[Coco] 83,797 MIDI Files..........

[Bill Pierce]

Glen, that's nice and all and may work for small, simple 2 or 3 voice songs, but honestly, using MIDI like that is like driving a Cadillac with a model T engine.
Most MIDI files contain at least 5 or 6 parts (up to as many as 32), any given part having as much as 32 voice polyphony and not to even mention drums and percussion (up to 127 voices). Moving this down to 2 or 3 voices in most cases would be extremely detremental to what MIDI is supposed to be. You can't even play chords of more than 2 or 3 notes. MIDI generally has 4 or 5 instruments playing chords (3-7 notes each) as well as melody instruments and percussion.
The best thing to do is to write a MIDI player that will actually play the files over MIDI as intended. Mike's old MIDI player is a good start, it just needs to be converted to use virtual memory so it can load the larger files.
The other alternative is to convert them with mff120, then play them through dw4 with mfplay losing no voices or instruments. Mff120 removes all unneeded data (text, part names, etc) and streamlines the MIDI so it can be streamed directly from the hard drive.
The Coco WILL do full MIDI... just no one has written it yet. Of course any Coco MIDI player requires an external synth or Drivewire4.

 

 

Bill Pierce
"Charlie stole the handle, and the train it won't stop going, no way to slow down!" - Ian Anderson - Jethro Tull

My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/
Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for CocoPedia
http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

E-Mail: ooogalapasooo at aol.com

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Glen Hewlett <glen.hewlett at sympatico.ca>
To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Thu, Nov 9, 2017 4:09 pm
Subject: Re: [Coco] 83,797 MIDI Files..........

Hey Guys,There is another option coming soon to a CoCo near you!I’m currently working on a MIDI converter that will take both MIDI format 0 and a format 1 and convert them to music data that can be played back on the CoCo using either of these methods:1) Simon Jonassen’s software dipole.asm player (2 voices at this time.  Simon has other programs that can play more voices.  I’ll add that when available)2) John Linville’s Game Master cartridge, using a format and player I wrote (3 voices and a noise channel)3) Ed Snider’s CoCo PSG again using a format and player I wrote (3 voices, any channel can also be a noise channel)All the above sound options use Square Wave’s for the instrument sounds.Both options 2 & 3 use very little CPU usage as they are hardware based.  My hope is that with the converter Game programmers will be able to add some nice background music to their games and also CoCo users can just have fun playing music on their CoCo’sMy converter is a QB64 (compiled basic) program that will run on Linux, Mac or Windows.The software is progressing well.  I still have to work out noise effects for drum type sounds on Ed’s CoCo PSG.  I want the converter to output the player and music data in a format that can be easily used on the CoCo.  I’m thinking that I’ll ask the user what CoCo they have and how much RAM and based on their responses output a .asm file with the player code and the data ready to be assembled and used on a CoCo.It’s great timing to have these MIDI files available.  Thanks Guillaume Major and Joe Schutts :)Here are a couple links to see/hear the output of my converter:Simon’s software dipole test (it sounds better on the high end now)https://youtu.be/oJV53urcsXEGMC test:https://youtu.be/Y1O1hCqCceoCheers,Glen> On Nov 9, 2017, at 9:21 AM, Bill Pierce via Coco <coco at maltedmedia.com> wrote:> > Alexander, there is only one MIDI player for the Coco that will play "standard MIDI files" (those found on the net ending in ".mid"). All Coco MIDI sequencers each use their own propriety format and not standard MIDI (Lyra, Umuse3, CocoMIDI Pro, etc).> Michael Knudsen (Ultimuse3 author) wrote a standard MIDI player for OS9 back in the 90s, BUT, it is limited to small files (about 28k) and most will not play all tracks (too large).> To play these files on the Coco properly, they will have to first be converted to MIDI format 0 (most MIDIs are format 1), then converted to MFPlay format for the MFPlay MIDI player for OS9.> > > > > > Bill Pierce> "Charlie stole the handle, and the train it won't stop going, no way to slow down!" - Ian Anderson - Jethro Tull> > My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3> https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/> Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for CocoPedia> http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page> > E-Mail: ooogalapasooo at aol.com> > > > > > -----Original Message-----> From: Alexander Wallace <alexander.o.wallace at gmail.com>> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts <coco at maltedmedia.com>> Cc: Joe Schutts <j_schutts at yahoo.com>> Sent: Thu, Nov 9, 2017 9:08 am> Subject: Re: [Coco] 83,797 MIDI Files..........> > Thanks for all the effort to both.Forgive the newbie question: What would be required to hear these on the CoCo?  Perhaps a document on the archive explaining the alternatives would be a nice addition!Thanks again!> On Nov 9, 2017, at 12:47 AM, Joe Schutts via Coco <coco at maltedmedia.com> wrote:> > Hi Everyone,> I just wanted to let you all know that Guillaume (From the Color Computer Archive) has finally finished sorting and grouping the MIDI files I sent to him. There are roughly 83,797 MIDI Files (of ALL kinds) on his site that I sent to him (I had no idea I had so many).> It is my hope that everyone takes the time to thank Guillaume for both his time and efforts in sorting these files and also his kind offer to host these files on his site.> Without his kind offer of assistance, I had no idea where I could post these files to prevent their loss. I hope everyone enjoys these files as much as I have. There are ALL kinds of songs and genres available and I'm sure everyone can find something they will enjoy.> Thanks again Guillaume for all your help and effort in this matter. I for one am very grateful...> I hope everyone enjoys these files...> Joe...> P.S. Here is the link to the files. Enjoy...> www.colorcomputerarchive.com/coco/MIDI/> > > -- > Coco mailing list> Coco at maltedmedia.com> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco-- Coco mailing listCoco at maltedmedia.comhttps://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco> > -- > Coco mailing list> Coco at maltedmedia.com> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco-- Coco mailing listCoco at maltedmedia.comhttps://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco