Re: MIDI files on IIgs?

[pubpc1@library.ucla.edu]

spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) wrote,
in response to my reply:
>>Ok, Mitchell, I found the solution to playing up to 32 voices or
>>tracks of standard MIDI at once on the GS.  There is a program
>>called Music Modifier that converts MIDI to Diversi-Tune format.
>
>    If Music Modifier is that program that runs in text-mode, then
>90% of the time you'll find it will simply fail in the converting
>process. When it did actually work, the tempo was way off. Music
>Modifier is close to worthless if it's what I think it is.

You are supposed to ignore the error, according to the readme
file.  :)  On the otherhand, if you run the file by loading it
up in an GS program that can load MIDI files and then saving it
in MIDI from that program, it seems to filter the data so that
Music Modifier no longer chokes.

Yes, the tempo does slow down a bit, but you just need to speed
it up from Diversi-Tune (or another program to pre-process the
file).

>    That isn't the only way to get MIDI into Diversi-Tune though,
>you can feed it live-MIDI from another computer of course (actually
>that is probably how David Ong Tat-Wee convertered that bunch of Bob
>Mace songs a couple of years back). It is also better since you can
>make sure drum tracks aren't played by organs or something. ;)

True.  I've read that Diversi-Tune's format is VERY similar to
that of standard MIDI.  This means that it should not be difficult
to modify some of the Apple IIGS programs that can load and export
to MIDI to export to Diversi-Tune as well.

>>It converts 32 tracks and the resulting Diversi-Tune file can be
>>played, with all 32 tracks, using Diversi-Tune.
>
>    Actually, no. I was just speaking with Bill Basham, apparently
>while it was possible to use all 32 oscillators separately in DT,
>in most cases you'd have much less available because many of its
>built-in "patches" would pair oscillators twice or more. I think
>you did get more voices than with MIDIsynth, but not much. It does
>cut voices, I know from experience.

It may be less that 32 usable voices, but in all cases that I've
tried, it it can pull off 16 at the very least, most of the time
more.

>    Even so, as I said, Diversi-Tune sounds very synthy. Quite nice
>in its own respect, but not a suitable tool for listening to MIDI
>files out there (well, maybe solo piano pieces, if you don't mind
>the semi-artificial sounding piano). Actually Bill described DT as
>sounding like a rich FM-synthesis.

Beauty is in the ears of the beholder, then.  I actually found
myself preferring Diversi-Tune's pianos and drums to synthLABs. :)

(It certainly sounds much better than the SoundBlaster cards I've
listened to in PC computers.)

>>Although I don't own, Diversi-Tune, I've found a way to trick the
>>Diversi-Tune _demo_ program to play any Diversi-Tune file.  :)  It
>>turns out that the program is hardwired to play one song.  If you rename
>>your converted MIDI file to the same filename as that song, you
>>can select it, load it, and play it from the demo.
>
>    Heh, the Music Construction Set Demo disk (included with every
>SuperSonic stereo card sold) was in a similar position. Actually,
>by patching a few bytes, you got the full-commercial version! I've
>seen the same thing today with a few demo PC games actually. :)
>
>    Speaking of Diversi-Tune, jump to http://members.aol.com/divtune
>and you can see a Java version of it (that is if you have a PC and a
>good sound card, or midiPlug; apparently Macs are too slow to handle
>it according to the readme file on the page, but this came as no
>surprise ;)
>
>Mitchell Spector
>spec@vax2.concordia.ca

I will take a look at it.  As for Macs, they apparently have a problem
dealing with Java.  Java runs on VMs (virtual machines) and the Mac
has a hard time implementing these properly in a web browser because
it does not have pre-emptive multitasking.  This is not a knock on
the Mac, but simply a statement of fact.  The PowerMac hardware is
powerful enough to do this, but its OS is not.  This is why even
MacWorld has spent the last year trying to figure out what Apple plans
for its MacOS 8, which will finally be a "modern" OS with protected
memory and pre-emtive multitasking.  It will be based on the same
microkernal as NeXTstep, since Apple has scrapped its attempt to
upgrade the current OS using the old software.

It would be like if Apple had spent years upgrading ProDOS 16 for
the GS, but finally realized that the final GS/OS had to be built
from a new foundation.  Luckily for us, Apple realized fairly quickly
and thus, GS/OS was never bogged down by a ProDOS core.

-Scott G.