Help with Synth1?

[Someguyfromcrowd]

Er, hello, novice Modplugger here. I've been having some issues with the Synth1 plugin. I gave this a quick search but did not find anything useful as far as I could tell.

I had originally downloaded a slightly older version of Modplug (1.16 or 1.17) and was able to get Synth1 to work properly. However, now that I'm in 1.19, there have been some incredibly annoying flaws. For one, I cannot change any of the options. I can open the menu and change things, but they revert instantly and have no effect. They worked fine in the older version. Also, it cannot write to the soundbanks and will randomly lose everything I have programmed into it (again, this worked fine before). I have tried uninstalling everything and starting fresh, but the problem persists.

The plugin will generate tones perfectly fine, but I cannot use it if it loses my work randomly. Sometimes it won't lose the data, sometimes it will. I'm suspecting something is wrong with my placement of the "Synth1 VST" file, as there seems to be no plugins folder in the OpenMPT directory. I placed it directly into that folder, which seems to be enough for it to be found by ModPlug (I had to use the "New Plugin" option, though).

I'm running 32-bit Windows 7. Any suggestions? Blindingly obvious errors on my part?

[LPChip]

Can it be that you are pressing keys which initiate changing the patch or executing a "random settings"?

[Someguyfromcrowd]

I don't think so. I've been doing the same thing as I had been before. Even if I reinstall everything and immediately try to change the options (before trying to even play a note), it does the same thing.

I might try reinstalling the old version.

UPDATE: Reverting to 1.18 makes it work as expected. I can resize the window, write to the soundbanks, etcetera. I installed it as a different name other than OpenMPT, so I did not uninstall 1.19 first. It seems to be opening the VST from the OpenMPT directory. Something is wrong with 1.19, I'm guessing.

I should be able to work with 1.18 for now, though.

[Saga Musix]

Synth1 is my number one VST, so I can tell you that it's working perfectly in OpenMPT. Synth1 will actually not save changes to presets if you switch between presets. Depending on where your patches are located, they might not be writeable on Windows 7, but that's not a problem with OpenMPT but any program. Maybe you had older versions in some other directory than Program Files, where OpenMPT has full write access - in Program Files, it hasn't. So you should put all your VST plugins in a directory that is not inside the Program Files directory.

[Someguyfromcrowd]

Hm. It's just odd that it would work when both installations were under Program Files. So you are saying I should place the VST plugin file somewhere like the desktop and then try to load it from there? I wouldn't be surprised in Windows were blocking it somehow.

I'll give it a try.

[Saga Musix]

The Desktop is probably the worst location for anything... I have a dedicated partition for music stuff, so I just have a VST plugin folder there... If you don't have a separate partition, you could just put it in My Files or something like C:\VST Plugins\...

[psishock]

I have a dedicated partition for music stuff

that is so hardcore, even i feel ashamed.

[Saga Musix]

Well I have to admit, I put anything demoscene-related on that drive actually - so it's also demos and stuff. And I need this to keep my drives tidy...

[LPChip]

I too have a dedicated space for my music. This space is on my server which does the backup part too.

[Someguyfromcrowd]

I'm not too serious- I just keep everything in separate folders usually

Anyways, tried that without success. I put the VST into a new folder under the C:/ drive and again used "New Plugin" to add it. It still won't write to soundbanks or allow me to change settings.

This is awfully confusing. I uninstalled the new version once again with the specific instructions to clear all the extra settings- yet when I reinstall 1.18.03, the plugin manager shows the Synth1 VST as already existing as a plugin (and working, to boot). If I reinstall version 1.19.01, the list does not show "Synth1 VST" and I have to manually add it. It seems that it is somehow finding the plugin automatically, even though I have made no effort to actually place the VST somewhere would it would be found.

Could there be some lingering files that are confusing it? It should be clearing everything when it uninstalls, but...

[Saga Musix]

You probably didn't tell the uninstaller to remove all settings files then...

[Someguyfromcrowd]

I'm assuming that hitting "Yes" when it prompts you to remove four files (whose names I can't remember) is sufficient.

Haven't made much headway on the issue. I'm okay with working in 1.18, although something is clearly up that might continue to malfunction in subsequent versions. I've checked that nothing remains after uninstalls- I delete the Program Files directory for the newer version and the older version completely before reinstalling. Unless, of course, it does something with the registry that I'm missing.

[Saga Musix]

All configuration data is stored in %APPDATA%\OpenMPT\, not Program Files.