The included music files are all in Standard Midi File format. Most have been downloaded from Computer BBSs and information networks. Exact source of many of the files is unidentified, but when known it is listed in the SMF comments field.
The music was originally generated on a variety of systems, including Cakewalk on IBM, various ST sequencers, Opcode's Vision, Passport's Trax and MasterTracks, Finale, and Deluxe Music Construction Set, to name a few.
We have not edited the musical content of any of these sequences, but we have attempted to put them in an easy-to-audition form. Many of the sequences were arranged for a particular synthesizer, including patch changes and channel assignments customized for that synthesizer. We have tried to remove patch changes from most of the files. Though generally of high musical integrity, many of the files were not documented, and sometimes the channel/track/instrument assignment was not immediately obvious.
All the files have been adjusted to the following general protocol:
Midi Channel Instrument
1 Piano or Rhodes
2 Electric Bass, Synth Bass, Pizz. Bass or Bass Viol
3 Brass and/or Sax
4 Acoustic guitar, Electric guitar, or Clavinet sounds
5 Ensemble String
6 Human Voice
7 Flute, Clarinet, or Oboe
8 Organ
10 Drums
Drum Note Drum Instrument
36 (C) Bass Drum
38 Snare
40 Rim Shot
41 Lo Tom
43 Mid Tom
45 Hi Tom
42 Closed High-Hat
44 Half-closed High-Hat
46 Open High-Hat
51 Ride Cymbal
54 Crash Cymbal
There might be percussion instruments on other channel 10 notes.
If you have a multi-timbral synthesizer, such as Ensoniq EPS or VFX, EMu Proteus, Kawai K series, Korg Symphony, M or T series, Roland MT-32 or D series, Yamaha SY77 or TG55, numerous others, adjust your instrument to receive on the above channels, then audition the songs with minimum between-song tweaking. By using several synthesizers plus a drum machine the music will sound even better (predominately because you will have more immediate control over the mix).
The instrument assignments are supplied for your initial convenience. Use MiniTrax' editing facilities to customize the songs to your taste or setup.
Many of the classical sequences were originally entered in Deluxe Music Construction Set then ported to Standard Midi Files. These files have block velocity adjustments to emulate dynamics, so they might sound odd if your synthesizer responds too dramatically to velocity dynamics. This can be modified with the MiniTrax Velocity Scaling feature.
Judging from the numerous Bach files available, old Johann is an astoundingly popular guy. The wonderful thing about most of the Bach pieces is that they sound great regardless of instrumentation or tempo setting. Most music only sounds correct within a narrow range of tempo and instrumentation. Bach's work is like a cosmic sewing machine perpetually stitching its way through the ages.
We hope you enjoy this disk, and be sure to call or write if you have questions or suggestions.
