MyMIDI Player 5 Release

It is good practice to take a copy of your documents\MyMIDIPlayer folder. It is a safety net in case anything goes wrong in the update process.

Probably the easiest way to do this is:

• Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the documents folder
• Scroll down until you see the MyMIDIPlayer folder
• Click once on MyMIDIPlayer and then Copy/Paste to create a copy of that folder. You can do that with Ctrl+C then Ctrl+V, or right-click Copy then right-click paste.

Hopefully this will never be needed, but to return to MyMIDI Player v4.04:

1. Uninstall MyMIDI Player from your computer.
2. Delete the documents\MyMIDIPlayer folder.
3. Reinstall MyMIDI Player v4.04 (the download is still available).
4. Copy everything in the documents\MyMIDIPlayer (copy) folder into the documents\MyMIDIPlayer folder.  This has to include sub-folders, but windows copy/paste will do that automatically.

Never do this unless instructed by MyMIDI Worship Resources.

The first thing to do is download the installer.

Because download speeds vary so much around the world, I’m keeping two locations from which you can download. Use the one which downloads fastest for you. These links download the same file, so you only need to use one to them:

• Amazon S3 – Accelerated (should be fastest and simplest)
• Europe based server – pCloud

Once it has downloaded:

• Run the installation.  You can usually do that in the browser in the download list.  The file is called MyMIDIPlayer5Beta_install.msi
• Accept all the options as they are. The program files will install to the “c:\Program Files\MyMIDI Player” folder, and working files to the “documents\MyMIDIPlayer” folder.
• Run MyMIDI Player.  It will have added an option into the start menu.

When you first run MyMIDI Player after the installation, it will automatically do some upgrade work.  The upgrade work may take a few minutes to run, or it may be almost immediate. If it fails to run on the first attempt, try running it again. If it continues to not run, please note any error message and contact us immediately. If the main MyMIDI Player window appears, the upgrade has completed.

If you get this far, you have a working player, but it needs the latest soundfonts downloaded before it’s ready to use.  Please move to the next section, “Downloading the latest default soundfonts”.

At the core of v5 is improved instruments when playing MIDI files. At the heart of that are soundfonts. During the development of this new version, we discovered some new soundfonts to cover pianos and keyboards, as well as the whole range of instruments. However they are much larger files than before, so we’ve developed a cleaner way to download and install them.

1. Run MyMIDI Player and go into Configuration Settings (the cog button at the bottom).
2. Delete any entries in the soundfont list. This is so the download facility can do the auto setup for you.
3. Click “Download Defaults”. This will download the new soundfonts and configure them correctly in the soundfont list. Since the video below was produced, this has been enhanced to check that the correct size file has been downloaded. It will list “Succeeded!” or “Failed” against each entry in the list following the “Download defaults” process. If any failed, delete the list and click “Download defaults” again. It will only repeat the download of any that failed. If you have persistent failure, Contact Us for assistance.
4. Click “Save” so the new settings will be remembered.

If you have a pro General MIDI soundfont like MegaStudio Pro, you will need to add that soundfont back into your soundfont list. To do this, go back into configuration settings, add to the soundfont list, and make this your second-last entry in the list. Don’t forget to save your changes.

If you were a v4 user, go back into Configuration settings and check your other settings, as your settings couldn’t be carried forward in the v5 upgrade. It is quite likely nothing needs changing.

That deals with your soundfonts, and already the music will be much improved. The VST instruments are optional, and should you choose not to use them, you need go no further – MyMIDI Player is ready to use.

However there are more improvements to be had, and they are well worth the effort. The next step is installing the VST Instruments.

MyMIDI Player v5 introduces the optional use VST2 instruments. You can read about VST instruments here but it probably won’t mean much to most people reading this. For practical purposes, it means better sounding instruments. Compared to soundfonts, they also require more disk space, and more memory and processor power to run.I have selected VST instruments that are free (with one exception), and that supply our most often used instruments. The result is vastly improved music from MIDI files, and I do hope you will take full advantage of this.

The VST instruments supported are:

• SI-Drum Kits, SI-Bass Guitars and SI-Strings from Cakewalk by Bandlab. These are all free and fabulous, but there is a bit of work in getting them installed.
• Strum Session 2 from Applied Acoustics Systems (AAS). This is the only VST instrument that will cost money, but the quality and purpose makes it well worth the small amount asked. AAS only sell this in a bundle for 99USD, but are offering through MyMIDI Worship Resources (MyMIDI) for much less. They are selling to MyMIDI at 10USD/licence, which we have to pre-purchase. We then need to sell a licence to each user who wants it, so the user can download and activate the plugin on their computer. To allow for exchange rate and complications, we’re setting the price at 20AUD per licence for Strum Session 2.  It is not yet available, but will be soon.
• Ample Guitar M Lite (AGML) from Ample Sound.  This supplies only a steel string acoustic guitar, and sounds very nice sometimes, though it is not a match for Strum Session 2. It is free, and is easily downloaded and installed. You would only consider AGML if you do not take the option of Strum Session 2.

