Re: MIDI files on IIgs?

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

In article mportune@telerama.lm.com (Matt Portune) writes...

>In article <24APR199710202557@vax2.concordia.ca>,
>spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) wrote:
>>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.
>
>Yes, but as soon as I heard the SECOND song with the same exact sounding
>piano, strings, bass, etc. I'd know exactly where it came from.

    Well, there are 354 different patches on the Roland, enough variety
where you won't encounter the same instrument that often. :) Ironically
though, that is one thing that has annoyed me about using MIDIsynth
on the IIgs side, there are so few patches available almost all MIDI
sequences sound the same (you can create new patches, but it's very
difficult and time consuming, not too mention you can only use so many
at once in < 64K of RAM).

    I admit I like the idea of loading in and creating new patches, but
the Roland has _incredibly_ good ones so it doesn't bug me as much as I
thought it would (the piano sounds 100% like the real thing, so you
really would have no reason to want another unless someone invents a
new kind of piano in real life ;). I used to have a Gravis UltraSound
for loading in custom patches (it has a GF1, or Ensoniq 5505 clone)
but gave it up because the Roland sounds so much more realistic. I'm
not just saying it sounds like the real thing, it just _does_. You might
be surprised to learn some of the background music in movies or TV
shows (that you thought were orchastrated) were produced using a Roland
synthesizer. :)

>I still prefer loading MIDI files through MT-Pro on the GS, calling up my own 
>patches on external synths, and playing them that way.  Different every time, 
>and the timbrality is WAY THICK.

    It's still fun having synthLAB or Diversi-Tune do MIDI-out to the
MPU-401 on the Roland. :) (which is basically a keyboard synthesizer
on a card). I've not been able to get MasterTracker Pro to work with
my Audio Animator (AE's patch software doesn't work) but then I'm
sure Cakewalk Pro on the PC is more advanced anyway considering MT 
hasn't been updated in, oh, 8 years now. ;)

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca