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MidiTools User's Guide Copyright 1992, 1993 FM Software All rights Reserved _________________________________________________________________ * Contents - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Getting Started Overview Installation Editing Mouse Usage Play - MIDI File Player Introduction Playing a file Data cells Saving set up Play lists File Select Sliders MIDI Initialization Updating MIDI Sync Function Descriptions Play command line JLCooper CS-1 Control Station Play/R - Memory-resident MIDI File Player Introduction Command line Files Pop up window Modes Programming Record - Simple MIDI File Recorder Introduction Usage Record Functions Watch - Multi-function MIDI Analyzer Introduction Monitor Buffer Sending Data loss Monitor Functions Filtering Send Keys Delays Programming Functions Set up MIDI File Decoding and Encoding Decode Encode Filter - Interactive MIDI File Filter Introduction Input / Output Filter Limiting Message Removal Message Modification Filter Functions Batch MIDI File Filters Introduction Fmt Extract Remove Miscellaneous Utilities Play/B Dump TestDev Appendix A - Device Options _________________________________________________________________ * Getting Started - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Overview MidiTools is a set of MIDI utility programs for users of MS-DOS computers, specially selected to complement the functions of the many fine sequencing and scoring packages on the market. In particular, MidiTools can provide additional diagnostic, setup, and performance capabilities which may not be available or are less convenient to use in more general software. Support for a variety of MIDI interfaces, a simple user interface (with mouse functions and full help), and some new twists, combine to make MidiTools a useful addition for any MIDI musician. The major components of the package, along with some of their features, are listed below: Play -- MIDI File Player - Plays any standard MIDI format file containing up to 64 tracks. - Individual channel playback control of volume, transpose, and redirection. - Real-time and meter-based time displays. - Note utilization summary. - Automatic MIDI initialization sequences. - Play lists for continuous operation. - Fast file loading for performance use. - Easy creation of play lists from file display. - Familiar playback controls: Play/Pause, Rewind, Fast Forward, Forward/Reverse skip. - Mouse sliders for song position and real-time master volume control. - Saving of playback setup and textual info. - Re-recording of playback parameters changed in real time. - External MIDI sync. - Full, on-screen documentation available at any time. - Batch display of summary information. - Simple command line play available for quick file auditioning. - Reads Creative Music format files. - Supports JLCooper CS-1 Control Station. Play/R -- Memory-resident MIDI File Player - Memory resident, with pop-up window. - Same playback capabilities as Play, but with less interactive control and up to 16 tracks. - Compatible with Play setup and play list files. - Pop-up controls for Play/Pause, Rew, FF, Skip, and Volume. - Can be used while running general computer applications, such as wordprocessors, spreadsheets, and possibly other MIDI software. - Requires approximately 64K RAM plus MIDI file size. - Can use EMS memory for MIDI file storage. - External programming interface for control by other applications. Record -- Simple MIDI File Recorder - Simple 1-track MIDI file recording. - Command line or interactive. - Useful for quick testing and working with bulk dumps. Watch -- Multi-Function MIDI Analyzer - Displays incoming MIDI data translated into readable codes. - Review buffer shows MIDI data with full descriptions, including system exclusive vendor names. - Buffer holds 16,000 time-stamped MIDI events (including up to 160,000 bytes of system exclusive data). - Buffer can be written to either standard MIDI or binary (MIDIEX) files. - Decimal or hexadecimal numeric display. - Ten assignable send keys for sending short MIDI data strings, or standard MIDI and binary files. - Patch bay facility includes: channel redirection, volume control, transpose, note range limiting, and other message filtering. - Adjustable data transfer rate and delays for sysex messages. Decode -- MIDI File Decoder - Lists MIDI file as readable ASCII text. - Output files may be edited and converted back to standard MIDI using Encode. - Time stamped events with tracks interleaved chronologically. - Full or abbreviated output. Encode -- MIDI File Encoder - Produces standard MIDI file from Decode output file. - Allows insertion/deletion of time intervals. MIDI file filters - Four MIDI file processors provide numerous options for filtering and modifying existing MIDI files. __________________________________________ MidiTools Requirements: IBM PC-compatible with up to 300K RAM available. Hard disk recommended. MIDI interfaces: Roland MPU-401 or compatibles, IBM PC Music Feature, Key MIDIator, or Creative Labs SOUND BLASTER with MIDI adapter box (internal sound generator is not supported). Note to MIDIator users: If the Install program has not been run, the -dmid command line option must be employed for any of the included programs (which send or receive MIDI) to operate. See Appendix A for more information. Also, a CPU clock speed of at least 12 MHz may be required for reliable MIDI input processing. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Installation To install MidiTools, insert the distribution disk ("Disk 1" if a two-disk set) in drive A and type: a:install To install from drive B, type b:install instead. The Install program screen contains a number of options which must be reviewed and possibly changed prior to initiating the installation. You can move between options by using the up and down arrow keys. When you type in a new answer, your entry first appears at the bottom of the screen. Pressing Enter will then change the option. See the following section on editing if you have questions about working with this screen. The various options are described below. Install MidiTools files: Yes From drive: A To drive: C Using directory: \MTOOLS If this is a new installation, select Yes to install the MidiTools files from the distribution disk. If you are only changing MIDI parameters, select No to bypass file installation. Enter the correct drive letters for the installation disk (from) and the target disk (to). There should be at least 600K bytes free on the target disk. It is suggested that MidiTools be installed in a subdirectory for easier file management. The subdirectory name selected by default is \MTOOLS. Default MIDI file extension: MFF A number of MidiTools programs which work will standard MIDI files will assume a default file name extension of .MFF. If you have another preference, such as .MID, you may change it here. Primary MIDI interface: MPU Four types of MIDI interface cards are supported. They are identified by the following 3-letter codes. Choose the device you wish to use as your primary interface. MPU Roland MPU compatibles. MFC IBM PC Music Feature Card. SBM Creative Labs SOUND BLASTER (with MIDI adapter). MID Key Electronics MIDIator. IRQ (interrupt line): 2 If you have changed the default interrupt level setting (IRQ) on your MIDI interface, enter the correct number here. In the case of the MIDIator, this selection will read "COM port number"; select 1 or 2 depending on which serial port is being used. Base address: 330 If you have chosen an alternate base I/O address for your MIDI interface, enter the proper address here. This number is in base 16 (hexadecimal); use digits 0- 9 and A-F. Buffer expansion (K bytes): 0 On some slower machines, the default staging buffer for receiving MIDI data is too small. The size of the buffer may be increased here. Enter the number of K bytes (1K=1024) to expand the buffer. See the -S option in Appendix A for further information. In general, leave this value as 0 initially. Modify AUTOEXEC.BAT file: Yes The installation process will make configuration changes to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that the options you selected above will be in effect each time you restart your machine. The specified MidiTools directory will also be added to your DOS search path. Prior to any change, your current AUTOEXEC.BAT file will be copied to AUTOEXEC.OLD. Select No to prevent updating of AUTOEXEC.BAT. When all options have been selected, Press F2 to begin the installation. _____________________________ To install MidiTools manually, create a subdirectory as follows: md \mtools cd \mtools Then copy the contents of the installation disk(s) to that subdirectory: copy a:*.* \mtools For many users, no further set up is required. If, however, you are using non-standard settings for your MIDI interface, or have other special system requirements, see Appendix A for information on command line options before running any of the included programs. You may also run Install at any time to change the basic device settings. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Editing The interactive MidiTools programs (such as Play, Watch, Record, and Filter) use a common display and entry interface which is cell oriented, much like typical spreadsheet programs to which you may already be accustomed. Data entry as described in this section applies to all of these programs. The terms cell and field will be used interchangeably to refer to areas on the screen which display information, or into which information may be placed. Use the arrow keys to move from one data cell to another. The current cell is shown as a highlighted block. Below the screen's main data section is an input and message area. The contents of the current cell may be changed by typing a new value (which will first appear on the input line), and pressing the Enter (or Return) key. A prompting message is always displayed immediately above the input line, describing allowable values. If an entry was valid, it will appear in the cell; otherwise, an error message is displayed and the entry may be corrected. The following keys may be used when entering or editing a cell value: BackSpace Delete the character to the left of the cursor. Del Delete the character at the cursor. Insert Switch between insert and replace modes. Home Move cursor to beginning of entry. End Move cursor to end of entry. Left/right arrows Move the cursor left/right on the input line. Esc Cancel the entry. To edit an existing cell value, press Enter after the cell is selected and the current value will be placed in the input area for editing. An exception is multiple-choice cells, where Enter will cycle through the allowable values. Certain action keys, such as function keys, up and down arrows, and PgUp and PgDn, will end an entry as if Enter had been pressed. If there was no error, the particular function is performed after the cell value has been updated. For example, pressing the down arrow will enter the value into the cell and move to the next cell below (if there was no error). Pressing the right arrow at the end of an entry will move right to the next cell. These are convenient for entering values in rows and columns quickly. Most cells may be modified via the F9 (Decrease) and F10 (Increase) keys. A numeric cell will be changed to the previous or next value in sequence. For multiple-choice cells, the possible values will also be stepped through in sequence. There is a shortcut for setting all the values in a row or column to the same value. Select a cell in the row or column to be changed. Enter its value, if necessary, and then press Alt-C to set the other values in the column, or Alt-R to set the other values in the row. Only cells of the same type and range can be set in this way. Press F1 on any screen for Help. When reading help text on one of the help screens, the optional search field may be used to scan for a particular string. Type a string and press Enter. The line containing the string is displayed near the top of the page. The search string will remain active, so pressing Enter subsequently will locate additional occurrences. Press Esc to clear the search string. If the search field is blank, pressing Enter will recall the most recently entered string. When using a mouse, clicking on any word will locate the next occurrence of the word on a subsequent page. