Re: MIDI files on IIgs?

[pubpc1@library.ucla.edu]

spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) wrote,
in response to my reply:
>>spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) wrote,
>>>    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. :)
>
>    Same here, which is why I would use custom patch-sets for
>MIDIsynth, like Ian Schmidt's MT32 drumset or the Grand Piano
>patch I did (not perfect, but much better than the one that
>came with synthLAB).
>
>    The problem with using Diversi-Tune for MIDI though, isn't
>just its FM-like sound quality, but the lack of instruments
>available overall. You have a piano, organ, banjo, percussion,
>and harpischord. Not a exactly a suitable selection for most
>MIDI files out there.
>

Was there ever any WaveLab type programs for building new instruments
for Diversi-Tune?

>    Of course I don't listen to MIDI through FM-synthesis, I just use
>my Roland SCC-1 which is probably about the richest, most realistic
>music synthesis available for personal computers today. :) Using the
>GS for listening to MIDI just doesn't cut it for me anymore, the
>software available is just too limited. Even so, writing new software
>wouldn't drastically help, since there are fixed limitations in the
>Ensoniq 5503, like it being only 8-bit (16-bit samples are nicer for
>wavetable), having only 64K of available RAM and it's kind of hissy
>and noisy in the GS too.

_IF_ there was an effort to write new software, the 64K limit can
be bypassed by DOC RAM swapping.  The ROM 3 was much quieter.

Here's a question for you: what does 16-bit resolution gain?  It
seems to me that it makes for more subtle differences in volume.
An 8-bit sample can have 256 levels of intensity, correct?  A 16-bit
sample would then have 2^16 = 64K levels of intensity.  This is
independent of sampling rate, which measures the frequencies that
can be captured.  The Ensoniq is not bad in terms of sampling rate
(yes, it has a filter, but as someone pointed out, it is only
cutting above the Nyquist frequency, which would be heard of as
noise, at a frequency appropriate for a chip that has a maximum
sampling rate of around 56kHz).

Can't you "stack" several oscillators together to break the 256
levels limit?  That is, volume intensities 1 to 256 would be
represented by a single oscillator, then a second one could generate,
with the first one maxed out, volume intensities 257 through 512.
Diversi-Tune appears to be doing just that.

>    Here's a thought, find a Roland SC-55 (which is the original Roland,
>an external box device which the SCC-1 card is based on) and connect it
>up to the IIgs using a MIDI adapter. With software like MasterTracks Pro,
>you should be able to play GM/GS MIDI files and even have control over
>things like reverb (I think there is an LCD panel on the SC-55). I toyed
>with this idea awhile ago, but then just decide to get an SCC-1 card
>instead when I was given a PC.
>
>Mitchell Spector
>spec@vax2.concordia.ca

It would probably sound great, but I'm not _that_ much of a music
junky.  Such hardware probably has a very high price tag.  I did
connect up the GS to an old synthesizer keyboard once.  It was not
a professional quality keyboard, just the ones for people who
want to play some tunes.  It had about 100 synthesized instruments
built in, but you couldn't sample sounds.

Playing synthLAB sequences through this keyboard produced some
problems.  It was playing the wrong instruments.  Also, the
keyboard was "all or none" in the sense that it could not interpret
velocity.

A consumer level synthesizer keyboard such as this really does not
sound better than a GS. :)  That's the difference, I think.  For
a serious musician like yourself, you need the latest hardware.
For most folks who just want to play the tunes, the GS is still
a fascinating machine.  I know that I would still be very happy
with a Mirage or an ESQ-1 (which are a step above consumer level
keyboards, even if they are old in the professional world).

-Scott G.