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Conference napalm::commusic_v1

Title:* * Computer Music, MIDI, and Related Topics * *
Notice:Conference has been write-locked. Use new version.
Moderator:DYPSS1::SCHAFER
Created:Thu Feb 20 1986
Last Modified:Mon Aug 29 1994
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:2852
Total number of notes:33157

2610.0. "Pedalboard and software description" by DECWIN::FISHER (Pursuing an untamed ornothoid) Mon Apr 08 1991 15:25

This may not be too interesting to the "heavily-into-it" among you, but I
thought I would post some interesting info I gleaned from a performance I saw
yesterday, and from a discussion with the performer.

A fellow named Ed Stauff was the guest "organist" at our church in Nashua
yesterday.  I knew him, and that he was a musician, but I did not know he was
a midi-er.  In any case he had a Yamaha electic piano (didn't catch the model),
a D110, a Wang PC and, most interesting of all, a home-made pedal board.  He had
built the electronics for the pboard himself...it apparently has two switches
for each pedal...one for top and one for bottom.  He multiplexes the switches
in some fashion and reads them in the PC.  By timing the "top off to bottom on"
time, he gets a velocity value from the pedals.  The pboard also has a sustain
pedal, and several studs.  The PC also reads the studs and using them to
generate patch change messages.  The s/w (which he wrote) can be configured to
either generate a patch change on down only, or one for down and one for up.
That way he can hold a stud down for the correct duration of a temporary change.

He had the electric piano output also funneling through the PC program and back
out to the D110.  The program did some neat stuff.  It not only can send
different note ranges to different MIDI channels; it also can send different
velocity ranges.  He had the cuttoff point set relatively high so that if he
REALLY banged on the keys he got a completely different sound.  A clever way
to get lots of different voices, I thought.

He did a really nice job.  Now I really want a D110 or an MT32!

Burns
T.RTitleUserPersonal
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2610.1Buy it in a box...TLE::ALIVE::ASHFORTHThe Lord is my lightMon Apr 08 1991 15:4818
Re .0:

At least some of the tweaks you describe parallel pretty closely some of the
abilities of the Digital Music MX-8 patchbay. It can map channels, define
keyboard splits, switch channels based on velocity, and can "compand" MIDI
velocities (i.e., expand or contract the range). It can also transpose notes
and define delayed repeats (settable time and number of repeats).

Yes, I just got one, and yes, I love it!

It does sound like Mr. Ed built in a bit more tweakability, but it sure is nice
to have this kind of functionality external to both the synth/SGU and the
computer/sequencer.

Oh- the MX-8 doesn't come with pedals, though....

Cheers,
	Bob
2610.2He threatened to do something like that....MSTRD::MURRAYWed Apr 10 1991 01:1612
RE: .0
    
    
>> In any case he had a Yamaha electic piano (didn't catch the model),
    
it's a pf85.
    
    I met Ed last summer and he said he was thinking of doing something
    like that. Thanks for putting this note in. I'm glad to hear he pulled 
    it off.