Mac Magazin/MacEasy 32/Mac Magazin and MacEasy Magazine CD - Issue 32.iso/Multimedia/MIDI/Midi Jukebox 2.3 ƒ/Midi JukeBox 2.3 Docs (Text)

Text File | 1996-04-09 | 27KB | 434 lines

Midi JukeBox 2.3
(a.k.a. Square Dance, version 2.3)
Copyright © 1996,
by Randy Wilson ([e-mail])
http://synapse.cs.byu.edu/~randy
http://synapse.cs.byu.edu/~randy/jukebox.html
April 9, 1996

Overview
    Midi JukeBox (formerly Square Dance) is a program for the Macintosh which
plays standard MIDI files, and provides animated “dancing squares” to
accompany the music.  It also provides several options to make it possible to
customize songs to your particular MIDI setup.  In particular, Midi JukeBox
allows you to:
    • Play Midi files through your external synthesizer while enjoying fun
animation.
    • Play songs in the background while using another application.
    • Create song lists, and play lists in order, random order, continuously, etc.
    • Drag & Drop Midi files for immediate playback.
    • Customize Midi files as follows:
        - Transpose all pitches up or down by any amount
        - Change the tempo of the song during playback
        - Change various text events (track & instrument name, copyright, etc.)
        - Change channel and instrument assignments for each track.
        - Convert a type 0 MIDI file into a type 1 file.
        - Change the type of a file to ‘Midi’ so other software can recognize it.
        - Combine tracks.
        - “Funnel” a file into less than 16 channels (see below).
    The latest version of Midi JukeBox is available at:

Funding
    Midi JukeBox is shareware.  You are welcome to try it out for two weeks for
free.  If you use it after that, you should send $15 ($5 for students) to:

        Randy Wilson
        860 East 43rd Ave.
        Eugene, OR 97405

    Registered owners will receive
    • the latest version of Midi JukeBox
    • a collection of fun MIDI files.
    • free upgrades to future versions of the program.
Be sure to include your e-mail address, and (optionally) your postal address.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact me by e-mail at:
[e-mail].
    For information on the latest version of Midi JukeBox, see the Midi JukeBox
web page at http://synapse.cs.byu.edu/~randy/jukebox.html.

System Requirements
    Midi drivers: Midi JukeBox has a built-in Midi driver.  It also supports
Apple’s MidiManager™, if you have it.  (If you do not have it, it can be
downloaded via anonymous ftp from unicorn.cerl.uiuc.edu in the directory
/pub/lime.)  Since Apple may not be continuing support for the Midi Manager, a
future version of Midi JukeBox will probably use Opcode’s Open Music System
(OMS).  Note that background playback is limited using the built-in driver,
because the interrupt-driven playback conflicts with the built-in driver and
crashes.  Using Apple's MidiManager™ will provide smoother background
playback.
    Sound Hardware (or software): Midi JukeBox will work best if you have a
MIDI sound module or keyboard of some sort (preferably General-MIDI
compatible), and a MIDI interface to go from your Mac’s modem or printer port
to your synthesizer.  If you don’t have any MIDI hardware, you can still make
sound through your Mac's speaker (see “QuickTime Music” at the bottom of this
document), but be warned that it probably won't sound too wonderful.
    Mac Hardware & Software: Midi JukeBox has worked fine under System 6.0.5
and System 7.1, and has worked on a Mac SE, SE/30, II, and Quadra 840AV.
Let me know if there is a configuration that it won’t work on.  Most of the
problems reported so far have been an inability to sign in to the Midi Manager.
In several cases this was simply because the Midi Manager was not installed
properly.  Hopefully the built-in driver will take care of most of those problems.

Tempo Control
    During playback, you can change the tempo by adjusting the scroll bar at the
bottom of the playback screen.  Clicking on the arrows changes the tempo by 1
quarter note per minute, while clicking in the bar changes the tempo by 10
q./min.  Notes are actually posted to the Midi driver about 1/2 a second before
they are really played, so changes in tempo will not take effect until after that
duration.
    If you find that you don’t usually need the tempo bar and would rather not
look at it, you can deselect the “Display Tempo Bar” option under the Options
menu.
    If you want to make this change in tempo permanent, select “Fix Tempo...”
under the Edit menu.  This will make it so that when you save the file, all tempo
settings will be adjusted by the amount shown.  Of course, the change will still
not be permanent if you do not save the file.  (See Editing, below).

Displaying Text Events
    Text events occurring at time 0 in each track are displayed beneath the track
on the playback screen.  Text events include instrument names (e.g., acoustic
guitar, grand piano, snare drum), track names (e.g., Soprano, melody, lead), and
other miscellaneous text events, such as the title and author of the song, the name
and e-mail address of the person who sequenced it, and copyright notices.
    Track 0 is the tempo track and does not have channel messages such as note
on/off events.  It can, however, have text events, so these are displayed centered
at the bottom of the screen.  When there are multiple text events associated with
any of the visible tracks, the text will be separated by a semicolon.
Unfortunately, there is no truly standard way to do text events, so sometimes the
text will look a little funny.
    If there are too many tracks for large text to fit on the screen, the font size is
reduced.  If there still isn’t room for all the text, the “visible” track text events
are not displayed.  If there still isn’t room, then the track 0 text is also hidden, so
no text will be displayed.  If you want all the text to be displayed in such
situations, enlarge the window.  If your monitor isn’t big enough, bummer.

Editing Track 0 Text Events
    Text events for track 0 can be edited using the “Edit track 0...” option under
the Edit menu.  This dialog allows you to edit four text events and a copyright
event.
    I have personally adopted the practice of using text events in track 0 to specify
the title, composer, and other such information that applies to the entire song,
while using text events on individual tracks to specify instrument assignment and
other information that applies specifically to the track.  That way the title and
other information about the song as a whole appears centered at the bottom of the
screen, and the information on each track doesn’t get confused with the title,
author, etc.
    One drawback of this scheme is that some programs will look at track 0 text
events as cues, and they will be all smashed together in the same place.  Oh, well,
that’s what we get for having loosely-defined standards.
    As a side note, many sequencers only allow 31 or fewer characters in a text
event, so if you need more than that, make sure you’re done sequencing it before
you put too much time into documenting your song via Midi JukeBox.

Editing Visible Tracks
    The text events on the “visible” tracks (1..n) can be edited using the “Edit
visible track...” dialog under the edit window.  You can switch between tracks by
using the buttons next to the track number at the top.  The “<<“ and “>>“ buttons
change by steps of five.
    Editing Track Text.  There are separate text boxes for instrument names,
track names and miscellaneous text events.  I personally like to make sure that I
give an instrument name for each track so that those trying to play my file on
another setup have some hope of choosing the right instruments.  I use track
names for comments that don’t really have to do with the instrument, such as
“melody”, “lead”, “alto part”, etc.
    To make it easy to assign GMIDI instrument names, the GMIDI instrument
name for the current program change number is always displayed by the “Copy
GMIDI Name” button.  Changing the program change number updates the name
shown, and clicking on this button copies the current name into the instrument
name editing window.
    Editing Channel Assignments.  The MIDI channel number of the first channel
event found in the track is shown in the channel text edit box.  A zero or “-”
indicates that there were no channel messages in the track.  There may be other
channels used in the track besides that shown, but if you make any changes to the
track (text/channel#/program#), the channel of every event in the track will be set
to the one shown.  These are supposed to be single-channel tracks, so usually this
shouldn’t actually change anything.  If you know that a song has a multi-channel
track in it, you can leave channels alone while making other changes by setting
the channel number to “-” (or zero) on each track that you don’t want the channel
to change on.
    It is often desirable to change the channel such as when you have a synthesizer
with less available channels than the song you’re trying to play.  In such cases,
you can assign several tracks with similar instruments to the same channel (this
can also be done automatically. See “Funneling”, below).  If you want ALL the
tracks to be assigned to the same channel temporarily, you can use a filter instead
(see “Filters”, below).
    Editing Program Changes.  In a similar fashion, the first program change
event occurring in each track is displayed, and its GMIDI instrument assignment
is shown by the “Copy GMIDI Name” button, as explained above.  Changing the
program number automatically changes the name displayed there.  Clicking on
the copy button copies the GMIDI name into the instrument name edit box.  If “-”
is displayed, then there were no program changes in that track.
    Again, there may be more than one program change on a single track, and
while I don’t think this is against the rules of MIDI files (especially when
different instruments are used at different times in a song but on the same
channel), it doesn’t seem like a great idea.  However, if you know that there are
several program changes in a single track and you don’t want them to change, set
the program number to 0 or “-” and it will not change, even if other changes are
made to the track.
    If the program number is non-zero, a single program change will be inserted
at the beginning of the track, and all others will be stripped off.  If you want to
strip off all program changes in a track without inserting another program
change at the beginning, you can use the value “-1” for the program number.
    Empty Tracks.  Some tracks are used only for text events.  When changes are
made to the file, any tracks that contain no text or data will be removed.  Thus, if
you want to get rid of tracks that do nothing but hold text, you can delete the text,
and the track will be automatically removed when changes take effect.  If you
want to move the text (such as a title or author) to the track 0 text instead, click
the “Move to Track 0” button.  Then the title will be nicely centered at the
bottom instead of sitting under an unused tracks.
    Making Changes Effective.  Many of the changes (such as text, channel, and
program changes) seem to take effect immediately, but some (such as deleting
empty tracks) require a conversion process that can take several seconds on slow
computers and/or large files.  In order to avoid doing the conversion more often
than necessary, changes are really made to the data only when (1) “Make changes
now” is selected from the Edit menu, or (2) when the file is saved.  If you have
any doubt as to how your file is going to look or behave after it is saved and
reloaded, you can do one of these two things and the data will be converted and
reinitialized.

Type 0 -> Type 1 Conversion
    Midi JukeBox converts type 0 MIDI files (single track) into type 1 files
(multiple tracks), so it can be used as a type 0->type 1 converter.  During such
conversions, each channel occurring in the type 0 file is put into its own track in
the type 1 file, and track 0 is reserved as the tempo track with no channel
messages.  To make the conversion permanent, simply “Open” the file in Square
Dance and then “Save” it again (usually with a different file name).

Midi File Typer
    Midi JukeBox will usually open only files of type “Midi”.  However, by
deselecting the option “Display only Midi Files” under the “File” menu, you can
open files of any type.  Songs will always be saved with a file type of “Midi”, so
it can be used to make downloaded files visible to other programs (like
MasterTrax or QuickTime) that require the file to be of type “Midi”.  Simply
“Open” the file in Midi JukeBox, and then “Save” it again, with either the same or
a different file name.
    The catch to this is, of course, that you can accidentally open non-midi files.
Fortunately, all standard MIDI files begin with a special sequence of characters
that identifies it, so if you pick the wrong kind of file, you’ll see an error
message and the file will not be opened.
    Note: there are better ways to change the file type if you download songs on a
regular basis.  For example, a shareware program called “Midi Typer” allows
you to drag & drop files onto it, and it will change all of the files to the type and
creator of your choice.  Also, preferences in programs such as Fetch, Netscape,
StuffIt Expander, Unzip 2.0, uuUndo, and other utilities you may use to
download, convert, and/or decompress your Midi files have an “Extension
Mapping” option.  This option allows you to set the file type and creator of files
that end with, for example '.mid' or '.MID'.  However, just in case a file doesn't
end in that extension or you somehow got a file that wasn't so mapped, you can
use Midi JukeBox to set the file type.

Filters
    When the “Use filters” option under the Options menu is checked, filters can
be used to cause certain events to be ignored.  For example, if you would like to
avoid any program change events from being sent to your synthesizer, you can
select “no program changes” from the “Filter Settings...” dialog.  You can also
filter out other events such as pitch bend, control change, etc.
    I found that certain control changes trashed my keyboard's entire memory
because they were not supported by my keyboard.  You can now select which (if
any) control changes to allow under the “Filter Settings...” dialog.  If there just a
few you want to allow, list the control change numbers (you may need to see the
Midi Implementation Chart for your synth to see which control changes it
recognizes) and select “Do only these...”  If, on the other hand, your synth
handles most control changes, but you just want to filter out a few of them, list
those numbers, and select “Do all but these...”
    You can also filter out drums, which I found essential in trying to play songs
on a non-multi-timbral synth like a Roland D-50.  Drum events are supposed to
be sent to channel 10, but if for some reason your drums are on a different
channel, you can change the drum channel.  This option actually allows you to
avoid any channel (even if it isn’t the drum channel).
    You can also force all notes to be played to the same channel, which I also
found useful on a non-multi-timbral setup.  This comes in handy, too, if you want
to preview a song by having all the notes play to the piano (for example), before
assigning instrument numbers to each track.  For such activities, set “no program
changes,” “Play all events to channel 1”, and select “except drums” (so drums will
still be played on channel 10) or “no drums” (so drums won’t be played at all).
    Note that filters do not change the actual MIDI data, but they are used during
playback to decide which events to pass on to the Midi driver, and may alter the
channel of certain events.
    Also note that filters will only work when the “Use Filters” option is checked
under the option menu.