The following sections deal with the downloads and installations of these VST instruments.

IMPORTANT: You can install and use some of the VST instruments. If you want, you can install and use the free ones and ignore Strum Session 2. It will work fine – it just won’t be as good as it could be. However

This is a more complex installation, because we have to install Cakewalk (which we don’t need) in order to install the SI Instruments that we do need.

• Click here to access the Bandlab download page for Cakewalk
• Click on the Download button.
• Click on “Cakewalk installer (Windows 10 or above, 64bit)”. It will install and run back to Windows 7, so don’t worry if that’s you.
• This will download CakewalkSetup.exe. When it has downloaded, run it. The installation process will start.
• At the “Additional Installers” step, only SI Instruments should remain checked.
• When installation finishes, there is no need to run Cakewalk, nor any need to activate Cakewalk.

This should have installed the SI instruments.  You can check that by looking in the “c:\program files\Cakewalk\VstPlugins” folder. You should see folders called “SI-Bass Guitar”, “SI-Drum Kit” and “SI-String Section”. If so, we have success!

Ample Guitar M Lite is a steel string guitar option if you are not going with Strum Session 2.

IMPORTANT: Do not do anything here if you will be using Strum Session 2!!

• Download from this page.  Scroll down until you find the downloads.  You want to download “Win64 VST”.
• Install it once it is downloaded.

If you have installed any VST instruments in the above steps, they need to be identified in MyMIDI Player.

• Run MyMIDI Player.
• Click on the gold cup icon (Manage VST instruments).
• Click the Add button, and navigate to where one of your VST instruments was installed – this can be the tricky bit. If you installed Cakewalk and the SI instruments, you should find most in c:\Program Files\Cakewalk\VstPlugins. For the SI instruments, you are after the dll files in SI-Bass Guitar, SI-Drum Kit, etc. Strum Session 2 has quite likely installed to c:\Program Files\Common Files\VST2 and the file is Strum Session 2.dll. Foe each VST instrument you installed there is one dll to find. Add them all to the list, then click “Save and Close”.
• Close MyMIDI Player – you cannot successfully play songs ater adding VST instruments until you have closed MyMIDI Player and opened it again.

Hopefully the dll files will not be too difficult to find. If you need to go searching, theses are the files you’re looking for:

• SI-Bass Guitars: SI-Bass Guitar.dll
• SI-Drum Kit: SI-Drum Kit.dll
• SI-String Section: SI-String Section.dll
• Strum Session 2: Strum Session 2.dll
• Ample Guitar M Lite 2: AGML2.dll (only if you’re not getting Strum Session 2)

If you are upgrading to the VST instruments, then it makes sense to also upgrade the general soundfont that handles all the other instruments.  I recommend the “MegaPro Studio” soundfont from our friends at GoldMidiSf2. Alberto continues to sell it from his website, he only asks 29.90 euros, and it is a one-time purchase with no expiry. See notes below.

• Purchase the MegaPro Studio soundfont, using this link.  Download the soundfont file you just bought.
• Copy the MegaPro Studio soundfont file into the “documents\MyMIDIPlayer” folder.
• Run MyMIDI Player, go into Configuration settings, add new soundfont into the soundfont list. My recommendation is to place it immediately below Pianos MyMIDI.sf2, but it can go immediately above if you prefer its pianos. GoldGuitars.sf2 and GoldOrgans.sf2 must come first.
• You can remove SGM-MyMIDI.sf2 from the list as MegaPro Studio makes it redundant.
• Save settings.

Note 1: Alberto has made his Gold Guitars and Gold Organs soundfont available to us for free, to include in the MyMIDI Player distribution. This is very generous!

Note 2: Alberto has made me an affiliate of his website, in order that some of the purchase price of his soundfont goes back into MyMIDI Player. If this were not the case, the price would still be the same.  Again, Alberto has been generous.

Note 3: Again, I stress this soundfont upgrade is optional, and not as necessary as it was before v5, because of the new free default soundfonts.  However I am striving to get you the best music you can have through MyMIDI Player at the lowest possible price, and I believe MegaPro Studio still helps to achieve that.

If you have successfully completed steps 1-6, 8-9, MyMIDI Player should now be running version 5, equipped with the best of the musical quality now possible.

We hope you enjoy MyMIDI Player v5. There are a couple of videos below to introduce some of the features.

If you encounter a problem, please firstly try to to make it happen again, until you can describe as accurately as possible how to make the problem happen.  Then let me know using wayne@mymidi.audio. I will respond to any issues you report with the greatest urgency possible.

Note: Because the VST instruments have a different loudness to soundfonts, you will find that you need to balance the instrument volume levels on most songs. The auto-save preset option is your best friend, storing those song settings for future use.