Coming Soon - Midi Maker

[Tyros5Mad]

Hello folks, long time no contact.

I have had my head down working on a software program to create good quality midi files for our Yamaha keyboards.
I am getting close to the and I can't wait to share it with you guys. Here's a small preview and an excerpt from the help file, which I have already written.

How does it work?

● The user selects a keyboard model and the software loads up all the styles for that keyboard.
● The user creates the song file containing the instructions for the midi file by clicking on measures, style control sections, chords, chord types and bass notes. These
instructions are inserted into the song file.
● The user has full control of the song editor and can cut, copy and paste data as needed. The song editor is just an ordinary windows text file.
● While creating the song file, the user can click the button to create the midi file, which can be played back to the keyboard to test the data entered so far.
● When the song file and midi file have been completed, the midi file can be copied and loaded into the keyboard itself as a song file. If the user included lyrics, these
can be displayed on the keyboard as well.
● The user can now add a melody to the midi file, perhaps add multipad data or record vocals. There are many possibilities.

Best regards,
Richard


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[Normanfernandez]

 Can it make Midi to Styles?

[Jørgen]

Hi

I dont think so... it is the other way around...

Jørgen

[Wim NL]

Can we use user styles also.
Or only preset styles.

In Genos I only have acces to preset styles in chord record.

[beykock]

If this program is suitable for all styles ( e.g. with SFF2 voices ) it could be a great tool.

Babette

[beykock]

I have other questions regarding this prog, Richard.

Where is the midi made :
In the keyboard or in the pc ?
What about chord input ?
Will it be " a plug and play prog " or comparable to a DAW ?

Thank you for reply, Babette.

[Joe H]

Hi

I dont think so... it is the other way around...

Jørgen

I'm not sure why we would need software like this. Can't we just play the styles and record them on our keyboard already and play the chord progressions we want?  Play a melody line and even Multi Pads along with the style!



Joe H

[DerekA]

Hi Richard

Could you explain a bit more about what problem your program is trying to solve?

Thanks
Derek

[mikf]

Software so you can make music but don't have to play the keyboard?? I'm missing something, I thought people bought these keyboards to play or learn to play.
Mike

[Tyros5Mad]

Hi folks, love the comments.

Sure, I love playing my keyboard and entertaining myself and others but what I really like to do is produce good quality cover songs and turn them into videos for my YouTube channel. Some of you may even have listened to some of my songs. If not, here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5owo7l0RT8J-4KpHmmUaYw.

To create decent songs, one cannot just sit down and play a song live and record that. The result, as I found out, is likely to be a little disappointing. For starters I do not have enough hands to play and control the keyboard, the multi-pads, various knobs and sliders and my voice harmoniser all at the same time while singing the song.

So, being a computer guy, I looked to software to help me out. What I wanted was a program where I could enter the chords and lyrics and get that info into a midi file that I could take over to the keyboard and play back while I added extra layers and then finally do the vocals and record that into an audio file. I looked around and, while there are many great software programs out there, I could not find software to do exactly what I wanted.

The closest to what I wanted was Producer, a program originally from Michael Bedesem I think and now maintained by Peter Wierzsba. The only issue I have with Producer is that the interface is not as easy to use as I would like. When creating a song I am inserting and cutting and pasting parts of the song all the time and Producer cannot do that. I also want to see as much of the song on the screen as possible.

So I decided I needed to write the software to do exactly what I wanted myself. I did not know much about the midi specification and even less about the Yamaha spec. I reached out to Peter and he has been very helpful, thanks Peter. I did many, many hours of research and found lots of great information.

The result is what I have shown you guys. Software that does exactly what I want to do and is written in C# using .Net and WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation). Many people will not find it useful and that's fine. The program is written for me.

I have found this to be a wonderful musical community and I love being a part of it so I want to share what I have with you all. If it will benefit even one person then I will be happy.

Best regards,
Richard

[Patrick]

I Richard, thank you for the nice videos on Youtube; great playing and nice sounds! I was in Brisbane last week and on the Gold Coast; we've had great time in Australia! Your software will be very good for creating excellent midi's all the best Patrick

[Joe H]

Richard,

After listening to your music, I'm impressed by the results of your software.  I can't say I really understand how you do what you do... but the final result is very good.  I'm one who would rather learn to "play" the song, but you have demonstrated that good results can be had with your software.

If I understand would I'm looking at from your screen shot, it appears you can mix and match different styles Sections / Parts to create a song file. Is that correct?

Regards,
Joe H

[beykock]

Hi Richard,

Thank you so much for your comments. 👍

I am looking forward to receiving your program asap.
It looks to be very, very interesting and promising.

I wonder if this program could be an XGWorks alternative or
an addition to XGWorks.

That would be wonderful and many XGWorks users would be very happy and grateful.
Yamaha ended all XGW updates in 2002.
The program is no longer available.

Apparently most of the activities of your program are happening in the pc and not in the keyboard.
Very amazing !

I agree Producer is a great program. I am very grateful Peter W is updating this program. A hell of a job !

However Producer's chord input needs to be done in the arranger keyboard.
A very difficult and time consuming feature IMHO.

QUESTION
Any idea when your program will be available ?
I cannot wait ...😀

Plse advise. Many thanks !

Best regards, Babette

[Tyros5Mad]

Thanks again for the feedback.

Firstly, let me say that every song I create I can and do play live but it will never sound as good as the produced version because of what I said above. It's like going to a live concert. The music sounds great and the energy is infectious but the songs are never quite as pristine as the studio produced version.

Secondly, so far none of the music I have already produced has been done with my software. That will come. I used Peter Wierszba's Producer software, Michael Bedesem's Mixmaster and other software to create the initial midi file. Then I used that on the keyboard and added the different layers, like multi-pads and overdubbing to get the final midi file. Once I had that, I recorded the song in my keyboard, using the audio recorder and adding the vocals. My software will cut out most of the initial hard work to produce the chord file.

To specific questions:
I guess you can use different styles and use parts of them. You can also use different tempos. All things I will experiment with.

Talking about XGWorks. It is one program that can load up the midi file from my software and it "sees" the chords and lyrics and plays it back to the keyboard faithfully. I don't need all the bells and whistles of XGWorks, so I don't use it. Also XGWorks is very dated now. It works on one of my computers but not on another.

Anyway i will be creating a video of how to use my software when I release it. That should be fun.

Regards,
Richard

[beykock]

Hi Richard,

Any idea when your prog will be released ?

Babette

[Tyros5Mad]

Hi Richard,

Any idea when your prog will be released ?

Babette

Not sure, probably in the next two weeks. I want to make sure I can get all the bugs out (or as many as possible). Lol, somebody will find a way to break the software.

I also want to create a video tutorial first.

Rich

[beykock]

Richard, 👍👍👍


I love to hear all midi styles ( SFF2 voices and all styles with different extensions etc. ) will be accepted, right ? WOW !
No audio styles, of course.

Complete editing functions in other DAWS ( e.g. XGW, Cubase, Cakewalk, Protools etc. ) can be selected after the " basic " midi file has been recorded and/or finished in your prog, I hope and guess.😄

I am looking forward to downloading it in a couple of weeks.

Babette

[pjd]

Hello Richard --

Thanks for your ideas. I like to use an arranger keyboard to sketch out songs by entering the chord progression into the Chord page in Song Creator, choose a style, and then expand the chord accompaniment into a full MIDI Song. This helps me to hear and practice music which I need to learn for weekend performance.

So, I understand the use case and I understand what it's like to work with the Chord page in Song Creator -- not the best for long songs (lead sheets).

I've written a Java program that reads a simple text-based lead sheet and generates a MIDI file which can be imported into Song Creator. Please see the example below. The MIDI file contains lyrics and chords. The chords are represented in Yamaha MIDI Meta events and the Yamaha proprietary chord format.

I've been so busy lately that I haven't been able to release the code through my web site: http://sandsoftwaresound.net/  However, once I release the code, it should help you with the MIDI part. My original concept was to build a "song assembler" that would be the back-end for a GUI/higher level front-end, in the same way that an assembler is the back-end for a higher-level language compiler.

Hope this info helps -- pj

Title: Cant Find My Way Home
; {time:4/4}
; {style:FolkSongDuo}
; [Intro1]
; C1+2+5
; {tempo:95}
; {onoff:FF}
; {volume:100}

# Song introduction (8 measures)
! [MainA]   C1+2+5 | G/B
!           Gm/Bb  | D/A
!           F      | G
!           D
!           C1+2+5 | G/B
!           Gm/Bb  | D/A
!           F      | G
! [FillInA] D
: Come

# Verse 1 (8 measures)
! [MainA]   C1+2+5 | G/B
: down off_ your throne_  and
!           Gm/Bb  | D/A
: leave your body a-lone 
!           F      | G
: Some-body_ must 
!           D
: change.
!           C1+2+5 | G/B
: You are_ the rea-son I've been
!           Gm/Bb  | D/A
: wait-ing_ so long_ 
!           F      | G
: Some-body holds the key.
! [FillInB] D
% Well, I'm 

# Chorus 1 (6 measures)
! [MainB]   G/B
: near the end._  I
!           A
: just ain't got_ the
!           D
: time,_ 
!           Em
: and I'm wast-ed_  and I
!           G      | F#m + Em
: can't find my way_
!           D
: home._ 

[Tyros5Mad]

@ Babette,
Any style you can use on your keyboard will be usable in my software. All it does is trigger the various controls and and send chords. The keyboard does all the work. So there is no reason that audio style will not work. At least I think so. I will test on my Tyros 5, which is gathering dust now that I have the Genos.

