Conference napalm::commusic_v1

Gee, I hope this conference isn't only for *experts*- I'll have to leave!
Seriously, though, my (brief) experience on this conference is that most folks
have at least some exposure to MIDI, but all seem willing to share whatever
they know (or don't know) honestly and willingly.

I like to plug the magazine "Electronic Musician" whenever I get a chance. I
think it does a good job at trying not to totally mystify the novice while not
totally boring everyone else. They routinely run articles on fundamentals.

There are also several books on MIDI, at least one I remember title "MIDI for
Musicians," though I can't remember the author. Others may have recommendations.

I'm not a PCist, myself, being of the Amigan persuasion, but I think you may be
disappointed on the price of PC MIDI interfaces. The current standard is the
MPU401, which I though was over $100 at discount.

Your basic piece of software should be a sequencer of some sort. This will allow
you to play whatever you want, digitally "taping" or sequencing it on your PC.
From there, you can play it back, or with some compatible notation software,
even print it out in SMU (Standard Music Notation). You'd better investigate the
available packages to see what's out there and then decide what you need.

Welcome to COMMUSIC- stick around!

Could you tell us what s/w package you are looking at (the under $50 one)?

I just started a few months ago in MIDI/PC stuff, so let me give you a few
hints.  This is not intended to be complete, but it might give you some keywords
to search for in the conference keywords or titles:

MIDI Interface.  As .1 said, Roland's MPU401 is the standard.  However
MusicQuest makes a line of compatible interfaces.  I think the one called
PC MIDI is the least expensive (on the order of $75-100).

There also seems to be a movement just beginning away from MPU401 to simpler,
cheaper interfaces.  (The 401 has a lot of stuff in h/w.  With more powerful
computers available, functionality is being moved back into s/w).  One
possibility is Sound Blaster, which is essentially a synthesizer, but you can
also add an optional MIDI interface.  Advantages:  maybe cheaper than an
MPU401+synthesizer; some games support sound-blaster; I think SB may also do
sample playing etc (??).  Disadvantage:  Only a few (maybe only 1) sequencer
s/w supports it (so far), namely Voyetra's Sequencer Plus.

It seems that the "standard" thing is to input music via MIDI and if you want
standard notation, run the result through a "scoring" program.  I also wanted
to do the opposite.  There are a few programs that can do this:

1.  Music Printer Plus  (The Lincoln Continental of the trade; around $500)

2.  Laser Music Processor (The Ford Escort, perhaps; around $100.  Normally
    the SMN to MIDI converter costs an extra $40, but as a December special,
    they throw it in for free)

I don't know anything about the keyboard you mentioned.  I can play a clarinet/
sax/recorder, so I bought a Casio DH100, a "Digital Sax" with MIDI output for
$40 to be able to input music.  It is actually a lot faster than using SMN,
assuming you are not composing as you go along.

I also have a Yamaha FB01 synthesizer.  It can do 8 voices at a time.  Adequate
for the moment.  I don't think the voices are very good in general, though.
It does a great string bass, but most of the rest of the voices sound pretty
synthetic.  If the Casio KB does output, you might not need this, but make
sure that the KB can do multiple notes at the same time.  Multiple voices would
be nice as well, but that is less likely with a cheap kb.

I hope this is helpful!

Burns

    re.1: Thanks for the info!
    
    Now I'm armed with Electronic Musician. I found a PC board called PC
    MIDI CARD which is MPU-401 compatible. The software is called MUSIC
    STUDIO 3.0 and claims to support ROLAND MPU-401. Will this fit
    together?
    
    Are there major differences in the MIDI ability of different devices
    like support for drums, timing etc.?
    
    The CASIO organ has input and output. Is the output used to record what
    you play on the keyboard? Any feature I should look for the organ's
    MIDI function?
    
    Reading thru Electronic Musician I have the impression that MIDI is
    mainly used to interconnect music devices and by chance to connect a
    music device to a computer. What is the idea behind MIDI?
    
    The whole idea of using my computer to play music and also to learn
    better play organ makes me exciting. So please understand if my
    questions sound confusing - so am I!
    
    Guenther

    Guenther,
    
         I just got the January 1991 Electronic Musician in the mail. If
    you picked up the December issue, be sure to get the January issue. The
    January issue is a back to basics issue, and addresses much of what
    we're discussing here.
    
         MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) was created by a group
    of music companies under the direction of Sequential Circuits, Inc. The
    original group of companies included, among others, Yamaha, Roland,
    Korg, Emu Systems, and Seil. MIDI was designed to allow electronic
    instruments to control one another using a standard protocol.
    
         Physically, MIDI is a serial interconnect much like a serial line
    from a computer to a terminal. While terminals typically run at 9600 or
    19.2k baud, MIDI runs at 31.25k baud, or 31,250 bits per second.
    
         The protocol spoken over this wire consists of simple messages
    that say things like "Turn C#4 on with x velocity" or "Turn F2 off" or
    "Switch to program xx". MIDI actually supports a wide range of messages
    that allow for pitch bend, mod wheels, block sample data, and timing
    information to be communicated over the wire.
    
         MIDI recognizes 16 'channels' (destination addresses, if you will)
    allowing you to have up to 16 'instruments' on a single chain. There
    are some practical physical limitations which can limit this number
    further, but that is a discussion for another day.
    
    dp

    David,
    
    thanks for the pointer to the January 91 issue of Electronic Musician.
    It contains exactly what I was looking for: What is MIDI, Anyway?
    contains all the answers to my questions and I can recommend this
    article as a must for a newcomer in MIDI.
    
    Now I'm starting to by all the neccessary equipment and follow more
    closely this conference.
    
    Guenther