Last revised: 12 December 07 (chronological list of recently revised/new FAQ's : 26, 5, 6, 8, 13, 15, 16, 20, 22  (most recent first))

Sufficient comments and questions have arrived about Prog Organ that it is appropriate to set up this FAQ page.  The answers given represent the best of my current knowledge and belief.  If you know better, please let me know!  If you email me I will incorporate your experiences and comments here (see the Contact Me page for email address).  Thanks to those who have sent advice and comments so far; this has been very valuable.

List of FAQ's - click on the one you want

1. Will the X-Fi sound card work with Prog Organ?

2. Do the kX drivers work with the X-Fi card?

3. Will you get the full 128 note polyphony if using the X-Fi card?

4. Do the kX drivers work with the Audigy 4?

5. Will the "new old stock" CT 4870 Live! cards work with kX?

6. When or if will Prog Organ support digital expression (volume or swell) control?

7. The CA3080E chip used in your analogue swell control circuits is obsolete.

8. What are the pros and cons of MIDI versus parallel port keydesk input?

9. Can Prog Organ support "virtual" or floating departments?

10. Reverberation is not mentioned in the User Manual.

11. Does the parallel port scanning system require electrical screening?

12. I am having trouble getting hold of parts for the keydesk/console.

13. What is polyphony economisation?

14. What additional facilities will be supported in Prog Organ Version 2?

15. When will Version 2 be available?

16. Why not put the software on your site so people can download it immediately, rather than having to apply by email?

17. Would you consider developing a bespoke version of the software for commercial use?

18. What language is the software written in?  Will you issue the source code?

19. When will the software control the keydesk scanner interface circuitry via a USB port rather than the parallel port?

20. Will Prog Organ work under Windows Vista?

21. How easy is it to set up Prog Organ?

22. To avoid stop switches at the keydesk, can Midiox be used to send MIDI stop control codes to Prog Organ?

23. Can the SoundFont-compatible soft synth sfz be used instead of sound cards?

24. How do you get such low latency?  It is absolutely unnoticeable.

25. Installation issues: Windows 98 versus XP, sound card reinstallation, etc.

26. Can release transients and room reverb be simulated using SoundFonts?

1. Will the X-Fi sound card work with Prog Organ?

I haven't tried it yet so cannot give any guidance derived from personal experience.  However it appears to be fully SoundFont compatible, therefore it should work.  In fact it seems to support the latest SoundFont version, also the latest version (2.4) of Vienna.  If it doesn't work with Prog Organ it wouldn't work with a lot of other music apps either which use the same Windows API functions.  That seems an unlikely scenario somehow.

2. Do the kX drivers work with the X-Fi card?

It says they do not on the kX forum, and that there is no prospect that they will in the future.  However, if previous experience with Creative cards is anything to go by, it ought to be possible to mix the X-Fi card with other types and use either their own drivers or kX drivers for the older ones.

3. Will you get the full 128 note polyphony if using the X-Fi card?

The meaning of "128 note polyphony" in the X-Fi spec has the usual vagueness we have come to expect these days.  Some card manufacturers use the term "voice" and others use "note" when defining polyphony.  I have seen both terms used for the X-Fi, which only confuses the situation further.  However one user has reported that he is getting genuine 96 note polyphony from an X-Fi, which is 50% more than from any previous card.  This is most encouraging.

4.  Do the kX drivers work with the Audigy 4?

It's rather unclear.  The 3536 and 3537 driver versions certainly do not - I've tried them.  However that's not a problem, because they completely ignore my Audigy 4, which therefore enables you to load the Creative drivers for that card.  I am currently running a 3 card system using kX for an Audigy 1 and an Audigy 2, with Creative for the new Audigy 4.  It seems to work fine so far.  If you look at the kX forum, it says that the recently released 3538 drivers  will drive the Audigy 4 however.  Note that the main KX website at http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/ does not appear to be up to date, as the latest driver obtainable there is version 3537.  It seems to be better to go to the "forum" link from that site and keep up to date from there.

