Using the GUS for midi music frequently asked questions (FAQ) list Comments and corrections to james@maths.ex.ac.uk Version 1.16 1 known problems and workarounds 1.1 log/lin volume problem 1.2 patch caching problem 1.3 how to setup Midimapper 1.4 midi cable/SBOS/windoze start problem 1.5 midisoft studio 1.6 playing .wav files in sync with midi files 1.7 midi in seems dead 2 custom patches 2.1 software tools to use 2.2 I cant use stereo .wav files 2.3 how to alter patchmaps 2.4 for more information 3 controllers and other technical info on the GUS midi synth 3.1 what controllers are there? 3.2 What is the MIDI message to ensure all notes are off? 3.3 How do I adjust pitchbend sensitivity? 4 midi gadgets(misc useful programs for midi) 4.1 whats midimon? How do I fix it? 4.2 patchldr 4.3 mycrofts midi jukebox 4.4 megamem 4.5 alcomp 4.6 piano21 5 hardware 5.1 midi connector box- how to 5.2 memory upgrades 5.3 buying a keyboard 6 sequencers (that patch cache- a list) 6.1 superjam 6.2 cubase version 2 6.3 cakewalk version 2 6.4 powerchords pro 6.5 PowerTracks Pro 7 what is ultramid? 8 goodies via ftp 1 known problems and workarounds 1.1 log/lin volume problem The volume response of the GUS is logarithmic as perceived by the human ear. MIDI volumes range from integers of 0 to 127. If we were to graph the perceived volume of the GUS versus volume setting, the volume curve would look something like this (the '*' curve): | * | . * | . * | . * | . * | . * Perceived | . * Loudness | . ** | . ** | . *** | . *** | . ***** |***** +-------------------------+ 0 64 127 Volume Setting The '.' line represents a linear volume response. (By linear, I mean 'perceived to be linear'. The actual power output would be logarithmic.) Most (all?) MIDI files arranged on other synths use this linear volume curve instead of the GUS' log curve. As a result, such MIDI files will not play with their problem channel volumes and note velocities on the GUS. There is a utility call Vmap which will convert the volumes and velocities in these MIDI files to match the GUS' log volume curve. The new GUS software (Windows driver, PlayMIDI, etc.) will implement a linear volume curve. vmap is on epas in pub/pc/ultrasound/sound/midi/utils: vmap13.zip 930706 Vmap Roland midi to Ultrasound midi version 1.3 new volume aware software gus0038.zip --------- 1.2 patch caching problem Any app in Windows that does not support patch caching will normally not produce any sound when trying to play MIDI. To get such apps to For example old versions of cakewalk for windows, cubase and cadenza do not support patch caching. make music on the GUS, you must preload a mini version of the GM set into the GUS' RAM. Do the following: 1. Go into Control Panel, Drivers, and Setup the Ultrasound driver (the one for MIDI/WAV audio, not the MIDI port). Select the Conserve Memory option and exit. 2. Go into MIDI Mapper and select Ultra256 if you have 256k on your GUS, Ultra512 if you have 512k, etc., as the setup. 3. Then use Media Player to play load256.mid, load512.mid, or load1024.mid (depending on how much memory is on your GUS) in your /ultrasnd/midi directory. The mini GM patch set will not sound as good or have the diversity of the full GM set, so make sure that you switch back to the Ultrasound setup and High Fidelity when using apps that do support patch caching. Also, the mini GM set sounds a lot better on a 1 Meg GUS than on a 256k one. Another solution to this problem is to run patchmanger at the same time as the sequencer that doesnt patch cache and then use the patch manager to load patches as needed. ---------- 1.3 how to setup Midimapper MicroSoft MIDI Mapper FAQ, version 1.1 2-Nov-1993 Clarke Brunt (clarke@lsl.co.uk) MIDI Mapper is a device driver which appears to application programs as a MIDI output device. Most MIDI applications will include MIDI Mapper as one of the available MIDI output devices, thus you might have 3 devices - Ultrasound MIDI Synth, Ultrasound MIDI output port, and MIDI Mapper. Some applications, such as MicroSoft Media Player offer no choice and always use MIDI Mapper. If used, MIDI Mapper has the ability to manipulate MIDI messages passed to it, before sending them on to the real MIDI devices, for example it might change the MIDI channel for a message. If you select one of the Ultrasound drivers in your application, then MIDI Mapper has *nothing* to do with the output - all MIDI messages are unchanged. If however you are selecting MIDI