Crescendo 5 New Features and Parameters (Part 1 of 3)

Crescendo Version 5
New Features, Changes and Behavior

Windows 95/98/2000/NT

Dec. 19/03. Since at least the middle of November, 2003, the Crescendo web site 'Liveupdate.com' has ceased to exist. This comes as a great disappointment to the thousands of MIDI sites who have endorsed the Crescendo MIDI Player since 1997, as being the best possible player for MIDI files on the internet.

It is however, not a surprise, since the principal web browser from 1997 to at least 2001, was Netscape Navigator. With the Netscape browser, a 'plugin' was required to play MIDI files, and this is where Crescendo dominated. With the advent of the browser war, and also the Media war (including MIDI), Internet Explorer has now become the number one browser in use, and according to our own user survey, some 75% of visitors are now using IE.

Further, Internet Explorer has expanded Media capabilities so that virtually all of the audio and midi files can be played without adding a third-party player. It is for this reason we believe the demise of Crescendo was imminent.

Our thanks to the Liveupdate staff who assisted us on many occasions!!

Although there will be no NEW Crescendo users, we are leaving these pages (with a few modifications) for those who are still authoring using the Crescendo player. If you have had a hard-drive crash and lost you Crescendo installation file, We have a download page where you can get the Universal Crescendo Max 5.1 ( DOWNLOAD CRESCENDO)

However, it is now time to change how you embed a MIDI File. Learn how to embed Microsoft® Windows® Media Player 9. Click Here.

On April 21, 2000, Crescendo 5 (free version) CrescendoPLUS 5 and CrescendoMAX 5 were released. There are new features, behaviors and parameters of which you should be aware. The information is of value to MIDI and web page authors and also to Crescendo users.

The premium CrescendoPLUS 5 and CrescendoMAX 5 now have both the plugin and ActiveX control included and the installer will update both MSIE and Netscape. Please note that to completely uninstall a dual installation, two steps are required. To uninstall the Netscape portion go to the Windows Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs. Select Crescendo and then click the Remove button.
To remove from Internet Explorer you will need to run a small utility, 'ieuninstall.exe' , no longer available.

We are happy to report that the problem described in our MIDI Consortium News issue of March 31, 2000 concerning use of Crescendo with a frame set has now been resolved!

Of special interest to MIDI Authors is the fact that the free version now fully supports SYSEX messages. Every user is urged to enable this function by accessing the Options menu and ensuring that "Enable SYSEX Messages" is checked. These messages are included in many MIDI files to correctly set up a sound card or synthesizer to receive the Roland GS or the Yamaha XG files that now abound on the internet.

Also of great importance, Crescendo will now search back through the MIDI file for all SYSEX and controllers so that no matter where the song starts the effects and other parameters are up to date. A complex file does not have to start at the beginning to hear what the author intended.

Web page authors who use FrontPage 2000 will appreciate that Crescendo fully supports this.

Version 5 is a feature-rich plugin/ActiveX control that guarantees it will remain the number one internet MIDI player. It can now also be made the default player for MPEG Layer 3 Audio files, commonly referred to as .MP3 files. These files will be streamed if you have the PLUS or MAX versions. The free version will also stream MIDI and .MP3 if the site you visit is a Crescendo stream site.

Additionally, we requested LiveUpdate to look at the behavior of Crescendo. Ideally, the Crescendo console should detach when clicking on a hypertext link to play a MIDI file, and it should NOT detach when EMBEDDED on a web page or in a Jukebox. This action has been implemented by the addition of a new parameter DETACH="false" that web page authors can include in their coding. This will over-ride the default "Allow auto-detached" that is enabled (checked) following a new installation.

Most MIDI web sites have lists of songs that are hypertext links to the MIDI files. When you click one of these links the file data is received by Crescendo to manage MIDI playback, and in these cases the console should detach in order to not cover the page you are viewing. Therefore the default setting for Crescendo should remain as "Allow auto-detach".

New Crescendo 5 parameters!

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