RE: two bugs (?)

[Bernard Hurley]

You  are probably right about the soundcards,  I tend to use MIDI as MIDI,  i.e. through  the MIDI interface.   It's quite easy to  pick  up second  hand MIDI  synths quite  cheaply, and I've got  lots of bits and pieces  left over from  running  a business  that sold MIDI interfaces etc.   That was back  in the days  when  everyone's computer worked differently.

You  can  configure more than one MIDI interface to  be working  at a time.  So if, for instance,  you had  2 soundcards,  you  could  have two external  and  two  internal MIDI  devices  -  64 instruments.  I think,  but I will have  to look up the spec (or should I say specs,  there are 3  types of  MIDI file), that you can  control  this  from one  MIDI file.

BTW  You  can get GPL'd  software (Midishare see:  http://www.grame.fr/MidiShare/) That can control  up to 256 MIDI devices,   and connect them together  in wierd and wonderful ways.   I haven't used  it for  a  long  time  so  I can't  say much about  how well  it  works.

Bernard

-----Original Message-----
From: David Raleigh Arnold [mailto:address@hidden]
Sent: 10 July 2002 15:06
To: Bernard Hurley
Cc: 'Mats Bengtsson'; Simon Bailey; address@hidden
Subject: Re: two bugs (?)

On Wed, 10 Jul 2002 16:43:42 Bernard Hurley wrote:
> The situation is a bit more complex than that.  As far as I can recall
> (I
> wrote the embedded code for a midi interface many moons ago):
>
> 1) A midi channel can only have one instrument at a time assigned to
> it, but
> it is possible to change instruments. 
> 2) A midi channel can be specified to be polyphonic, so that it can
> control
> a polyphonic synthesiser.
>
> In theory, the midi spec allows you to do things like start a note,
> change
> instruments and start another note, chnage back to first instrument
> and stop
> its note then change to second instrument and stop second note all on
> one
> (polyphonic)channel.
>
> Problems:
>
> A) You need a synthesiser that can cope with this sort of complexity,
> many
> don't.  Synthesisers on even good soundboards are rather basic.

I thought you were using timidity.  All the soundcard gets is
a .wav file.  Why would anyone use a midi synthesizer at all?
Even the best are lousy compared to sample players.

But even with timidity, unisons are a problem.  Even for rough
error checking, it would be better if midi were in voice
contexts instead of staff contexts.  I improved the sound
greatly and got rid of all the errors by having one staff
for each voice, in spite of how ridiculous it would have looked
to me if I had ever looked at it, which I never did.
Get that done first.

The rest of the problem if there is any
is with the midi format itself, I think, drawing from
my vast fund of ignorance on the subject.

Making split midi versions is the easiest way to go IMHO.  If
you have a really big score,
divide the parts into several simultaneous midi versions, make .wav
files out of each, and then mix those.  You could also get
more subtle dynamics that way if you want to work that hard
at mixing.  :-)

------------------------------------------------------------
Information is not knowledge.           Belief is not truth.
Indoctrination is not teaching.   Tradition is not evidence.
         David Raleigh Arnold   address@hidden

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LATEST NEWS FROM VALTECH Training course prices slashed - up to 50% less than other leading training companies - from £1795 to £990 for five day course - for full details and course offerings please see www.valtech.co.uk/training or call Allen Fulcher on 020 7014 0845 for London courses and the training team on 0161 873 6300 for Manchester courses.

DISCLAIMER: This e-mail contains Proprietary information some or all of which may be legally privileged. It is for the intended recipient only. 

If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this e-mail,
please notify the author by replying to this e-mail.
If you are not the intended recipient you must not disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on this e-mail.
All information contained within this e-mail is subject to the Terms & Conditions of Valtech Ltd. which are available upon request.