[ale] finally a _good_ use of midi music

Jim Kinney jim.kinney at gmail.com
Thu Feb 5 15:19:27 EST 2009


myspace page crashes fedora9 x86_64 firefox w/alpha adobe 64-bit flash
but runs fine with F10 and similar setup. I love technology.

Nice hair: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=381941310&albumID=408714&imageID=10108196



On Thu, Feb 5, 2009 at 9:46 AM, Jeff Hubbs <hbbs at comcast.net> wrote:
> Aaron makes several good points.
>
> "MIDI music"'s association with "cheesy game sounds" has nothing to do
> with the underlying protocol.  My first use of it goes back to 1985 for
> a live show where I played bass and keyboards, and I ran a cable from a
> Roland Juno-106 to a Yamaha DX-7 so that I could play a drone bass note
> along with a high string tone with one hand.  Then, from 1987 to 1992, I
> went hog nuts, hooking up an Amiga 1000 to three rack-mount synths, a
> drum machine, a digital Hammond, three effects devices, a MIDI
> patchbay/processor, a keyboard controller, and a guitar controller (you
> can see this setup on my Myspace page at http://myspace.com/jeffhubbs2).
>
>
> Jim Kinney wrote:
>> Your understanding of the development background and details of the
>> protocols of multimedia formats always astound me.
>>
>> I have always associated midi music with cheesy game sounds. I did not
>> know it was as capable as you just informed. It has always seemed to
>> me to be a poor mans synthesizer format of music. Piano is not really
>> piano, trumpet is not really trumpet.
>>
>> But now that I understand the age of the protocol, it becomes far more
>> impressive.
>>
>> Thanks for the education. I am passing the tool around for schools to
>> look at (for obvious reasons).
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 11:04 PM, aaron <aaron at pd.org> wrote:
>>
>>> The over emphasis on "good" in the subject
>>> line is way out of place. Channeling the voice
>>> of Thurl Ravenscroft* here, most everything
>>> about MIDI music is not just good, it's GRRREAT!
>>>
>>> MIDI is the singular case of a truly public,
>>> openly published and royalty free protocol
>>> standard that managed to evolve in an industry
>>> consortium and then, amazingly, it escaped the
>>> cesspool of corporate proprietary greed in tact
>>> and uncorrupted without the intervention of a
>>> commonwealth democracy.
>>>
>>> This simple, robust and flexible multi channel
>>> serial protocol was born in the very early days
>>> of the digital revolution and still continues to
>>> serve as a flexible and functional tool for
>>> inventive technologists and creative artists the
>>> world over.  While it's contributions to the world
>>> of music are profound, it now serves well beyond
>>> it's initial role as an efficient music notation
>>> and delivery tool, having been repurposed to
>>> hundreds of innovative control and communication
>>> applications in other areas, from stage lighting
>>> to robotics.  The music education application you
>>> reference** is just one among a thousand great
>>> little innovations that MIDI has facilitated.
>>>
>>> While it may be a fair observation to claim that
>>> MIDI has been used to record and deliver a lot of
>>> mediocre musical composition, the fault is not
>>> the format of the notation but the writers. MIDI
>>> has made the enjoyment of music more accessible to
>>> millions of people, both in offering an alternative
>>> musical notation and interpretation mechanism and
>>> in facilitating the creation of dozens of new
>>> instruments and music delivery systems. However,
>>> I expect that the actual proportions of mediocre
>>> composers is no different now than in the days of
>>> Mozart and Salieri, when the notation was pen and
>>> ink and only accessible to the wealthy elites
>>> of the era.
>>>
>>> peace
>>> aaron
>>>
>>> *<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurl_Ravenscroft>
>>> **<http://pianobooster.sourceforge.net/index.html>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2009, Feb, 04, , at 5:48 PM, Jim Kinney wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> http://pianobooster.sourceforge.net/index.html
>>>>
>>>> Now to get a midi keyboard....
>>>>
>>>> This can be used in schools with out the need for a piano for each
>>>> student.
>>>>
>>>> Awesome. Totally, fantastically awesome!
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> --
>>>> James P. Kinney III
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>>>> Ale at ale.org
>>>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III


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