@PJD
I came across your website in my travels. There are quite a few java programs out there now because Java has a midi implementation. Even Windows RT now has a midi implementation. I am still using the winmm interface in Windows. People have been saying for years that midi is dead but of course just the very opposite is true. Midi is everywhere.

Regards,
Richard

[beykock]

Rich,

Audio styles ? 🐼

Regards, B

[Tyros5Mad]

Hi Babette,

Why not? If your keyboard can play it as a builtin style then Midi Maker will be able to tell the keyboard to play it. All Midi Maker is, is a set of instructions for the keyboard. But, having said that I have not tested that feature. The Genos has no Audio styles as far as I know.

Also someone asked about user styles. Unfortunately user styles do not have a style number so there's no way to tell the keyboard to trigger the style.

Richard

[DerekA]

Now it *would* be interesting if you could create a MIDI file that triggered an Audio style.

PS All the Tyros 5 audio styles are available to install onto Genos from the Yamaha website.

[beykock]

Hi Rich,

A midi file has 16 tracks and normally all these tracks can be edited separately.

That is very important.
That is why I like midi.

I don't see why audio styles will work like midi recording.
A complete different world.

Regards, B

[pjd]

I came across your website in my travels. There are quite a few java programs out there now because Java has a midi implementation. Even Windows RT now has a midi implementation. I am still using the winmm interface in Windows. People have been saying for years that midi is dead but of course just the very opposite is true. Midi is everywhere.

Hi Richard --

I took a look at the MIDI Maker help file. It's interesting that we wound up in similar places. I decided to go with a textual representation for songs rather than a GUI. I tried to simplify the lyric implementation, in particular, and only generate lyrics on a measure-by-measure basis. I also tried to hide the explicit MBT timing. (The | symbol in my example means "half note duration".) The MIDI file generated by my experimental software produces a MIDI file to be expanded by the PSR/Tyros/Genos itself in Song Creator. I was hoping to get the convenience of storing and editing lead sheet-like text files while letting the keyboard do the heavy lifting of expansion.

Interesting choices and viva la difference! 

Nice work, dude -- pj

[Tyros5Mad]

@ PJD

Yeah, I was struck by that when I read your earlier post. The difference is that I wanted to have everything inside the software. Of course a text file is produced by my software, which could be worked on separately and then loaded up but the convenience I provide is being able to click on a chord or style control part and have that automatically formatted and inserted into the song file.

The reason for the MBT display is that I personally like to know exactly where I am in the song. I am a singer so, while I am creating the midi file,  I am singing the song in my head and working out where I am going to add riffs and other parts at the keyboard and it helps to know what measure I am on. Anyway the software inserts the measure with a click so no major overhead there.

Regards,
Richard

[beykock]

Hi Rich,

I am almost sure your program will not work for creating separate wav. tracks.
IMHO that is impossible.

You can make an audio recording in 2 stereo tracks only after you have created your midi file.


Cheers, Babette

BTW you are a good singer.💐

[Tyros5Mad]

Babette I think you have the wrong idea about what the software does.

All it does is trigger the style you select. The style selection is a list of the internal styles in the keyboard. Each style in the keyboard has a number and Yamaha now uses the same number for that particular style in all keyboards. For example, the first style in the Genos (in alphabetical order) is 00sBoyBand, which is style number 5726. It will be style number 5726 in any keyboard that has that style (the Tyros 4 and 5 have it, not sure about the PSR's because I still have to decode those). It may sound a little different in the T4 and T5 but it is the same style. And so the software can trigger that style by style number 5726.

Then it sends chords and style controls to the keyboard and the keyboard plays that. It is like you are playing the keyboard by remote control.

That's it. The midi file has no notes in it, no wave file files, nothing but instructions to play chords and fillins, intros and endings in your selected style.

Hope that helps. That is why I want to do a video tutorial, which I am working on now.

Regards, Richard.

[beykock]

Hi Rich,


I understand your prog plays and records all internal Yamaha kb T4 and T5 styles ( only ). Audio and midi styles, right ?

Hopefully the PSRS internal styles will work too.
Otherwise I cannot use your prog. S975 is my kb.

Does that mean third party and converted styles will not work ?

For me the creation of a midi file 0 ( 16 track ) is my only priority.
All other applications will be done by DAWS.

Best regards, B

[SandeepSaxena]

Hi Rich,
Seems like a nifty tool...
Would like to know more...
Is the software reading the style def from the keyboard or is there a lookup database that you have created locally for several keyboard models?
Can we add our user styles to this list?
Thanks
Sandeep

[Joe H]

... Then it sends chords and style controls to the keyboard and the keyboard plays that. It is like you are playing the keyboard by remote control.

That's it. The midi file has no notes in it, no wave file files, nothing but instructions to play chords and fillins, intros and endings in your selected style...

Thanks for the explanation... now it all makes sense on what you are doing.



Joe H