Mapper, whether implicitly or explicitly, then what you get will depend on the MIDI Mapper settings, so the following may be relevant to you. The MIDI Mapper settings are accessed from Control Panel, and stored in \windows\system\midimap.cfg. A new copy of this file is installed as part of the Ultrasound installation, as well as remaining in \ultrasnd\windows, so if you mess up the real version, you can copy over a new one. The MIDI Mapper dialog has radio buttons to choose whether to look at Setups, Patch Maps, or Key Maps. Setups use Patch Maps, which in turn use Key Maps - only the Setup you select in this box matters, so don't worry if when you press the Patch Maps button, it displays 1024K Drums - that just happens to be at the top of the list of Patch Maps. Now let's examine the three components - first Setups. Press the Setups button - you will probably be using Setup Ultrasound. Press Edit to look what this setup consists of (take care not to alter it if you are not certain what you are doing). For each of the 16 MIDI channels (Src Chan) the dialog displays which MIDI channel to output on (Dest Chan), which actual MIDI port to output on (Port Name), which Patch Map to use (see later), and whether this channel is active. For the Ultrasound setup, Dest Chan is the same as Src Chan. An example of using a different mapping might be if you had a MID with percussion on channel 16, but wanted it to play on 10, as in the Ultrasound. This setup does not use Patch Maps - they would be used to map one instrument (program change, patch select) into another. As supplied, the Ultrasound setup does not have channels 11-16 enabled. You might want to enable them if you intend to play MIDs which use all 16 channels through MIDI Mapper. Now go back to the top level box and instead select setup Ultra 1024K, then use Edit to look at it. This setup, along with Ultra 256K and Ultra 512K, attempt to map all the General MIDI instruments and percussion into a subset which will fit in the memory of a GUS. The missing instruments are mapped onto ones which hopefully sound similar. These setups can be used with applications which do not know how to load (cache) patches into the GUS, the subset of patches being loaded by using Patch Manager's 'load from MIDI file' option with the supplied load1024.mid (NB only fits in 1 Meg if you have the 'conserve memory' option selected). Another approach is to use Patch Manager to preload the correct patches for each mid. Setup Ultra 1024K uses Patch Map Ultra1024 on all melodic channels, and patch map 1024K Drums on channel 10. Now select these Patch Maps in the top level box and use Edit to look at them. Patch Map Ultra1024 just maps all the source patches into the subset destination patches, for example patches 0-5 (various pianos) are all mapped into patch 0 (Acoustic Grand). It does not use Keymaps, which could be used for example to change the pitch of a particular patch, by mapping each key in Note On messages into a different one. For Patch Map 1024K drums, only the entry for source patch 0 is relevant, because program change messages are not used on a percussion channel. Observe that Keymap 1024k_drums is used. Now look at Keymap 1024k_drums. This does for percussion what patch map Ultra1024 does for melodic instruments - it maps the full set into the subset which we can fit in memory. You may never need to use MIDI Mapper, but it is worth knowing its capabilities. Possibilities include sending output from Media Player to the GUS MIDI output port, fixing up MIDI files which use the wrong channels or patches, or experimenting with different patches without changing the MIDI file. Now some problems caused by incorrect MIDI Mapper settings. If you are using an application which knows how to cache patches, then either don't output via MIDI Mapper at all, or if you do, then make sure you have selected the Ultrasound setup, and that any channels you require are enabled. If you select one of the Ultra xxxK setups instead, then the result will be that your instruments are mapped onto a reduced set of instruments, for example, you will get Acoustic Grand whichever piano you select. If your application does not cache patches, the first symptom is usually no sound at all. There are two approaches to fixing this. You can avoid MIDI Mapper, or use it with the Ultrasound setup, but load patches as required. This can be done in Patch Manager, either manually, or using it's 'load from MIDI file' option, or by playing a MIDI file with Media Player. Alternatively, to avoid having to keep changing patches, you can load as many as will fit in your GUS memory - the supplied MIDI files loadxxx.mid are designed to use suitable patches for different amounts of memory (but note that they will not fit if you select the 'High Fidelity' option when setting up the GUS drivers). Having loaded the patch set from one of these MIDI files, you then have to ensure that you use MIDI Mapper, and select the matching setup (e.g. Ultra 1024K). This will then map requests for the full set of instruments onto the ones that you have loaded. Note that MIDI Mapper does not load patches of its own accord - it is still your responsibility to load the appropriate patch set. ---------- 1.4 midi cable/SBOS/windoze start problem UltraSound and the NMI ====================== Here is a letter from John Spak, the tech who is investigating this NMI problem some manufacturers are having. Dear Ultrasound Customer, This letter is to inform you of a problem that you might encounter with motherboards that are not 100% IBM compatible. One defect found in these motherboards is that the IO CH/CHK signal is not available on the PC bus - to date, this signal is present in all Industry Standard Architecture personal computers made by IBM and others ( Hewlet Packard, Northgate, AST, Gateway, Dell, etc. ). Obviously motherboards without a working IO/CKCHK can not be considered IBM compatible or industry standard by any means. This fact is also supported by the IEEE Microprocessor Standards Committee (Draft D2.02 July 13, 1990) and the Intel ISA Bus Specification (January 30, 1990) both of which indicate how the IO CH/CHK signal is to be handled. Note that it is never disconnected! In the event that you have a non-standard motherboard you will find that SBOS (a driver that we supply to emulate the SoundBlaster) will not work; also note that midi input from an instrument will not be -------------------------------------------- possible from within windows. We recommend that you confront the vendor who sold the motherboard to you (I am assuming that it was implied that you were being sold a 100% IBM compatible motherboard) requesting the compatible motherboard that you asked for. For your convenience supporting abstracts from both Intel and IEEE documentation have been included with this letter. Sincerely, John Spak Advanced Gravis Technical Support ---------- 1.5 midisoft studio [ hints for making the demo version bundled with gus work a little better] ---------- 1.6 playing .wav files in sync with midi files [info on syncing with cakewalk and other packages sought ] ---------- 1.7 midi in seems dead >So here is my problem. When I play the MIDI keyboard,the red LED for the MIDI >port on the MIDI adapter flickers as MIDI data is sent to it, but the software >shows me absolutely no indication that the data is getting to it. When I >attempt to send any kind of MIDI data out fromt he software, the red LED above >the MIDI out port does not lite up at all. Do you have your GUS joystick port disabled? Do you have access to someone else's GUS/MIDI adaptor that you can swap with yours to test your If you are using dos software that addresses the GUS as if its a MPU-401, do you have an adaptec scsi card? There are known conflicts with this 2 custom patches [more stuff is DEFINITLY needed in this section ] 2.1 software tools to use Use pmaker110.zip, which is also included in version 2.10 of the sdk. Be sure to install the drivers that come with it as they allow the use of 256k samples. The new patch maker software is also in the 3.1 software update in gus0038.zip The envelope handling in patch maker lite is a bit lame, but there is a program called envhack which may get around this. 2.2 I cant use stereo .wav files pmaker lite doesnt support stereo .wav files. .wav files can be converted to mono with noisemaster (nm201.zip) sample editor or sox sample format converter (sox10.zip), to name but two. 2.3 how to alter patchmaps midi on the gus uses a map to say which midi patch numbers used in a program change messages are related to which patch files. For instance the standard general midi map that the card comes with has the piano patch acpiano.pat mapped to 0 So if you want to add a patch you have made or got from somewhere else you must alter the current mapping for one of the numbers to say your own filename. [Spare/duplicate slots?] patch banking is now supported too [ how ? ] 2.4 for more information John Capps writes: I just uploaded the latest revision (2.3) of the GUS Patchmaking Reference. It is on archive.epas.utoronto.ca in pub/pc/ultrasound/submit. The filename is patref23.zip. This Windows Hypertext reference contains information for both beginning and experienced "patchmakers." Here's the table of contents: 1. THE BASICS--Sampling Terms Defined, Uses of Samples and Patches. 2. FINDING SOME SAMPLES--the Kurzweil K2000 Archive and converting sounds with GoldWave 2.0(tm). 3. PATCHMAKING TIPS--Things that aren't in "the Manual" 4. MINIMIZING THE SIZE OF YOUR SAMPLES--Self-explanatory 5. BANK SWITCHING--Well, er, not yet, but click here anyway for a taste. 6. CSOUND PATCHES--Using Csound to generate GUS patches. 7. MASTER INDEX OF SAMPLES--Where to get them, how to convert them. 8. YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS--Put your ideas here! ---------- 3 controllers and other technical info on the GUS midi synth 3.1 what controllers are there? controller 7- Main volume controller 10- pan controller 11- 'Like another volume'? [Does this affect envelopes?] 123 - all notes off 6- pitchbend sensitivity 3.2 What is the MIDI message to ensure all notes are off? > > What is the MIDI message to ensure all notes are off? This is for General > Midi compliant devices. Currently, I loop through all 16 channels, sending > note offs from note 0 to 127 with a volume of zero. However, it takes > upto a second for this to complete. There has to be an easier way. Controller 123, I believe, is the All Notes Off controller. You need to send a con ---------- 3.3 How do I adjust pitchbend sensitivity? >>Well, I can't be the only GUSser who has discovered the pitch-bending trick, >>can I? In Windows, I can pitch-bend a full octave up or down. In DOS, >>playmidi let's me pitch-bend the full range. >> >>This is illustrated with my WESTSIDE.MID which is currently in the submit >>directory at epas. >> >>The trick is in using controllers 100 and 101 in combination with controller >>6 (which is apparently pitch-bend sensitivity). There maybe a better/easier >>way to do this but I haven't found any. >> >>First, you must set contollers 100/101 off, i.e. 0, before you set the >>sensitivity. You then set controller 6 to the number of tones you wish the 4 midi gadgets(misc useful programs for midi) 4.1 whats midimon? How do I fix it? [ there was a discussion about midimon, what it did and why it was broken ] ---------- 4.2 patchldr This is located at /pub/pc/ultrasound/midi/utils on epas QUICK MIDI PATCH LOADER Quick MIDI Patch Loader works with any Windows soundcard that supports patch caching, e.g. the Advanced Gravis UltraSound. It offers the following features: Easy Automation Command-line parameters are provided to automate repetitive MIDI patch loading needs. You can create Program Manager Program Items (icons) to load different customized patch sets for each of your non-patch-caching-aware applications. Fast Interactive Patch Loading The interactive dialog starts quickly, even on slow computers. If you know what patches you need this program is the fastest way to load them. Flexible Combinations of command-line and interactive input can be used. Comprehensive help is available via the Windows Help System. To install Quick MIDI Patch Loader simply copy PATCHLDR.EXE and PATCHLDR.HLP to a directory, and then create a Program Item (icon) for PATCHLDR.EXE using the File | New command in the Windows Program Manager. ------------------------------ 4.3 mycrofts midi jukebox [ plays wavs and midis filename juker30.zip ] 4.4 megamem [can this be used to emulate an MT-32 in any musically useful way?] 4.5 alcomp ================== Aleatoric Composer [IBM Win] ------------------ Carl Christensen christen@astro.ocis.temple.edu, author of the program, writes: Aleatoric Composition deals with creating music by using random processes. It has roots at least as far back as Mozart's _Musical Dice Game_ (k294d) and as recent as John Cage and Lejaren Hiller's work _HPSCHD_. In the program `Aleatoric Composer' you can select random or conditional probabilities for notes over an 8 octave range and for rhythms from a whole note to a thirty-second note. The package runs under Windows 3.1, and it requires a sound or MIDI card with the appropriate drivers installed. If the Windows Sequencer is enabled, as well as the MIDI Mapper (General MIDI), you can play your compositions within the