5.  Will the "new old stock" CT 4870 Live! cards work with KX?  They are terrific value.

I agree they are terrific value and I bought a bunch of them myself.  Yes, they do work with KX drivers.  The CT 4870 has twin SoundFont-compatible synths using the E-mu 10K1 sound engine, and a MIDI port as part of the games port.  It was marketed by Creative as a "value" card, which among other things meant it did not have a separate "drive" front panel like the more elaborate Live! versions did.  Apparently it was intended as an OEM card and they appeared in 'Gateway' computers (whatever they were).  However the card does still retain an internal connector at the rear, which might connect to an existing Live! "drive" via a suitable ribbon cable.  Windows and Prog Organ software both find two MIDI ports on it, one as part of the games port and the other which must be on the rear connector (and therefore physically on the "drive" if you have one).  The cards install under both Windows 98SE and Windows XP using the kX drivers - see below. 

 

Creative drivers for versions of Windows back to Windows 2000 seem to be available for download, but not for Windows 98 and earlier.  Only updates to existing drivers are offered in this case.  A full OEM 'Gateway' driver can be found on the Internet but I could not make it work.

 

The story for kX drivers is as follows:

 

With Windows 98SE, kX version 3536 was used. Version 3537 would probably work also, but the most recent version (3538) is said not to be compatible with Windows 98 any longer.  Before the cards would work, a clean re-install of Windows was required on an old computer whose registry - and just about everything else - had probably become an utter shambles.  Also the latest version of DirectX from the Microsoft website had to be installed (the kX drivers would not accept the old version 4 which came with the ancient operating system).  This way, I got two of the cards working simultaneously in an old (1999) machine with little apparent problem.  This might be of interest to the large number of people still using Windows 98, or those who do not want to tie up their more recent general purpose machine for music purposes.

 

I can't see any reason why they should not work on an XP machine, because these cards are listed on the kX website as being a card that kX will drive.  Some colleagues have tried them, and they have got the card working with kX drivers under Windows XP.  The CT4830 also works as well.  Generally, my experience with the kX drivers is that, if you can get them working with Windows 98, they will also work under XP, and usually with fewer installation problems as well.

6.  When or if will Prog Organ support digital expression (volume or swell) control?

Version 1 did not and it has been withdrawn anyway.  However it is already incorporated and working in Version 2 (yet to be released outside the Electronic Organ Constructors' Society).  Both the parallel port and MIDI keydesk input options can be used for swell control.  For MIDI, a standard Continuous Controller 7 message is used.  For the parallel port option, a block of 7 addresses has to be allocated to each swell control, enabling it to input a 7-bit "expression" word (0 to 127).

7.  The CA3080E chip used in your analogue swell control circuits is obsolete.

Yes, that always happens when you decide publish a circuit, whether analogue or digital.  They can still be obtained from some sources though.  The LM13700 will probably work as well, because it seems to be electrically compatible from the point of view of its transconductance figure.  However it is a dual device whereas the 3080 is a single device.  Therefore it is not a plug-in replacement.  If you can still find some 3080's and are interested in the analogue expression technique, I suggest you buy in a supply while you can.  They are (were) very cheap.

8.  What are the pros and cons of MIDI versus parallel port keydesk input?

If you need more than 256 keydesk switches you must use MIDI, which can accommodate up to 512.  Otherwise it largely depends on issues like whether you can build the parallel port interface yourself (although a PCB is available).  Also some recent sound cards do not have any MIDI ports at all, which would mean you having to buy a separate USB MIDI interface.  The parallel port option provides a relatively simple and unified way to handle all the keydesk switches, including stops, pistons, etc.  It is also undoubtedly the cheapest method if you have basic electronic skills and can assemble components into a PCB.

9.  Can Prog Organ support "virtual" or floating departments, e.g. a manual division which can be played from one or more  of the physical keyboards?

I can't see a way to do it without adding a new facility to the Configuration File structure.  In itself this presents no real problem, but doing it in a manner which would enable compatibility to be maintained with existing Configuration Files could be tricky.  Unless there are sufficient requests for it, I do not propose to consider this further.

10. Reverberation is not mentioned in the User Manual.

The current version of the User Manual covers it in detail.  There is a complete chapter on it.

11. Does the parallel port scanning system require electrical screening?

I mentioned this in the article Digital Organs using off-the-shelf technology, because of the high scan speeds used.  However, with hindsight it was rather a throw-away remark, and the passage of time suggests there is no problem with Prog Organ interfering with any other system, nor them with it as far as I know.

12. I am having trouble getting hold of parts for the keydesk/console.

Because of the number of enquiries on this topic, a chapter on the subject has been included in the latest editions of the User Manual (click Up at the top of this page and then click on User Manual).  

13. What is polyphony economisation?

It is a technique which detects when the polyphony limit of the system is approached (insufficient note generators remaining), and which then switches off certain stops automatically as you play.  These are automatically restored when sufficient polyphony becomes available once more.  In Prog Organ Version 2  you specify the relative importance of all speaking stops by assigning a STOPWEIGHT parameter (0 to 127) in the Configuration Files.  The first stop to be switched off is the one with the lowest weight.  Stops with a weight of 127 will never be switched off.  The system monitors each sound card separately for polyphony.  This prevents unpleasant effects such as unexpectedly losing notes in a chord when the system runs out of polyphony, a phenomenon not unknown in many commercial digital organs and synthesisers.  If you have assigned the weights properly, the operation of the system is virtually undetectable.

14. What additional facilities will be supported in Prog Organ Version 2?

Polyphony economisation, piano sustain pedal, and digital expression control (swell pedals).  Also the user interface is the more usual Windows type, with dialogue boxes etc rather than the simple console window of Version 1 (see the 'Plans' page to see a typical user screenshot).  Note Version 1 has been withdrawn.

15. When will Version 2 be available?

I haven't decided yet when it will be made available on unlimited distribution.  However Version 2 is available now to members of the Electronic Organ Constructors' Society (www.eocs.org.uk).

16. Why don't you put the software on your site so people can download it immediately, rather than having to apply to you by email?

This question related to Version 1.  It was not available for direct download from this site because of the possibility of exceeding the monthly download limit of my web hosting service.  If that happened I would have had to pay more for web hosting.  The User Manual for Version 2 is available for direct download, and that has attracted a pretty large amount of interest.  If the same number of people had downloaded all the software as well I could have run into difficulties. 

17. Would you consider developing a bespoke version of the software for commercial use?

The current version of the software is intended only for amateur (non-commercial) use on a single system.  This does not necessarily preclude negotiating commercial licenses with companies, but the costs of customising the software to meet their requirements would have to be recovered as part of the deal.  However this does not imply a commitment to enter into any negotiations at present.

18. What language is the software written in?  Will you issue the source code?

 Some modules are in C and others in C++.  The system was developed using Microsoft Visual C++ within Visual Studio 6.0  I have no plans to make the source code available.

19. When will the software control the keydesk scanner interface circuitry via a USB port rather than the parallel port?

I don't know.  There has not been sufficient call for it yet.  It would require software modifications as well as modified scanner interface, to include a hardware serial to parallel converter.  It represents quite a lot of work.

20. Will Prog Organ work under Windows Vista?

You tell me!  Does anybody really know what will and will not work under Vista?  One could hope that it will be upwards compatible for all existing audio and music application programs, including Prog Organ, regardless of what new facilities Vista offers.  On the other hand, it could be as cataclysmic as the change from Windows 98 to XP, when all the drivers for all devices had to be re-written.  Please, Microsoft,  please let that not happen again!

 

However, at present the system will probably detect Vista as an operating system that it does not recognise and it will execute an error exit.  This could be easily fixed, but I haven't tried it yet under Vista myself, and it will probably be some while before I do.

 

Note added 1 Nov 07:  The main sound and multimedia problem with Vista appears to be the slowness of SoundFont-compatible sound card manufacturers in providing updated drivers with the necessary capability.  In other words, the cataclysm experienced when Windows 98 was superseded has been repeated.  This is partly related to the fact that Vista apparently does not support Direct X fully or not at all.  However the latest version of the KX drivers are said to run under Vista (32 bit mode only).  These should support the same legacy cards under Vista which they supported under previous operating systems.  But to quote one recent contributor to a chat line ... I suggest you upgrade to XP ...  Lovely phrase which I think says it all for the present!

21. How easy is it to set up Prog Organ?

This question is rather like how long is a piece of string, as it largely depends on how much experience you have with computers.  There is also an issue related to setting up a keydesk so it will interface to your computer, and this requires some understanding of electronics.  Personally I think Prog Organ is one of the simpler systems around in these respects, though it is easy for me to say this having designed it in the first place.  However, some people are likely to be put off having read the User Manual and this is quite understandable.  The complexity they might perceive is the price to be paid for a system that is only a tiny fraction of the cost of buying a commercial item with the same performance.  But for these reasons the system will be made available commercially as a turnkey product in fully working form from one supplier at the time of writing, and he will also be able to customise it to requirements, such as the stop list, how many sound cards are used, etc.  See the Sources of Supply chapter in Version 2 of the User Manual (available for download from the User Manual page).

