MENUS KEYBOARD NAMING QUICKTIME GLOSSARY | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ![]() | ![]() | PAGE INDEX QuickTime Musical Instruments QuickTime Musical Instruments QuickTime 4 is Apple's de-facto standard for multimedia on the Macintosh and Wintel PC. It contains a wealth of "components" for creating and presenting movies, VR panoramas, sound, and music. QuickTime comes bundled with every Mac as a system extension. To gain the capabilities of QuickTime you must have it in your Extensions folder along with the companion parts which extend its abilities. QuickTime 3 and 4 have the following files: In your Extensions Folder.... QuickTime In the Control Panels folder.... QuickTime Settings QuickTime also includes.... QuickTime Player (or MoviePlayer) FretPet uses the QuickTime Musical Instruments extension to play tones through the Mac's built-in sound output. If this component is not in the Extensions folder then FretPet will not run. Get a copy of the latest Quicktime from <www.apple.com/quicktime/>.
An external synthesizer will produce higher quality output and give you the widest range of sounds. Because FretPet uses QuickTime it can play through your sampler, synthesizer, or drum machine with add-on MIDI Driver software like FreeMIDI by Mark of the Unicorn or Opcode Music System by Opcode. You will have to download a MIDI driver and have it fully configured to recognize your studio setup before you can proceed. Both OMS and FreeMIDI can auto-configure themselves to recognize most synths. Once ready you can set up your connection to an external MIDI device using the QuickTime Settings control panel under QuickTime 2, 3, or 4: QuickTime 2
If FretPet detects OMS it can use it for MIDI input. If you have FreeMIDI set up to emulate OMS then FretPet will use the inputs of FreeMIDI. These are the only MIDI input solutions FretPet can use under QuickTime 2.x.
QuickTime 3 and 4
The Instrument Settings Dialog The FretStuff >> Instrument Settings menu item presents you with the QuickTime Instrument Picker (shown below). The Dialog lets you select from any of 137 different sounds. If you're connected to a real MIDI synthesizer or you have QuickTime 3 or 4 you can use all 137 sounds. QuickTime 2 only supports a fraction of these. Unsupported instruments appear in Italics in the "Instrument:" popup menu. (See the List of GM Sounds below for a summary.)
THE INSTRUMENT SETTINGS DIALOG In the Instrument Settings dialog you can click on the keyboard to hear the sound you've chosen. You can use the following modifier keys for a variety of effects:
Synths are pretty cheap these days, and most of them now have MIDI support. If you're serious about using your computer to do any music work you can't go wrong by getting a synth. I recommend a small rack-mount or half-rack synth box and a separate "dumb" MIDI keyboard. This provides you with a decent setup for sequencing and makes it possible to control multiple synths from the same keyboard with or without turning on the computer. While developing FretPet I used the 640-sound Alesis NanoSynth and the Roland PC-200 MK II MIDI Keyboard Controller. For a MIDI interface I chose the Mark Of The Unicorn FastLane. All of these fit nicely in the confines of a small multimedia workstation. Just remember these essential words of wisdom: "Adhesive-backed Velcro" The NanoSynth is the equivalent of an Alesis QS6 in a tiny 5.5" x 1.5" x 4.5" case. This unassuming black box conceals a powerful 64-voice multitimbral synthesizer. As a slave to the Mac it does a beautiful job. The Roland keyboard has 4 octaves of full-size velocity-sensitive keys, octave-shift buttons to extend its range to 6 octaves, various MIDI commands for changing instruments, etc., and a bender / modulator to add color. All-in-all this makes a killer amateur MIDI setup (especially with a cool tool like FretPet!)
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MENUS KEYBOARD NAMING QUICKTIME GLOSSARY |