EMUSIC-L Digest Volume 57, Issue 09 This issue's topics: getting started Hello and Beginner MIDI Questions (5 messages) HELP WHERE TO GET STARTED (3 messages) Your EMUSIC-L Digest moderator is Joe McMahon . You may subscribe to EMUSIC-L by sending mail to listserv@american.edu with the line "SUB EMUSIC-L your name" as the text. The EMUSIC-L archive is a service of SunSite (sunsite.unc.edu) at the University of North Carolina. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1993 09:41:23 EDT From: Bill Fox Subject: Re: getting started In private email to me, Scott Hallenbeck said: > I have two goals - > 1. Have a lot of fun! > 2. Learn how to make music on my computer that is totaly original and > unusual. Something noone has ever heard or concieved. > I have little music skill. I can read a little sheet music, play the > keyboard slightly, and I understand how to play a guitar though I still > can't. I have about $1500.00 to spend and I really want to spend it > right so I am attempting to dig up as much info as possible. Hi Scott, I saw Joe's answer to your original post. He gives good tech and good advice. It's good that you plan to carefully research your purchases. I can't stress enough that you read that KEYBOARD article I mentioned. Will you need a multitrack cassette deck to record acoustic events? (Voice, guitar, sax, drums, dogs barking, etc.) If not, you can save the cost of the multitrack and put the money towards other things. Here's some more detail in the form of a possible shopping list: 1. Interface card: MPU-401 compatible so that it will work with most every sequencer program. If you plan to synchronize your sequences with multitrack tape, be sure your interface card has that capability. Look for at least SMART FSK if not SMPTE ability. 2. Sequencing software: This is the program that allows you to record MIDI events. Be sure that it has the same ability to sync that the MIDI card does. 3. Synth: Get a multitimbral synth with at least 16 voice polyphony. Multitimbral indicates the ability to make more than one type of sound at a time, like bass, strings, flute, and drums all at the same time. Voices of polyphony is how many notes can sound at a time. If you're playing a piano sound and pressing 8 notes, that leaves 8 more voices left for other sounds in a 16 voice machine. 16 is good, 32 is better! 4. Multitrack cassette only if you need it. 4 tracks ought to be enough to start with. Get one that has enough mixing capability so you won't need a separate mixing board. If you don't get a tape deck, you might have to get a mixing board, especially if you get a keyboard, a drum machine, and a sound module. Keep your expansion needs in mind and keep your goals in mind when defining your expansion needs. 5. You can use your existing cassette deck to record your final product. 6. MIDI and audio cables as required. I suggest that you haunt all of your local music stores and talk to as many musicians as you can. Sometimes music stores hold seminars. Attend those even though many are just marketing devices. But some are true classes to initiate novices to the world of MIDI. Have fun! Bill ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 14:18:52 EDT From: Rich Gautier Subject: Hello and Beginner MIDI Questions Hi, My name is Rich Gautier. I have just signed up to this list, because I am looking for some simple answers to some simple questions. Most of the answers that I have obtained so far, from various sources, such as news.answers and from various MIDI programs have sufficed only to confuse me to a greater extent. If I could have some simple answers to the following questions, I would be willing to remain on the list and share in my experiences, etc. 1. I have a Yamaha PSR-500 keyboard and a Packard-Smell 286 computer. Can I use the computer (which has no sound card...) with a serial midi-interface kit ($49.50), to record and playback sequences, compose sequences and play them on my keyboard, and get system memory dumps saved on diskette for later upload to the keyboard? 2. Do I HAVE to purchase a sound card? 3. What is/are the best freeware/shareware s/ware packages to use to do this? 4. What have I failed to ask that I will need to know? ANY straight-forward answers will be GREATLY appreciated. Rich Gautier ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 16:46:41 -0400 From: "Joseph D. McMahon" Subject: Re: Hello and Beginner MIDI Questions > 1. I have a Yamaha PSR-500 keyboard and a Packard-Smell 286 computer. Can I > use the computer (which has no sound card...) with a serial midi-interface > kit ($49.50), to record and playback sequences, compose sequences and play > them on my keyboard, and get system memory dumps saved on diskette for later > upload to the keyboard? Welcome and glad to meet you. I don't know what particular interface you're speaking of. One has to be careful in the IBM PC world to make sure that the MIDI interfacing method is compatible with the software. Most of the packages I know about for the PC assume that the interface is MPU-401 compatible. The MPU-401 was one of the first good, cheap MIDI interfaces for the PC and subsequently became a sort of de facto standard. If your interface supports that, you should be fine. Otherwise, call or write to make sure before buying the interface. > > 2. Do I HAVE to purchase a sound card? No. If you have a sequencer, a MIDI interface, and a keyboard, you should be able to play and record sequences just fine. Some sound cards have MIDI interfaces, but since this isn't their main goal in life, these often don't always meet the requirements of a composer (vs. a game player). > > 3. What is/are the best freeware/shareware s/ware packages to use to do this? > A I'll leave this to the real PC'ers here. > 4. What have I failed to ask that I will need to know? Well, do you know if you plan to build a bigger, better studio and record your own stuff with an eye to competing in the market with other pros, or if this is just a hobby that you'd like to play around with? If the former, it's a good idea to go ahead and invest in good tools now thst you'll be able to continue using in a bigger, more "pro" studio. This means considering a commercial sequencing package instead of a free one, and closely comparing MIDI interfaces to make sure that the one you're getting will work with the sequencer you've chosen to standardize upon. I recommend getting a sequencer and sticking with it simply to decrease the amount of time you'll have to spend learning to use it. Switching will essentially mean relearning again (and time wasted on computer fiddling instead of playing). And standardizing on a sequencer merely because it is free may lock you into certain modes of recording that you may outgrow, simply because the package is limited in its flexibility. If you figure that you're just doing this for fun and that it could end up in the closet, unplayed, with the old Atari 2600 and the Apple II (no offense intended, guys, just an example), just make sure that the interface will work with the software you choose, and have a good time. Don't forget a pair of MIDI cables (one for in, and one for out). If the PSR doesn't have built-in speakers, you'll need some kind of external amplifier (your stereo wil do, if you keep the volume down on the keyboard) or headphones. I'd recommend headphones anyway; nothing drives others crazier than hearing you play something over and over again, trying to get it right. --- Joe M. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1993 17:20:00 CDT From: Greg Youngdahl Subject: Re: Hello and Beginner MIDI Questions All, I tried sending this directly to Rich, but his address didn't please my mail system for some reason. So I'll send it to the list and hopefuly Rich will see it, and all you other pihranas will tear me to shreads ;-) -- Greg Youngdahl AT&T Bell Laboratories Naperville, IL greg@ihlpm.att.com Hi Rich, In reference to the questions you posted to EMUSIC-L... > 1. I have a Yamaha PSR-500 keyboard and a Packard-Smell 286 computer. Can I > use the computer (which has no sound card...) with a serial midi-interface > kit ($49.50), to record and playback sequences, compose sequences and play > them on my keyboard, and get system memory dumps saved on diskette for later > upload to the keyboard? In theory, yes you can do all this. However, I'd suggest looking into a MIDI interface other than a serial kit like you mention, in particular an interface that is compatable with the Roland MPU-401 standard. This is the default "standard" interface in the PC arena, and most any MIDI software for a PC works with it. You may find that the serial kit only works with a very limited number of MIDI software packages. If you check around (like maybe on the SYNTH-L list, where buying/selling of equipment is welcomed) you may be able to obtain a basic MPU-401 compatable interface within