Device Variants & Channels

The MIDI ports and channels of a Device are configured on the Variants, Channels tab. One device may support more than one port and channel layout, called Variants.

For most devices a single port with 16 MIDI channels is sufficient. For comprehensive sound libraries, you may want to add up to four Variants A, B, C, D. Each variant represents a different configuration, operation mode, or preset of the same device and supports up to 16 MIDI channels. The advantage of using variants versus creating multiple devices is that Custom Controllers, Articulations and device properties need only be defined once for all variants.

Every MIDI channel can be set to one of three types:
Fixed Sound
A single sound is permanently addressed on this channel. Its properties can be set using the inspector on the sidebar.
Dynamic Program Selection
An arbitrary program or patch of the device is selected by sending a MIDI bank and program selection message. The list of available sounds is managed on the tab Programs.
Reserved Channel
On this channel only those sounds can be selected that have the same channel number set as their reserved channel (for example, this is the case for GM drum kits that require channel 10). These sounds are also managed on the tab Programs.

Multiple channel types can be mixed in the same variant. If a device has multiple variants with dynamic channels, Synfire considers all of them for sound assignments equally.

A green indicator labeled Used indicates whether a channel is currently in use by one or more instruments, which are listed on the sidebar for your information.

Tip: You can use this page to edit a sound's properties, controllers and articulations while the plug-in is loaded and then call Copy Sound To User Bank from the options menu to save it permanently to the Programs page. This is handy when you have many sounds to add for a large library.
Tip: For General MIDI (GM) synths and sound generators, we recommend you always exclude channel 10 from dynamic allocation. The standard requires it be reserved for drum kits.
Note: Dynamic channels are managed by Synfire automatically. When multiple arrangements are open at the same time, the current foreground window may temporarily put the sounds of a background window aside in order to ensure all sounds of the foreground window are ready to play.