What is SyFonOne?

SyFonOne is a midi port player based on the technology introduced in its ”parent” program SynthFont and also used in its ”sibling”, VSTSynthFont. SynthFont is for rendering midi files to audio using SoundFonts or similar data files, VSTSynthFont is a VST Instrument (VST is a trademark of Steinberg), and SyFonOne is very similar to VSTSynthFont, but it takes its midi data from a midi port. In effect, you can use SyFonOne in similar ways as you would use VSTSynthFont, in connection with your midi sequencer of choice. This is particularly useful if your sequencer does not support VST instruments. Then you simply have to redirect the output to a virtual Midi port. SyFonOne has been tested with loopMIDI (recommended), MidiYoke, and LoopBe1. These virtual ports should show up in the sequencer as available midi outputs. You will then select one of them as the input port in SyFonOne. (If you only want to play from your external keyboard then you do not need this driver, of course.)

You probably also want to install a so called ASIO driver as it may improve the performance (latency and timing) quite a bit. The best free alternative is ASIO4ALL. The ASIO buffer size should be set to 1024 samples or less. Go to Setup in SyFonOne to select the driver and the buffer size. It is not necessary use ASIO, but the performance will be better. If you do not want to use ASIO, or if it does not work, or if you are just too lazy to install anything more, then just try to use the inbuilt playback buffering system. See below for instructions.

The SyFonOne program has no main window, but shows up as an icon in the notification area of Window's taskbar:

The items in the menu are:

Play – start the rendering engine. If you have defined an WASAPI or ASIO driver port as your audio output, the port has to be free for use by SyFonOne.
Stop – stop the rendering engine. Some memory structures will be released. All notes will be shut off. The ASIO port will become available to other programs.
Panic! - All notes off – shut off all sounding notes.
Reset Controllers - clear all MIDI controllers to default values
Show tracks list – open the tracks editor were you can see what is happening and change volume and reverb settings.
Options – here you can set various options for the program. The most important ones are the midi port to play from, and also the audio port to play to. AND, if you are NOT using ASIO you may need to look for the best settings for your audio card here (see below).
About – display some information about the program.
Exit – exit the program.

When not using ASIO you may need to try different combinations of playback buffer size (Samples / buffer) and number of buffers (=Latency). Press the Test button to listen to a three second long note playing. It should sound smooth. If not, either increase the buffer size or the Latency.