program. Otherwise, you can save your works as a MIDI file and import it into your favorite hardware or software sequencer. `Aleatoric Composer' can currently be found on the following ftp sites: ftp.cica.indiana.edu /pub/pc/win3/uploads/alcomp10.zip archive.epas.toronto.edu /pub/pc/ultrasound/submit/alcomp10.zip garbo.uwasa.fi /windows/sound/alcomp10.zip ftp.temple.edu /pub/bin/win/alcomp10.zip [ nb new version 1.1 now available ] 4.6 piano21 This program is a driver which allows a midi sequencer to use the qwerty keyboard as a musical keyboard. Version 21 works with powerchords, midisoft studio and winjammer and it patch caches. Recommended ---------- 5 hardware 5.1 midi connector box- how to > Has anyone made the midi interface for the GUS that is in the FAQ? > If so, were did you find the part# 6N138? I cant seem to locate > this anywhere. Also, (excuse my ingorance i'm not an EE) but > what exactly is that part and its purpose? Thanks... The 6N138 is a high sensitivity opto-isolator, manufactured by Hewlett Packard (and I believe, a company called Quality Technology) The main point in using this part as opposed to other more common opto-isolators is the low LED ON current spec. (1.6mA) A midi out circuit is basically a LED in series with 600 ohms, and a 5V supply. Taking into account the 1.7V forward drop across the LED, you get about 5mA in the on state. Other optos generally need more current to turn them on (say 15-60mA, but this varies a lot). A 'high speed' 6N137 opto will also work, I believe, but that would be a bit marginal on the input current (spec. is min 5mA). Since a number of people have been asking, I'll add below the midi circuit that I'm using, plus a bit of general explanation I've culled from other peoples' postings on the subject. Generic Midi Out/In/Through Circuit =================================== The following shows a typical OUT, cable, and IN circuit MIDI OUT port ---->|<- cable ->|<---- MIDI IN port +5V 270 | +5V DIN DIN +--\/\/\/-+ | 220 +-+ +-------+ +-+ 220 +--------+ | |\ +-\/\/\/--|4|-|-------|-|4|--\/\/\/--| OPTO |-+-+- UART RXD UART | \ | | | | | | |ISOLATOR| | TXD ---| \---\/\/\/--|5|-|-------|-|5|----------| |-+ | | / 220 | | +-------+ | | +--------+ | | | / +--|2|-+ +-|2| 6N138 GND| |/ 7407 | +-+ +-+ | GND | | +-------------------------------------------+ | | +5V DIN | | 220 +-+ | |\ +-\/\/\/--|4| | | \ | | +--| \---\/\/\/--|5| MIDI THRU | / 220 | | | / +--|2| |/ 7407 | +-+ GND Note that when the UART TXD is high, no current flows through the resistors and optoisolator's LED, causing the optoisolator's phototransistor to remain off, allowing the UART RXD to be pulled high by the 270 ohm resistor. When the UART TXD is low, current flows through the resistors and optoisolator's LED, turning on optoisolator's phototransistor, grounding the UART RXD. The voltage drop across the optoisolator's LED is typically 1.5 volts, leaving 3.5 volts to be dropped across (3 times 220) 660 ohms, which allows about 5 ma to flow. The reason a current loop is used is that it allows an ground isolated interconnection. Note that the ground from the MIDI OUT port's device is not connected to the ground of the MIDI IN port's device. This prevents ground loops in systems where appropriate attention has not been paid to grounding issues, such as the case of typical musicians in a typical club! Gravis Ultrasound Circuit ========================= 15 pin D connector 220R pin-1 +5v ----+--------------------------/\/\/\---------------\ | \ 4 | Gnd--2 MIDI OUT | |\ |\ 220R / 5 pin-12 tr >---|------| o-----| o----------/\/\/\--------------/ | 13|/ 12 11|/ 10 | 220R +---------------------------/\/\/\-------------\ | \ 4 pin-15 rx <---|--------------------+ Gnd--2 MIDI THRU | |\ |\ | 220R / 5 | +--| o-----| o---+-------/\/\/\------------/ | | 1|/ 2 3|/ 4 | | | +------+ | 270R | 220R +--/\/\/\--+ +------+----------/\/\/\--------\ |B |C |A | \ 4 +-|----------|----|-+ | MIDI IN | 8 6 2 | ----- / 5 | | / \ IN914 or IN4148 +-/ | 6N138 | --- | | | | | | 5 3 | | | +------------|----|-+ | | | |K | | pin-5 Gnd --------------+ +------+----------------------+ Inverters are 74LS04. (This is a 14-pin IC containing 6 inverters. Connect pin 14 to +5V, pin 7 to GND) Leave pin 2 of the MIDI IN unconnected (Don't connect to ground). Some hints for testing your circuit =================================== 1] Check *all* connections (use a continuity tester, and tick them off on a printout of the circuit). 