More thoughts on midi control and backing tracks

[Tyros5Mad]

I have been think about this a lot and burning the midnight oil testing out different stuff.

So What do we want? What is the goal?
- For me the goal is to create midi backing tracks with embedded lyrics to use for recording songs with vocals.
- So I created Midi Maker to achieve part of this goal. It creates a basic style control file with chords and lyrics.
- Then I go over to the keyboard and add solos and multi-pads etc to the midi file to complete the backing track.
- Then we had the discussion on being able to control multi-pads from a computer as well. This is achievable by setting up an external control midi template.
- Not only can we control multi-pads but lots of other stuff.

Problem
- Controlling stuff via the external control midi template only works from the computer but is ignored when playing the file as a song. Bummer!

Possible Solution
- I can add code into Midi Maker to control the multi-pads and do fades etc using the external control template. No problem there.
- The file can be played back to the keyboard and recorded as a Quick record file which will contain all the chords, mpads on/off , fades, etc.
- Only need to add right hand play. This can be played live while you are singing the song. You will sound perfect right?   
- What's missing? No lyrics. Bummer!!

Importing Lyrics
- Can I import the lyrics after the file is recorded? It should be possible.
- We know the measures beats and ticks where the lyrics need to go.
- We just need to load the quick record file and import the lyrics in the right places.
- We will then have a complete midi backing track which we can play from a computer or on the keyboard.

Research
- PSRUTI, an excellent program by Heiko Plate (HPMusic) can do this from a specially constructed lyric file.
- So maybe I will construct my lyric file the same way and then we can use PSRUTI as well as Midi Maker to finish the backing track
- This will also give me time to work on my own solution in Midi Maker.

Thoughts, comments? I would do this for myself nonetheless but perhaps others can benefit as well.

Regards, Richard

[Tyros5Mad]

Hi All,

Software updates are coming along nicely. I have implemented a few changes and fixed some bugs along the way
- updated the following commands which use Sy*** messages: Style Start/Stop and Kbd VH On/Off
- implemented the following commands which use the external controller midi template Mpad1 On, Mpad2 On, Mpad3 On, Mpad4 On, Mpads Stop, Fade In/Out
- changed my external midi player to TMidi. I found that the Van Basco Karaoke Player choked when I inserted notes for external keyboard control (see attached pic)
- implemented extra code in the Stop Midi button to stop the keyboard playing when using an external midi player
- now working on exporting the chords (XF Format) and lyrics to a file suitable to import to a quick record midi file.
- As mentioned above this will be the same as the file used by PSRUTI to import chords and lyrics.

Workflow
So the workflow will be as follows:
- Create a Midi Maker song file, which can include chords and lyrics and external controls  - start/stop, Vocal Harmony on/off, multi-pad and fade control (for now)
- Create a Midi Maker playback midi file from the song file
- Create a quick record midi on the keyboard from Midi Maker playback midi. This will include all the chords and style changes as well as external controls but no lyrics.
- Export the chords and lyrics to a file suitable to be imported by PSRUTI (this is temporary - later I will have code in Midi Maker to import this data)
- Import the chords and lyrics into the quick record file to create a complete backing track with lyrics.

Regards, Richard

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[ckobu]

You may be able to help this video that displays text input PSRUTI using the Lyrics Editor.

https://youtu.be/go2xBM1FMYE

[Tyros5Mad]

Hi Ckobu,

Thanks for your comment.

I have seen this video before. PSRUTI is a great program. Heiko Plate is a great programmer and I have said this to him personally. His help file for HP_Midifile is the best I have ever read and I have read it many times over and it has helped me to understand music programming better.

PSRUTI and my software Midi Maker have completely different objectives though. PSRUTI massages and reworks existing midi files while my software creates midi files from scratch.

I am updating my own program to create complete backing tracks faster and using a wheel that has already been invented (PSRUTI) as a temporary solution to help me and anyone who wants to use my program get to the end result as fast as possible. Later on I will have code in my own program to do what PSRUTI can do right now, which is to import lyric and chord data to an existing midi file. I know PSRUTI can do much more but I do not need to use that functionality, just the import  facility.

Regards, Richard

[Tyros5Mad]

Update1 on Midi Maker:

I have all the coding done and preliminary testing shows it is working as planned but of course a couple of tests are not conclusive so I will thoroughly test the software by going through the process a few times and will end up with some cool backing tracks as well hopefully. Then I will release the software and go through the whole process in a new thread.

Update2:

I found a bug in the spreadsheet grid that sometimes corrupts the data in the song file. This results in a midi file that is not correct. I have posted an issue on the author's website.
Luckily this is not a big deal because we can use any spreadsheet program such as Excel or Google Sheets or whatever to create the song file. I use Google Sheets and save the file as a CSV file and then load it into Midi Maker.

Another fix is to save the song file and then reload it before creating the midi file.

Regards, RL