WARBL Forum

Does anyone have any suggestions for setting WARBL up on a PC? Any software similar to Eskin's that can play it as a whistle?
Thanks for any help you can give.
Jonathan

Hi Jonathan, I made a tin whistle soundfont, which you can use in any MIDI app that can play soundfonts:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=83

Maybe someone else can suggest a good app to use. I haven’t found one for Windows that isn’t overly complicated, but there must be some. You could try Cakewalk by Bandlab, which is free and very powerful, but has many more features than we need and is thus a bit tricky to use. If you can find a Windows version of FluidSynth, that might work well. I’ll do some research and see what else I can turn up.

Thanks! I'll give it a try.

I did a little searching last night, and found the free app "Soundfont MIDI Player", which seems to work well on my machine and is easy to set up. I downloaded it here:

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/detail ... layer.html

It's a little confusing which download button isn't an add, so here's a direct link to the download, if you prefer:

https://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/getmirror ... yer,1.html

You just unzip the folder on your machine, open it, and then run MidiPlayer.exe.

After the app opens, click the Device settings "gear" icon in the top left. Under "MIDI In", make sure the "Active" box is checked, and select WARBL as the input. WARBL may have had to be plugged in when you opened the app to be visible.

Then, under "MIDI Out", select "Use Bass (Use Soundfonts/VSTi). This will open a pane on the right, where you can select a default soundfont. Browse to the tin whistle soundfont that I made, which you will have needed to download to your machine. Here's the link to that: https://warbl.xyz/soundfonts/WARBL_whistle1.sf2

Finally, make sure you have the correct speakers/soundcard selected under "output device" at the bottom. If you experience latency you can also play with the output settings.

That worked for me. The latency seems pretty decent. I also have Asio4all installed on my machine, but I don't think this app is using it.

I'll attach a screenshot of the settings.

Here's the developers page, which has more info and a tutorial section:

http://falcosoft.hu/softwares.html

Andrew, thanks again; I very much appreciate the trouble you've taken. Now, I've downloaded the program and set it up as per your instructions. Now, just one more question (and I feel like an idiot for having to ask this): how do I make the connection between the program and my WARBL? Because when I open the player and blow into the WARBL nothing happens.

My pleasure! Assuming WARBL is plugged into the PC (it may have to be plugged in before you open the app), open the device settings as in the screenshot above, and you should see WARBL listed as an input port option as shown. Also make sure the "active" box is checked.

Then, when you play WARBL you should see the piano keys being highlighted. Is that the case?

Ah, I've got it working. I had everything plugged in, but I think what I needed to do was to do everything in order, i.e., close down the midi app, unplug the WARBL, plug the WARBL back in, open the app and then it was set. I have an Ipad, but this will be great because I won't need to worry about recharging it and I will be able to play here and there while I work without terminally antagonizing my wife (who is willing to put with a great deal, but can only last for about 5 minutes of whistling.
So thanks again!

Great, I’m glad it’s working!

Another free Soundfont player app that works well and is available for both Windows and Mac is Sforzando:

https://www.plogue.com/downloads.html#sforzando

It can also play the tin whistle soundfont that I mentioned above, and gives you a little more control over effects like reverb and tone.