View Full Version : 'dirty' midi
iandg
12-10-2016, 01:00 PM
I would very much like to use Notation Composer as my go-to software for actually playing midi files, as well as editing and preparing them.
Using Notation has the advantage that I can also have in the same file, visible but muted, either a piano score or at least score prompts which will show as a good-class visual display, and scroll with the backing.
I have a Ketron SD2 which I want to use as the sound source for my 'backings'.
I have all this physically set up, with a newly-bought second copy of Composer on a little notebook computer beside my piano keyboard. I also have the set-up in Notation, and the test scale playing on the Ketron. But when I play a file, there is sound, but not cleanly flowing, nor clean sounding - like a radio broadcast from an-imperfectly tuned station.
By way of comparison, I have the identical set-up in another software (which does not have a notation display), and that will play the identical file perfectly.
Can you give me any clue what the problem might be, and how I might solve it ? (I have been round the 'reconfigure' route several times, and that hasn't cleared the problem.)
Sincerely
Ian G.
iandg
12-10-2016, 02:21 PM
Two interesting additional facts !
1. I have found that Biab 2007, on the same notebook, and with the same set-up, has similar problems. With both NC and Biab 2007, the problems extend at times to actually locking the application.
BUT
2. I have down-loaded the free Notation Player, and that is perfectly happy:) with the set-up - configured itself and plays the file perfectly.
Does this give any clue as to why Composer is 'gibbing' ?
(Obviously I'm somewhat less content, in that Player doesn't have the flexibility of Composer in terms of eg part-display or indeed midi-editability. ie Player isn't really a viable 'solution' for me.)
Ian G
:confused:
Sherry C
12-10-2016, 04:02 PM
Hi Ian,
Does this happen for all .mid files, or just some? If it happens for only some, could you please send us a sample of one that does NOT work as well as one that DOES work to support@notation.com please?
Also, does the problem happen if you turn off all other programs and only use Composer or BIAB 2007? I'm just wondering if there may be a memory issue.
We may be asking further questions as well :)
Thanks!
Sherry
iandg
12-10-2016, 04:48 PM
Hallo, Sherry
I can't speak for 'all' midi files. I've used two that happened to be part of my current activity flow, and had rather different ensembles. But I would point out again that these same files play happily in other softwares. I can now add Midi-Illustrator to the list – like your Player, it picked up the midi set-up without any detailed configuring and plays the same files cleanly through the Ketron. So I really doubt it is a file-specific issue.
Also, although as I've explained, I've been switching between softwares, I always close one before opening another. And I have simply restarted the notebook from time to time.
I have also been into the registry and cleaned out 'midi-n' entries, back to just a single 'midi' entry.
Each time I 'do something', I tend to go first to 'the other' software to check that it is still working, and then close it and try NC again.
It has got so even the ' test' scale is (a) not piano and (b) not really a scale.
I'm not really pointing the finger at Composer, well, not totally. (NC is far the best software I know for what I want to do, and it is intended to do what I want to do ! And I've just bought a second copy !)
The Ketron itself can be a peculiar beast.
But the way 3 applications play this set-up like a dream, and two others clearly 'don't like it', puzzles me considerably.
Might it be worth uninstalling NC entirely and re-installing ?
Cheers
Ian
Hi, Ian, Sherry:
As I understand it, the Ketron doesn't have a USB Midi connection. So, the question arises: what midi interface are you using?
The fact that the problem doesn't arise with some other software doesn't necessarily preclude the interface being the bottleneck.
$0.02
David
iandg
12-11-2016, 04:44 PM
Hallo, David
The Ketron has trad 5 pin midi sockets, and I'm using a USB-midi cable which I've used happily for a number of years.
If I understand what you're saying, the USB-midi cable could be the problem? I guess the only way to know would be to get another (good one) and try it.
But logically, I think there would still need to be some 'proximate' cause to account for the problem arising with some softwares (2, at the moment, of which the other is always a 'distinct beast' in terms of midi set-up) ) and not with others (3 that I've tried, one being also from the Notation stable) ?
I've held off further input today because I believe Sherry is a 'church person'. I will update more thoroughly some tim tomorrow.
Thanks for your 2p.
Ian G.
iandg
12-12-2016, 03:11 PM
Hallo, everyone
More about my problems with NC and Ketron SD2
Yesterday
(a) I simply restarted NC after booting up (the notebook having been 'off' for some 12 hours)
Loaded Notation's own 'Twinkle' file and tried to play – result as before ie something is sent to the SD2, but what comes out is just garbled sound and a lock-up
(Have repeated that today, Monday, with the same result. And then have had both Midi-Illustrator Maestro and Midi-Illustrator Player playing through the SD2 and scrolling happily. I don't like their screen as much as NC – but they are working !) )
(b) Removed Notebook and put my Asus Laptop (which has my original purchase of NC3) into the identical hardware set-up.
NC detected the usb midi in, and played a test scale correctly. But then I loaded Notation's own 'Twinkle' file and tried to play – result as before ie something is sent to the SD2, but what comes out is just garbled sound and a lock-up
Conclusion: suggests there may be nothing wrong or garbled with the NC set-up on the Notebook, since the NC set-up on the Asus is reacting exactly the same way. In which case, no point in re-installing ?
It is possible that I am doing something wrong somewhere in the set-up – but what could that be ?
From first principles: it seems likely either that Notation is not sending some initial code which the SD2 expects, or conversely, that it is sending some code which is not necessary/is actually 'confusing' the SAD2.
Again, I can only speculate on how the parallels that are working, are working ?
(c) Have also experimented with LoopBe virtual midi cable. I have had it recognised as the 'out' of NC and the 'in' of OMB, but I cannot detect that anything is passing from one to the other. Eg if I play Twinkle in NC, it scrolls without sound, but 'record' in OMB does not pick it up.
(d)I haven't previously said anything about Windows versions.
The Notebook runs Win 7 Starter
The Asus runs Win 10, upgraded from an original Win 8 installation.
Are you aware that Windows support for Midi varies significantly for these versions ? What is NC3 principally aimed at ?
(e)The last thing I can think of is that I still have NC 2.6.3 on an old desk-top. I could see whether that will run the SD2 happily. If so, it would do all I need on the Notebook (although I note the help window doesn't record the registration code, and I don't think I've got an installation *.exe for it, either).
Sincerely
Ian G.
Hi, Ian:
Nothing to add at the moment, but I've got my thinking cap on about this and am trying to suss it out.
David
iandg
12-13-2016, 10:46 AM
Well, mostly.....
For some time I had had a set-up with a cheap midi controller keyboard as a midi-in - which had its own printer-style usb connection, so I had 'parked the out' cable of the usb-midi cable in the 'out' of my clavi (knowing I could turn it off with a click in what I have been calling 'my other software'.)
Late last week, I changed that, to physically replace the cheapie with my Roland A500 - but that wasn't then connected into the computer-centred connections at all - it had an-old style 5 pin cables set direct to my Korg 03R/W. So the 'out' of the usb-midi cable was 'floating', and I re-parked it in the 'other' socket of the SD2.
This morning I was adjusting again, to re-instate the clavi as a midi-in option, and it suddenly occurred to me that this 'parking' could have been the cause of the conflict with the SD2. And indeed, so it has proved - 'Twinkle' plays nicely (well actually, it's a fairly horrible track !) from NC.
So principally my fault.........though the fact remains that several other softwares coped. It's possible to be too 'sensitive', perhaps ?
Anyway, I can listen and scroll through NC again, thank goodness.
Regards
Ian G.
Hi, Ian, Sherry:
All's well that ends well, as somebody famous once said.
I think perhaps the other software you were using disabled midi echo as a default, whereas it's on with NC. What you were getting sounds like a midi feedback loop -- every time a note came into the keyboard, it was sent back to NC, which sent it back to the midi keyboard -- and 'round and 'round.
It's always something.
David
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