Transposing
    Sometimes songs are just played in the wrong octave for your setup.  Other
times, you might want to sing or play along with a song, but it is out of your
range or in the wrong key.  You can use the “Transpose Settings...” dialog to
decide how many half-steps up or down to transpose an entire song.  Since drums
usually use a different note for each different sound, transposing drums can be
very unpleasant, so “except drums” should be checked in most cases.
    Again, the song will be transposed only when “Transpose” is checked under
the “Options” menu.  Transposing does not change the actual MIDI data, but is
done in real time during playback.

Combining Tracks
    The “Combine Tracks” command under the Edit menu can be used to combine
two or more tracks into one track with the same channel and program numbers.
When a song has several tracks that all play the same instrument, it slows down
the playback, and makes the display more crowded.  Combining tracks can
alleviate this.
    Combining tracks alters the actual MIDI data, so it is usually a good idea to
save the file under a different name if you save it, in case you decide you liked it
better when it was split up.

Deleting Tracks
    The “Delete Tracks” command under the Edit menu can be used to delete one
or more tracks.  Any tracks that have no midi events or text events will
automatically be checked for deletion, though you can uncheck the boxes
manually.  I have noticed that several MIDI files have two copies of each track,
which of course takes more CPU power to play.  Deleting redundant tracks can
speed things up.  Also, empty tracks clutter the display window.

Funnel
    The “Funnel” is used when a song uses more channels that your synth setup
responds to.  For example, my Roland U-20 only has six levels of multi-timbral
capabilities (plus drums), so songs that use 8 different channels won’t play
correctly.  If you have a GMIDI synth that responds to all 16 channels, on the
other hand, you don’t need a funnel at all.
    To use the funnel, you first need to edit the “Funnel settings...” under the
Option menu.  There, you check the box by all the channels your MIDI setup
responds to, and click on the radio button to mark which of these channels is the
drum channel (usually 10).  For my U-20 setup, I checked numbers 1 through 6
and 10, and selected the radio button on channel 10.
    You can check the “Automatic Funnel” option under the Options menu to
cause funneling to take place automatically upon opening a MIDI file, or you can
turn that option off and use “Funnel Now” to perform the funnel on a file you
have already opened.
    The funnel does not immediately alter the MIDI data, but changes to the
channel and program number assignments WILL be retained if any changes are
made to the file via the Edit menu commands.
    The funnel takes the following steps to try to make the song work better on
your setup.  If after any step all tracks are using only ‘available’ (i.e., checked)
channels, then the subsequent steps are not taken:
    1. First see if funnel is needed for this song (if not, do nothing).
    2. If there are any available channels that no track uses, move channel
assignments to “fill in the holes”.
    3. If there are any tracks that use the same program number (instrument), but
different channels, combine their channels.
    4. If there are any sound effects, swap them out so they don’t use any
‘available’ channels.
    5. Combine the most ‘similar’ instruments until we are only using available
channels.  The similarity of instruments to each other is determined by a
hierarchical division of GMIDI program numbers.
    This process may seem confusing, but it makes it much easier for those with
limited multi-timbral capability to listen to someone else’s GMIDI file.  Of
course, step 5 assumes that you have your instruments set up in GMIDI order, so
this still might not help some people.

Midi Drivers
    Midi JukeBox originally supported only Apple's MidiManager™.  The current
version includes a built-in Midi driver for those who don't have the Midi
Manager.  However, as Macintosh hardware and system software continues to
evolve, this driver may become incompatible.
    I am not allowed to distribute the Midi Manager with my program, but it is
available on the internet at various sites, including the Lime demo site given
above.  Earlier versions (up to 2.1) of Midi Jukebox (and Square Dance) had
trouble signing in to the Midi Manager.  Beginning with version 2.2, the program
should be able to sign in to the Midi Manager automatically.  If not, it will allow
you to make a manual connection using the PatchBay program.  The next time
you run Midi Jukebox, the connections you made should be re-established
automatically.

Song Lists
    Midi JukeBox allows you to create lists of songs and play them in a variety of
ways.
    Creating Lists.  To create a song list, choose “New Song List” from the “Song
List” menu.  This will open a blank, untitled song list.  You can then add the
currently-opened song to the list by choosing “Add Current to List”.
    Adding Songs.  To add more than one song to the current list, choose “Add
Files to List...”  This will bring up a dialog box similar to that used to open files.
Select individual Midi files and click the “Add” button to add them to the list.  To
add all of the Midi files in a folder (including all sub-folders), open the desired
folder, and click on “Scan & Add All”.  Unfortunately, there is nothing on the
screen to indicate which files have already been added to the list.  However, you
can delete any duplicates that appear in your list.  You can also add files to a list
using drag & drag support (see below).
    Deleting Songs.  To delete songs from the list, select the songs you want to
delete and then hit the “delete” key or choose “Delete Selected” from the song list
menu.
    Playing Songs.  Options from the song list menu allow you to play the entire
song list in order or in random order, or to play the list in order beginning from
the first selected song.  That option is useful when you stop playing a list in the
middle, and then want to continue.  If you select the “Continuous playback”
option, then the song list will be played over and over until you select stop.
When playing in random order, a new random order is used each time through
the list.
    To play a single song, select it and hit return.

Drag & Drop Support
    Midi JukeBox allows you to drag & drop Midi files onto it for immediate
playback.  A similar result can be achieved by selecting one or more files and
then double-clicking one of them.
    If only one file is selected, it will be opened & played immediately.  If more
than one file is selected, they will all be added to a song list (the current list, if
one is open, or else a new list), and then played in the order received.
    In System 6, only the double-clicking is supported (of course), and then only
when Midi JukeBox is not yet running.  In System 7, however, you can use
double-clicking and/or drag & drop either before or after Midi JukeBox is
running.  Be aware that double-clicking will only work if the files have “Midi
JukeBox” as their creator, but any Midi files can be dragged onto the Midi
JukeBox icon and be played.
    In addition, you can drag & drop or double-click song lists to open them.

Window Stuff
    The “Window” menu allows you to bring the song window or the list window
to the front.  It also allows you to hide either or both windows in case you don't
want them to be displayed.  In addition, it provides an option to hide the song
window when Midi JukeBox is running in the background.  This makes it so that
you can listen to songs in the background without being distracted by the
animation, but causes the animation to reappear when Midi JukeBox is running in
the foreground.
    Finally, you can also hide the list window while songs are playing, and cause it
to reappear again whenever you stop playing a song (so that you can, for
example, choose another song to play from the list).

QuickTime Music: Playing music without a synthesizer.
    It is possible to use Apple's Midi Manager, QuickTime 2.0 and QuickTime
Musical Instruments to play Midi files through your Mac's built-in speaker using
Midi JukeBox.  Obviously the sound quality is fairly lame compared to having a
real synthesizer available, and it is a pain to do, but if you don't have a
synthesizer, then this may be your only option.  Here's how you do it:
    1. Get Apple's Midi Manager (See “Midi Drivers” above).  Put the “Midi
Manager” in your Extensions folder (in the System folder), put the “Midi Driver”
in the System folder, and put the “PatchBay” application somewhere where you
can find it (like the Apple Menu Items folder).
    2. Get QuickTime 2.0, and put it in your system's “Extensions” folder.
    3. Get QuickTime Musical Instruments, and put it in the “Extensions” folder,
too.
    4. Get QuickTime MIDI Player 1.3 (Note: this is someone else's $15
shareware program.  If you continue to use it, please pay their shareware fee,
too).
    5. Reboot.  The above steps only need to be done once, but the rest must be
done each time you want to play songs through your speaker.
    6. Run Midi JukeBox, and make sure Midi Manager is selected as the Midi
Driver.
    7. Run QuickTime MIDI Player.
    8. Run the PatchBay application, and connect the output of “Midi JukeBox”
into the input of QuickTime.  Also, disconnect the output of “Midi JukeBox”
from the input of Apple Midi Driver.  You can quit the PatchBay application, but
you must leave the QuickTime MIDI Player running in order to play the music.
    9. Now, play songs from Midi JukeBox, and they should come out your
speaker.  The faster your Mac is the better!

Bugs
    Please send reports of bugs to me at:
        [e-mail]
    It would be helpful if you could be as specific as possible about the bug.  If
you have a particular MIDI file that you know is O.K., but which Midi JukeBox
chokes on, I might want the file, too, so I can repeat the error and find out what
is wrong.  A bug that is not repeatable is really hard to track down.

Disclaimer
    Midi JukeBox is distributed “as is.”  I make no guarantees or warranties on the
quality of the product and I cannot be held liable for any problems that this
software may create.  In particular, if you are doing something important on
your computer while playing songs in the background, I would strongly caution
you to save your work often in case the interrupts go haywire. The built-in MIDI
driver is someone else's code, and may not be compatible with all models of
Macintosh computers.

I hope you enjoy Midi JukeBox.  Drop me an e-mail note—I'd love to hear from
you.

Randy Wilson
[e-mail]
http://synapse.cs.byu.edu/~randy