22. To avoid having to provide stop switches at the keydesk, can Midiox be used to send MIDI stop control codes as defined in the User Manual to the MIDI ports on the computer?

I have not tried using the system in this way myself and so cannot offer any advice, although some users have have reported success.

23. Can the SoundFont-compatible soft synth sfz be used instead of sound cards?

Again, I have not investigated this so cannot say from direct experience.  However some users are looking into it but I have no visibility so far as to whether they have been successful.  In general, if sfz (or any other rendering engine for that matter) can be made to look like a MIDI wavetable synth to Windows, then Prog Organ ought to be able to use it.  You can see whether Windows recognises it by looking in the Sounds and Audio Devices section of the Windows Control Panel.

24. How do you get such low latency?  It is absolutely unnoticeable when playing even on my humble laptop and USB sound card, and knocks all other systems I have tried into a cocked hat.

Undetectable latency (the delay between keying a note and hearing the sound) was a prime design goal of Prog Organ.  The original PC used for developing the system ran at only 360 MHz, yet even with this the latency was undetectable to the player.  Using sound cards to do all the hard work is one reason, because they are essentially hard-wired and therefore very fast compared to software synthesis techniques. Another reason is the use of the (now) old fashioned Windows MCI (Media Control Interface) audio functions which were originally developed in the days of Windows 3.1, and in those days efficiency was paramount.  However this does not mean that Prog Organ is a 16 bit application because it is not - it is written and compiled as 32 bit.  In my experience the MCI functions are faster than the modern equivalents in DirectX/DirectSound, because these seem to be bloated and inefficient by comparison, even though they make the programmer's job easier.

25.  Installation issues:

(a) With Windows 98, Prog Organ version 1 installs and runs generally OK once the sound cards are working, but there are one or two minor bugs when registering it e.g. the odd extraneous character sometimes appears on the screen when the system is waiting for a reply from the user. 

This is a bug, but frankly it is hardly worth my while chasing this in the case of Windows 98 users.  Sorry!  The extraneous characters are obvious and easily deleted with the backspace key before you type your reply to the question.

(b) With Windows 98, Prog Organ Version 2 does not find any configuration files even though they exist, and therefore the user cannot choose one.  The system will therefore not run.

This is probably a bug, and a major one, but it does not appear when using Windows XP.  As version 2 is not yet on general release, this is rather academic at present for most users.  In the longer term, I am inclined to regard version 2 as an XP-specific system.  This means that users who must use Windows 98 should continue to run version 1 only, even when version 2 has been issued.  We are in the Vista era now guys!  Please don't keep dragging me back to Windows 98, as I do not have the resources to support it.

(c)  Prog Organ no longer worked when I reinstalled the sound cards.

This is probably because Windows re-allocated its internal device ID numbers when it detected your card(s) had been uninstalled, and then again when they were reinstalled.  Prog Organ needs these numbers so it can find the synths and MIDI ports on the cards.  You will need to re-run MIDIiodevsx (supplied with the software package) to get an up to date snapshot of the audio devices on your system.

26.  Can release transients and room reverb be simulated using SoundFonts?

Yes.  There are two relatively easy ways to do it, the choice depending on how long the sample itself is.  If the loop region is short, say under 100 msec in duration in round figures, you can use the built-in facility of SoundFonts whereby you simply check the "release after loop region" box when setting the loop points.

 

If the loop region is long, say several seconds, this will not usually be satisfactory because you have to wait until the loop end marker is reached before the release portion of the sample is replayed.  If you had released the key at or near the loop start marker, this could represent a considerable delay before the release transient is encountered.  In this case you can put the release transient (containing the room ambience if any) into a separate zone, effectively as a separate sample.  It should be prefixed with a short period of silence within which you define an arbitrary but very short loop region.  Both this release zone and the normal one are then keyed together.  The result is that while the key is held, you get normal looping of the sound from one zone together with looping of silence from the other.  At key release, you then get the release transient immediately.  Adjusting the attack and release times of the two zones enables you to optimise the cross-fade between them and thus produce a seamless join.

 

The only real disadvantage is that twice the polyphony is required, but additional polyphony is needed for any system which reproduces extended release transients, not just one which uses SoundFonts.  It will usually be essential to install multiple sound cards to get sufficient polyphony when using this technique.