2] Check them again ;-) 3] Make sure you have the latest (GUS0012.zip) windows midi driver, and make sure it is installed properly. 4] Make sure your midi sequencer package is set up to use the Ultrasound Midi In/Out ports. (As opposed to the Ultrasound Synth) 5] If you still have no joy, a] Just connect the +5V and GND to your midi circuit, (leave the d-connector pins 12 and 15 unconnected), and then connect pin 13 of the 7404 to +5V check you have (about) +5V appearing on pin 10. This checks midi out. b] Connect pin 4 of the midi-in DIN socket via 2 extra 220R resistors to +5V. Check pin 4 of the 7404. It should be low (about 0V). Then connect pin 4 of the midi-in DIN socket to 0V. Pin 4 of the 7404 should go high. This checks midi in. c] Reconnect the d-type pins 12 and 15, and connect a midi cable between midi-out on the circuit and and midi-in on your synth. Set up your sequencer to use the Ultrasound MIDI port as an output, and ensure that one of the tracks is set to use this port. Check your synth is expecting MIDI data on the same channel as sequencer is transmitting. Start sequencer playing. Check that midi data is being transmitted at pin 12 of the d-type (look at it with an oscilloscope, if possible). Note ==== Standard disclaimers apply - use this information at your own risk, and if your fry your card/PC/synth/toaster, then you have my sympathy, but not much else ;-) If you're not happy about messing with circuits and soldering irons and wires and stuff, then you may wish to wait for the midi connector box from Gravis to become available. I notice that in the older FAQs, there is a description (from Dustin Caldwell ) of the solder side pinout for a 15-pin D-type connector. This looks wrong to me. I have a 15-pin male d-type in from of me, and it looks like this from the solder side (i.e. the side you attach the wires to, rather than the side with the pins that plugs into the card): Gnd +5V 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 +-----/-------------------------------\-----+ | \ o o o o o o o o / | | ( ) \ / ( ) | | \ o o o o o o o / | +--------\-------------------------/--------+ 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 Rx Tx It is easy to get the pins confused on these connectors - the female version seen from the solder side of course has everything the other way around (pin 1 is on the left hand side). Hope this helps (or at least doesn't add to the confusion :-). All reasonable quality D-type connectors have pin numbers marked against the pins anyway. ---------- 5.2 memory upgrades I phoned up a memory supply company and asked for: Four 70ns fastpage 44256 dram chips like those in video cards and I got what I wanted. It seems to be safer to replace all the chips with the same speed and to not get 100ns rated devices as they *may* be out of tolerence. When you fit them be careful about static electricity and watch out for bent pins, although a considerable amount of force has to be used to get them correctly seated [other experiences wanted ] 5.3 buying a keyboard While some people seem happy with the idea of typing in notes from a computer keyboard, this seems to me a pretty slow way of writing music. Even if you can't play very well, remember that you can always play along really slowly and then speed it up. Also remember that you can often use `step write' options which allow you to take as long as you want to choose the next note. What's more, you can edit your mistakes, push your playing into time using a `quantise' function, and play things in lots and lots of little takes. That said, I have to admit, playing ability helps ... Anyway, the real question when buying a keyboard is: how much do you want to spend? Keyboards go from about $100 for a second hand non-velocity sensitive 3 or 4 octave thing to about $2000 for a 88-key weighted fully featured controller keyboard. I'll assume most GUS users are interested in close to the bottom end of this range. The possibilities that spring to mind are: bottom of the line controller keyboards (new or 2nd hand), obsolete proper synths with midi outputs (2nd hand), and little `home/organ - toy synth' type things generally made by Casio or Yamaha (new or 2nd hand) as long as they have midi outputs. Some parameters to consider. Does it have full size keys? The little ones are awful if you ask me (but probably much cheaper I guess). How many keys does the keyboard have? How important this is depends on your playing skill and how much space