MIDICraft's MIDINET CD-ROM/MIDICraft's MIDINET CD-ROM.iso/KORG_I-S/INTERNET/06886.001

Internet Message Format | 1996-11-08 | 13KB

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Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 01:55:12 +0000
To: [e-mail]
From: Mark Robson <[e-mail]>
Subject: Hints & Tips #19-21
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Greetings all,

Here's some more material which I intend to place on the web site, after you
guys (are there any gals?) have checked it out.  2 of the topics were raised
by discussions through KORG-i, and I have tried to expand on these themes
using examples to make it more readable.  I've removed HTML tags, so please
excuse the context.  All comments, corrections & additions welcome.
Apologies if I'm going over 'old ground', but I want to make sure this stuff
is correct & intelligible before adding to the WWW.

Cheers, Mark.....


#19 Achieving a 'fade out' in BSEQ mode.

The main problem is that BSEQ's are a combination of STYLE & EXTRA TRACK
data.  Hence, we need to fade out the STYLE tracks (DRUM, PERC, BASS etc.),
the KEYB track and possibly any EXTRA TRACKS that are used.

Fading the STYLE tracks:

Method 1:  The method I have used to fade STYLE tracks in BSEQ mode is to
use EXTRA TRACKS as CONTROL TRACKS (Please also see Hints & Tips #18).  You
will need up to 6 Extra Tracks, 1 for each STYLE track i.e. BASS, DRUM, PERC
and ACCMP 1-3.  What you need to do is assign the EXTRA TRACKS to the same
MIDI channel as the STYLE TRACKS.  The MIDI channels of the STYLE tracks are
defined in GLOBAL MODE and can be changed if necessary.

You can then record a fade out on the EXTRA TRACKS, by highliting the TRACK
VOLUME with the cursor, and then decreasing the track volume in real-time
with the DOWN button or the DIAL.  The initial TRACK VOLUME's you use prior
to the fade out, can be approximated by looking at the STYLE TRACK volume
settings in the ARRANGEMENT you are using.  This might take some trial &
error before you find out what the initial EXTRA TRACK volume should be, and
be aware that the OUTPUT MIXER settings also effect your DRUM, PERC, BASS &
ACCMP 1-3 volumes.  If you are using all 6 STYLE tracks just before you want
the fade out i.e. all 6 tracks are set to PLAY, then you will need to record
a fade out on 6 EXTRA TRACKS, which will mean you can't use them for other
purposes!  Hint:  If 2 or more of your STYLE TRACKS have the same initial
track volume in the ARRANGEMENT, then by changing these STYLE TRACKS to the
same MIDI channel (in GLOBAL mode) you could then use just 1 EXTRA TRACK to
fade out 2 (or more) STYLE TRACKS as long as they have the same original
track volume.

Method 2:  An alternative is to use EDIT STYLE mode, and create/edit an
ENDING (or VAR) with a FADE OUT.  There is a MODIFY VELOCITY option in EDIT
STYLE mode, but it will not be appropriate for DRUM/PERC fades.  To fade out
any of the STYLE TRACKS,  highlight the STYLE TRACK VOLUME with the cursor
(as before), start recording, and then decrease the volume in real-time.  Do
this for all the STYLE tracks, and you've got a complete fade out of DRUM,
PERC, BASS & ACMMP1-3.  Remember though, you will now have to load this USER
STYLE along with your BSEQ to get the FADE OUT.


Fading KEYB1/2:

Again you will need to use another EXTRA TRACK, but this time assign it's
MIDI channel to the GLOBAL MIDI CHANNEL, which is channel 1 by default (in
GLOBAL mode).  As before, record a volume fade out in real-time on the EXTRA
TRACK.  Note: The  KEYB1/2 track volume is defined by the ARRANGEMENT,
OUTPUT MIXER, and now an EXTRA TRACK!, so some playing around with the
settings is to be expected.  Example: My BSQ version of Apache has a fade
out of KEYB1 using this method, and the STYLE TRACKS were faded in EDIT
STYLE mode, so that I could use the BSEQ EXTRA TRACKS for other effects.

