Re: MIDI files on IIgs?

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article dalloff@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Dave Althoff) writes...

>I've noticed that many World Wide Web pages now have soundtracks provided
>by MIDI music files...tiny little files with whole multi-voice songs in
>them.  Of course, listening to them through a SoundBlaster 16 is a little
>unfulfilling when I know my IIgs can do better.

    I listen to them through a Roland SCC-1 (I can't imagine why anyone
would still want to use an FM-synthesis card these days :). Quite often
it sounds like the real thing, I'll bet I could stick some of these MIDI
files on tape on you'd never be able to tell they were generated by a
computer. That won't be the case with the IIgs, but it'll certainly be
leaps and bounds over what your SoundBlaster 16 is doing now. ;)

>So...Does there exist a program to either play these files directly, or to
>translate them from whatever that .MID format is into something that can
>be played by, say, NoiseTracker or SynthLab, or something like that?

    The only reasonable way to playback MIDI files (currently) is to use
Apple's MIDIsynth. This gives you access to some decent patches and the
ability to do pitch-bends among other things. You could try using, say,
Diversi-Tune, but it is very "synthy" sounding (it uses all 32-oscillators
separately, lessening sound quality) and there aren't many instruments to
choose from. Soundsmith and NoiseTracker are MOD players (minus effects),
and I've personally heard MIDI files converted into MOD format, the results
are pretty pathetic to say the least (not that any GS converting program
exists to go this route anyway).

    The best program to convert MIDI into MIDIsynth format (what synthLAB
uses) is MIDISurgeon 2.0. It's a tad bit slow, but it gives you great
control over the conversion process; important when you consider that
you'll have to manually assign tracks the correct instruments. You can
also try freeware converters as well, such as MIDIConvert, MusiX or an
older versions of Music Composer.

    Don't expect perfect results though, anything that exceeds more than
7-voices is going to get messy. Also, you certainly won't be able to
play back GS (General Standard) or GM (General MIDI) format MIDI files
properly, MIDIsynth doesn't let you load and store enough patches to be
GS/GM compatible (put simply, it's going to want to play instruments that
you don't have). Try it, some MIDI files will work and sound quite nice,
while others will just sound strange and grabbled. It all comes down to
the number of voices and what instruments the song needs.

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca