This week on RISC OS FR: Midi Maestro & SPatience for ARMv7 computers

Two big news this week on RISC OS FR:

1/ A new section around Maestro, and the use of Midi from Maestro (with MP3 conversions of songs made with a pocket Midi expander from Serdaco). http://www.riscos.fr/ressources/midi-maestro/

2/ A new section about RISC OS applications, ports and 32 bits conversions made by RISC OS FR. First work: an ARMv7 patch for SPatience. Thanks Philippe for the source code. http://www.riscos.fr/ressources/bits-and-apps/

More: http://www.riscos.fr/english.html

See you next week for another news on www.riscofr.fr.

Let’s switch to french…

Cette semaine sur RISC OS FR : Midi Maestro et SPatience pour les ordinateurs ARMv7

Deux grosses actualités cette semaine:

1/ Une nouvelle section autour de Maestro et de l’utilisation du Midi depuis Maestro (avec des MP3 de fichiers Maestro réalisés avec un expandeur de poche signé Serdaco). http://www.riscos.fr/ressources/midi-maestro/

2/ Une nouvelle rubrique liée aux applications, portages et adaptations 32 bits assurés par RISC OS FR. Premier projet : un correctif ARMv7 pour SPatience. Merci à Philippe pour le code source. http://www.riscos.fr/ressources/bits-and-apps/

D’autres ressources seront mises en ligne la semaine prochaine.

N’oubliez pas la liste de discussion RISC OS FR. Vous y retrouverez des discussions, mais aussi des services exclusifs : bulletins d’information et alertes eBay sur les produits susceptibles de vous intéresser. Plus de détails ici : http://www.riscos.fr/discutez.html.

A bientôt sur RISC OS FR.
Cordialement, David Feugey.

A new section around Maestro, and the use of Midi from Maestro

All we need now is a version of Maestro that can correctly schedule the music it is playing. ;-) [example? the bass line in Like A Virgin speeds up and slows down]

a pocket Midi expander from Serdaco

Sounds nice. Slightly synthy, but it wouldn’t be out of place in a Pet Shop Boys song. I wonder how it compares against my Yahama (keyboard).

[example? the bass line in Like A Virgin speeds up and slows down]

The way some tunes were written to avoid problems when playing music with internal sounds cause most of the problems with Midi playing, much more accurate. Some files sounds nice with internal modules, but are really awful with Midi. With Black Boy, there is no problem.

But yes, Maestro would need some work: better sync; 15+1 channels; ability to save midi channels configuration; correction of the last stave instrument bug (load a 2 staves tune, then a 3 staves tune, and stave 3 will have sometime the wrong instrument configured); bug after many loads (too many nested structures); bug for some big tunes (simply needs a bigger wimpslot).

Elevator has a better engine for music playing, but don’t manage Midi.

Since there is no call-after function in Basic, it’s not easy to make something really synced. I’ll try to work on this. Do we have documentation for the Maestro file format? (Maestro source code is really not clear, so I would prefer to use my own one :) )

Sounds nice. Slightly synthy, but it wouldn’t be out of place in a Pet Shop Boys song. I wonder how it compares against my Yahama (keyboard).

A bit of noise, but a good instrument set. And the small case is really really small. So it’s a good companion for a Pi. Made in Europe :)

Some files sounds nice with internal modules, but are really awful with Midi.

I wonder if it is down to how the music is scheduled? I know you reported a possible problem with the MIDI module (that I’m looking in to), however I wish to assault your ears with the following:

http://www.heyrick.co.uk/random/A%20Little%20Respect%20-%20Erasure%20(Maestro).mp3

The two melody lines are WaveSynth, and the bass line is StringLib-Hard. This is awful sounding, but it is done on purpose so you can hear the Epic Fail that is Maestro’s scheduling. Apart from a three bar break about 2/3 along, the entire bass line is crotchets. Four in a bar. Repetitively.
As you will hear, they are anything but regular.

It’s a straight build of Maestro running (in this case) on a straight from-ROOL version of RISC OS (though my own build behaves in exactly the same way) playing using internal sound (no MIDI present) on a RaspberryPi and recorded from HDMI audio into a PC using AudioGrabber.

But yes, Maestro would need some work:

“some work” → “writing something better” ?

I looked at how to hack Maestro to be Maestro2. All sorts of additions such as MIDI voices (and import/export) plus better entry of notation (can be controlled/edited using keyboard) and I figured that starting from scratch might have been a better proposition.

15+1 channels;

I believe that Maestro is limited a bit here by the number of “voices” in the RISC OS sound system. So either the sound handler needs to be upgraded to match the General MIDI specification (15+1) or if we are to leave the basic sound behind, we might need to consider synthing our own sounds. There are some interesting developments with SoundFont, but is there anything on RISC OS capable of playing them? Sadly sound and sound manipulation strays into maths, and that’s really not my strong point.

ability to save midi channels configuration;

There is a “Midi Channel” setting, but it is apparently not supported in current versions of Maestro. Perhaps we could use that (ID = 9) to define MIDI channel allocations, and then devise a new block (ID=?) to associate each MIDI channel with an instrument? Would need to ask ROOL if such an allocation already exists…

correction of […] bug […]; bug after […]; bug for […]

;-)

Since there is no call-after function in Basic, it’s not easy to make something really synced. I’ll try to work on this.

The Wimp must surely be getting back to Maestro in good time. It just seems like when there are “complicated” pieces of music to play, it all falls apart. Maybe it might be worth timing Wimp poll speed and trying to play directly, instead of via lots of QSound calls? Or does it QSound only for MIDI? I don’t remember.

Do we have documentation for the Maestro file format?

Yes. PRM book four. Real page 4-493, or p503 in !PDF.

A bit of noise, but a good instrument set. And the small case is really really small. So it’s a good companion for a Pi. Made in Europe :)

This? http://www.serdashop.com/DreamblasterBundle
Smaller than a full size keyboard, I’ll give it that!

Rick: certain things cannot be unlistened. That is truly hideous!!! If ever there needed to be a campaign advert for ‘improving Maestro’ – that is it!

Wow! Could you make a version that is out of tune as well, that is serious GBH for the ears!

http://www.heyrick.co.uk/random/A%20Little%20Respect%20-%20Erasure

With a few winces, the wife identified the tune within a few bars.

Said afterward it reminded her of the “group”¹ from the French and Saunders series. They were deliberately ‘Thursday night at the working mens club’ bad.

That is truly hideous!!!

Seems like agreement in various quarters.

¹ The group were “Raw Sex”, some people may remember them? (Simon Brint and Rowland Rivron) Brint – deceased 2011

Wow! Could you make a version that is out of tune as well, that is serious GBH for the ears!

I have Nero WaveEdit – so yeah, if you really want, I could do that. And I’ll even throw in some gratuitous echo if you like!
;-)

David: Here is the part that I really hate saying – but I am wondering if there isn’t some sort of buffering issue with your MIDI synth (or the serial interface)? I took the FollowYou that you mentioned, ran the setup program (no problems) and then threw it to my keyboard with the MIDI module, mapped as “Stave 1 = MIDI channel 1; Stave 2 = channel 2; 3 = 3”. That’s correct, isn’t it?

http://www.heyrick.co.uk/random/Follow%20You%20(MIDI,%20then%20Maestro).mp3

That’s a recording firstly from the keyboard, then direct from Maestro. Sync errors show up, but otherwise it sounds correct. Certainly a lot better than your example where notes seem to be missing.

That’s a recording firstly from the keyboard, then direct from Maestro. Sync errors show up, but otherwise it sounds correct. Certainly a lot better than your example where notes seem to be missing.

I confirm. But please note that I use RISC OS 5.20. Perhaps some things with serial works better now. I’ll try with another USB to midi interface (a M-Audio one: the best) this week. The Midi synth has no need for buffer, since it takes all orders in realtime.

Nota: everything sounds OK on Windows, with the same setup.
Nota2: everything seems to be OK, if I make a small pause between each Midi command.

I looked at how to hack Maestro to be Maestro2. All sorts of additions such as Midi voices (and import/export) plus better entry of notation (can be controlled/edited using keyboard) and I figured that starting from scratch might have been a better proposition.