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mouse Usage When a Microsoft-compatible mouse is available and the mouse driver software properly loaded, operations using the mouse will be enabled. The mouse may be used to select an input cell on the screen by positioning the small mouse cursor on the cell and single clicking either button. The cell will be highlighted, just as if the cell had been selected using the arrow keys. Any cell which can be changed using the F10 or F9 keys (to increase or decrease the value) may be changed in a similar manner using the mouse. Once a cell is selected by clicking on it, subsequent clicking of the left button will decrease the cell value, and clicking of the right button will increase it. In mouse mode, the function key designations normally displayed at the bottom of the screen are changed to selector buttons for each available function. Clicking on a button will perform the indicated function. All functions may still be invoked via the normal keyboard equivalents. Clicking on the small block in the upper left corner will exit the current screen. For main screens, this will exit the program entirely. On secondary screens, such as a help display, clicking on this block will return to the previous screen. _________________________________________________________________ * Play - MIDI File Player - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Introduction The Play program is a versatile playback utility for standard MIDI files. Although it will handle many chores done by typical sequencing packages, it will not record; it is intended as a back-end tool, optimized for playback. Play works at two distinct levels: command line and interactive. Sometimes a full-blown sequencer is more than you really need. Play can be used as a quick auditioning tool. Think of it like the DOS "type" command, but for song files. Enter "play" and the name of a MIDI file and sit back and listen. Or if you have a list of files, Play can handle them automatically, too. This is command line mode. When run interactively, Play goes well beyond the basics to provide most of the playback control you might need. When a MIDI file is loaded by Play, it is scanned and all the pertinent data is displayed by channel, including note range and maximum volume. Any channel may be redirected to any other, volume levels may be changed, and notes may be transposed. Such configuration changes, along with textual notes, may be saved for future use. Normal player functions such as play, pause, rewind, fast forward, skip, tempo control, and song position selection are also available. Limited revision capability is also provided to permanently change playing options such as channels, transpose, and volume. With a mouse, it is even possible to "conduct" the overall dynamics in real time. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Playing a file To get started, type "play" (with possible options discussed later). After it starts up, Play will expect you to enter the name of a MIDI file to load. Type the name of the file and press Enter. If you do not enter a 3-character file extension, the following are tried: .MFF, .MID, .STD, and .SMF. After the file has been found and loaded, it will be scanned for the various types of data described below. This may take some time, unless the data has been previously saved for this file using the F4 (Save) function. When scanning is complete, press F7 to begin play. Note that any operation may be performed while a song is playing. When file name is entered followed by a space and a number from 1 to 16, all output channels will be forced to the number specified. This will also disable program changes. This is a shortcut for quick auditioning of songs having many channels and changing voices. The same effect can be achieved by manually setting the parameters for each channel as described below. If the MIDI file name is entered with wildcard characters (* or ?), a list of matching files will be displayed. Move to the desired file and press Enter (or click if using a mouse) to select and load the highlighted file. The same rules used by DOS for file matching apply. The match specification can be changed by typing a new one in the cell at the top of the file list screen. The F2 (Files) function may also be used to display and select from a list of files. In addition to the standard MIDI file formats 0, 1, and 2, Play supports the Creative Music File format (CMF), which is a close variant of standard MIDI format 0. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Data cells The various entry and display cells on the screen are described in this section. File The File cell allows the entry of a new file name to load and play as described previously. List When a play list is in use, this cell shows the play list file name. It may also be used to enter a new play list name. Play lists are described in detail later. Tempo or Speed For metrically specified time bases, this cell controls the overall, or "master", tempo in beats per minute. The first tempo value encountered in the file is used as the reference for subsequent manual changes. If the file does not specify tempo, 120 quarter note beats per minute is assumed. The speed of play at any point is determined by the ratio of the current setting to the original value. For example, if the original value is 120, play will proceed at half speed if the master tempo is changed to 60. For files having a time base specified in SMPTE or MIDI time code units, this cell is labeled as Speed, rather than Tempo, and is given as a percentage of the initial speed (100%). Half speed is 50%, double speed is 200%, etc. When using an external MIDI clock for synchronization (selected by pressing Alt-F7), actual tempo is determined by the rate at which clock messages are received. Time Time specifies the current song position in minutes and seconds. This cell is updated every second while play is in progress. You may select and change this value at any time to move to a different position. It may take a few seconds to skip to the new position, depending on how far away it is. Selecting an earlier location requires scanning from the beginning. The F6 (fast forward) function advances the position 10 seconds at a time. F10 may also be used when this cell is selected to advance 1 second. F9 (decrease) is not recommended. To the right of the current time is the duration of the song, also in minutes and seconds. Note that when the master tempo is changed, the duration is adjusted accordingly. Note: The current time cell represents elapsed time since the start of play. If the master tempo is changed while playing, counting continues in one second intervals and the ending time may not match the song duration for that pass. Meas (Measure) This cell indicates the current song position as measure:beat. It is updated on each beat as play progresses. You may change the song position as with the Time cell above by entering the desired measure and beat. A single number entered without a colon is taken to be a full measure, and the start of beat 1 within that measure is assumed. The final measure and beat of the song are displayed to the right. Time Sig The time signature currently in use is displayed here and is updated if any time signature changes occur in the music. Prog Ch (Program Changes) This cell is an overall MIDI performance option and determines whether program (patch) change messages in the original MIDI file are to be sent while playing. Selecting On enables program changes, and Off disables them. It is often desirable to suppress program changes when the target instrument is not set up to use the original program numbers. Program changes are enabled by default. Column data cells Chan (Channel) The channel numbers on the left of the screen refer to original MIDI channels used in the file. Information from the MIDI file relating to particular channels will appear on their respective lines. Only the first 12 channels are displayed initially. To see the remaining 4 channels, press Page Down to shift down to channels 5 thru 16. Press Page Up to restore the display. An arrow indicator () will appear in front of channel 12 as a reminder if there is any note data for channels 13 - 16. The line "All" contains summary data and master controls for all of the channel lines. Entering a value in a changeable cell on this line will change all values in its column. Notes This indicates the maximum number of notes which are played concurrently on the channel. The number is determined during scanning based on note-on, note-off, and all-off messages. The mono or poly mode state is not considered in the count. The "All" line indicates the total number of concurrent notes played in the song. Since some MIDI sequences do not turn off all sounding notes, this value may sometimes be larger than expected. Lo/Hi These indicate the lowest and highest note pitches used on the channel. The reference range is C-2 to G8 for MIDI notes 0 to 127. Middle C is C3 (MIDI note 60). Some manufacturers designate this note C4. The "All" line shows the lowest and highest note values played in the file. Vol (Volume) This is the maximum volume of notes played on the channel, from 0 to 100 percent (determined by note velocities). If this value is changed, subsequent note volumes will be adjusted relative to the original maximum value for the channel. If changes appear to have no effect on output volume, it is usually the case that the particular instrument does not support or is not configured for velocity sensitivity. Entering a value in the corresponding cell on the "All" line will set all channel volumes to the value entered. Map This cell determines the channel to which any original MIDI messages using this channel will be redirected (1 to 16). By default, it is the same channel. Entering a channel map value on the "All" line will redirect all channels to the given channel. Out (Output enable) This cell permits channels to be selectively enabled for output. By default, all channels are enabled. Changing the Out cell on the "All" line will enable or disable all of the channels. Xpos (Transpose) Notes for a particular channel may be transposed any number of half steps from -127 to +127. Notes which transpose below 0 or above 127 will not be played. Setting the "All" line transpose value will change all of the channels to the entered value. Tracks These are the numbers of MIDI file tracks which contain messages on the given channel. There may be more tracks than can be listed; use the program in scan mode to get full track information. Note that in format 1 MIDI files, track 1 typically contains only tempo information and will probably not appear. Info This area originally contains textual information found while scanning the track(s) corresponding to the channel. The text may be changed as desired to record information about the file for future reference. It can be saved along with the rest of the screen data by using the F4 (Save) function. See the MIDI Initialization section for further uses of the Info area. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Saving set up When the F4 (Save) function key is pressed, the current data on the screen will be saved to a file. The same name as the current MIDI file is used, but with the extension ".PLA". Whenever a .PLA file corresponding to a MIDI file being loaded is found, that data will also be loaded and the (sometimes slow) initial scan step is eliminated. F4 will replace the existing .PLA file whenever it is pressed. Note: F4 does not alter the basic MIDI file in any way. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Play lists Play lists are ordinary text files containing a list of MIDI (or CMF) file names. Such a file can be created with any text editor, or with a wordprocessor capable of "exporting" ASCII files. They may also be created by Play via the file selection screen. Play list files permit automatic playing of songs in the list without intervention. A play list file name is entered in either the "File:" cell or the "List:" cell. To enter a list file name in the "File:" cell, however, it must be preceded by the character "@" to indicate that it is a play list. A file name which actually begins with "@" is also assumed to be a play list. Play expects one file name per line in a play list, followed by an optional channel override number. If corresponding .PLA files exist, they will be used to control MIDI output. Note, however, that if a channel number is specified following the MIDI file name, it will take precedence, and the .PLA file will be ignored. Up to 30 files may be listed. Once a play list is entered, the first file will be loaded and readied for play. The name of the current song file and play list are displayed. After pressing F7 (or clicking on play/pause using a mouse), playing will continue uninterrupted, one song after the other. Play ceases when the end of the list is reached. Play may be paused and resumed at any point. Pressing F5 (Rewind) will go to the beginning of the current song if it is past 0:00; otherwise, F5 functions as a reverse skip and will load the previous song in the list. F8 will skip to the next song in the list. It is suggested that F4 (Save) be done ahead of time for each file in the list to speed subsequent loading and skipping. The current song number and total number of songs is displayed beneath the "List:" cell. Play list files may be chained together to produce lists of any length. Simply specify a play list file (beginning with @) as the last line in a given list to indicate the next play list file to load. Typing a regular MIDI file name or another play list name in the "File:" or "List:" cells will cancel the current play list and load the requested file. Play lists will not advance while pushed to DOS or when viewing the help or file selection screens. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - File Select To obtain a list of MIDI files from which to select a new song, do one of the following on the main screen: Press F2; click on "Files" with a mouse; or enter a file name containing wildcard characters (* or ?). The file selection screen will display a list of all matching files. The cell at the top left of the file selection screen shows the wildcard pattern used. It may be changed by typing a new file specification into it. The list of matching files will change accordingly. To choose a file to play, move the cursor to it and press Enter (or double click on it using the mouse). The program will return to the main screen and load the selected file. Another option while on the file selection screen is to create a play list file. Press F4 (or click on "Create list"), and you will be prompted for a play list file name. After entering the name, an optional output channel will be requested. If given, this number will be added after each file name in the play list to force output to the given channel on playback. Press Enter if none is desired. Then you may freely move around the file screen and "select" the ones to be added to the play list by pressing Enter (or double clicking the mouse). When done, press F4 (or click "Create list") again. You will be returned to the main screen and the first play list song will be loaded, ready to start playing. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sliders Two "slider" controls are available only when the mouse is active. The left edge slider is a master volume control. Click above the center to increase volume, below the center to decrease volume. If note velocities are already at maximum (or adjusted to maximum via the channel volume controls), increasing the master volume will have no further effect. Volume changes are made in specific increments of velocity for each position above or below center. The sensitivity may be decreased or increased by pressing Alt-F9 or Alt-F10, respectively. The default sensitivity is 3 velocity units per position, with possible values ranging from 1 to 9 units per position. If both mouse buttons are clicked simultaneously while the cursor is on the volume slider, the level indicator will be released and further clicking is not necessary. Whenever the mouse cursor is on the slider bar, the level indicator will follow it. This is to permit continuous adjustments without holding the button down, i.e., it is possible to "conduct" the performance in terms of overall volume. See also the Updating section. The right edge slider allows rough positioning within the song. Clicking anywhere along its length will set the song pointer to the corresponding song location. The top is the beginning, and the bottom is near the end. As the song plays, the marker will move down the screen to show the current, approximate song position. The full length of the slider represents the full song, even if the tempo has been altered (prior to play). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - MIDI Initialization Users familiar with the construction of MIDI messages may use the Info fields to specify MIDI initialization sequences. If a string of characters starting with a dollar sign ($) is encountered in an Info field, it is assumed to be a series of hexadecimal digits (0-9, A- F) representing MIDI codes to be sent prior to the beginning of play. Two-byte MIDI codes may be strung together without separators, or may be delimited by commas or spaces. To end a MIDI sequence and include other text in an Info field, use a period at the end of the sequence. The string "$C0 06" would mean change to program 6 on the first MIDI channel. That could also be entered as "$C006" or just "$C06" (06 assumed for the final 6). Unrecognized characters will be treated as separators. Letters may be in upper or lower case. These sequences may appear anywhere in the 16 Info fields, and are processed in order from top to bottom. The letter "N" may be included in a sequence to specify the 4-bit channel of the line on which it appears. For example, "$CN 06" would send a program change on the channel indicated by the Map column for the line in which it occurs. This is generally a better method to use, since channel mapping may be changed without worrying about channel messages in the initialization string. This is the only relationship of the string to a particular screen line; otherwise, any line may be used. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Updating Selected playing parameters may be permanently changed in the MIDI file through the use of "Modify Mode". This is not the same as changes saved in the auxiliary .PLA files, which do not alter the basic MIDI file. Modify mode is toggled on or off using the Alt-F5 key (or clicking on Mod if using a mouse). While modify mode is on, any portions of the song traversed by playing or skipping are changed according to the following parameter values in effect: channel map, channel volume, transpose, and master volume. Note: Once such changes are made, it is possible that the only way to restore the original values is to reload the MIDI file, so care should be exercised. For example, if a wide range of volume levels existed and they are all forced to maximum, it is not possible to restore the original range. In order to save changes made under modify mode, press Alt-F4. This will prompt for a MIDI file name, and then write a new file. Remember that only sections played under modify mode will have been altered. The easiest way to quickly apply changes to the entire song is to rewind and then position to the end of the song. Some examples To change all channels to play on channel 1: - Set the channel map field for each active channel to 1. A shortcut is to set one of them and press Alt-C to make the others the same. - Press Alt-F5 to turn on modify mode. - Play (or skip) through the song. - Save the file using Alt-F4. To transpose a section of the song: - Set the transpose field for all affected channels. - Position to just before the section to be transposed. - Start playing (F7). - Press Alt-F5 when the section begins (this is a type of "punch in" process - you need to be accurate). - Press Alt-F5 the instant the section to be transposed is complete to turn off modify mode. - To listen to your change, first restore the transpose fields to their original values (or playback will appear to be transposed twice). - Save the file using Alt-F4. To punch in a volume correction: - Change the volume field for the affected channel(s). - Position to just before the affected area. - Start playing (F7). - Press Alt-F5 at the correction point, and again after it. - Save using Alt-F4. To change the overall volume level of the song in real time using a mouse: - Rewind. - Set the volume slider to the initial volume level. - Click both mouse buttons to release the slider if desired. - Press Alt-F5. - Start playing (F7). - Move the slider up and down to adjust the volume level. - When done, save using Alt-F4. It is best to practice these operations a few times before actually turning on Modify mode. Remember that you can always reload the original MIDI file if necessary (as long as you haven't replaced it with Alt-F4). Don't forget that changes are applied every time a section is played, so changes may accumulate if you are not careful. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - MIDI Sync Synchronization to an external MIDI sequencer may be selected by pressing Alt-F7. When in external sync mode, Play responds to the MIDI messages Start, Stop, Continue, Clock, Song Position Pointer, and Song Select. This mode is indicated by a flashing Play/Pause indicator. Once external sync is enabled, Play acts as a slave to the remote device. The song will play only after a Start or Continue message is received, followed by a succession of Clock messages. The external clock ticks determine the song tempo; the Tempo value on the screen has no effect. If a play list has been loaded, Song Select messages will load a specific song from the play list. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Function Descriptions Function Mouse Key Function Description F1 Help Display help information. F2 Files Display file selection screen. F3 Exit Exit program. F4 Save Save configuration to disk (.PLA file). F5 |<< Rewind to beginning. If at 00:00, skip to previous song in play list. F6 >> Fast forward (advances 10 seconds). F7 || Toggle between play and pause. F8 >>| Skip to next song in play list. F9 Left button Decrease value of current cell. F10 Right button Increase value of current cell. Home Go to first screen cell (File:). Alt-F1 Toggle channel activity indicators on or off. May be necessary to reduce screen updates on slower machines. Alt-F2 Thru Toggle MIDI thru on or off. If on, all MIDI input is echoed to output. Default is off. Alt-F3 Push Push to DOS. Allows entry of DOS commands. Enter "exit" to return. Alt-F4 Write Write a new MIDI file. Alt-F5 Mod Toggle modify mode on or off. Default is off. Alt-F7 Sync Toggle between internal sync and external MIDI sync. Default is internal. Alt-F9 Decrease volume slider sensitivity. Alt-F10 Increase volume slider sensitivity. Page Up PgUp Display channels 1-12. Page Down PgDn Display channels 5-16. Alt-C Change all values in column to be the same as the current cell. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Play command line The basic format of the Play command line is as follows: play File name Mode -Options If File name is specified, Play is run non- interactively (i.e., the file is just played, without the full-screen editing display). Interactive mode is selected by leaving off the file name. A play list may be specified by preceding the file name with "@". Mode may only be specified if a file name is given. If Mode is a number from 1 to 16, it indicates the channel to which all channel messages will be redirected. This is useful for quick "auditioning" of a file when the actual channels are unknown, or when they do not match the equipment settings. For more control, run Play interactively. If Mode is the letter "S" (for Scan), no playing is done, but the file is scanned and pertinent channel and track information is listed (similar to that displayed in interactive mode). To capture scan output to a file, use standard DOS output redirection. For example: play midifile s >outfile If Mode is the letter "D", the events in the MIDI file are listed on the screen as they are played, along with the corresponding track times in microseconds. Playing may be choppy in this mode due to time delays as information is displayed on the screen. If "X" is specified instead of "D", no playing occurs - only events are listed. Output may be captured to a file as mentioned above. -Options may consist of any of the device setup options given in Appendix A, plus -w, which specifies the number of seconds to wait before loading the next song when advancing automatically. The default is -w1 (one second). Separate all options with at least one space. Examples: play (Runs the program interactively) play test.mff (Plays the file non-interactively) play test.mff s (Scans file and lists data) play test.mff 3 (Maps all channels to channel 3) play -dmpu::336 (Interactive; MPU address 336h) The following applies when Play is used in batch (non- interactive) mode: Once play begins, it will proceed until the end of the song, or until the letter "Q" is pressed. If a play list file name was given, each song in the list will be played in succession. Pressing the letter "S" will end the current song and skip to the next. When the - w option is used with a play list, play will pause between songs for the amount of time specified. While pausing, pressing any key will start the next song immediately. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - JLCooper CS-1 Control Station The Play program may also be operated through use of the JLCooper Electronics CS-1 control box. Prior to using Play with the CS-1, its installable driver must have been loaded by running cs1drv (included). Play will automatically detect the presence of the driver and enable CS-1 functions. Following are the control / key equivalents: CS-1 Keyboard / Mouse Diamond buttons Arrow keys Wheel F10/F9 (Increase/Decrease) F1 - F4 Same Shift-F1 - Shift-F4 Alt-F1 - Alt-F4 Online Enter Rewind Same Fast Forward Same Shift-FFwd Skip forward Stop Pause Play Play/Pause Record Toggle modify mode _________________________________________________________________ * Play/R - Memory-resident MIDI File Player - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Introduction Play/R is a trimmed-down version of Play which can run unattended in the background while you use your computer for other tasks. It can play any standard MIDI file with up to 16 tracks. Now you don't need to be without your music while working on spreadsheets, documents, or doing any other computing chores. A pop-up window allows playback controls for pause, rewind, fast forward, skip, and volume. Individual files or Play-compatible song lists can be specified. Play/R requires approximately 60K of RAM, plus MIDI file size. It also supports an external programming interface which allows it to be controlled by other applications. Play/R runs as a TSR, or Terminate and Stay Resident program. Once loaded, it sits quietly until the user invokes it by pressing a special "hot key". A small window pops up allowing the entry of a standard MIDI file name or play list of multiple files. Playing begins immediately and the user may control various functions such as rewind, play, pause, etc., while the pop up window is displayed. After the window is closed, play continues in the background. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Command line Play/R is loaded using the following command format: playr File name -Options File name is an optional file to be played immediately. If not specified, no playing will occur until Play/R is popped up and a file name entered. A play list may also be specified by preceding the file name with "@". -Options includes the device options given in Appendix A, plus any of the following: -a Indicates the amount of memory (in K bytes; 1K = 1024 bytes) to allocate for MIDI file storage. The default is -a24 (24K bytes). See -l below also. -m Selects the operating mode: 1, 2, or 3. The default is -m1. Modes are described below. -k Selects the "hot key" which will pop up the interactive display. Choose from the letters A to Z. After the program is loaded, press Alt and this letter simultaneously. The default is -kp (which selects Alt-P). -l Specifies that LIM EMS (expanded memory) is to be used for MIDI file storage if available. This reduces the resident size of Play/R substantially. -w Specifies the time in seconds to wait before loading the next song when advancing through a play list. The default is -w1 (one second). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Files The file name given on the command line, or after pop up, must indicate a standard MIDI format (or CMF) file in the current directory, or include a device and path name. If the name is preceded by the character "@", it is taken to mean the name of a "play list" file. A play list is a text file containing the name of one song file per line. Up to 30 files may be given in a play list. Songs in the list advance automatically to the next when playing, and the list will loop continuously. Files beginning with "@" as part of the actual name are also assumed to be play lists (if @ is the first character entered). At the window prompt, or in a play list, file names may be followed by a space and a number from 1 to 16, indicating the MIDI channel on which to play all notes (regardless of MIDI channel designations in the file). If a channel is specified in this way, program changes are disabled, since they are not likely to make sense when merging multiple channels. Auxiliary .PLA files created by Play version 2.2 and higher will be loaded and used to control play if available. A channel number specified along with the file name will take precedence over the .PLA file. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Pop up window To invoke Play/R after it has been loaded, press Alt-P (or the alternate key specified on the command line). It may be necessary to hold the key for up to 2 seconds before the pop up window appears, depending on system activity. Pop up can only occur on a text mode screen - not a graphics screen. You will receive an audible indication when pop up is not possible. The pop up window indicates the song file currently being played, the length of the file in minutes and seconds, and the current song position. Song length is only displayed if a .PLA file is available, or if the song has played through once and the length has been determined. Also, there is a space in which to enter a new song file to play. The following keystroke functions are defined: F3 Exit and remove from memory (when safe to do so). F5 Rewind to beginning of song. If using a play list and already at the beginning, move to previous song. F6 Fast forward - advances 10 seconds. F7 Play / Pause F8 Skip to next song in play list. Check song length if no play list. Esc Close window and resume processing. Up/Down arrow Increase/decrease volume. Alt-M Advances through the 3 play modes described below. Alt-R Reset the MIDI interface. Play/R expects the MIDI interface to be in a specific mode. If another MIDI program changes it, Alt-R will restore it to the necessary state. Specifically, the MPU interface needs to be in "UART" or "dumb" mode. If another program changes to intelligent mode or does a hardware reset, Play/R will not appear to be playing. Press Alt-R to restore the interface. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Modes The following operating modes, selected via the -m command line option or by pressing Alt-M on the pop up screen, are defined: Mode 1: Use background interrupt stepping (default mode). Mode 2: Same as mode 1, plus conditional timer stepping. Mode 3: Same as mode 1, plus unconditional timer stepping. Mode 1 relies on the underlying TSR mechanism, TesSeRact, to determine when it is absolutely safe to interrupt DOS in order to play or pop up. These are very stringent requirements, resulting in intermittent play while heavy system activity is in progress, and possibly no playing in certain applications. Mode 2 adds use of the system timer (about 18 ticks per second) to advance play. This permits play to continue while running programs which otherwise would not allow Play/R to operate at all. Any DOS activity will temporarily suspend play, however. See warnings for mode 3 below. Mode 3 combines idle time processing with forced timer stepping to assure high accuracy and continuous play regardless of other system activity. While it is unlikely that timer interrupts will cause problems, this is technically "unsafe". High-speed operations such as asynchronous port data transfers and local area network activity may not work properly if interrupted for even a short time. Critical functions such as backups are not recommended while play is in progress. Users of 2/3/486 processors may select an additional command line option, -c, to specify AT real-time clock usage, in which case the mode 2 and 3 interrupt interval changes to 5 milliseconds. Because of the amount of system overhead, noticeable slowing of other programs may occur. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Programming Play/R and it's non-pop up version Play/D provide an applications programming interface which allows their control by many available languages, including C, Pascal, Basic, GRASP, and assembly. Play/R and Play/D serve as loadable MIDI drivers which can be used to control playback of existing MIDI files, or to perform low-level MIDI input and output. Information for programmers is contained in the developer's archive file, playrdev.exe. This archive contains a number of documentation files and sample libraries for common languages. Registered users of MidiTools may distribute Play/D with end user applications they create. _________________________________________________________________ * Record - Simple MIDI File Recorder - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Introduction Record is a tool for quick recording of MIDI data into a standard MIDI file. It is not intended for sequencing type operations, but rather, for testing, bulk dump capture, or other spur-of-the-moment recording needs. The file which is created can be played back using the MidiTools player utilities, or any other software which can read standard MIDI files. Recordings are single track, and limited to about 16,000 MIDI events or 160,000 bytes of system exclusive data. Any type of MIDI channel data (notes, control changes, etc.) or system exclusive data may be recorded. Real-time data is not supported by the MIDI file specification. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Usage To use Record in its most basic mode, type "record" and a file name. That's it. Start your MIDI input, and when done, press a key. The input will have been recorded in the specified file. For example, to record a bulk dump from a synthesizer and save it to a file called "testdump", enter: record testdump Start the bulk dump from the synthesizer's control panel and wait for it to complete. Press a key to end recording and write the MIDI file. To send the data back later, you could type: play testdump When Record is run without specifying a file name on the command line, it executes interactively. This gives a bit more control over the recording operation. Several options can be specified by filling in the data cells on the screen prior to recording. To begin recording, press F7 (or click the [Record/Stop] button at the bottom of the screen). Actual recording begins with the first MIDI event received, and continues until F7 is pressed again. Recording can be subsequently resumed by pressing F7. To create the MIDI file on disk, press F4 (Write). To clear the recorded data in order to make a new recording, press F2 (Clear). The data cells on the screen and available function keys are described below. File The name of the MIDI output file. The default name is "out.mff". Recording can be initiated repeatedly and the output file will be replaced each time F4 is pressed unless the name is changed. Title A short descriptive note to be included in the file for use by a MIDI file-capable sequencer or other reader. Tempo The base tempo assigned to the sequence. The default is 120 quarter note beats per minute. Format One of 2 supported MIDI file formats: 0 or 1. In general, format 0 is the safest since almost all MIDI software will accept it. Delay Allows a pause to be inserted at the beginning of the sequence. Normally, the first MIDI event will be recorded at time 0, but if this value is non-zero, the first event will start at the specified time (in tenths of a second). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Record Functions Function Mouse Key Function Description F1 Help Display help information. F2 Clear Discard recorded MIDI data. F3 Exit Exit program. F4 Write Write recorded data to named MIDI file. F7 Record/Stop Start or pause recording. F9 Left button Decrease cell value. F10 Right button Increase cell value. Alt-F2 Thru Toggle MIDI thru on/off. Default is on. Alt-F3 Push Push to DOS. Allows entry of DOS commands. Enter "exit" to return. Alt-F10 IBM Music Feature only: Toggle music mode. Music mode must be disabled when recording large bulk dumps. _________________________________________________________________ * Watch - Multi-function MIDI Analyzer - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Introduction Watch is actually three tools in one: a high-level MIDI monitor, a system exclusive dump processor, and a computerized patch bay. As a monitor, Watch translates incoming MIDI codes into readable English descriptions. During normal monitoring, useful abbreviations of the received messages are displayed. In addition, a review facility allows data to be re- examined with messages fully described. There is no need to puzzle over incomprehensible streams of digits. For diagnostic work, Watch can send specific data sequences to a MIDI device, and then display its response. A set of "send keys" may be programmed to send out short MIDI sequences or entire disk files whenever they are pressed. When handling bulk dumps, Watch can be used to send system exclusive messages, or to capture and save them to disk. For example, a dump of a synthesizer voice bank can be initiated from Watch, and the received data can be saved to disk as a standard MIDI format file (or as raw binary data). This data can be resent later to restore the particular voice data. Various filtering and patching capabilities give a great deal of control over the data which is received and resent. It is possible to block extraneous MIDI messages so that specific data of interest is more easily viewed. Automatic processing of the MIDI data is also available, permitting channel redirection, volume changes, transposition, note range limiting, and so on. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Monitor The "Monitor" screen is where the principal activity takes place in Watch. All incoming MIDI messages are displayed here. Messages are translated into readable abbreviations of their commonly used names. For example, a program change on channel 1 for instrument 0 is represented: "1:ProgCh/00". All such channel messages are displayed with a channel number prefix. Note-on messages are shown as channel:note+velocity. For example, a middle C note with velocity 40 played on channel 1 would be displayed "1:C3+40". Note-off messages are shown with a minus sign instead, and velocity would only be shown if non-zero. A channel number of 99 indicates that no status byte was received, so the channel in use could not be determined (note on is assumed for the initial running status). Note: C3 is defined as MIDI note number 60 (decimal). This is not a fixed standard. Some manufacturers use C4 to identify middle C, though it is still MIDI note 60. Messages other than note on/off containing 1 or 2 data bytes are shown as the message name (possibly prefixed with the channel), followed by the data bytes (separated by "/"). If you are unsure of a message abbreviation, switch to the review buffer (by pressing any of the buffer control keys) and the message will appear fully named. The data portion of system exclusive messages longer than 256 bytes (or ones received in rapid succession) will not be displayed at the time the message is received; use the review buffer to examine them. General status information appears on the line below the display area. This includes thru status, real- time mode, number base for MIDI data, and the current size of the review buffer as a percentage from 0 to 100. "Thru:On" indicates that all data received from MIDI IN will be resent through MIDI OUT. IMPORTANT: Thru should always be turned OFF when receiving data dumps from a MIDI device. "RealTime:Pass" indicates that system real-time messages, such as MIDI Clock and Active Sensing, are to be received and displayed. "RealTime:Block" prevents all real-time messages from being received (regardless of the individual settings on the Programming screen). The MIDI number base is indicated as "HEX" or "DEC" (toggled by Alt-F1). "HEX: indicates that MIDI data bytes are to be displayed in hexadecimal (base 16: 0-9, A-F). "DEC" indicates base 10 display of MIDI data bytes. Note: Channel numbers are always shown in decimal (from 1-16). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Buffer Pressing any of the buffer control keys (Home, End, up/down arrow, PgUp, PgDn) will switch into buffer review mode. On a color display, review text will appear in cyan (light blue), compared to white for normal monitoring. In this mode, you can move around in the buffer and examine the received data in full detail. Each line will generally show one MIDI event, together with the reference time at which the event was received (as min:sec.ms). The contents of system exclusive messages are shown 10 bytes per line, with the System Exclusive and End Exclusive portions displayed on separate, time-stamped lines. The data byte lines in between are sequenced, starting at 1. Following each set of 10 data values is the same data represented as ASCII characters. Non-printing characters are displayed as dots. The buffer can hold approximately 16,000 MIDI events, including 140,000-160,000 bytes of system exclusive data. When the buffer limit is exceeded, the oldest data is discarded to make room for new incoming data. Data continues to be received while in review mode, and moving down in the buffer will show any new data. To switch back to normal monitoring, press F5 (Monitor). To clear the buffer entirely, press F2 (Clear). To write the buffer contents to a file, press F4 (Write). This will prompt for a file name, and then write the data to disk in standard MIDI file format. This data can be subsequently resent, using this program, or any other program (such as a sequencer) which supports standard MIDI files. Since all events are time-stamped, timing information is recorded along with the MIDI data. Sending MIDI data (see below) resets the buffer reference time. If more events are received after a send, later data can actually have earlier reference times. In this case, buffer times are adjusted when writing so that all saved event times are increasing. To write the buffer to disk in raw binary format (sometimes referred to as MIDIEX format), press Alt-F4 and enter the file name when prompted. Such data can be resent later, as with standard MIDI files. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sending Using the "Programming" screen (described later), up to 10 "send keys" can be defined. These keys are Alt-1 thru Alt-9 and Alt-0 (press Alt and then a number). They may be defined as a MIDI byte sequence, or the name of a file. When the key is pressed (or the digit selected if using a mouse), the defined data is sent. When a file is used, it may be either a standard MIDI format file, or a raw binary data file (a stream of MIDI bytes). Standard MIDI file data is sent according to the times defined in the file. You may do other things while sending non-system exclusive data from a MIDI file, including receiving new data into the buffer. Sending any of the following will stop operations until sending is complete: a manually entered sequence, data from a binary file, or a system exclusive message within a standard MIDI file. Pressing any key will end such an operation. To completely stop a MIDI file send, press the key which initiated it (F2 will also stop it). The speed at which MIDI file system exclusive data, binary file data, and manual data is sent is determined by the "Bytes/sec" value on the Programming screen. The normal MIDI data rate is 3125 bytes per second. Some devices cannot keep up with this rate when receiving bulk data. In such cases, try lower speed settings until a successful transfer is obtained. A delay before each system exclusive message may also be required; use the "SysEx wait" value for this. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Data loss Use care when receiving large bulk dumps from a MIDI device. In some cases it is possible that the screen display may get behind the data reception, causing data overruns (missed data). This might happen, for example, on slower machines receiving many small system exclusive messages. One option is to switch to the Programming screen before initiating the dump at the device; this will minimize screen updating delays. Also, be sure that Watch is being run "interrupt- driven". This is the default mode - used whenever possible - however it is possible that Watch was not able to detect the proper interrupt (or IRQ) number and switched to "polled" mode. On slower machines this may cause data to be lost. To check, run Watch with the -v option to display device information at start up. If it says "IRQ: none", polled mode is being used. You may need to use the -d option (see Appendix A) to force the proper IRQ selection. Watch contains a MIDI receive buffer which is 4K bytes long by default. This is a temporary staging buffer and should not be confused with the much larger review buffer. On slower machines this buffer may need to be increased - possibly up to the size of the largest single dump to be received. Use the -s command line option to increase this buffer (to as much as 63K bytes). The IBM Music feature is not able to receive large dumps (greater than 2-3K bytes) unless it is in the proper mode. The default mode, music mode, will result in truncated dumps. Press Alt-F10 to disable music mode. This will generally allow dumps up to the maximum size of the review buffer. Note that while music mode is disabled, the card will not produce sound. Press Alt-F10 again to toggle music mode back on. If you are trying to save an important dump, such as the factory settings of a device, it is a good idea to test the dump by receiving it twice and saving it to two different files. Then compare these file using the DOS COMP (or FC) command: COMP file1 file2 This will only work with binary files - slight timing variations recorded in standard MIDI files will cause bad compares, even though the actual data is the same. A cautious procedure would be as follows: [1] receive dump, [2] write buffer to binary file (Alt- F4), [3] clear buffer (F2), [4] receive dump again, [5] write to second binary file (Alt-F4), [6] write to standard MIDI file if desired (F4), [7] exit (F3) and compare binary files. This procedure should be followed until you are confident that all your dumps are being received correctly. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Monitor Functions Function Mouse Key Function Description F1 Help Display help information. F2 Clear Clear display and review buffer. Stop any MIDI file transmission in progress. F3 Exit Exit program. F4 Write Write the buffer contents to disk as a standard MIDI file. F5 Monitor Re-enable incoming display if viewing buffer. F6 Program Switch to programming screen. F7 Thru Toggle MIDI thru on or off. Default is off. F8 RealTime Toggle real-time message reception on or off. Alt-1 thru Alt-9, Alt-0 Send one of ten MIDI data strings. Alt-F1 Hex/Dec Toggle between decimal and hexadecimal numeric display. Alt-F2 Thru Toggle MIDI thru (same as F7). Alt-F3 Push Push to DOS. Allows entry of DOS commands. Enter "exit" to return. Alt-F4 Write buffer to disk as raw binary file (also known as MIDIEX format). Alt-F8 Send All-Notes-Off message on all channels to silence equipment. Note: Not all devices respond to all-notes-off. Alt-F10 IBM Music Feature only: Toggle music mode. Home Top Display top of review buffer. End Bot Display bottom of review buffer. Up arrow LnUp Scroll up one line in buffer. Down arrow LnDn Scroll down one line in buffer. Page Up PgUp Page Up one screen in buffer. Page Down PgDn Page Down one screen in buffer. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Filtering The Programming screen, which is reached by pressing F6 on the Monitor screen, allows incoming MIDI messages to be selectively filtered out or modified. Note that Thru:On must be specified if the modified data is to be resent. Each of the 16 available MIDI channels is listed across the top. The matrix below permits modification or filtering by channel for specific classes of messages listed on the left of the screen. Enable All messages for the channel may be enabled (on) or disabled (off). If enabled, the following items may be used to filter specific messages. Map Messages received for the channel indicated at the top of the column will be redirected to the channel specified. The default is the same channel. Transpose Note messages received on the channel (before mapping) will be transposed by the specified number of half steps (+ or -). Resulting notes below C-2 or above G8 are discarded. Note: C3 is middle C. Velocity This value has two distinct uses. Note velocities on the channel will be scaled by the given percentage if the value is greater than zero. 100% is the original velocity and indicates no modification. For example, a value of 200 can double the velocity, and 50 will halve it. If the value is negative, its absolute value is taken as a velocity threshold below which note messages are filtered out. Both forms assume decimal values. A value of -64 will filter out notes having a velocity less than 64. Low/High note These are the lowest and highest notes in the range C-2 to G8 which will be received (prior to transposing). The following enable or disable specific message classes on the channel: Note Msgs All note messages. Aftertouch All aftertouch messages - poly or mono (channel pressure). Ctrl change All control change messages. Prog change All program change messages. Pitch wheel All pitch bend messages. The following system messages can be selectively passed or filtered by indicating On or Off for the following 3-letter abbreviations: Exc: System exclusive System common messages: Qrt: Quarter Frame Pos: Song position Sel: Song select Tun: Tune request System real-time messages: Clk: MIDI clock Str: Start Cnt: Continue Stp: Stop Act: Active sensing Res: System Reset Overall filtering of real-time data is controlled using the F7 function key. If RealTime:Block is selected, no real-time data is passed. For RealTime:Pass, only those real-time messages above specifically enabled are passed. All filtering and modifications are applied before data is displayed on the monitor screen and saved in the buffer. Also, the data displayed is what is output when MIDI thru is enabled. Note that data received while on the programming screen continues to be stored in the buffer. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Send Keys Up to 10 keys may be assigned specific MIDI send functions. The bottom section of the Programming screen allows the keys Alt-1 thru Alt-9, and Alt-0 to be defined as arbitrary MIDI data. When one of these keys is pressed, the associated data is sent. Each key may be defined as a short string of hexadecimal digits or the name of a MIDI data file. If a sequence is entered directly, it may be a continuous string of 2-digit hex numbers with no separators, or 1- or 2-digit hex numbers separated by spaces or commas. Messages up to 13 bytes may be entered this way. For longer messages, a string may be continued into the next key's definition by entering a plus (+) as the last item in the string. Up to 9 continuations are possible, for a total possible message length of 120 bytes. If the first character in the string is "@", a file name is expected to follow. When the Alt key is pressed, the named file will be sent. The file may be a standard MIDI format file, or may be a binary data file containing a sequence of MIDI bytes. Continuation does not apply in the case of files. If just the "@" character is entered, or the file name includes a wildcard character (* or ?), a list of files from which to choose is displayed. Move to the desired file and press Enter (or click if using a mouse). The selected file name will be entered in the send key definition cell. The same rules used by DOS for file matching apply. MIDI sequences may be sent from either the Programming or Monitor screen. Press Alt and a digit to send the defined sequence. If using a mouse, click on one of the 10 digits at the bottom of the Monitor screen. Note: The Alt-0 key has slightly different usage from the rest of the send keys. As a shortcut to avoid the need to switch to the Programming screen to define it, the program will prompt for its contents (displaying the last entered string) when Alt-0 is pressed. The string may be modified or sent as is by pressing Enter. To cancel the send, press Esc to blank the string and press Enter. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Delays Send delays may be specified using the "SysEx wait" and "Bytes/sec" values on the Programming screen. These may be necessary to allow certain MIDI devices to properly accept bulk data transmissions. SysEx wait specifies the amount of time in milliseconds to wait before sending any sysex message. A delay of up to 9999 (10 sec.) can be entered. The overall transmission rate can be specified by setting the Bytes/sec value, thus reducing the standard MIDI transmission rate of 3125 bytes per second. Delays as applied to the transmission of standard MIDI files are slightly altered due to the real-time nature of the files. The basic transmission rate only applies to data within a system exclusive message. Also, the system exclusive wait is not applied in the case of special "running" or "sub-message" sysex events which should already have built-in transmission times. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Programming Functions Function Mouse Key Function Description F1 Help Display help information. F3 Exit Exit program. F4 (Reset) Channels Reset channel and message filtering to default state. F5 (Reset) Keys Blank all send keys. F6 Monitor Return to MIDI monitor screen. F7 Thru Toggle MIDI thru on or off. Default is off. F8 RealTime Toggle real-time message reception on or off. F9 Left Button Increase value of selected cell. F10 Right Button Decrease value of selected cell Alt-1 thru Alt-9; Alt- 0 Send one of 10 MIDI data strings. Alt-F2 Toggle MIDI thru (same as F7). Alt-F3 Push Push to DOS. Allows entry of DOS commands. Enter "exit" to return. Alt-F8 Quiet Send All-Notes-Off message on all channels to silence equipment. Note: Not all devices respond to all-notes-off. Home Go to top of screen. Alt-R Change all values in row to be the same as the current cell. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Set up All filter selections, key definitions, and the overall status (thru, real-time, hex/dec) are saved when the program ends. They are restored the next time the program is run. The original channel status may be reset using the Reset Channels function. This also resets the system message filtering to allow all messages. The Reset Keys function will blank all the send key definitions. Settings are saved in the file "WATCH.STP". This file should not be altered, or results may be unpredictable. _________________________________________________________________ * MIDI File Decoding and Encoding - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Decode The Decode program gives you the ability to translate any standard MIDI file into a readable text format. This allows you to view the contents in complete detail - a feature which may not otherwise be available in common sequencing software. The output of Decode can be directed to a text file for viewing or printing using conventional text utilities. In addition, the text file can be modified using most available text editors or word processors. The modified file can then be converted back into a standard MIDI file using the companion Encode program. Standard MIDI files come in three formats: 0, 1 and 2. Format 0 is the simplest and most portable, containing only a single track. Format 1 files are used to represent typical multi-track sequences, with track 1 reserved (by convention) for tempo information. Format 2 is the least common and its use is subject to interpretation since it represents multiple, independent tracks (which, for example, could be played at the same time or sequentially). Decode lists track events chronologically in all cases, although format 2 events are grouped by track, rather than interleaved as in format 1. Track data is composed mainly of three types of events - MIDI channel messages, system exclusive messages, and "Meta" events. A meta event is a special event type, specific to the MIDI file format, which indicates performance data, such as tempo changes, or non-performance data, such as track titles. The command format for Decode is as follows: decode MIDI input file text output file For example, to decode the MIDI file testmf.mff to a text file named out, type: decode testmf out The .mff extension was not needed, since any of .mff, .mid, .std, or .smf are assumed as valid extensions. Note that CMF files may also be decoded, but non- standard data will be discarded. If an output file is not given, the output will be displayed on the screen. Listing 1 shows the Decode output for a simple format 1 MIDI file. The line beginning with "Format:" shows the file format (as 0, 1, or 2), the number of tracks, and the time base division. For files using a metrical time base, the division is the number of ticks (the smallest timing unit used in the file) per quarter note. MIDI time code or SMPTE time bases would show the division as frames per second (fps) along with ticks per frame (tpf). Track data follows. The start of each event is shown in both ticks and real time (to the millisecond). If no tempo events (Meta event 51) appear in a track, a tempo of 120 quarter note beats per minute is assumed. MIDI file tempo is specified in microseconds per quarter note. The default tempo would mean 500,000 microseconds (0.5 sec.) per quarter note. A tick would then be 0.5 divided by 96 = 0.005208 sec. per tick. In this file, the second event sets the actual tempo for the piece to be 100 beats per minute, or 600,000 microseconds/quarter note (0.6/120 = 0.005 sec./tick). The main thing to remember is that a quarter note is 96 ticks, as given by the division value. The various meta events are mostly self-explanatory: Meta 59 defines the key signature as C Major; Meta 58 defines a time signature of 4/4 with 24 MIDI clocks and 8 notated 32nd notes per quarter note; Meta 2F indicates the end of track 1; Meta 03 is a Sequence/Track name for track 2. Meta 7F is an example of sequencer-specific data; it has no meaning in the context of the MIDI file standard and must be interpreted by the appropriate sequencing software. It is similar to a system exclusive message in that it is vendor defined. Decode just lists the data in hexadecimal (base 16), as with the system exclusive message that follows it. Each data line of a sequencer specific or system exclusive event starts with a byte sequence number. ----------------------------------------------------- Listing 1 - Decode output, standard format Standard MIDI file: testmf.mff Format: 1 Tracks: 2 Division: 96 ticks per quarter note Tick Time Track Event 0 0.000 Trk 1 Meta 59 Key Sig: C Major 0 0.000 Trk 1 Meta 51 Tempo: 100 bpm (600000) 0 0.000 Trk 1 Meta 58 Time Sig: 4/4 Clocks:24, #32nds:8 0 0.000 Trk 1 Meta 2F End of Track 0 0.000 Trk 2 Meta 03 Seq/Trk Name: 'Sample MIDI File' 0 0.000 Trk 2 Meta 7F Sequencer Specific, 10 bytes 0: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A 0 0.000 Trk 2 System exclusive - Roland (F0 41) 136 bytes 0: 10 2B 12 3 0 0 1 4 3 6 F 6 5 7 3 7 4 7 0 2 20: 0 5 9 6 1 6 E 6 F 6 0 D 4 2 4 2 0 3 F 8 40: A 7 A A 7 4 F 3 0 E F 3 1 E F 3 2 E 2 0 60: 9 E F F F F 0 8 6 2 0 E F 2 0 8 D A 1 0 80: F F 0 8 6 2 0 E F 4 E A 7 B 1 0 F F 0 8 100: 4 2 0 E F 6 8 B 1 C 1 0 F F 0 8 4 2 0 E 120: F 8 2 C B C 1 0 F F 0 8 4 2 7C F7 0 0.000 Trk 2 Chan 1: Program change/00 (C0 00) 30 0.188 Trk 2 Chan 1: Note on G2, vel= 31 (90 37 31) 59 0.369 Trk 2 Chan 1: Note off G2 (37 00) 60 0.375 Trk 2 Chan 1: Note on C3, vel= 2E (3C 2E) 89 0.556 Trk 2 Chan 1: Note off C3 (3C 00) 90 0.563 Trk 2 Chan 1: Note on D3, vel= 30 (3E 30) 119 0.744 Trk 2 Chan 1: Note off D3 (3E 00) 120 0.750 Trk 2 Chan 1: Note on E3, vel= 2E (40 2E) 149 0.931 Trk 2 Chan 1: Note off E3 (40 00) 149 0.931 Trk 2 Meta 2F End of Track ----------------------------------------------------- The remaining lines, all on track 2, include examples of MIDI channel messages. Message descriptions are the same as those used in the Watch program. The actual MIDI bytes (in hexadecimal) are shown in parentheses. The file ends with an end-of-track meta event for track 2. Note: Numbers shown in a Decode listing are decimal (base 10) with the exception of those which are more useful (or traditionally) given in hexadecimal (base 16: 0-9, A-F). Hexadecimal numbers include Meta event numbers and all MIDI data byte values. Track/channel numbers, times, and byte counts are always decimal. To force all numbers to be shown in decimal, add -z to the Decode command line. An abbreviated format of the Decode output may be requested to save space, since the output file is often very large. Just add -a to the end of the Decode command line. For example, the following will produce the output file shown in Listing 2: decode testmf out -a An abbreviated output file consisting of mostly MIDI channel messages will usually be less than half the size of the standard output format. Note the following major differences: - MIDI channel messages are in abbreviated format, shown later. - Event types are coded M for Meta, S for System exclusive, and C for Channel messages. - The track number is not shown if it is the same as the preceding message. - Real time is not shown. Only ticks are given. ----------------------------------------------------- Listing 2 - Decode output, abbreviated format Standard MIDI file: testmf.mff Format: 1 Tracks: 2 Division: 96 ticks per quarter note 0 Trk 1 M 59 Key Sig: C Major 0 M 51 Tempo: 100 bpm (600000) 0 M 58 Time Sig: 4/4 Clocks: 24, #32nds: 8 0 M 2F End of Track 0 Trk 2 M 03 Seq/Trk Name: 'Sample MIDI File' 0 M 7F Sequencer Specific, 10 bytes 0: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A 0 S SysEx/41 (F0 41), 136 bytes 0: 10 2B 12 3 0 0 1 4 3 6 F 6 5 7 3 7 4 7 0 2 20: 0 5 9 6 1 6 E 6 F 6 0 D 4 2 4 2 0 3 F 8 40: A 7 A A 7 4 F 3 0 E F 3 1 E F 3 2 E 2 0 60: 9 E F F F F 0 8 6 2 0 E F 2 0 8 D A 1 0 80: F F 0 8 6 2 0 E F 4 E A 7 B 1 0 F F 0 8 100: 4 2 0 E F 6 8 B 1 C 1 0 F F 0 8 4 2 0 E 120: F 8 2 C B C 1 0 F F 0 8 4 2 7C F7 0 C 1:ProgCh/00 (C0 00) 30 C 1:G2+31 (90 37 31) 59 C 1:G2- (37 00) 60 C 1:C3+2E (3C 2E) 89 C 1:C3- (3C 00) 90 C 1:D3+30 (3E 30) 119 C 1:D3- (3E 00) 120 C 1:E3+2E (40 2E) 149 C 1:E3- (40 00) 149 M 2F End of Track ----------------------------------------------------- Any bad codes in the original MIDI file (such as out of range data bytes) are marked as "Bad" in either format. These codes are automatically removed by the Encode program when generating a new MIDI file. The following list shows MIDI file Meta event formats as generated by Decode, along with the minimal format accepted as input to Encode. Standard format Minimal format Meta 00 Sequence Number: n M 00: n Meta 01 Text: 'text' M 01: 'text' Meta 02 Copyright: 'text' M 02: 'text' Meta 03 Seq/Trk Name: 'text' M 03: 'text' Meta 04 Inst name: 'text' M 04: 'text' Meta 05 Lyric: 'text' M 05: 'text' Meta 06 Marker: 'text' M 06: 'text' Meta 07 Cue Point: 'text' M 07: 'text' Meta 20 Chan Prefix: n M 20: n Meta 2f End of Track M 2f Meta 51 Tempo: ttt bpm (nnnnnn) M 51 (nnnnnn) Meta 54 SMPTE Offset: M 54 n.n.n.n.n. nn.nn.nn.nn.nn. Meta 58 Time Sig: nn/nn Clocks: M 58 nn/nn nn n nn, #32nds: n Meta 59 Key Sig: xx xxxxx M 59: xx xxxxx Meta 7f Sequencer Specific, M 7f nnnnn nn nn ... nnnnn bytes nn nn ... - If no colon is included in a text event (meta 01-07), the quoted string must begin on the following line. - Tempo is specified in microseconds per quarter note. - The components of the SMPTE offset are in decimal, and represent hour, minute, second, frame, and fractional frame. - A full time signature specification includes the standard fractional designation, plus the number of MIDI clocks and notated 32nd notes per quarter note (usually 24 and 8). - The key signature is one of the following: Cb, Gb, Db, Ab, Eb, Bb, F, C, G, D, A, E, B, F#, C#, followed by the word Major or Minor. - Sequencer specific data bytes are in hexadecimal. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Encode The Encode program is able to read the text file output from Decode and convert it back into a standard MIDI file. This would generally be done after making manual modifications to the decoded file. You might also want to re-encode the file to eliminate bad data from the original file (which Decode would have marked), or to compress MIDI messages to use full running status. The command format for Encode is: encode Text input file MIDI output file For example, if the output of Decode were on a file "out", it could be re-encoded to a MIDI file as follows: encode out newfile.mff To compress all MIDI messages using full running status (if the original was not), add the -r option to the end of the command line. Following are the various rules to keep in mind when making changes to the decoded file (or creating one from scratch): - The only required header information is contained in the "Format:" line. That line must appear as shown in the listings. - All numbers in parentheses represent the real data. Textual information preceding these numbers is only for your reference. Decode will only look at the data in parentheses when reconstructing the MIDI file. For example, to change the program number in the following line, modify only the 00 within the parentheses. The 00 following "/" is ignored. 0 0.000 Trk 2 Chan 1: Program change/00 (C0 00) - For event lines, only the tick count is relevant. The real time, if shown, is only for reference and is not re-encoded. - Any event line may be deleted without affecting timing, since each line is time stamped with an absolute tick count. Deleting tempo meta events may cause strange results if not done carefully. New events may be added, as long as the tick time is in sequence. - Time may be added or subtracted between events by using a special format for indicating tick offsets. A line consisting of only a signed (+ or -) number will adjust all subsequent times by that number of ticks. Any number of these offset lines may be inserted. - A number which is expected to be in hexadecimal may be coded in decimal by including a decimal point. For example, "F7" in hex could be given as "247." in decimal. - "Trk" and a number must appear following the time only if different than the preceding event. - The event type must include the first letter of: Meta, System, Chan, or Bad (i.e., it must be M, S, C or B). - The total byte count for system exclusive and sequencer specific events must be correct. If you remove or add bytes in the data portion, the byte count must be adjusted. The sequence numbers followed by colons may be eliminated; only the actual data bytes (which are expected to be in hex) are needed. The total byte count may appear on the same line as the event header, or alone on the following line. - On a system exclusive header line, a 4-digit vendor code indicates an extended vendor id and must remain a 4-digit number. When F7 is the lead-in byte (rather than the usual F0), the vendor id is not used and the data is assumed to be a sub-message of an earlier system exclusive message (a format used by some vendors). - For text meta events, the text is enclosed in apostrophes, or single quotes (' '). The text may appear on the same line, following the event number and a colon, or if no colon is given, on the following line. Multiple quoted strings may appear on separate lines to represent long messages. To indicate an actual single quote in the string, use two single quotes in succession. Listing 3 shows the minimum acceptable format of the same file originally shown in Listing 1. It is not particularly readable, but the minimum format may be convenient when making manual changes, or if you are interested in writing a program to output the data without the complexity of directly generating a standard MIDI file. ----------------------------------------------------- Listing 3 - Minimal Encode input example Format 1 Tracks 2 Division 120 ticks 0 Trk 1 M 59: C Major 0 M 51 (600000) 0 M 58 4/4 24 8 0 M 2F 0 Trk 2 M 03: 'Sample MIDI File' 0 M 7F 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A 0 S (F0 41) 136 10 2B 12 3 0 0 1 4 3 6 F 6 5 7 3 7 4 7 0 2 0 5 9 6 1 6 E 6 F 6 0 D 4 2 4 2 0 3 F 8 A 7 A A 7 4 F 3 0 E F 3 1 E F 3 2 E 2 0 9 E F F F F 0 8 6 2 0 E F 2 0 8 D A 1 0 F F 0 8 6 2 0 E F 4 E A 7 B 1 0 F F 0 8 4 2 0 E F 6 8 B 1 C 1 0 F F 0 8 4 2 0 E F 8 2 C B C 1 0 F F 0 8 4 2 7C F7 0 C (C0 00) 30 C (90 37 31) 59 C (37 00) 60 C (3C 2E) 89 C (3C 00) 90 C (3E 30) 119 C (3E 00) 120 C (40 2E) 149 C (40 00) 149 M 2F ----------------------------------------------------- _________________________________________________________________ * Filter - Interactive MIDI File Filter - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Introduction Filter is a powerful but easy-to-use tool for making certain types of file-wide changes to a standard MIDI file. Changes may be applied to all data in the file, or limited to certain tracks or channels. The basic capabilities of the program are listed below. - Change file format (0,1,2). - Extract or delete tracks or channels. - Move channels into tracks. - Change tempo. - Remove selected MIDI messages. - Remove notes outside pitch/velocity bounds. - Increase/decrease volume. - Compress volume range. - Change output channels. - Re-map program changes. - Transpose notes. - Remove bad or redundant data. The term filtering refers to the fact that various change requirements are set up in advance, and then the file is "passed through" with its data being removed or changed as it goes by. Changes may be made directly to the input file, or an entirely new file may be created, leaving the original intact. Filter is an interactive program, with a single screen controlling the entire process. Type "filter" to begin execution. There is quite a lot to digest on the main screen, but don't be intimidated. If you change nothing, the default settings on the screen would cause the filtering process to create an output file equivalent to the input file. You may make individual changes to start, or a whole set of changes in a single pass once you become more familiar with the various options. There are four basic data sections on the screen. The first section specifies input and output file names, and provides general information on how the output relates to the input. The second section allows the filtering action of the sections below it to be restricted to the channels and/or tracks specified. The third section is mainly used to specify the removal of certain types of MIDI messages. The fourth section defines various MIDI message conversions to perform. To enter or change data, move the large block cursor to the desired field on the screen using the arrow keys, or click directly with a mouse. After you have changed the filtering options as described in the following sections, press F5 (Filter) to begin the process. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Input / Output When the program starts up, the block cursor will appear at the "Input file" field. Type the name of a MIDI file and press return. Filter will load the file in preparation for processing. Once loading is complete (it may take a few seconds), notice that the input file "Format" value will indicate the file's format - 0, 1, or 2. Format 0 files contain a single track. Format 1 files contain multiple tracks, with track 1 normally reserved for tempo information. Format 2 files are also multi-track, but the tracks are not necessarily related to each other in time. Formats 0 and 1 are most common, with format 0 being the most portable; however, format 1 is more useful, and therefore the one most often encountered. Format 2 is rare, and not supported by most MIDI applications. If an input file name contains wildcard characters (* or ?), a list of all matching files will be displayed for selection. The F2 (Files) function may also be used to select an input file. To specify an output file different than the input file, move to the "Output file" field and enter a name. If no file extension (such as .MFF) is given, the extension of the input file is assumed. If a different output file is not entered, the input file will be replaced and reloaded each time the Filter operation is performed. Also, a backup of the original file with an extension of .BAK is created each time. The other entry fields in this section are described below. Copy Tracks This lists the tracks which are to be retained when creating the output file. By default, all input file tracks are selected. Change the track selection to extract only certain ones from the original file. Note that for format 1 files, track 1 should always be copied; otherwise tempo, time signature, or other informational data may be lost. Anywhere a range of numbers (such as a track range) is required, simply list the numbers, separated by spaces or commas. A continuous range between two numbers may be indicated with a dash (-). You may also use the word "All" to specify all possible numbers. Copy Channels Only MIDI data for the channels specified here will be retained in the output file (assuming the data appears in the copied tracks). By default, all channels (1- 16) are selected. (Output file) Format This number specifies the standard MIDI file format (0,1,2) to use when creating the output file. By default, it is the same as the input file's format. Channelize This option only applies if the output file format is 1. If the input file is format 0 (single track), each input file channel will be assigned to a separate track in the output file, rather than a to single track. If the input file is format 1 (multi-track), each input file track will be assigned a different channel, regardless of the original channels used. If there are more than 16 active tracks, channels are assigned arbitrarily, cycling from 1 thru 16. Channelization occurs after all other filtering has been done. Tempo Ratio The output file tempo may be increased or decreased by changing this value. The default is 100%, or no change. Smaller values decrease tempo, and larger values increase it. Tempo changes only apply to files using a metrical time base - not real-time files based on SMPTE or MIDI time code. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Filter Limiting Event filtering may be limited to the tracks and channels appearing in the second screen section. Simply enter the desired range of tracks or channels to be affected by filtering. This limiting applies to the tracks and channels which were included in the Copy Tracks/Channels fields in the input/output section above. If both track and channel limits are given, only the channels represented in the specified tracks will be affected. By default, all track and channel data will be processed. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Message Removal The third screen section specifies messages (within the track/channel limit ranges) to be removed from the file. The following message types may be removed by indicating Yes: Aftertouch (mono and poly) Program Changes Pitch Wheel System Exclusive Control Changes Control change removal may be further limited to specific controller numbers by changing the default range of 0-127. Velocity and Pitch ranges may also be given for note data. Notes with velocities below or above the specified limits will be discarded. Similarly, notes with pitches below or above the given values will be removed. Note C3 is middle C. MIDI note numbers (0- 127) may be entered instead of symbolic values. By default, the velocity and pitch ranges are set to retain all note data. The velocity limiting function behaves differently when the Compressor option is activated (see next section). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Message Modification The fourth section of the screen specifies changes to be applied to MIDI channel messages, rather than their removal. Map Channels To change the channels associated with MIDI messages, enter the new channel numbers beneath the original 16 listed across the screen. By default, they are the same as the original channel. To change all channels to a single channel, you can use the shortcut of typing in a single new value, and pressing Alt-R to make all the other channel values the same. Map Programs By default, program numbers are mapped from the range of 0-127 to the same range of 0-127. There is a one-to-one correspondence between programs in the original range on the left, and the new range on the right. If there there are fewer new programs specified on the right, the list will be reused in a cyclical fashion to determine the of the original programs. For example, the following mapping: Map Programs: 1,2,3,10-14,20 to: 4-6 would result in: Old 1 2 3 10 11 12 13 14 20 New 4 5 6 4 5 6 4 5 6 All other programs would remain unchanged. Velocity Multiplier Note velocities will be multiplied by this factor. The default is 100%, indicating no change. Smaller values will reduce velocity, and larger values will increase it. Resulting notes with a velocity of zero will be discarded. Multiplication occurs after any limiting. Compressor If Yes, the function of the velocity limits in the previous section is altered. Notes will no longer be discarded if they are outside the range. Instead, the lower and upper limits are taken to mean compression limits, and all note velocities will be scaled proportionally to fit within these limits. Arrow markers are displayed next to the velocity limits while compression is in effect as a reminder of their altered function. Transpose This specifies the number of half steps (positive or negative) to transpose notes. Notes transposed outside the legal MIDI range of 0 to 127 (C-2 to G8) are discarded. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Filter Functions Function Mouse Key Function Description F1 Help Display help information. F2 Files Display file selection screen. F3 Exit Exit program. F4 Reset Reset filter ranges to their default values. F5 Filter Initiate filtering process. When complete, a new file will be written. If the input and output files are the same, the file will be reloaded after filtering. F9 Left button Decrease value of current cell. F10 Right button Increase value of current cell. Home Go to first screen cell (Input file:). Alt-F3 Push Push to DOS. Allows entry of DOS commands. Enter "exit" to return. Alt-R Change all values in row to be the same as the current cell. _________________________________________________________________ * Batch MIDI File Filters - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Introduction The programs Fmt, Extract, and Remove provide some of the more common functions of the Filter program, but at the DOS command level. They are non-interactive and take various arguments on the command line to control their operation. They are intended for quick access to perform format conversion, data extraction, or data removal. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Fmt Fmt provides simple format conversion among the three MIDI file formats - 0, 1, and 2. See Filter for a description of the formats. The Fmt command line format is as follows: fmt MIDI input file MIDI output file -Fn -C If the MIDI output file is not specified, the input file name is assumed. The original file will be replaced and a backup file with the extension .BAK will be created. Default extensions of .MFF, .MID, .SMF, and .STD will be tried if no input file extension is supplied. The default output file extension will be the same as the input file's. The -F option specifies the output format, and must be -F0, -F1, or -F2. If unspecified, format 1 is assumed. The -C option, if specified, is equivalent to the Channelize option in the Filter program. It causes channels to be placed in individual tracks when producing a format 1 output file from a format 0 input file. If both files are format 1, it causes each track to be assigned a different channel, regardless of the original channels. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Extract Extract will read a MIDI file and produce a new file with only the specified tracks and/or channels retained. Its command format is: extract MIDI input file MIDI output file -options If the MIDI output file is not specified, the input file name is assumed. The original file will be replaced and a backup file with the extension .BAK will be created. Default extensions of .MFF, .MID, .SMF, and .STD will be tried if no input file extension is supplied. The default output file extension will be the same as the input file's. -options may be -Trange or -Crange. They specify the tracks or channels to be extracted and written to the output file. Ranges may include numbers, commas, or dashes (-), but no spaces. The -T and -C options themselves must be separated by spaces. Example: To extract tracks 1 thru 5, and 10, from file1.mff and write them to file2.mff, use: extract file1 file2 -t1-5,10 To extract channels 1 thru 3 in track 2, use: extract file1 file2 -t1,2 -c1-3 Note that track 1 was included to be sure that any tempo information contained in it was not lost. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Remove The Remove program allows selected types of data to be filtered out of a MIDI file. Its command format is: remove MIDI input file MIDI output file -options If the MIDI output file is not specified, the input file name is assumed. The original file will be replaced and a backup file with the extension .BAK will be created. Default extensions of .MFF, .MID, .SMF, and .STD will be tried if no input file extension is supplied. The default output file extension will be the same as the input file's. -option Removes -Crange Specified channels. -Trange Specified tracks. -A Aftertouch messages (mono/poly). -P Program changes. -W Pitch wheel messages. -S System exclusive messages. -N All control change messages. -Nrange Specified control changes. Ranges may include numbers, commas, or dashes, but no spaces. Example: To remove track 10, channels 10-16, program changes, and any pitch or mod wheel changes: remove midifile -t10 -c10-16 -w -n1,33 (Mod wheel messages are controllers 1 and 33) _________________________________________________________________ * Miscellaneous Utilities - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Play/B Play/B is a smaller, batch-oriented version of Play. It is compatible with the batch mode of Play in every way; only the interactive mode is missing. It can be used in cases where memory is restricted, or to speed startup time since it is smaller. To run Play/B, just type "playb" and a MIDI file name. Play will continue until the end of the song is reached, or the letter "Q" is pressed. If a play list file name was given, each song in the list will be played in succession. Pressing the letter "S" will end the current song and skip to the next. See the Command Line description for Play for further information, plus Appendix A for additional options. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dump Dump is a small utility which sends a raw binary file to a device via MIDI OUT. It is intended for use only with 8-bit binary data files containing raw MIDI codes (sometimes referred to as MIDIEX format). Use Play or Play/B to send data in "standard" MIDI files. For greater control, use Watch for handling bulk MIDI dumps, but for quick command line sending of dumps, this program provides a convenient alternative. To run, type "dump" and the name of the data file to send. A byte count is displayed as sending proceeds. When the dump completes, any acknowledgement bytes sent back by the target device will be displayed in hexadecimal. See Appendix A for additional options. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TestDev TestDev is a simple diagnostic to check the operation of any MIDI devices in the system. Each device located will be listed, along with its I/O address and IRQ number. Then, input and output for each device will be tested in sequence. First, 13 notes will be played, and then test input will be requested. This continues for each device if more than one is present. Note to MIDIator users: The -dmid option must be included on the testdev command line if Install has not been run. The -d option may also be required for other devices if there are hardware conflicts. See Appendix A for information on options. _________________________________________________________________ * Appendix A - Device Options - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Except where noted, the following command line options are common to all of the programs described in this document which do MIDI input or output. All options consist of a dash (-), followed by an option letter and possible additional information. Separate options by at least one space. The -d option allows the type of MIDI interface to be specified if more than one are present in the system. Also, it is used to give additional information about the device if a non-standard setup is being used. For the majority of users, this option will not be needed. The supported MIDI interfaces are listed below. Use -d, followed by the device name as shown to select one. Roland MPU-401 and compatibles -dmpu IBM PC Music Feature -dmfc Sound Blaster MIDI interface -dsbmidi Key Electronics MIDIator -dmidiator The first 3 letters of the device name are sufficient. Note: The MIDIator cannot be detected automatically and the -dmid option must always be specified if one is in use (unless the MIDIator has been configured using the Install program). Non-standard IRQ and I/O port information can be added following the device id if necessary: -d<dev>:<irq>:<ioaddr> For example, to define an MPU-compatible interface using IRQ 5 and I/O address 336 (hex), use: -dmpu:5:336 If only the I/O address was required but the default IRQ was alright, use: -dmpu::336 The irq and ioaddr are not relevant to the MIDIator, though the first option number can be given to indicate use of com port 2 instead of the default com1. (ex: -dmid:2) When non-standard IRQ numbers are used for the MPU and MFC, the -i option can be included to try to determine them automatically. This may not always be effective, and you may need to specify the IRQ using the full -d option. The -v option lists the MIDI device, I/O address, and IRQ number selected prior to program startup. You may wish to include this option if you suspect that automatic detection is not choosing the desired options, or to verify the IRQ being used. The -s option allows the MIDI receive buffer to be increased in instances where large bulk dumps cause data overruns on slower machines, as might be the case when using the Watch and Record programs. Follow -s with a number from 8 to 63, indicating the size of the buffer in K bytes (1K=1024 bytes). The default receive buffer size is 4K bytes. Use of -s without a number is the same as specifying -s8. The -k option is related to mouse usage, and specifies that the keyboard mode of operation for an interactive program is to be used instead of mouse mode. For interactive programs, -b specifies that BIOS screen writes are to be used. This may be required on some systems if direct screen writes do not display correctly, or cause some conflict. Note that BIOS writes cause significantly slower screen updates. Using environment variables: Since it may be inconvenient to add these options every time a program is run, options may be set up ahead of time through the use of DOS environment variables. A pool of environment variables named "opt1" through "opt9" are shared by all of the programs to which these options apply. Pick any of the 9 available variables for the options which you would like to preset. For example, if you would normally use -dmpu:5 and -s16, you could use the DOS set command as follows: set opt1=-dmpu:5 set opt2=-s16 Each time you run one of the programs, it would be the same as if the options were added to the end of the relevant command line. There is no harm in defining an option if it is not required for a particular program. Remember to include "-" with the option letter. Since environment variables are only active until you reboot (or redefine them), it is best to include the set commands in your autoexec.bat file so that they are automatically executed after booting. Special environment variables: MPU initialization Some MPU-401 compatible cards have options which you may wish to set per manufacturer's specs. The mpuinit variable allows a string of 2-digit hexadecimal codes to be sent to the card during program startup. These codes are sent after reset, and before entering UART mode. For example, the command: set mpuinit=8299 will cause the hex bytes 82 and 99 to be sent as commands to the MPU-compatible card at program start up. Default MIDI file extension The default extension ".mff" used in various places by the MidiTools programs for MIDI file names can be changed by means of the mff environment variable. For example, to select ".mid" as the default extension, use: set mff=mid The options may be defined automatically at boot time by including the appropriate set commands in your autoexec.bat file. ==================================================================== The following are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. MidiTools: FM Software. IBM, PC, AT, IBM PC Music Feature: International Business Machines Corporation. Turbo Pascal, Turbo C: Borland International, Inc. Microsoft, MS-DOS, Microsoft Mouse: Microsoft Corporation. MIDIator: Key Electronics, Inc. SOUND BLASTER: Creative Labs, Inc. Roland, MPU-401: Roland Corporation. CS-1: J.L.Cooper Electronics, Inc. TesSeRact: Innovative Data Concepts. ==================================================================== ********************************************************************* SEE THE FILE UPDATE.DOC FOR RECENT CHANGES AND ADDITIONS TO MIDITOOLS *********************************************************************