and of itself.

Eventually he taught himself C++ and C#, and along the way he immersed himself in the ideas of object oriented programming. Like many of us, he gotten bitten by the design patterns bug and a copy of GOF is never far from his hands.

Now his primary interest is in creating a complete MIDI toolkit using the C# language. He hopes to create something that will become an indispensable tool for those wanting to write MIDI applications for the .NET framework.

Besides programming, his other interests are photography and playing his Les Paul guitars.

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