tomm@voodoo.UUCP (Tom Mackey) (01/16/87)
I have some questions about the use of MIDI and home computers in arranging music. The situation is that my wife is interested in arranging barbershop style music. This requires her to take existing music and modify it for 4 voices. I just finished reading a good review of the Deluxe Music Construction Set for the Amiga by Rick Pasotto, and I know that the Amiga has superb sound capabilities. What she would like to do is: 1) Using a keyboard, play an existing piece of music and have it be stored on disk or whatever. 2) Have a program like DMCS be able to read the data file and display it in manuscript form. Perhaps this step can be combined with (1)? 3) Modify the music measure by measure using, say, DMCS and play back the results. 4) Add words and other appropriate notation to the manuscript. 5) Print the resulting arrangement. One additional concern here is to be able to change the spacing between the bass and treble clefs such that the note stems and words fit between the two clefs. It appears that if she is willing to use a mouse to key in the initial music, DMCS may fill the bill for steps 2-5. It must be painfully obvious by now that I don't know anything about music or MIDI, so your patience would be appreciated. Is a MIDI device capable of input as in (1)? Have any of you done anything like this? Or are we just dreaming here? Another possible direction is to make use of our PCjr (it is outfitted with 512K, a mouse, and 2 drives), but it is limited to 3 voices on playback. Further, standard sound enhancement cards do not fit in the PCjr. Comments on this direction? Thanks in advance, -- Tom Mackey (206) 342-1805 (wk) Boeing Computer Services ....uw-beaver!ssc-vax!voodoo!tomm Everett, WA
nevets@ihlpm.UUCP (Steven R Ringwood) (01/21/87)
> I have some questions about the use of MIDI and home computers in > arranging music. > > What she would like to do is: > > 1) Using a keyboard, play an existing piece of music and have it be > stored on disk or whatever. > To do this you need a keyboard with MIDI, a MIDI interface for the amiga, and a suitable program. DMCS will not fit the bill if you wish to play/enter the music in real time. The manual hints at this and my brother who plays better than I kept getting the guru try to use my synth for input. It seems that "Pro MIDI Music Stdio" from "Mimetics" is good for this (and other things beside). This is based on reviews I've read, I having trouble getting a copy from a mail order place. > 2) Have a program like DMCS be able to read the data file and display > it in manuscript form. Perhaps this step can be combined with (1)? > Then you can take the input recorded with "Pro MIDI Music Stdio" and read it into DMCS > 3) Modify the music measure by measure using, say, DMCS and play back > the results. > Yes, but some things are difficult. Since DMCS always auto-measures adding/deleting notes can be difficult if it causes changes in how the measures are aligned. It would be nice if you could turn off auto-measure, make changes, then tell DMCS to add the measures back. > 4) Add words and other appropriate notation to the manuscript. > The manual says yes, I haven't tried yet > 5) Print the resulting arrangement. One additional concern ... > Again the manual says yes to both points. > It appears that if she is willing to use a mouse to key in the initial > music, DMCS may fill the bill for steps 2-5. > With the mouse you can either put notes on the staff, OR you the player piano and point the correct key. Input from the synth though is even easier. > Is a MIDI device capable of input as in (1)? Have any of you done > anything like this? Or are we just dreaming here? > YES it is possible, Happy Music Making. > Thanks in advance, > -- > Tom Mackey (206) 342-1805 (wk) > Boeing Computer Services ....uw-beaver!ssc-vax!voodoo!tomm > Everett, WA ** Standard Disclaimer ** Steve Ringwood ihlpm!nevets
tas@mtuxo.UUCP (t.skrobala) (01/22/87)
--- Deluxe Music Construction Set is capable of receiving data from a MIDI keyboard, but only in step time. I believe that you specify that a selectable fraction of a second corresponds to a selectable note duration, i.e. .25 second is an eighth note. You can hold down a key longer to get longer notes, but I don't think it's true that you hold down the key twice as long to get twice the note value. I.e. you hold down for .50 seconds for a dotted eighth, .75 for a quarter, 1.0 for a dotted quarter, etc. Alternatively, you can buy a real time MIDI sequencer program to accept real time input, store it in a .SMUS file, and load the file in to DMCS. Or, of course, you can enter the notes by hand onto the DMCS staves. --- Any resemblance of my opinion to that of AT&T or any of its associates, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Tom Skrobala AT&T Information Systems mtuxo!tas
browne@savax.UUCP (01/23/87)
In article <239@voodoo.UUCP>, tomm@voodoo.UUCP (Tom Mackey) writes: > I have some questions about the use of MIDI and home computers in > arranging music. >...... and more questions dealing with MIDI music package capabilities ... In case anyone else is interested, a magazine like Electronic Musician, or Keyboard can show you what's available on the market, and where you can buy it, or get info. One place that's on the net is Computers and Music, in CA. One company that seems to have pretty good hardware and software is Opcode systems in Palo Alto, CA. Go to a large musical instrument dealer that deals in electronic keyboards (not the little toys, but some of the better ones), and they can usually show and tell you all sorts of things that you can do with MIDI systems. After all, they want to sell you something, eh? Good luck, Duff