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#62390 - 02/08/02 12:41 PM
Re: Save to SMF's Value
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Member
Registered: 01/24/02
Posts: 163
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Carol, don't write off SMFs too quickly. Many of the professional backing tracks used by professional musicians are done in SMF and when loaded into the keyboard, sound every bit as good as live musicians. Besides sounding good, SMFs take less disk space and are easier to work with then technics format. When loaded into the keyboard, you have the same full control over all of the instruments and parameters that you would have if you composed the music on the keyboard. If you use music software, I use Digital Orchestrator Pro, you can manipulate the SMF many ways to make it sound the way you want it. I currently have 658 SMFs on the hard drive of my KN6500. Being better at computers than keyboards, I use the computer software to put together my backing tracks. I find it much easier. All of my songs have the melody on track one, and track two is left open incase I want to play the melody with a different instrument later in the song. If you would like to hear one, just let me know what song you would like and I'll see if I have it. If I do, I'll email you a copy. Also, if you have any SMF questions, just post and, if I can help, I'll answer.
Peter
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#62392 - 02/08/02 05:28 PM
Re: Save to SMF's Value
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Member
Registered: 12/28/99
Posts: 86
Loc: Shreveport, LA, USA
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Actually, there are three main types of SMF: Type 0, 1, and 2. Type 2 isn’t much used, but Types 0 and 1 are.
Type 0 has 1 track consisting of up to 16 MIDI channels. The MIDI events are in order of time, regardless of channel (meaning all channels are interleaved together into one MIDI stream, just as real live cable-type hardware MIDI is).
Type 1 has multiple tracks (no real limit) each consisting of up to 16 MIDI channels. While each track has its events in order of time regardless of channel, the tracks are recorded one after another in the file, and remain discrete units. In effect, Type 1 is simply a collection of multiple Type 0 streams, each one called a “Track.”
(Type 2 is to Type 1 what Type 1 is to Type 0. Not really very useful in real life.)
Most MIDI software wants Type 1, with one channel per track, because it makes editing the songs easier. If all the MIDI channels are in one track as per a Type 0 file, then the sequencer software has to spend time separating the events out on a per-channel basis to separate them into individual tracks for editing purposes.
Type 0, on the other hand, can stream-play right off of even an ordinary floppy disk without first having to be loaded entirely into memory, assuming the keyboard or other floppy-equipped device supports this feature (my Yamaha PSR-7000 does). This is simply not possible with Type 1 (let alone Type 2) because the entire file would first need to be processed before any of it could be played, to determine the proper order of MIDI events, since the tracks are placed in sequential order in the file, one after another.
Regardless of type, SMF files can contain any MIDI events, plus special SMF-specific “meta-events.” One obvious meta-event is timing information: since real MIDI streams are done in real-time, there is no need to specify when each MIDI event is to happen. It happens when the event comes down the wire. Not so with a disk file, which has all the events in one file. They may be in sequential order (per track in the case of Types 1 and 2), but that still doesn’t say how much time passes between any two adjacent events. These events are timed in terms of Measure, Beat, and Tick, where the number of Ticks per Beat is defined by the resolution (in PPQ), which is itself a value specified in a meta-event (in the SMF header).
Lyrics and other text information (title, composer, copyright, Track names in the case of Types 1 and 2, etc.) are other types of meta-events. Markers are another (basically text meta-events at specific time points that are general to all tracks), and are, for instance, used in Yamaha StyleFile Format files (which are themselves Type 1 SMF files with additional CASM [used to specify, among other things, how notes in the tracks should be transposed to adjust for the chord being played] information that follows the SMF Type 1 part) to denote where, for instance, Intro A, Intro B, Main A, Main B, Main C, Fill A, Fill B, Ending A, Ending B, etc. are.
While it is true that instruments have their own sets of voice sounds, some additional compatibility is made possible by the General MIDI Level 1 standard, and various extensions to that standard (mostly proprietary such as Roland GS, Yamaha XG, GEM/Baldwin GMX, and Technics NX, but now there is also an official General MIDI Level 2 standard as well). GM means that a part recorded for a timpani sound on one GM Level 1 compatible device or software will not wind up being played by a piccolo sound on another device. It will be played by a timpani sound, regardless of who makes the device (of course, the quality of the timpani sound can vary from device to device but at least it won’t be a drastically wrong instrument!), or, worse yet, a two-handed ragtime piano track won’t wind up being played by a drum kit, or vice-versa (imagine the drum solo to “In-a-Gadda-da-Vida” being MIDIfied and mistakenly played back as seemingly-random notes by some pitched sound like, say, an accordian!).
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#62394 - 02/08/02 10:04 PM
Re: Save to SMF's Value
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Senior Member
Registered: 01/02/00
Posts: 3781
Loc: San Jose, California
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COMALite J. Thank you for your excellent dissertation on Midi. This will be very helpful to many of our members. Carol, I have over 3000 midi files in my computer if you are looking for anything in particular. I have recorded many and many others have been sent to me by others. Let me know.I might have it. It may be good, bad or otherwise depending on what year it was done. I Will try to reply to all emails. ------------------ BEBOP Moderator SynthZone TECHNICS FORUM http://www.synthzone.com/cgi-bin/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&number=25 Bill Forrest in SAN JOSE, CALIF. USA bforrest@ix.netcom.com ICQ # 562519 Homepage http://members.fortunecity.com/bebop1
_________________________
BEBOP
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#62395 - 02/09/02 04:16 AM
Re: Save to SMF's Value
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Senior Member
Registered: 01/17/02
Posts: 3319
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I don't wish an argument with Peter, but it not so that midi takes up less space than 6000 format, it takes up much more space. You can only get a maximum of say 40 midis on a floppy, put them in the sequencer and you can get maybe 14 to 17 files each file with 7, 8 or 9 songs, thus a minimum of around 100 songs and often more. It is also arguable that working in gm is easier. Certainly not as easy as an easy record using panel memories. Try changing the backing style of a midi after you have recorded it! Granted, it may be easier if you started out on pc sequencing before you bought your KN and are well versed in the programs, but if you've learnt how to use the KN sequencer first, that may not be the case. The biggest problem is not being able to play left hand chords and experiment with progressions after having recorded the song, since with the composer you can control 8 tracks at once, which you can't do by switching off multiple tracks of a midi, after the event. What I think Peter may have been getting at is that the best professionally produced midi files are truly superb and transcend the limitations of the format, something that often amazes. But these tend to been recorded maybe with midi guitars and breath controllers etc. The skill of the player is far more important than the means of delivery. Also, COMAlite, direct play of type 1 midis is possible because the 6000/6500 does it! It's also gm2 enabled and has XG and Sound Canvas emulation. All the info and specs can be read at www.midi.org Before the great cull of midi download sites by the lawyers it was possible to collect many tens of thousands of files. These ranged from the most basic amateur efforts to some truly superb musicianship. [This message has been edited by technicsplayer (edited 02-09-2002).]
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I am not too sure your ears are up to hearing what I have to play!
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