nick@cs.edinburgh.ac.uk (Nick Rothwell) (11/16/90)
>From fa.think-c-outbound-request@edu.uci.ics Mon Nov 12 12:16:52 1990
From: Nick Rothwell <nick@edinburgh.lfcs>
Subject: Apple MIDI Manager programmers - anybody home?
Newsgroups: fa.think-c
Date: 12 Nov 90 11:13:16 GMT
To: think-c@edinburgh.lfcs
Sender: fa.think-c-outbound-request@edu.uci.ics
Well, it's been a couple of years since Apple announced the MIDI Manager,
and well over a year since it's been available (does that mean Apple have
been in court over it for that long? Oh well...). Given that the Macintosh
is pretty much the US standard machine for MIDI programming (except in
Europe where people buy machines that they can actually afford instead),
and given that MIDI Manager is quite easily available and quite easy to
work with, where are all the bits and pieces of shareware/freeware? I have
seen exactly two in the last year - a simple channelising echo application,
and MacMuse. Is nobody else using it? Is everyone else rolling their own
serial port drivers (yuck!)?
So. I want to talk about MIDI Manager programming, if anyone else is
interested. Last year I wrote a generic editor/librarian using it, and I'm
just finishing a complete re-write using the THINK Class Library. It uses a
big chunk of the MIDI Manager facilities; for example, to transmit a patch
bank, it does buffering of its output and allows MIDI Manager to send the
MIDI data asynchronously into the future (up to the capacity of the output
buffer) using a WakeUp task - a lot more sexy than busy-loops and
spin-waits.
I'll even offer to (gosh!) share the source code for all of this - but let's
get talking... (last time I got large numbers of requests for the
code and I have no idea if anybody did anything with it or what...) MIDI
Manager is too important to be ignored, so let's get cooking.
Anybody got any up-to-date news on the court case?
Nick.
--
Nick Rothwell, Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science, Edinburgh.
nick@lfcs.ed.ac.uk <Atlantic Ocean>!mcsun!ukc!lfcs!nick
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
"You ain't seen nothing yet. I can take this floor out, too. No trouble."miller@cs.rochester.edu (Brad Miller) (11/16/90)
In article <1991@skye.cs.ed.ac.uk> nick@lfcs.ed.ac.uk writes: |So. I want to talk about MIDI Manager programming, if anyone else is |interested. Last year I wrote a generic editor/librarian using it, and I'm |just finishing a complete re-write using the THINK Class Library. It uses a |big chunk of the MIDI Manager facilities; for example, to transmit a patch |bank, it does buffering of its output and allows MIDI Manager to send the |MIDI data asynchronously into the future (up to the capacity of the output |buffer) using a WakeUp task - a lot more sexy than busy-loops and |spin-waits. | Well, I'm certainly interested, and I have been using it. While I don't (yet) have code or products to share, I expect to have a number of MIDI manager utilities out next summer as shareware (probably). What I've been up to: 1) Interface the MIDI manager to MACL, since most of this stuff is too low level for Lisp this really involves coming up with higher level abstractions for the MIDI stuff that is reasonable for lisp, yet allows the sort of things that absolutely has to be done quickly get done in efficient C code (usually at interrupt time). 2) Writing a set of MIDI tools to be used with the MIDI managers much as filters are with UNIX, i.e. a number of specialized lightweight but configurable modules that can be copied, or hooked up in any order under the auspices of patchbay. In particular I'm cooking: a channelizer (move from one channel to another with optional control) a control remapper (change one sort of control to another) a general effector (use a specified control to change some other control or signal, e.g. aftertouch effects note) an arpeggiator (a tad more functional than Arpeg, for instance) a delay (variable length, with triggering) and several others I've been paying less attention to (so far) The idea is similar to UNIX's top level, have a large set of simple tools that you KNOW what they do, and be able to hook them up in a particular order you need for a particular job. 3) A meta-module that will provide a simplified language interface to the musician, so they don't have to write C code, but instead can use a high level language to write a simple module to effect the data stream, e.g. sort of like AWK (the language will be more like scheme on the other hand, since I'm a lisp programmer, and I'm still convinced lisp type languages are easier to learn than C type). 4) Something I'm keeping under wraps, is somewhat related to my "real" job, but will take considerably longer. 5) Editor/librarian for Kurzweil's 1000 series #1 will likely be released shortly, and be free #2 I expect to be beta-testing before next summer, and be cheap #3 next fall, also cheap and #4 is in the 1992 timeframe, with commercial possibilities... I haven't been working too hard on #5, and I might just blow it off and buy Opcode's at some point, but I may yet change my mind if I somehow get convinced that there's a market. So, Nick, some of us just took a little longer to get a head of steam programming on the Mac (when you're used to Symbolics machines, it takes some getting used to-- let me tell you!) Yours for more interesting MIDI software on the Mac... Brad Miller miller@cs.rochester.edu -- ---- Brad MillerU. Rochester Comp Sci Dept. miller@cs.rochester.edu {...allegra!rochester!miller}
sseidman@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (The MIDIman) (11/19/90)
nick@lfcs.ed.ac.uk writes: > > [asking about who is using the MIDI Manager] I am currently working on a program for my Mac and Mirage for my Senior Project here at school. I had thought about doing it with the MIDI Manager, but my copy now screws up on me. Also, it doesn't really seem to me that Apple is supporting it. What have they done for it? As you state, I have not really seen ANYTHING using it. I haven't yet started writing the MIDI routines, but I have been looking at the MIDI drivers from Carnegie Mellon and from MIT. >Anybody got any up-to-date news on the court case? Last I heard, the musical Apple people did not have a case. It is over. -- /\ PYRAMIDI | sseidman@polyslo.calpoly.edu /--\ RECORDING | Steven R. Seidman /----\ | Tangerine Dream, Level 42, Vangelis, Jarre, Where Analog and Digital Meet | Mannheim Steamroller, Yes, Genesis, ...
