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Topic: Better midi-playback. (Read 6186 times) previous topic - next topic

Better midi-playback.

I need a software with wavetable midi playback. And it has to be free. Any help would be appreciated.

Re: Better midi-playback.

Reply #2 –
Thomas - I second the motion for the Yamaha softsynth software. It's excellent, even the most basic one SYG20 (for machines with low system resources) is quite good, and the higher ones are fantastic. Not quite free, but not expensive either.

For free, you can get DirectX 7.0a or later (8.0 has been recently released) which gives Roland GS wavetable sound for free. But with a problem - on Win95 it doesn't show up as an available device, so you have to export NWC output to midi and use a standalone DirectX (DirectMusic) midi player. AFAIK this is different in Win98, and you can actually select the "microsoft synth" device.

Joe - since softsynths use the wave playback device, you have to have a card that's "full duplex", i.e. capable of recording a wav whilst playing another one. We've done it successfully on my wife's old machine. If your soundcard is full duplex, it should be possible. In Control Panel -> Multimedia -> Audio tab, be sure that both the playback and record sections have a suitable device enabled.

Re: Better midi-playback.

Reply #3 –
[snip]
...this is different in Win98, and you can actually select the "microsoft synth" device.

Fred

[/snip]

No, at least I cannot. It's not available among any device listing (W98SE). DirectX 8 and DMusProd are installed.

Suppose I missed smth. I should've done?

Re: Better midi-playback.

Reply #4 –
Interesting... now I'm really out of my depth. I tried it on my wife's machine, and same result as Ertugrul. Yet on the brand new machine we have at work, it's there... maybe it's a mainboard software issue, or ?? Perhaps someone more knowledgable about the fine points of µsoft could jump in here and explain what this is all about.

I think that support of DirectMusic would be a really nice feature in NWC, it would help assure that what we write is indeed what the listener will hear. And with care, DirectMusic can be made to sound quite good. (An example is the "Lachrymosa" on my mp3.com site.)

Re: Better midi-playback.

Reply #5 –
[Fred wrote]
...Yet on the brand new machine we have at work, it's there... maybe it's a mainboard software issue, or ??
[/Fred wrote]

I have Abit BE6-II. What mainboard does your work-machine have?

Re: Better midi-playback.

Reply #6 –
I have DirectX 7.0 on W98, and it does not show up as a selectable device, either within NWC, or as a system multimedia component of "My Computer."

But the DirectX is installed and functions when called by its own verification software (play its own music, etc.).

Although I don't know the details, I surmise that DirectX must be explicitly called by something else.

Re: Better midi-playback.

Reply #7 –
I found this site:

http://www.clefmusic.freeserve.co.uk/direct.htm

If you scroll down the page, it provides a link to download a free utility called "Loopback," described as a "virtual MIDI cable" that allows DirectMusic to be driven from any MIDI-compatible application such as C*W*. Presumably, it would work with NWC???

There is also a link to download "DX-MIDI," a free player along the lines of the Windows Media Player, that seems to play MIDI using the DirectX sound rather than the system default.

I say "presumably" and "seems to" because I am not at my own computer today, and cannot verify any of this. But the files are there for the download. You may also need DirectX 8, rather than 7 (there's a link for it).

Re: Better midi-playback.

Reply #8 –
I'm aware of the full-duplex requirement, but the Yamaha is different somehow. I figured out how to make mp3's this weekend and finally (after 2 years of trying!) made a cd with the Yamaha sounds. I will post detailed instructionson the forum in the next day or two (if there is any interest)

Re: Better midi-playback.

Reply #9 –
To Ertugrul: I'll check the mainboard when I go back to work on Wednesday.

To Robert: Hubi's Midi Cable (loopback) works only to loop together existing (and available) devices. (I use it all the time - it's great stuff. I put it in my start menu so it's always in my bozo bar, I can thereby change devices on the fly regardless of what software I'm using, without going through the CP->Multimedia rigamarole). The microsoft synth device still need to be made available, such as by loading the DM Producer software and running it in the background, as suggested on the DM site you pointed out.

To Joe: I'll be interested to see your instructions. On my wife's old machine we simply played the midi in VanBasco, (nwc wasn't an option at the time because it did not yet have the facility to turn off note-chase), opened CoolEdit, and hit record... and away it went.

To Eric and crew: would it be a major operation to include DM support in NWC? It seems so simple from the outside. :)

Fred

Re: Better midi-playback.

Reply #10 –
Re:- DXMidi
I had some correspondence with the author when he offered the beta version named DirectMidi.
I pointed out that this program name is already in use (Fred suggested Direct Midi as a DirectX player some time ago).
It will use the Direct DLS but requires a faster machine than mine (233 Mhz). The features described sounded good - it would be one way to ensure compatibility between midi users but alas I couldn't try it.

I also confirm that DirectX does not appear as a device option in Win98.
I'll check out the midicable suggestion mentioned above.
Thanks for the info.

Re: Better midi-playback.

Reply #11 –
You can also connect a Keyboard or a Synthesizer
with your Soundblaster. With a MIDI-Cable.
"My Computer can play on a real Synthesizer"

Re: Better midi-playback.

Reply #12 –
Hi!
I am newbie... I have a small problem... i use the MCI commands to play midi tunes... On my SB-AWE64 the sounds like great but on friends pc the sound is really bad... So i want to use the DX-Wavetable (M$-Software-WaveTable)! Can someone explain me (maybe with a small psydo-basic-source) how to use/select it? Many thanks in advance... bye

Re: Better midi-playback.

Reply #13 –
All your friend needs is a DirectMusic Midi player. There is a very basic one (from the DM SDK) here. While you're at it, there is a sample midi specifically written for DM-Midi here

Cheers,
Fred

Re: Better midi-playback.

Reply #14 –
Nice one, Fred :) It reminds me I didn't listen to your CD since a long time. Tonight's next occupation!
 

Re: Better midi-playback.

Reply #15 –
I have the answer.It has 128 GENERAL MIDI instruments + GM DRUMS and it does WAV export and reverbs and it has a builtin compresor to reduce noise and an antialiasing filter and you can donload it  at
http://www.cc.rim.or.jp/~hiroki/english