Nice to hear from you, Hermit. I really appreciate you taking the time to sign in/address concerns. Thanks Akira for the email. I just got it now.
-Play, Pause, Sync: I don't use these MIDI-commands, so I ask you for a little explanation why and how you would like it. In the past I've put the Play/Stop function into the MIDI-code of SID-Wizard for Witchmaster and it worked for him when he tested it IIRC. I never tested this feature. Many tools and soundards or MIDI-controllers/keyboards might send these control-signals in different ways, and I alone can't prepare for these (well I know, MIDI-standard specification should be enough).
MIDI Start/Stop do work, technically. The Stop happens as soon as I stop the external sequencer, so that's good. The MIDI start happens about 1/2 second after I hit start on the external sequencer. The c64 screen flashes similar to the note triggering. Despite the method of external sequencing and filtering (MOTU/cheapo PC/MIDI adapter/MAC/PC/Amiga) there is still a noticeable lag between when the external sequencer starts and when SID Wizard starts. Maybe it's that I'm using an NTSC machine?
If anyone here (TSC?) wants to help by testing, we can contact by email and cooperate to improve the play/stop commands.
Absolutely. I'll PM the details.
Synchronization through MIDI is not (yet) implemented, but I think it's possible. The timing of SID-Wizard is based on raster-interrupts and VIC-tricks to have everything on one screen (26 character rows plus upper/lower border orderlist). Therefore it may not respond precisely enough to arbitrarily timed events like sync-requests through MIDI, it would have some 'jitter' (max 20ms, mostly less) in the timing in 'sync' mode. The question is how much jitter can be allowed for the sync feature, and the possibility of implementation will depend on that...
Again, someone should contact me to help in testing, as I don't ever use this feature of MIDI either.
A MIDI sync feature is something I look for when composing. I typically sync all programs to my main sequencer brain. This way I can utilize the native program functionality while adjusting speeds externally - and in a perfect world - stay in sync. Jitter can be tolerable if it's not drifting too much.
(About NTSC: I prepared SID-Wizard for NTSC, if you check in VICE emulator, it just fits on the screen in upper/lower borders. If you can't see the top/bottom entirely, you need to adjust the vertical-size pot of your screen smaller if it's possible...probably it is.)
I am using NTSC SID Wizard on a Commodore 1702 and opened it up to adjust the screen. It's still cutting off the top portion of the logo and some of the meters, but at least I can now see the pattern list on the bottom. If I adjust too much, the bottom wraps around to the top and starts to cover the logo, which is still cut off anyway. >.<