you've got. If you're going to be playing with two hands (piano parts, etc), it's nice to have 60 or more. If you're going to be playing with one hand and you haven't got much space, 49 is probably O.K. An important thing to look for is velocity sensitivity (the ability to send messages as to how hard the key was struck). This is very useful. Also a pitch bend / modulation arrangement is very useful. Both of these will allow your music to sound less mechanical and more expressive. Beyond that we get into the `luxury' features: aftertouch, extra continuous controllers, transmission on multiple midi channels with splits/zones etc. I don't really have many concrete examples for you, but I'll give you some stray cases just so you can get some idea of what you're looking at/for. Firstly, the cheapest 'reputable' brand thing I know if is the Roland PC-200 controller keyboard. These are traded fairly often 2nd hand on the rec.music.makers.synth newsgroup for asking prices of about $180. They have 49 full size keys, are velocity sensitive, and have a pitchbend/modulation joystick. They're fairly compact and light. I've seen one but haven't used one so I can't say much beyond this. Secondly, I use a 2nd hand Yamaha Kx-76 which I bought for $450 not so long ago. It's got 76 keys with velocity and aftertouch sensitivity, pitch bend and mod wheels, 4 sliders and various switches and a fairly flexible structure of assigning controllers to send various messages. It's also enormous and very heavy (which is good for stability, but it takes up a lot of space and is hard to move about). It's not going to break in a hurry. Thirdly, going from an ad in front of me, you can buy something called a Yamaha PSR-300 keyboard which "offers a whole new world of music expression and creativity" (ha ha!) with a 61-key keyboard which I guess is velocity sensitive ("featuring touch response") new for $349 (probably less if you haggle). But frankly, I wouldn't be seen dead with one of these :-) . Probably plenty on the 2nd hand market a month after Christmas though! Ken Goach (ken@austin.ibm.com) writes: >>If you're really wanting something cheap, just go to Target or >>WalMart or somehwere like that and get a cheap Casio that has >>MIDI OUT. Sure, it may not have advanced features, but as long >>as you can input info to a sequencer, you're happening. Some >>models are touch sensitive and have ptich/mod wheels. Trust >>me, you really *want* the pitch/mod wheels, and a velocity >>synth is nice if you can play at all (beginners might do >>better to stick with a constant-velocity synth for starters). Note that you can always scale velocities to constant from a variable velocity synth but you can't go the other way round. Ken Goach (ken@austin.ibm.com) writes: >>One advantage of getting a proper synth as a keyboard is >>that you can also use its sounds. Just set MIDI Map to >>send certain channels to it instead of the GUS, and you'll >>have two synths to use. I'm looking at a Roland D-5 myself... Also, you may be able to use them to make new patches on your GUS. Possible cheap 2nd hand synths that MAY be worth owning: multitimbral options - Roland D5 and D10, Kawai K1, Yamaha SY22; single patch or split keyboard options - Roland JX-8p, Roland Alpha-Juno 1 and 2, Yamaha DX-7, DX-11, DX-21. Roland JX-3p's and Juno 106s are groovy analog beasts, but don't have velocity sensitive keyboards. And if you can pick up a Roland Jupiter 6 in good condition for not much money, tell me about it and I'll buy it first (great analog sounds). ---------- 6 sequencers (that patch cache- a list) [mini-reviews? more for the list?] 6.1 superjam 6.2 cubase version 2 6.3 cakewalk version 2 Demo is in /pub/pc/win3/demo at ftp.cica.indiana.edu [129.79.20.27] and mirrors as wincake1.zip and wincake2.zip. 6.4 powerchords pro There is a demo version of this available on epas as pcprodem.zip 6.5 PowerTracks Pro Mini-Review of PowerTracks Pro Available from PG Music 266 Elmwood Ave, Unit 111 Buffalo, NY 14222 800-268-6272 905-528-2368 (fax)908-628-2541 I've been looking for a budget-priced sequencer to use with my Gravis Ultrasound for a while now, and just recently I was idly flipping through Keyboard magazine and saw an ad for PowerTracks Pro, a Windows & DOS sequencer for $29. Yes, twenty-nine dollars. It has a 30-day money-back guarantee, and is distributed by the same folks who make Band-In-A-Box, so I thought it might be worth a try. A note: while I have used WinJammer, Recording Session, Power Chords, and MIDI Connections, I have not used Cubase, Cakewalk, or any other multi-hundred dollar sequencer, with the exception of a lot of Mac software from 4 years ago or so. The program does support patch caching (necessary for the Gravis It can print scores, though its notation features are slim. It has a large selection of very powerful editing features. It would be a snap to, for example, take every 16th note above C5 and copy it one octave higher, 25 ticks later, and on a different channel. Using filters, copying, pasting, and transposing, you can do amazing things. The program also has a nice sysex librarian feature, including pre-built macros to do patch dumps from about 30 or so popular synths and sound The sequencer includes SMPTE timing and can sync to an external signal. It can also work with Midi Time Code. There were a few minor glitches. When reading in MIDI files from elsewhere, it generally didn't sense the patch setting for each channel, so to change the patches on a channel, you had to either edit the patch change using the event list, or delete all patch changes and fill in a patch manually for each track. Either way, it wasn't a big deal, and once it's been done you can save the file in the PowerTracks native once it's been done you can save the file in the PowerTracks native format. Also, the program has a HUGE number of options, and I found it easy to get lost, or would find myself not understanding an odd behavior at first. Still, tha manual is fairly complete, and I was always able to figure out my problems. All in all, I'd say this product is WELL worth $29, and in fact has rocketed to the top of my hit parade. I really don't see how anyone who needs a sequencer could go wrong with this product. If you don't have Please direct comments/questions (about this review, not the software) to Don Munsil -- dmunsil@netcom.com. ---------- 7 what is ultramid? [ see games section ] ---------- 8 goodies via ftp In no particular order ftp.cs.ruu.nl [131.211.80.17] lots of stuff including expanded list of midi stuff on ftp in MIDI/DOC/archives There is an FTP archive at ucsd.edu [128.54.16.1] . It contains a.o. MIDI files, patches and a few programs. See the directory 'midi'. Also one at media-lab.media.mit.edu [18.85.0.2] (directory 'music/midi') wagner.musicnet.ua.edu is a site that just started to collect music stuff. Report all problems/questions to root@tbf.musicnet.ua.edu. impaqt1.mem.drexel.edu [129.25.10.1] has a couple of msdos files in 'pub/files/ibm/midi' Cakewalk files can be found at nic.funet.fi [128.214.6.100] in 'pub/msdos/sound/cakewalk' and also on ucsd.edu (see above). ftp.mcc.ac.uk /pub/cubase Cubase archive. There is a shareware sequencer called WinJammer for MS-Windows on FTP.CICA.INDIANA.EDU:pub/pc/win3/sounds. castrovalva.gsfc.nasa.gov [128.183.33.197] contains some Macintosh stuff and the EMUSIC-L mailing list archives. mac.archive.umich.edu [141.211.165.41] has a midi archive in mac/sound/midi AT&T: There is a mail-server-based archive of MIDI stuff (midifiles and other things) maintained for the MMML (Mostly MIDI Mailing List). Send mail to midi-request@blink.att.com for details. IRCAM: We are opening an anonymous ftp site, ftp.ircam.fr. Since we are connected to the Internet via a 9600b line, please try to do your bulk transfers between 10pm MET and 8 am MET as a courtesy to our users. Please use, don't abuse! (amongst others:) music/ Computer music software and info archives/ List of directories of some well-known comp music ftp sites databases/ Music databases doc/ Documentation FAQ/ FAQ about audio, dsp, etc... MIDI/ MIDI standard definition papers/ Papers on music OMR/ Bibliographies in Optical Music Recognition programs/ Repository of public domain computer music programs email lists: Cubase cubase-users-request@mcc.ac.uk ---------- Credits ptran@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca (Phat H Tran) ( too numerous to mention ) Carl Christensen christen@astro.ocis.temple.edu ( alefric author ) Clarke Brunt (clarke@lsl.co.uk) (midi mapper faq) piet@nl.ruu.cs (Piet van Oostrum) (ftp sites list ) pcunnell@micrognosis.co.uk (Paul Cunnell) (midi box info) John Spak of Gravis ( NMI problems ) chrisw@EDU.Stanford.leland ( keyboard, various did old FAQ) dmunsil@netcom.com ( powertracks pro review ) jtcapps@netcom.com (John T. Capps) ( patchmaking reference ) Carl Pettypiece (pettypi@gaul.csd.uwo.ca) (pitchbend controller info)