MENUSKEYBOARDNAMINGQUICKTIMEGLOSSARY
Appendix D
QuickTime™ & MIDI
 

 

PAGE INDEX

QuickTime Musical Instruments
Enabling MIDI Support
The Instrument Settings Dialog
Beyond QuickTime Sound
LIST OF GM SOUNDS



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™
      QuickTime™ MPEG Extension
      QuickTime™ Musical Instruments
      QuickTime™ PowerPlug
      QuickTime™ VR

    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/>.

 

Enabling MIDI Support

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

Under QuickTime 2 you must set FreeMIDI to Emulate OMS in the preferences panel of FreeMIDI Setup.

  1. Open the QuickTime™ Settings Control Panel.

  2. Select the Music panel from the popup menu.

  3. Select OMS from the list of interfaces.

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

  1. Open the QuickTime™ Settings Control Panel.

  2. Select the Music panel from the popup menu. The first time you do this you will only see the QuickTime Music Synthesizer.

  3. Click on the Edit List… button.

  4. Click on the Add button. This adds a new synth to the list. Give it a name.

  5. Select General MIDI from the Synthesizer popup menu.

  6. Select any interface from the MIDI Port popup menu.

    If no options appear then make sure you've correctly configured your MIDI driver software.

  7. Select any interface from the MIDI Input popup menu.

 

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:

  • Shift - Sustain the notes indefinitely (pedal)
  • Control - Bend the note using the mouse
  • Option - Louder
  • Command - Louder
  • Option+Command - Loudest

 

Beyond QuickTime™ Sound

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!)

 


LIST OF GM SOUNDS

The numbers shown below are standard GM values. Items in blue are included in the built-in QuickTime Synthesizer 2.x. QuickTime 3 and 4 contain all the instruments shown.

Piano
 1 Acoustic Grand Piano
 2 Bright Acoustic Piano
 3 Electric Grand Piano
 4 HonkyTonk Piano
 5 Rhodes Piano
 6 Chorused Piano
 7 Harpsichord
 8 Clavinet
Reed
 65 Soprano Sax
 66 Alto Sax
 67 Tenor Sax
 68 Baritone Sax
 69 Oboe
 70 English Horn
 71 Bassoon
 72 Clarinet
Chromatic Percussion
 9 Celesta
10 Glockenspiel
11 Music Box
12 Vibraphone
13 Marimba
14 Xylophone
15 Tubular Bells
16 Dulcimer
Pipe
 73 Piccolo
 74 Flute
 75 Recorder
 76 Pan Flute
 77 Bottle Blow
 78 Shakuhachi
 79 Whistle
 80 Ocarina
Organ
17 Hammond Organ
18 Percussive Organ
19 Rock Organ
20 Church Organ
21 Reed Organ
22 Accordion
23 Harmonica
24 Tango Accordion
Synth Lead
 81 Square Wave
 82 Saw Wave
 83 Calliope
 84 Chiffer
 85 Charang
 86 Solo Vox
 87 5th Saw Wave
 88 Bass and Lead
Guitar
25 Acoustic Nylon Guitar
26 Acoustic Steel Guitar
27 Electric Jazz Guitar
28 Electric Clean Guitar
29 Electric Muted Guitar
30 Overdriven Guitar
31 Distortion Guitar
32 Guitar Harmonics
Synth Pad
 89 Fantasy
 90 Warm
 91 Polysynth
 92 Choir
 93 Bowed
 94 Metal
 95 Halo
 96 Sweep
Bass
33 Acoustic Fretless Bass
34 Electric Bass Fingered
35 Electric Bass Picked
36 Fretless Bass
37 Slap Bass 1
38 Slap Bass 2
39 Synth Bass 1
40 Synth Bass 2
Synth Effect
 97 Ice Rain
 98 Sound Tracks
 99 Crystal
100 Atmosphere
101 Brightness
102 Goblins
103 Echoes
104 Space
Strings and Orchestra
41 Violin
42 Viola
43 Cello
44 Contrabass
45 Tremolo Strings
46 Pizzicato Strings
47 Orchestral Harp
48 Timpani
Ethnic
105 Sitar
106 Banjo
107 Shamisen
108 Koto
109 Kalimba
110 Bagpipe
111 Fiddle
112 Shanai
Ensemble
49 Acoustic String Ensemble 1
50 Acoustic String Ensemble 2
51 SynthStrings 1
52 SynthStrings 2
53 Aah Choir
54 Ooh Choir
55 Synth Vox
56 Orchestra Hit
Percussive
113 Tinkle Bell
114 Agogo
115 Steel Drums
116 Woodblock
117 Taiko Drum
118 Melodic Drum
119 Synth Drum
120 Reverse Cymbal
Brass
57 Trumpet
58 Trombone
59 Tuba
60 Muted Trumpet
61 French Horn
62 Brass Section
63 Synth Brass 1
64 Synth Brass 2
Sound Effects
121 Guitar Fret Noise
122 Breath Noise
123 Seashore
124 Bird Tweet
125 Telephone Ring
126 Helicopter
127 Applause
128 Gunshot
GM Drum Kits
16385 Standard Kit
16393 Room Kit
16401 Power Kit
16409 Electronic Kit
16410 Analog Kit
16417 Jazz Kit
16425 Brush Kit
16433 Orchestra Kit
16441 SFX Kit

 

MENUSKEYBOARDNAMINGQUICKTIMEGLOSSARY