reyy@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (09/18/90)
I have two questions that are somewhat closely related. First of all, I'm very interested in learning about MIDI. Some of my friends are musicians (although I'm not) with MIDI keyboards, etc., and I have an ST... a match made in heaven! I'm looking for a sequencer that's cheap, but can do all the basics, like editting and that stuff (you're the experts, you tell me!) Is there anything public domain? This leads me to my next question, because there is a program in the JULY 90 issue of STart that looks to be about what I'm looking for. My question is, is this program (or any other in STart) considered to be public domain? (i.e., can I get a copy from one of you, or do I need to order the disk from STart?) (BTW, the program is called SUPER CONDUCTOR) Okay, I lied, I have a third question, also relating to the JULY 90 issue of STart... Has anyone tried making Sampsyn? About how much did it cost, and about hours many hours did it take to build? Please send any information you have on any of these questions to my email address. Thanks in advance for any/all help!! David Rowell Internet: REYY@Vax5.cit.cornell.edu (I'll get a .sig when I figure out how to write on my monitor!)
leo@ehviea.ine.philips.nl (Leo de Wit) (09/18/90)
In article <1990Sep17.205352.44@vax5.cit.cornell.edu> reyy@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes: |I have two questions that are somewhat closely related. | |First of all, I'm very interested in learning about MIDI. |Some of my friends are musicians (although I'm not) with |MIDI keyboards, etc., and I have an ST... a match made in |heaven! I'm looking for a sequencer that's cheap, but can |do all the basics, like editting and that stuff (you're the |experts, you tell me!) Is there anything public domain? Since I suspect this might interest other people too, I'll give my response here. I'm much of both a computer and a music fanatic, so that explains my interest in MIDI. This is long, so hit 'n' when it isn't appropriate for you! It just happens that I am currently working on a full-fledged PD MIDI recorder for the ST. It is already in a useable state, and I would like to have some feedback before releasing it to the public. I'm looking for alpha/beta testers for this program; preferably owners of both a MIDI instrument and an ST. What I'd like to hear is what problems you did find, what was unclear, what you couldn't do with it and also what additional features you would like it to have. If there is much interest (please reply by email), I'd rather send this version to Steven Grimm and collect additional ideas and suggestions from you all. I never used a commercial MIDI recorder - only read some descriptions - but maybe that is just a strong point. To give some indication of its (current) capabilities, a short description is appended (Eric: this will sound familiar!). Cheers, Leo. --------8X--------8X--------8X--------8X--------8X--------8X--------8X--------8X MidST has an unlimited number of tracks (well, memory is the limit) that you can set each to record/play/protected. Each track has its own input filter for MIDI messages (with which you can also control which channels it listens to). You can set this filtering per channel (en/disabling all messages for a channel), per type of MIDI message (en/disabling that message for each channel) or enable/disable exactly one message type for exactly one channel. You can define for each track a channel offset (e.g. if it's 2, then channel 3 is sent as channel 5), a tone offset and a time offset. You can also create so-called fake tracks, that are tracks that have no data of their own, except for the offset data. In this manner you can get a fuller sound by say having a fake track on a different channel (by means of the channel offset) and an octave higher. It is programmed as a (I hope) well-behaved GEM application; there are buttons for record, play, stop, fast forward, rewind, pause, eject (write to file), insert (read from file) and off (leave the program). Using these buttons will also send the appropriate messages for song positioning, start/stop/cont sequencers. There is a metronome section, that deals with timing, clicks and bells; it also sends MIDI clocks to keep sequencers in pace. If told so, you can set it to listen to incoming MIDI clocks and get itself synchronized with them (e.g. you can use the speed control of your synth's rhythm box to control the replay speed of your recording; very nice). There is also a counter section that displays the current tape position in measures, beats and ticks (I use a 'tick' unit that is 1/10 of a MIDI clock in length). You can give a number of 'beats before' to get the right tempo before recording, or even start recording on the first note played. The display of both counter and metronome can be suppressed, which gives greater accuracy in replay (standard GEM drawing is slow). There is a section for setting the scale; this is handy when editing note events. It also handles a global note offset which affects all tracks. There is also a section to edit tracks: edit single events, enter by clicking on a keyboard display, wipe/cut out/merge/insert/replace /quantisize portions of tracks etc. Planned: a monitor function that plays MIDI messages over the ST sound chip.
davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu (09/18/90)
In article <1990Sep17.205352.44@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>, reyy@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes: > This leads me to my next question, because there is a program > in the JULY 90 issue of STart that looks to be about what I'm > looking for. My question is, is this program (or any other > in STart) considered to be public domain? (i.e., can I get a > copy from one of you, or do I need to order the disk from > STart?) (BTW, the program is called SUPER CONDUCTOR) Super Conductor was a commercial program from Michtron, and is -not- in the public domain. I would say that none of the programs you might find on a STart disk are public domain, with the exception of ST Writer. You will have to purchase the disk from Antic (or your local magazine salesperson) in order to legally use the programs on the STart disk. (This is also being e-mailed in case David R. doesn't read this newsgroup). -- David Paschall-Zimbel davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu
erkamp@arcsun.arc.ab.ca (Bob Erkamp) (09/18/90)
In article <1990Sep17.205352.44@vax5.cit.cornell.edu> reyy@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes: > >First of all, I'm very interested in learning about MIDI. >Some of my friends are musicians (although I'm not) with >MIDI keyboards, etc., and I have an ST... a match made in >heaven! I'm looking for a sequencer that's cheap, but can >do all the basics, like editting and that stuff (you're the >experts, you tell me!) Is there anything public domain? > I have 2 PD sequencers one for monochrome called Alchimie Jr. and another for color called MIDISEQ (or something like that). I haven't used either much as I am currently using SMPTE-Track from Hybrid Art's. A friend of mine is quite impressed with Alchimie. Also if you don't want to part with too much money you might look at Dr.T's Tiger Cub (s.b. less then $100). I was playing with this on the weekend and was reasonably impressed. Bob Erkamp