Answers to alpacaman's questions about MIDI
Hi alpacaman
Your questions quoted:
Can I e-mail oldjoe direct?
I now media player in windows can play midi files. My question is, can I play incoming midi signals, through the usb port, on my pc?
Would I be able to play different voices?
I have a midi to usb interface, M-Audion Uno, to feed the midi signal to my pc.
I've searched the internet and haven't been able to come up with an answer.
I'm really new to the midi concept - so please forgive me.
Yes, if you read all of my old thread on my MIDI Project, I stated my e-mail address and you can e-mail me if you have a long question or want program or graphics files that are hard to exchange on the forum.
From reading your post, my understanding of your request is: You want to play an MIDI instrument or several MIDI Instruments through your PC instaintously. You have a MIDI to USB adapter and you want to do it low budget.
oldjoe's first answer: this is not a PICAXE application, it is a PC software thing. If you found the right software package you could do this using only your PC. I use PICAXE over my PC, because: my PC is too big, heavy and too many cables to take to proformances.
Next answer form oldjoe; this is a MIDI Synthizer application problem. Any MIDI Synthizer can do what you want except for the
low cost requirement A low cost MIDI Synthizer now becomes your request. Suggest you look into doing MIDI Synthizer on a PICAXE, I am looking to try it with a PICAXE-40X1 and staying with the Revolation PICAXE BASIC.
A low cost MIDI SYnthizer using the PICAXE might be possible, although there are a lot of PICAXE users that say it is too slow, ... my answer is that is "back in 1981 I did it with a 4 MHz 6502" (still working), so why not a PICAXE
Another low cost MIDI Synthizer is to look to Radio Shack just after Christmas sales! Radio Shack always has MIDI Keyboards on sale at Christmas time for around $100 US. The ones that do not sell get further discounted to around $60 US after Christmas and are sold in a week. At least that is the way they do it at my location Radio Shacks.
The Radio Shack MIDI Keyboards are like any other MIDI Keyboard in many respects. They have both a MIDI Instrument playing out the MIDI Out connector and a built-in Synthizer that will take any MIDI stream in the MIDI In connector and change this MIDI stream into audio on the keyboard's Audio Out connector, also send it to the Keyboard's speakers.
Chaining multiple MIDI Instruments together: that is what the MIDI Thru connector is for. The MIDI Thru connector is required to be a good copy of what is on the MIDI In connector on any MIDI Instrument including the cheap Radio Shack MIDI Keyboard. Remember
with MIDI you are creating a LAN, lots of things networked together, connect MIDI INs to MIDI OUTs, if you run out of MIDI OUTs, then use MIDI THRUs ... that is how to do it.
On how good is a cheap MIDI Keyboard from Radio Shack? Play it before you buy it. The thing to look for is the how well the instruments that you are interested in are synthized. Remember
there is no music in a MIDI file, a MIDI file is only a set of instructions to the Synthizer on how to make music. So if you want a Guitar, set the cheap Keyboard to Guitar and play ... does it sound like a realistic Guitar? Everytime a MIDI Stream that is playing a Guitar goes to this Keyboard, it will sound this way ... no better.
Another thing to look for in a cheap MIDI Keyboard: usually they do not support the full
General MID Spec of Channels, and the channels they support are fixed and not selectable
Read the Keyboard's Manual and look for this. Does it make any difference to your application? Sometimes one can live with this limitation.
Hope that helps a little.
oldjoe
