Tech: MIDI to Score conversion

Subject: Tech: MIDI to Score conversion
From: pavane
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 08:32 AM

I responded to a note in another thread about the difficulty in importing MIDI files into scoring packages. This occurs when the scoring program misinterprets note lengths (for various reasons) and adds spurious short rests.

I am working on preparing a MIDI utility which will hopefully minimise this problem by preprocessing the MIDI file.

Can people let me know
a) How many of you need a solution to this problem
b) Which scoring packages you are using? Do they use plug-ins?
c) Which OS you use? Currently I am working in Windows only, but I understand a lot of you use Linux or Mac. If there is sufficient demand, I would consider making it a cross-platform utility.

Subject: RE: Tech: MIDI to Score conversion
From: pavane
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 08:33 AM

Replies in the thread or by PM, whichever you prefer

Subject: RE: Tech: MIDI to Score conversion
From: Mark Clark
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 10:38 AM

I own Finale but I use ABC+. <g>

Finale has a “quantization” parameter that the user can set to determine the granularity of imported MIDI events. For example, you can set it so that nothing shorter than a demisemiquaver or a semiquaver is set in the score. This causes smaller events to be grouped into a single note or rest. Finale's quantization parameter is also used to smooth out a performance when playing a MIDI keyboard directly into a score.

With ABC+, I use James Allwright's midi2abc program, now maintained by Seymnour Shlein. midi2abc controls things in a little different way but still provides the ability to tightly control the way very short events are treated. My suggestion is that you just write a script in VB—or Tcl/Tk for portability—that simply invokes midi2abc. That way you inherit improvements as they are made. midi2abc allows the specification of an anacrusis, the ability to set note length and the number of measures in the piece. Tempo, time signature and key may all be set by the user rather than rely on the information in the MIDI file.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Tech: MIDI to Score conversion
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 10:42 AM

I still use Personal Composer and now and again this problem does crop up although there are some settings that can be applied to importing a midi file which helps to overcome them.

Subject: RE: Tech: MIDI to Score conversion
From: pavane
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 12:30 PM

Mark,
It was not for my own use, I was responding to a possible requirement mentioned in other threads. But thanks for the information, it may help to guide my design.

I am planning a utility which reads MIDI and writes an updated MIDI so that users do not need any extra software.

I am already aware that simple quantising is not the answer, and had established that it is the shorter notes which are the problem. I do have an idea of what to do, but it may need parameterising to be compatible with different scoring programs.

Subject: RE: Tech: MIDI to Score conversion
From: Mark Clark
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 03:42 PM

Neil,

I thought you probably wanted to write a simplified MIDI as output rather than ABC. Still, you might want to play around with the tools in the open-source abcMIDI package. Under the control of VB or Tcl/Tk (or Python or whatever) you could perform the initial conversion using midi2abc but instead of saving the ABC file, just pipe the ABC directly into the abc2midi utility which will generate the new and simpler MIDI file from the simplified ABC. This sort of capability is the whole basis for the UNIX/GNU-Linux tools strategy and is the reason the ABC+ utilities are built the way they are. You could control the command line options from your GUI shell and make the whole process seem to be one unified application. You could even introduce key transpositions by piping the ABC through the abc2abc tool before piping into abc2midi. The whole thing would be controled by your GUI shell and, from a user perspective, be entirely integrated.

Just a thought. I haven't tried this but I think it would work. Of course you may have other reasons for wanting to build your own solution to the problem from scratch.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Tech: MIDI to Score conversion
From: pavane
Date: 26 Feb 04 - 07:43 AM

As there doesn't seem to be anyone who wants it (judging from responses) - maybe I won't bother after all!

Subject: RE: Tech: MIDI to Score conversion
From: pavane
Date: 26 Feb 04 - 02:25 PM

Shame, because I have just about got a prototype working.