Hint: If you have an i1/i2/i3 with ROM upgrade, and you only intend to play
the lead part of your BSEQ, then the best option by far is to save your BSEQ
as a SMF (Standard MIDI File), load the SMF into SONG MODE, and then you can
use MODIFY CONTROL DATA to easily create a fade out on any or all of the
tracks.  Please refer to Hints & Tips #4.



#20 Converting i-Series Percussion (Kit 6) to GM.

Note: This topic relates to SONG mode, or BSEQ's which have been imported
into SONG mode via a SMF.  I wanted to be able to convert some of my
i-Series SONGS's into GM format.  The main problem was that some of my SNG's
used the i-Series Percussion Kit (Kit 6), sometimes because I had used a
percussion track imported into SONG mode from a STYLE.  The answer was to
transpose the notes on the percussion track, so that they mapped to the same
(or similar) drum sounds on the General MIDI drum kit.  This could also
prove useful if you want to get some STYLE PERC tracks, into your sequencer
in GM Kit format.

One method is to use the SHIFT NOTE option, to manually transpose all the
drum notes individually.  This is limited because the maximum shift allowed
is 24 semitones.  This means that if you need to transpose your notes more
than 24 ST, you will have to keep repeating the process until the desired
target note is reached, being careful to select intervals of transposition
that will not clash with existing notes on that track.

Fortunately there is a much better way using several programs, running under
MS-DOS, written by Guenter Nagler, and are freely available from his web site.

The programs you need are Midipat, Miditran & Midi2GM.  By creating a
dedicated conversion table (in this case to convert i-Series Percussion Kit
to GM drum kit) Midipat can be used to automatically carry out all the
transpositions required.  To do this I created a dedicated conversion table
(iPerc2GM.pat) which contains all the transpositions of the i-Series
Percussion Kit to the GM kit equivalents.  The patch files *.PAT are text
files that can be easily edited with any text editor.  Please note that not
all of the i-Series percussion sounds are available in the GM kit.  Where
there was not an exact match I have tried to map the original sound, to a
similar sound in the GM kit e.g. SynCowbell maps to Cowbell, and Baya's map
to Toms (which is a bit drastic!).

In GM the drum kit is always on MIDI channel 10.  This means that we
eventually need our modified percussion track to be mapped onto channel 10.
Before I do this I want to adjust the VELOCITIES of the notes on the
percussion track, so that they sound at the correct volume when merged with
the drums on channel 10, which will tend to have a higher TRACK VOLUME.  The
program Miditran enables one to lower the velocities of all the notes in a
specific track of a SMF.

Finally, Midi2GM can be used to map the midi channel of our percussion track
to channel 10.  i.e. this in effect merges the original drums on channel 10
with our modified percussion track, so that we now get drums & percussion
playing on MIDI channel 10, using the standard GM kit.

Example:

Let's assume we have a SONG already loaded, and that we have a DRUM TRACK on
channel 10 (GM kit) and a PERCUSSION TRACK on channel 11 (Kit 6).  Note:
It's the MIDI channel that is important 'not' the TRACK number, although by
default the TRACK numbers normally correspond to the same MIDI channel i.e.
TRACK 10 is normally assigned to MIDI channel 10 etc.  Let's also say that
the DRUM track has volume 127 and the percussion track has volume 100.  I
would then carry out the following steps:

i)  Change the PROGRAM on your PERCUSSION track to the GM kit, and set the
track volume to the same volume as the DRUM track i.e. 127.  This is to
ensure that when the tracks get merged the program and track volume on
channel 10 does not get changed, by other control changes that are also on
channel 11.

ii) Save the song as a SMF e.g. source.mid.  I think it's best to save using
FORMAT 0, as most GM players do not play FORMAT 1 midi files correctly.

iii) Using your PC, Copy the files Midipat.exe, Miditran.exe, Midi2GM.exe
and iPerc2GM.pat to your PATH.

