Klarinet Archive - Posting 000290.txt from 2005/02

From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Andr=E9_Fischmann?= <fischman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Help with MIDI?
Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 04:43:20 -0500

You are right : you can use midi files to exchange your music : this is
normalized since 1988.

Each note, in the Midi system, correspond to 5 bytes : 3 to start (the
channel, the note and teh velocity which means if this note is played strong
or loud) and 2 to stop at the right moment (the channel, the note).
But at the beginning of the midi file, you need to have some information
which tells, for each channel midi (every channel, 16 maximum, correspond at
one track, but a track can have many notes at the same time), what
instrument will be used for this channel. Generally, its using the "general
midi" instrument definitions (128 instruments, every time with the same
number corresponding at a kind of instrument). This info, you need to put it
in your midi program, in each channel.
To play the midi file, later, you need to have a software which recognize
these 128 instruments (generally its OK), but also to have a soud card or an
expander (rack or keyboard) which recognize so these 128 instruments : if
your expander is not "GM" (little symbol on the expander, means general
midi), it will play any sound, different that what you want, in each
channel.

I hope this will be uesful to you, sorry for my english I'm french). André

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ormondtoby Montoya" <ormo2ndtoby@-----.net>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2005 5:58 AM
Subject: [kl] Help with MIDI?

> Real-To: ormo2ndtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
>
> I and a friend are exchanging music (music that we wrote ourselves, not
> recordings). Since we use different music programs which don't
> understand each other, we tried saving our scores as MIDI files and then
> attaching the MIDI files to emails.
>
> Neither of us has received anything that even _remotely_ resembles what
> the other person sent.
>
> While I'm simplifying the details a bit, because neither of us is
> writing a solo, nevertheless I had assumed that MIDI is basically a
> universal language. That is, while a clarinet might sound a bit
> different on my MIDI player program than it does on some other MIDI
> player program, at least it would be recognizable as a clarinet on both
> players. But no, the MIDI of a clarinet sounds like piano played
> staccato on one MIDI player program, and it sounds like an oboe played
> legato on another MIDI player program.
>
> Can someone give me a clue about what's going on?
>
> Thank you
>
>
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+------------------------------------------------------------+
| Fri Feb 11 13:04:11 EST 2005 - 156 donations so far. Join |
| the crowd and donate to the Woodwind.Org annual drive. |
| Visit http://secure.donax-us.com/donation for complete |
| information. Every little bit counts a lot! |
+------------------------------------------------------------+
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org