peted@microsoft.UUCP (Peter DUNIHO) (11/21/90)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer,rec.music.synth Subject: Re: MIDI Manager programmers - anybody home? Summary: Expires: References: <1991@skye.cs.ed.ac.uk> Sender: Reply-To: peted@microsoft.UUCP (Peter DUNIHO) Followup-To: Distribution: Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA Keywords: In article <1991@skye.cs.ed.ac.uk> nick@lfcs.ed.ac.uk writes: > >Well, it's been a couple of years since Apple announced the MIDI Manager, >and well over a year since it's been available (does that mean Apple have >been in court over it for that long? Oh well...). Given that the Macintosh [request for discussion about MIDI Mgr deleted] > >Nick. > >-- >Nick Rothwell, Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science, Edinburgh. > nick@lfcs.ed.ac.uk <Atlantic Ocean>!mcsun!ukc!lfcs!nick >~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ > "You ain't seen nothing yet. I can take this floor out, too. No trouble." Okay...this may be a dumb question, but where do I get the MIDI Manager? Is it already included in my system, or do I need to get a patch somewhere? How about documentation? I'd be happy to talk about it, and discuss applications and stuff, but I can't until I get my hands on it! :) Could I have some details here? Thanks!
johnston@oscar.ccm.udel.edu (11/22/90)
In article <59220@microsoft.UUCP>, peted@microsoft.UUCP (Peter DUNIHO) writes... >In article <1991@skye.cs.ed.ac.uk> nick@lfcs.ed.ac.uk writes: >> >>Well, it's been a couple of years since Apple announced the MIDI Manager, >>and well over a year since it's been available (does that mean Apple have >>been in court over it for that long? Oh well...). Given that the Macintosh > [request for discussion about MIDI Mgr deleted] >> >> "You ain't seen nothing yet. I can take this floor out, too. No trouble." >Okay...this may be a dumb question, but where do I get the MIDI Manager? >Is it already included in my system, or do I need to get a patch somewhere? >How about documentation? I'd be happy to talk about it, and discuss >applications and stuff, but I can't until I get my hands on it! :) > To kill two birds with one stone: You can get this with the Mac music notation program demo 'Lime' which is available via anonymous FTP from novamail.cerl.uiuc.edu (inet number:128.174.180.9). This is an example of a program written to use the Midi manager. I plan to post a detailed review of Lime (from a user's perspective) to interested newsgroups once I have finished testing it. If anyone could point me to a source of information regarding the capabilities of other Mac-based scoring applications, it would speed the process. Bill Johnston; 38 Chambers St.; Newark, DE 19711; (302)368-1949 johnston@oscar.ccm.udel.edu
ajohnston@trillium.uwaterloo.ca (Andrew Johnston) (11/23/90)
I am writing a music analysis/sythesis program as part of a course I am taking. My program uses Markovian analysis to create a 'table' of conditional probabilities for the occurrences of pitches and durations, based on the input of a piece of music. Markovian synthesis is used to generate a new piece of music based on the probability table. Right now, the input/output process for the music is really messy. I am writing the program on a Macintosh, and I have access to a Mac with a MIDI interface and equipment. I was thinking about using MIDI as a method of input/output. It would be much cleaner. I was hoping not to have to read/write MIDI data directly to/from the hardware. Now I hear of the MIDI Manager. That would make my life so much easier!! Please post more information about the MIDI Manager, and any advice on how I might go about finding/using it would be most welcome. Thanks, Andrew T. Johnston ajohnston@trillium.waterloo.edu