the $50 ballpark. A new one (basic single port) should be obtainable for under $100 or so. Of course more elaborate interfaces (multiple ports, SMPTE) are available, but apparently you don't need these features (at least not yet). I actually built myself a MIDI interface card for my PC, and was able to port several packages that had available source code to work with it. However I grew tired of porting, and there were a lot of stuff that I wanted to use that wouldn't work with my home-brew card. I imagine the serial-interface kit would have a similar problem. > 2. Do I HAVE to purchase a sound card? No, a sound card isn't necessary for MIDI. Most sound cards aren't even MPU-401 compatable, and there aren't many DOS programs that work with them (this may be changing a bit now that sound cards are becomming more prevalent, but I haven't heard about any new release of DOS MIDI software that has added support for them). The sound cards seem more to be Windows oriented, where the card company provides a Windows driver for their card and then any software that knows how to use Windows for MIDI can make use of whatever card or cards have a driver installed. The sound cards all have a synthesizer section that can respond to MIDI data (that comes in over the PC's I/O bus rather than over a MIDI cable), so if you didn't already have your PSR-500, or wanted to have some additional voices, then a sound card might be an option for you. However don't expect a sound card to have as good fidelity as a dedicated sound module that probably costs two or more times what the card costs. I have a Yamaha TX81Z, a Kawai K1, and a Roland JV-880, and my sound card (a Media Vision Pro Audio Spectrum 16) can't touch them! I bought the card when my son got a computer game from his grandparents for Christmas, and it turned out to need a sound card to work. I thought it might be useful in my MIDI setup, but I haven't bothered with it yet for that. > 3. What is/are the best freeware/shareware s/ware packages to use > to do this? Sorry, I don't have a good answer for this one, but I know that there are some share/free-ware sequencers and librarian/editors out there. Hopefully someone else can make some good suggestions here. I use a public domain librarian/editor called Glib, but I don't know if it supports the PSR-500. If you are handy at software you may be able to add support for it (Glib is designed to be able to be modified this way, but it isn't exactly a trivial task). It supports both my Kawai and Yamaha synths, but my Roland has way too many controls to easily incorporate into Glib's structure (I'm working on a Windows editor for it at the moment). Glib was written for MPU-401 interfaces, but since it comes with the source code you can port it to another interface (which I did for my home-brew interface), but my point here is that the MPU-401 standard is the common MIDI interface in the PC world. For a sequencer I'm using Voyetra's Sequencer Plus, which seems to be pretty solid as far as not encountering software bugs goes, but IMHO could use some improvement in the user interface area. Nothing is very intuitive, so I find I have to call up the help screen to figure out how to do most any operation beyond the basic record/play. It is DOS based, and works only with MPU-401 or Voyetra's own interface cards. It seems to me that all the other DOS based sequencer software vendors (Cakewalk, Cubase, ???) have come out with Windows based sequencing packages now, and I'm wondering what is going on over at Voyetra, since they don't seem to be doing this yet. > 4. What have I failed to ask that I will need to know? Well... to answer this I'd have to know what your level of interest is (do you just want to get your PSR-500 and computer together and play with some sequencing, or do you expect that you will eventually be building yourself a full-fledged top-of-the-line MIDI studio, or (most likely) somewhere in between), and what you don't know already ;-) Seriously though, there is a lot to learn, but you are on the right track to get yourself going. Where you go from there depends on your interests. There are plenty of question, some of which are learned by doing, the more perplexing ones can be discussed over this list (or other forums). I'll be happy to answer further questions, so feel free to ask me, but of course there are many opinions on the list, so you may get a broader perspective by posting questions to the list. Hope this helps some, -- Greg Youngdahl AT&T Bell Laboratories Naperville, IL greg@ihlpm.att.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1993 01:26:03 -0500 From: brickman jonathan Subject: Re: Hello and Beginner MIDI Questions Well, here are some answers. I'm sure (VERY sure) others will have more. If the MIDI kit you mentioned is MPU-401 compatible (also known as MPU-SPC, a standard invented by Roland), you will be able to operate with just about any major software packages capable of MIDI operations. Others wil have to fill in the details about patch data up/downloading to your keyboard, because I am not familliar with it; however, if software exists for such operations for your keyboard, your computer and an MPU-401 compatible MIDI card can do it. Unless the software is Windows-only (not likely yet), in which case your answer is Not. Apart from patch operations, there exist many shareware and commercial pieces of software to do interesting things like notation, sequencing, and accompanying; I will leave it to others to give opinions on individual software packages. ||Jonathan E. Brickman brickman@acc.wuacc.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1993 15:11:59 BST From: "Steven D. Bramson" Subject: Re: Hello and Beginner MIDI Questions Jonathan Brickman writes: Well, here are some answers. I'm sure (VERY sure) others will have more. If the MIDI kit you mentioned is MPU-401 compatible (also known as MPU-SPC, a standard invented by Roland), you will be able to operate with just about any major software packages capable of MIDI operations. Others wil have to fill in the details about patch data up/downloading to your keyboard, because I am not familliar with it; however, if software exists for such operations for your keyboard, your computer and an MPU-401 compatible MIDI card can do it. Unless the software is Windows-only (not likely yet), in which case your answer is Not. Apart from patch operations, there exist many shareware and commercial pieces of software to do interesting things like notation, sequencing, and accompanying; I will leave it to others to give opinions on individual software packages. ---------------- Definitely yes on the MPU 401 card. No doubt the best type of card to go for if you are just interested in music. I have to disagree on the Windows front. Windows CAN drive an MPU 401 in one of two ways. Cubase drives it using a Cubase native driver. Calkewalk and and others use the generic Windows MIDI drivers. You just load the device specific bit, some of which including the MPU driver, are included in Windows 3.1. Using Cakewalk I can switch between the MPU 401 driving a sound canvas and the yucky Yamaha OPL3 FM chip on my Pro Audio Spectrum 16 soundcard. If you want a shareware sequencer, try WinJammer available from ftp.cica.indiana.edu, pub/pc/win3/sounds. Steven D Bramson Data Management Group JET Joint Undertaking Abingdon Oxfordshire OX14 3EA United Kingdom E-mail sdb@jet.uk Voice 0235 465 013 Fax 0235 465 399 ------------------------------------------------------------------ JET is Europe's fusion research project Disclaimer: Any views expressed are mine and do not represent those of JET ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1993 11:12:43 EDT From: SCOTT HALLENBECK Subject: Re: HELP WHERE TO GET STARTED HELLO, I AM STILL BAFFLED AS TO HOW TO GET STARTED. I AM LOOKING TO CREATE MY OWN MUSIC WITH MY COMPUTER. I HAVE A 486-33 IBM COMP- IS THERE ANYONE WH O CAN OFFER ME ADVICE AS TO WHAT IS OUT THERE AND WHAT IT DOES. I AM FAR FROM COMPUTER ILLITERATE, BUT WHEN IT COMES TO MIDI AND MUSIC I GET REALLY LOST. I WAS CONTIMPLATING GETTING A TURTLE BEACH MULTI SOUND CARD AND A KEYBOARD. I WAS NOT SURE THOUGH WHAT THIS WILL GIVE ME THE ABILITY TO DO. I HAVE HEARD TAL K ABOUT GETTING A SEQUENCER. WHAT IS A SEQUENCER AND WHAT DOES IT DO, HOW MUCH DOES IT COST _ ECT. WHAT DOES MIDI DO FOR ME AND IS THERE A DIFFERENCE IN MIDI PORTS ON SOUND CARDS OR SOMETHING THAT IS STRICTLY MIDI. WHERE DO I GET STARTED??????? VERY CONFUSED IN JACKSONVILLE!!!!!!!! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1993 13:32:41 EDT From: Bill Fox Subject: Re: HELP WHERE TO GET STARTED Hi Scott, Your email was a little difficult to read. Please use upper AND lower case letters. And do something with your editor so that we poor slobs with 80 character terminals don't have to decode humongous lines of text that wrap around the screen several times. Also, you might want to consider joining SYNTH-L as it is the gear list. EMUSIC-L is more for the "scholastic" side of the coin; discussing artists, emusic, theory, techniques, and so on. You can join SYNTH-L the same way you joined EMUSIC-L. Send a line of text that says SUB SYNTH-L to listserv@auvm.american.edu. To answer your empassioned plea for help, I really need a little more information than you gave. What are your musical goals? (A good EMUSIC-L topic!) A real good place to start your search would be reading the November issue of KEYBOARD magazine. It has an article that will help you decide how to start your home recording studio. What is your musical skill level? What do you play? Will your music be for your own entertainment or will you make demo tapes to send to music publishers or record labels? The quick answer for me to give you would be to buy a keyboard, a MIDI interface card (Voyetra, Music Quest, Roland, etc.) that is MPU-401 compatible, and a sequencer software package. A sequencer is an event recorder. When you press notes on a keyboard, the keyboard sends MIDI messages out of its MIDI output port. These messages, if sent by MIDI cable to a MIDI interface card, can be recorded by the sequencing software running on your PC. At playback, the reverse occurs. The MIDI events in the sequencer are spit out of the MIDI output of the interface card and fed to the MIDI input port of your keyboard. Now instead of being played by your fingers, the keyboard is being played by the computer. Hope this helps. Bill Fox ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1993 13:57:15 -0400 From: Joe McMahon Subject: Re: HELP WHERE TO GET STARTED >IS THERE ANYONE WHO >CAN OFFER ME ADVICE AS TO WHAT IS OUT THERE AND WHAT IT DOES. I AM FAR FROM >COMPUTER ILLITERATE, BUT WHEN IT COMES TO MIDI AND MUSIC I GET REALLY LOST. No problem, we'll try to help as much as we can. MIDI is an acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface; it essentially defines the way in which your computer is to be hooked up to musical instruments. Typically, if you want to play the keyboard, record what you've done, and play it back again, you'll need a computer, a sequencer program, an interface card, MIDI cables, and a MIDI keyboard. >I WAS CONTIMPLATING GETTING A TURTLE BEACH MULTI SOUND CARD AND A KEYBOARD. I >WAS NOT SURE THOUGH WHAT THIS WILL GIVE ME THE ABILITY TO DO. I HAVE HEARD TAL >K ABOUT GETTING A SEQUENCER. WHAT IS A SEQUENCER AND WHAT DOES IT DO, HOW MUCH > DOES IT COST _ ECT. The Multisound card, I believe, *does* respond to MIDI, but is not a very good MIDI interface. What you need to find is an MPU-401-compatible (the key words) MIDI interface. This will set you up with something that will be able to talk to your new keyboard and which will work with most existing sequencer packages. A sequencer is a piece of software (or hardware) which listens to the MIDI stream output by your keyboard and records it. Sort of like a file download. The sequencer typically lets you edit the resulting data (move/fix notes, clean up timing, etc.) and play it back again. There are shareware and freeware sequencers for the PC; I believe these are of fair quality. If you are planning to keep doing this long-run, a "pro" sequencer may be a good investment because it will be much more difficult for you to outgrow it. >WHAT DOES MIDI DO FOR ME AND IS THERE A DIFFERENCE IN MIDI PORTS ON SOUND CARDS > OR SOMETHING THAT IS STRICTLY MIDI. MIDI provides the means for the computer to watch what your keyboard is doing and to record the events. It doesn't record any sound; the MIDI data is essentially a time-tagged description of the actions taken when you play something (a key goes down at a certain speed, is held a certain amount of time, is released, etc.). I have heard that MIDI ports on sound cards tend to be less compatible than those one cards designed specifically for MIDI. >WHERE DO I GET STARTED??????? If you know about FTP, there are a number of files you can retrieve from the castrovalva.gsfc.nasa.gov FTP site; if you don't, send me a private letter (to xrjdm@twinpeaks.gsfc.nasa.gov) and we'll work something out. There is a "MIDI primer" available, along with a document which makes suggestions on how to purchase that first keyboard. --- Joe M. P.S. If you can, try to turn off the "all caps". It's harder to read. ------------------------------ End of the EMUSIC-L Digest ******************************