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- All Superinterfaces:
- AutoCloseable, MidiDevice
public interface Synthesizer extends MidiDevice
ASynthesizer
generates sound. This usually happens when one of theSynthesizer
'sMidiChannel
objects receives anoteOn
message, either directly or via theSynthesizer
object. ManySynthesizer
s supportReceivers
, through which MIDI events can be delivered to theSynthesizer
. In such cases, theSynthesizer
typically responds by sending a corresponding message to the appropriateMidiChannel
, or by processing the event itself if the event isn't one of the MIDI channel messages.The
Synthesizer
interface includes methods for loading and unloading instruments from soundbanks. An instrument is a specification for synthesizing a certain type of sound, whether that sound emulates a traditional instrument or is some kind of sound effect or other imaginary sound. A soundbank is a collection of instruments, organized by bank and program number (via the instrument'sPatch
object). DifferentSynthesizer
classes might implement different sound-synthesis techniques, meaning that some instruments and not others might be compatible with a given synthesizer. Also, synthesizers may have a limited amount of memory for instruments, meaning that not every soundbank and instrument can be used by every synthesizer, even if the synthesis technique is compatible. To see whether the instruments from a certain soundbank can be played by a given synthesizer, invoke theisSoundbankSupported
method ofSynthesizer
."Loading" an instrument means that that instrument becomes available for synthesizing notes. The instrument is loaded into the bank and program location specified by its
Patch
object. Loading does not necessarily mean that subsequently played notes will immediately have the sound of this newly loaded instrument. For the instrument to play notes, one of the synthesizer'sMidiChannel
objects must receive (or have received) a program-change message that causes that particular instrument's bank and program number to be selected.
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Nested Class Summary
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Nested classes/interfaces inherited from interface javax.sound.midi.MidiDevice
MidiDevice.Info
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Method Summary
Methods Modifier and Type Method and Description Instrument[]
getAvailableInstruments()
Obtains a list of instruments that come with the synthesizer.MidiChannel[]
getChannels()
Obtains the set of MIDI channels controlled by this synthesizer.Soundbank
getDefaultSoundbank()
Obtains the default soundbank for the synthesizer, if one exists.long
getLatency()
Obtains the processing latency incurred by this synthesizer, expressed in microseconds.Instrument[]
getLoadedInstruments()
Obtains a list of the instruments that are currently loaded onto thisSynthesizer
.int
getMaxPolyphony()
Obtains the maximum number of notes that this synthesizer can sound simultaneously.VoiceStatus[]
getVoiceStatus()
Obtains the current status of the voices produced by this synthesizer.boolean
isSoundbankSupported(Soundbank soundbank)
Informs the caller whether this synthesizer is capable of loading instruments from the specified soundbank.boolean
loadAllInstruments(Soundbank soundbank)
Loads onto theSynthesizer
all instruments contained in the specifiedSoundbank
.boolean
loadInstrument(Instrument instrument)
Makes a particular instrument available for synthesis.boolean
loadInstruments(Soundbank soundbank, Patch[] patchList)
Loads the instruments referenced by the specified patches, from the specifiedSoundbank
.boolean
remapInstrument(Instrument from, Instrument to)
Remaps an instrument.void
unloadAllInstruments(Soundbank soundbank)
Unloads all instruments contained in the specifiedSoundbank
.void
unloadInstrument(Instrument instrument)
Unloads a particular instrument.void
unloadInstruments(Soundbank soundbank, Patch[] patchList)
Unloads the instruments referenced by the specified patches, from the MIDI sound bank specified.-
Methods inherited from interface javax.sound.midi.MidiDevice
close, getDeviceInfo, getMaxReceivers, getMaxTransmitters, getMicrosecondPosition, getReceiver, getReceivers, getTransmitter, getTransmitters, isOpen, open
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Method Detail
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getMaxPolyphony
int getMaxPolyphony()
Obtains the maximum number of notes that this synthesizer can sound simultaneously.- Returns:
- the maximum number of simultaneous notes
- See Also:
getVoiceStatus()
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getLatency
long getLatency()
Obtains the processing latency incurred by this synthesizer, expressed in microseconds. This latency measures the worst-case delay between the time a MIDI message is delivered to the synthesizer and the time that the synthesizer actually produces the corresponding result.Although the latency is expressed in microseconds, a synthesizer's actual measured delay may vary over a wider range than this resolution suggests. For example, a synthesizer might have a worst-case delay of a few milliseconds or more.