iv) Now create a batch file e.g. iPerc2GM.bat as shown below.</P>


(iPerc2GM.bat)
-------------------------------------------------------
midipat -patch iPerc2GM.pat -c 11 -drum 11 %1 temp1.mid
miditran -velocity %2 -channel 11 temp1.mid temp2.mid
midi2GM -map 11 10 temp2.mid output.mid
del temp1.mid
del temp2.mid
-------------------------------------------------------

v) Finally all we need to do is run the batch file with the following
command: iPerc2GM source.mid -27, where -27 is the difference between the
DRUM & PERC track volumes in this example, and source.mid is the source MIDI
file.  The converted MIDI file is saved as output.mid.  Once you have set up
the batch file, you can now quickly convert percussion tracks to GM.  Hint:
If you load the SMF back into your synth, you have gained a free track,
because the DRUMS & PERC are now combined onto 1 track!



#21 Transposing the key signature of a Backing Sequence.

BSEQ mode does not support as many editing facilities as SONG mode, which
means that it is limited to a certain extent.  If you have an i1/i2/i3 (with
ROM upgrade) then best way to change the KEY SIGNATURE of a BSEQ, is to save
it as a SMF, load the SMF into SONG mode, and there you can use KEY
TRANSPOSE to change the key signature of all the tracks easily.  Of course
you will not be able to play the CHORDS manually now, and will be resigned
to just playing the lead part that would have originally been KEYB1/2.

If you still want to play the sequence in BSEQ mode, or you have an i4s/i5s
then we have to find a way to transpose the CHORD track.  The EXTRA TRACKS
in BSEQ mode are no problem, as BSEQ mode has the KEY TRANSPOSE facility,
but it can only be used on EXTRA TRACKS, NOT on the CHORD track!  i.e. You
can not transpose an 'already recorded' CHORD track, other than using EVENT
EDIT and manually transposing all of the chords individually.  If you want
to be able to set the CHORD track to PLAY, to leave both hands free to play
KEYB1/2, then you will have to use the EVENT EDIT method.

Hint 1: CHORD tracks don't normally take that long to record, so one option
would be to just record the CHORD track again in the TARGET KEY SIGNATURE.

Hint 2: O.K. Hint 1 was a bit obvious.  An easier way is to set the
TRANSPOSE setting before you start recording the CHORD track.  For example,
let's say the score you are using is written in C Major, and you want the
CHORD TRACK to be recorded in D Major.  You could just increase the
TRANSPOSE setting by 2 semitones (i.e. XPOSE: +2) before starting to record,
then when you start recording the chords, in the key of C Major, the synth
automatically transposes the chords you are playing AND records the
TRANSPOSED CHORDS on the CHORD TRACK.  i.e. in this example a chord of C
Major would be recorded as a chord of D Major.  You can change the XPOSE
settings again while you are recording, and the appropriate transposed
chords are recorded on the CHORD track.

Hint 3: There's one last option that I know of, which doesn't involve
re-recording the CHORD track.  If you 'want' to play the CHORDS manually
(i.e. CHORD TRACK is set to MUTE), in the original key signature written in
your score, but want to hear the whole BSEQ transposed to a different key
what you need to do is either insert a TRANSPOSE element at the beginning of
the CONTROL TRACK 'or' if you are not using the CONTROL TRACK, just change
the TRANSPOSE setting using the buttons, before you start playing.  If you
are using a CONTROL track you can put more TRANSPOSE changes in it to change
the key signature you are playing in at any time, but remember this only
works if you are playing the CHORDS manually i.e. if you set the CHORD track
to PLAY, the TRANPOSE changes in the CONTROL track have no effect on the
chords already recorded on the CHORD track!

Remember: If you make TRANSPOSE changes in real-time while recording, the
transpose elements are 'not' recorded on the CONTROL track!  Instead the
'transposed' chords are recorded on the CHORD track.  In fact the same thing
happens with the KEYB track.  The notes are transposed before being recorded
on the KEYB track.  Again, no TRANSPOSE changes are recorded on the CONTROL
track.

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