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1994-06-12
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Mod2Midi V1.0 Amiga conversion © 1994 by Paul Huxham
MIDIMOD - Amiga Noise/Sound/Protracker to MIDI file converter (ver 0.2)
© Andrew Scott 1993
Conversion Authors Notes
========================
Mod2Midi is based on MIDIMOD by Andrew Scott.
These instructions are based on the original program documentation by
Andrew Scott.
The license for the use of this software is contained in the archive
midimod2.zip.
The file midimod2.zip is the original PC archive of the source code.
If you modify the Amiga conversion - Mod2Midi, please follow the
instructions in Andrew Scotts' license about naming conventions and source
code distribution so that others don't have a hard time working which out
version is what.
The included Amiga source code compiles under SAS/C 6.51.
Mod2Midi - What it does
======================
Mod2Midi is a program which converts music modules generated by Amiga
tracker programs (MOD files) to general MIDI format 1 (MID files). Some
editing of the output MID file might be necessary, but next time there
will be less editing to do as Mod2Midi can remember previous settings.
Why convert MOD files to MID files?
===================================
Even though MOD files contain some music-instructions that cannot be
represented in MID format, there are many reasons why it is desirable to
have music in MID form rather than MOD form:
* Top-of-the-range music editing programs do not handle MOD files, but
almost always handle MID files, or at least allow you to convert from MID
files.
* There exist programs to print out MID files as musical score. I don't
know of any which do the same for MOD files
* MID files tend to be much smaller than MOD files
* MID files are more portable, having a well-known format, and have
utilities on many different computers. MID files _ARE_ the industry
standard.
* MID files can be played on professional keyboards, allowing expert
recording/presentation of music
How to use Mod2Midi
===================
Mod2Midi is a CLI/Shell based program, designed to be run from a shell
operating on the WorkBench screen. All parameters are supplied on the
command line when launching Mod2Midi.
Explanation of Parameters
=========================
The command template for Mod2Midi is:
MOD,MIDI,ABOUT/S,MAPSAMPLES/S,SAVEINFO/S,
TRANSPOSE/S,DRUM/N,TEMPO/N,VOLUMESHIFT/S
ABOUT
-----
Displays the copyright information.
MOD
---
The name of the source MOD file.
MIDI
----
The name of the target MIDI format 1 file. Files that exist will be
overwritten - BEWARE.
MAPSAMPLES
----------
There are many, many MOD samples on computers around the world, so it is
impossible to automatically know which instrument is equivalent to which
sample. You must tell Mod2Midi which instrument to use. Use the mouse to
select a sample from the list that appears on the screen.
Each sample may have an asterisk "*" before it - this means that there is
actual sample data that corresponds to this sample - ignore any other
samples...they won't be converted (except in name only). Each sample will
have an instrument code to its right. If the code is prefixed by a "D"
then it is a percussion code.
After selecting a sample, a list of all of the available instruments will
appear on the screen. Select one and the appropriate code will appear to
the right of the chosen sample. Samples that already have an instrument
code should be left alone as they already have been matched with a sample's
name.
SAVEINFO
--------
Because it is nicer to have the computer select instruments, transpositions
and volume shifts for you than having to look them up each time, Mod2Midi
keeps a list of "known" mappings/transposes/volume-shifts from MOD-samples
to MIDI instruments.
Once you have selected a mapping using the MAPSAMPLES, a transposition
using TRANSPOSE, or a volume shift using VOLUMESHIFT you can use this
command to save a sample's info to the info file.
TRANSPOSE
---------
Even if you have matched a MOD sample with a MIDI instrument there is no
guarantee that each will play at the same pitch. MOD samples tend to sound
high, low, very low, or slightly off pitch when both MOD and MIDI
instruments play the same note. The trick is to map MOD samples to a
different note during the conversion, so that there won't be any horrible
musical clashes.
A good way to do this is to find a sample that maps exactly to a MIDI
instrument, and then get a MOD-editor and play other samples, and compare
those samples to the "true" sample. This way you can find the number of
semitones difference there are between a MOD sample and its instrument
equivalent.
For example, bass guitar samples are usually an octave lower (sometimes
two) than their actual note. As an octave is 12 semitones, if the guitar
sample is transposed down 12 semitones, it sounds ok. Another example,
chords are usually made up of 3 notes which are played simulateously (major
chords have part of them transposed up 4 semitones, and another part 7
semitones where minor chords have 3 and 7 semitone transposed parts).
After selecting a MOD-sample from the menu (the numbers on the right are
the transpose values), you can enter in its transposition. For a bass
sample you might enter:
-12
then press <RETURN>, whereas for a major chord you might enter
0, 4, 7
then press <RETURN>, and for a bass major chord you might enter
-12, -8, -5
then press <RETURN> (note than -12+4=-8 etc.).
During conversion, these transpositions are applied and hopefully the
MID-file won't sound as if many musicians are playing using different
scales.
A couple of things you need to watch out for: if one of the transposition
values is 0 then it must be the first value, also don't transpose
percussion instruments - it's not a good idea.
DRUM
----
As different software/hardware is by definition different, you can use this
option to set the drum channel. The default drum channel is 10.
TEMPO
-----
Some MOD-files use an old tempo convention and don't convert at all well if
the wrong convention is used. The default TEMPO value is 0 for NORMAL.
If the MID file produced sounds like the timing is out of whack, try
setting TEMPO to 1 for EXTENDED and do the conversion again.
VOLUMESHIFT
-----------
This is similar to transposing, but it affects volume rather than pitch.
Mod2Midi alters volumes by applying a formula to each volume in the MOD
file.
The formula is simple: it takes the volume, then adds a number, then
multiplies by a number, then divides by a number. So all you have to do is
supply 3 numbers, though when you come to change a volume formula you will
notice that Mod2Midi has already given each sample a formula.
Mod2Midi analyses each sample of the MOD file when you it reads in the MOD
file and based on this analysis allocates a formula to the samples. Note
that these formulae are not necessarily correct, they are just Mod2Midi's
best guess, but most of the time they will suffice. To set the formula
yourself, choose a sample then enter the three numbers for the formula
respectively (as you do for transposition amounts), eg. if you want to
"add 1, multiply by 2, then divide by 3" every volume for a particular
sample, you would enter:
1, 2, 3
then press <RETURN>. The last two numbers cannot be negative, and the last
number cannot be 0.
Converting MODs
===============
Use the MAPSAMPLES option to set samples to appropriate instruments. If
you get an error message which says that you have too many different
instruments, then use the MAPSAMPLES option to reduce the number.
The Instruments
===============
A list of MIDI instruments is kept in the file "Mod2Midi.ins". Each
instrument on a separate line. The first 128 lines must hold the
instruments 0 to 127. The lines after this hold the percussion instruments
(no more than 128). All instruments should have a code as the first thing
on the line. The code must consist of the letter "D" (if it is a
percussion instrument) followed by a number from 0 to 127.
This file can be edited with a text editor to put in the instruments for
your particular computer/keyboard/software etc. The supplied instrument
file contains