Yes, I think so too.

This? http://www.serdashop.com/DreamblasterBundle
Smaller than a full size keyboard, I’ll give it that!

Very very small :)

I made tests without USB hub and with the latest version of RISC OS and Maestro, on two computers: no change. Only explanation: a problem with the usb to midi interface (that works OK on Windows). I hope :)

David: Petit cadeau poir toi: http://www.heyrick.co.uk/random/For_David_Feugey/

Copies of the music on your site played on my keyboard.

The recording is slightly “noisier” than yours as my EeePC only has a Mic input, so I’m bodging volume levels to get the keyboard to play into a port expecting a Mic without overloading the thing. You don’t really notice this once the music has started to play. MP3 encoding is VBR at a reasonably good quality. Some info in ID3v2 tags, if you have software that can read those. [also ID3v1, but it is basic]

I also added “Bohemian Rhapsody” for a laugh, although I swear it ought to be playing faster. Maybe I’m just remembering Wayne and Garth in the car…? It’s a big MP3, you get all six and a half minutes of it. Yay! [all channel 1, instrument is piano]

I also added “Pachelbel’s Canon” as it is my favouritest-ever piece of music. [all channel 1, instrument is piano with sustain¹]

BTW, I note that “Higurashi” is in your MP3 collection. You do realise that I only got around to transcribing the first nine bars of it, right? ;-)

Anyway – you can put these on your site if you wish. Enjoy listening! Bon écoute!

¹ Sustain? SYS “MIDI_TxControlChange”, 64, X where ‘X’ is 0 for off and 127 for on.

…while I had the PC and the keyboard hooked up, I transferred some MIDI to the keyboard and recorded the playback.

This is not being played by RISC OS (or a PC). The keyboard is playing this by itself (it has just over 1MiB Flash which is enough for a LOT of MIDI tracks).

• “God Knows…” (from The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya) : http://www.heyrick.co.uk/random/Haruhi Suzumiya – God Knows….mp3 (4m39s)
  If converted to Maestro format, or even just played by something that understands MIDI, this would certainly show up any issues of timing jitter. The real song is played at that speed, albeit on electric guitar – you can probably find it on YouTube.

• “Epic Greensleeves Canon” : http://www.heyrick.co.uk/random/Epic Greensleeves Canon.mp3 (6m23s)
  A rather nice arrangement of Greensleeves as a canon (think “row row row your boat” if that’s an unfamiliar word). Don’t even think about the possibility of Maestroifying this, I think in the middle it uses as many instruments as there are MIDI channels. ;-)

Source MIDI files? Look at the IDv2 “URL” tag for links.

Has anybody ever written a Maestro ↔ MIDI conversion program?

[This is to atone for the horrid horrid Maestro rendition that even bleaching the brain won’t get rid of… you guys are lucky you heard it once (if you made it that far). I had to listen to it several times to make and check the recording.]

David: Petit cadeau poir toi: http://www.heyrick.co.uk/random/For_David_Feugey/

Merci! What’s the name of your keyboard?

The recording is slightly “noisier” than yours as my EeePC only has a Mic input.

If you’re under XP, there is an option (deeply buried) to remove the mic amp (I did have one on my Atom PC, a very similar setup).

I also added “Pachelbel’s Canon” as it is my favouritest-ever piece of music. [all channel 1, instrument is piano with sustain1]

Sounds great.

BTW, I note that “Higurashi” is in your MP3 collection. You do realise that I only got around to transcribing the first nine bars of it, right? ;-)

You see everything :) I tried to make a complete collection.

“God Knows…”

Very interesting. I will use it as a base for conversion.

Maestro ↔ MIDI conversion program?

Maestro to Midi should be simple.

Midi to Maestro…. Mmhhh.

…while I had the PC and the keyboard hooked up, I transferred some MIDI to the keyboard and recorded the playback.

I assume that song management doesn’t work in the Midi module?

Thanks for all the files and work.

http://fr.yamaha.com/fr/products/musical-instruments/keyboards/digitalkeyboards/portable_keyboards/psr-e333/?mode=model