- Returns:
- the worst-case delay, in microseconds
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getChannels
MidiChannel[] getChannels()
Obtains the set of MIDI channels controlled by this synthesizer. Each non-null element in the returned array is aMidiChannel
that receives the MIDI messages sent on that channel number.The MIDI 1.0 specification provides for 16 channels, so this method returns an array of at least 16 elements. However, if this synthesizer doesn't make use of all 16 channels, some of the elements of the array might be
null
, so you should check each element before using it.- Returns:
- an array of the
MidiChannel
objects managed by thisSynthesizer
. Some of the array elements may benull
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getVoiceStatus
VoiceStatus[] getVoiceStatus()
Obtains the current status of the voices produced by this synthesizer. If this class ofSynthesizer
does not provide voice information, the returned array will always be of length 0. Otherwise, its length is always equal to the total number of voices, as returned bygetMaxPolyphony()
. (See theVoiceStatus
class description for an explanation of synthesizer voices.)- Returns:
- an array of
VoiceStatus
objects that supply information about the corresponding synthesizer voices - See Also:
getMaxPolyphony()
,VoiceStatus
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isSoundbankSupported
boolean isSoundbankSupported(Soundbank soundbank)
Informs the caller whether this synthesizer is capable of loading instruments from the specified soundbank. If the soundbank is unsupported, any attempts to load instruments from it will result in anIllegalArgumentException
.- Parameters:
soundbank
- soundbank for which support is queried- Returns:
true
if the soundbank is supported, otherwisefalse
- See Also:
loadInstruments(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank, javax.sound.midi.Patch[])
,loadAllInstruments(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank)
,unloadInstruments(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank, javax.sound.midi.Patch[])
,unloadAllInstruments(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank)
,getDefaultSoundbank()
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loadInstrument
boolean loadInstrument(Instrument instrument)
Makes a particular instrument available for synthesis. This instrument is loaded into the patch location specified by itsPatch
object, so that if a program-change message is received (or has been received) that causes that patch to be selected, subsequent notes will be played using the sound ofinstrument
. If the specified instrument is already loaded, this method does nothing and returnstrue
.The instrument must be part of a soundbank that this
Synthesizer
supports. (To make sure, you can use thegetSoundbank
method ofInstrument
and theisSoundbankSupported
method ofSynthesizer
.)- Parameters:
instrument
- instrument to load- Returns:
true
if the instrument is successfully loaded (or already had been),false
if the instrument could not be loaded (for example, if the synthesizer has insufficient memory to load it)- Throws:
- if thisIllegalArgumentException
Synthesizer
doesn't support the specified instrument's soundbank- See Also:
unloadInstrument(javax.sound.midi.Instrument)
,loadInstruments(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank, javax.sound.midi.Patch[])
,loadAllInstruments(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank)
,remapInstrument(javax.sound.midi.Instrument, javax.sound.midi.Instrument)
,SoundbankResource.getSoundbank()
,MidiChannel.programChange(int, int)
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unloadInstrument
void unloadInstrument(Instrument instrument)
Unloads a particular instrument.- Parameters:
instrument
- instrument to unload- Throws:
- if thisIllegalArgumentException
Synthesizer
doesn't support the specified instrument's soundbank- See Also:
loadInstrument(javax.sound.midi.Instrument)
,unloadInstruments(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank, javax.sound.midi.Patch[])
,unloadAllInstruments(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank)
,getLoadedInstruments()
,remapInstrument(javax.sound.midi.Instrument, javax.sound.midi.Instrument)
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remapInstrument
boolean remapInstrument(Instrument from, Instrument to)
Remaps an instrument. Instrumentto
takes the place of instrumentfrom
.
For example, iffrom
was located at bank number 2, program number 11, remapping causes that bank and program location to be occupied instead byto
.
If the function succeeds, instrumentfrom
is unloaded.To cancel the remapping reload instrument
from
by invoking one ofloadInstrument(javax.sound.midi.Instrument)
,loadInstruments(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank, javax.sound.midi.Patch[])
orloadAllInstruments(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank)
.- Parameters:
from
- theInstrument
object to be replacedto
- theInstrument
object to be used in place of the old instrument, it should be loaded into the synthesizer- Returns:
true
if the instrument succeessfully remapped,false
if feature is not implemented by synthesizer- Throws:
- if instrumentIllegalArgumentException
from
or instrumentto
aren't supported by synthesizer or if instrumentto
is not loaded
- ifNullPointerException
from
orto
parameters have null value- See Also:
loadInstrument(javax.sound.midi.Instrument)
,loadInstruments(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank, javax.sound.midi.Patch[])
,loadAllInstruments(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank)
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getDefaultSoundbank
Soundbank getDefaultSoundbank()
Obtains the default soundbank for the synthesizer, if one exists. (Some synthesizers provide a default or built-in soundbank.) If a synthesizer doesn't have a default soundbank, instruments must be loaded explicitly from an external soundbank.- Returns:
- default soundbank, or
null
if one does not exist. - See Also:
isSoundbankSupported(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank)
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getAvailableInstruments
Instrument[] getAvailableInstruments()
Obtains a list of instruments that come with the synthesizer. These instruments might be built into the synthesizer, or they might be part of a default soundbank provided with the synthesizer, etc.Note that you don't use this method to find out which instruments are currently loaded onto the synthesizer; for that purpose, you use
getLoadedInstruments()
. Nor does the method indicate all the instruments that can be loaded onto the synthesizer; it only indicates the subset that come with the synthesizer. To learn whether another instrument can be loaded, you can invokeisSoundbankSupported()
, and if the instrument'sSoundbank
is supported, you can try loading the instrument.- Returns:
- list of available instruments. If the synthesizer has no instruments coming with it, an array of length 0 is returned.
- See Also:
getLoadedInstruments()
,isSoundbankSupported(Soundbank)
,loadInstrument(javax.sound.midi.Instrument)
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getLoadedInstruments
Instrument[] getLoadedInstruments()
Obtains a list of the instruments that are currently loaded onto thisSynthesizer
.- Returns:
- a list of currently loaded instruments
- See Also:
loadInstrument(javax.sound.midi.Instrument)
,getAvailableInstruments()
,Soundbank.getInstruments()
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loadAllInstruments
boolean loadAllInstruments(Soundbank soundbank)
Loads onto theSynthesizer
all instruments contained in the specifiedSoundbank
.- Parameters:
soundbank
- theSoundbank
whose are instruments are to be loaded- Returns:
true
if the instruments are all successfully loaded (or already had been),false
if any instrument could not be loaded (for example, if theSynthesizer
had insufficient memory)- Throws:
IllegalArgumentException
- if the requested soundbank is incompatible with this synthesizer.- See Also:
isSoundbankSupported(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank)
,loadInstrument(javax.sound.midi.Instrument)
,loadInstruments(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank, javax.sound.midi.Patch[])
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unloadAllInstruments
void unloadAllInstruments(Soundbank soundbank)
Unloads all instruments contained in the specifiedSoundbank
.- Parameters:
soundbank
- soundbank containing instruments to unload- Throws:
IllegalArgumentException
- thrown if the soundbank is not supported.- See Also:
isSoundbankSupported(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank)
,unloadInstrument(javax.sound.midi.Instrument)
,unloadInstruments(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank, javax.sound.midi.Patch[])
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loadInstruments
boolean loadInstruments(Soundbank soundbank, Patch[] patchList)
Loads the instruments referenced by the specified patches, from the specifiedSoundbank
. Each of thePatch
objects indicates a bank and program number; theInstrument
that has the matchingPatch
is loaded into that bank and program location.- Parameters:
soundbank
- theSoundbank
containing the instruments to loadpatchList
- list of patches for which instruments should be loaded- Returns:
true
if the instruments are all successfully loaded (or already had been),false
if any instrument could not be loaded (for example, if theSynthesizer
had insufficient memory)- Throws:
IllegalArgumentException
- thrown if the soundbank is not supported.- See Also:
isSoundbankSupported(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank)
,Instrument.getPatch()
,loadAllInstruments(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank)
,loadInstrument(javax.sound.midi.Instrument)
,Soundbank.getInstrument(Patch)
,Sequence.getPatchList()
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unloadInstruments
void unloadInstruments(Soundbank soundbank, Patch[] patchList)
Unloads the instruments referenced by the specified patches, from the MIDI sound bank specified.- Parameters:
soundbank
- soundbank containing instruments to unloadpatchList
- list of patches for which instruments should be unloaded- Throws:
IllegalArgumentException
- thrown if the soundbank is not supported.- See Also:
unloadInstrument(javax.sound.midi.Instrument)
,unloadAllInstruments(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank)
,isSoundbankSupported(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank)
,Instrument.getPatch()
,loadInstruments(javax.sound.midi.Soundbank, javax.sound.midi.Patch[])
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Document created the 11/06/2005, last modified the 04/03/2020
Source of the printed document:https://www.gaudry.be/en/java-api-rf-javax/sound/midi/Synthesizer.html
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