11 replies to this topic

[Pong]

Most of my loops are, in fact, very short. Now is there some way to convert a MIDI to a format which can be used with the Atari 2600 or do I have to do it by hand?

[theloon]

I once thought of using MIDI to text converters and then matching the frequencies with those used in VisualbB. If you find a public domain MIDI conversion tool maybe the developer of VisualbB could make a "import" function for MIDI

[diogoandrei]

I think it might be possible (I am not a fully capable programmer), but I do believe it´s always the same issue: the TIA frequencies. So the converter will have to make decisions on how to approach the not-available/not-close enough frequencies. Also there´s the timber question. If your loops are, let´say, percussive ones, you will have to program the sounds using different distortions sometimes. For example, a good sounding snare might be achived using two different TIA distortions: one for the snapping sound and the other for the body sound of the snare.

I am not saying it´s impossible (please, don´t get me wrong - I would love to have a MIDI2TIA converter), but in a a first moment it looks like a pretty challenging quest. Nevertheless, it would be a really good feature for Visual bB! =)

[batari]

A member here wrote one, and although he didn't publish it, he sent it to me. It didn't work very well with the MIDI files I tried. It would only decode one channel, and MIDIs can have 16. This would be fine but it seems that even with simple songs, they use several channels even for what sounds like a single voice, so you get fragments of the tune, and need to run the program several times and manually reassemble the fragments into a single voice.

The MIDI-to-text converters look promising, though, and could be the basis for a converter.

There is also SID2TIA, which can convert a SID tune. With tweaking, and with the right SIDs (i.e. not the blippy ones that try to do two voices in a single channel) you can get decent results.

[RevEng]

Even the most basic MIDI songs you can download will have chords and layered sounds which exceed TIA's capabilities, let alone the usual frequency problems. MIDI has 16 channels, but each channel can also have dozens of simultaneous notes. At a minimum, with a MIDI to TIA converter you'd still have a lot of manual refinement to do.

My usual TIA composition process is to start off by creating a piece specifically for the 2600 with Rosegarden and a midi keyboard, manually transpose it to TIA, see what works and what doesn't, and then run through a bunch of iterations until I get something I like.

I suspect the SID conversion works much better because the targeted sound hardware is much closer to TIA than even the most meager GM module is.

[SpiceWare]

Could probably utilize DPC+'s 3-Voice Music support (see Demo 1), it comes with the piano's 88 frequencies predefined and you can add other frequencies if you need them. I don't know if it'll be useable in bB though.

Edited by SpiceWare, Tue Mar 8, 2011 10:08 AM.

[theloon]

batari, on Mon Mar 7, 2011 5:11 PM, said:

A member here wrote one, and although he didn't publish it, he sent it to me. It didn't work very well with the MIDI files I tried. It would only decode one channel, and MIDIs can have 16. This would be fine but it seems that even with simple songs, they use several channels even for what sounds like a single voice, so you get fragments of the tune, and need to run the program several times and manually reassemble the fragments into a single voice.

The MIDI-to-text converters look promising, though, and could be the basis for a converter.

There is also SID2TIA, which can convert a SID tune. With tweaking, and with the right SIDs (i.e. not the blippy ones that try to do two voices in a single channel) you can get decent results.

I wonder if someone could convince the 1 track MIDI converter to release his little utility? Even one track is better than, er, none. For me the object is not to convert existing MIDI files but create them in a composition program. I can deal with using 1 track in a comfortable music editor and then convert it with that tool.

[Pong]

theloon, on Tue Mar 8, 2011 1:52 PM, said:

batari, on Mon Mar 7, 2011 5:11 PM, said:

A member here wrote one, and although he didn't publish it, he sent it to me. It didn't work very well with the MIDI files I tried. It would only decode one channel, and MIDIs can have 16. This would be fine but it seems that even with simple songs, they use several channels even for what sounds like a single voice, so you get fragments of the tune, and need to run the program several times and manually reassemble the fragments into a single voice.

The MIDI-to-text converters look promising, though, and could be the basis for a converter.

There is also SID2TIA, which can convert a SID tune. With tweaking, and with the right SIDs (i.e. not the blippy ones that try to do two voices in a single channel) you can get decent results.

I wonder if someone could convince the 1 track MIDI converter to release his little utility? Even one track is better than, er, none. For me the object is not to convert existing MIDI files but create them in a composition program. I can deal with using 1 track in a comfortable music editor and then convert it with that tool.

It's extremely easy for me to make my songs into only one channel- I had drums which were cut out of the final product, so I have only one channel left.

[batari]

Pong, on Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:57 AM, said:

theloon, on Tue Mar 8, 2011 1:52 PM, said:

I wonder if someone could convince the 1 track MIDI converter to release his little utility? Even one track is better than, er, none. For me the object is not to convert existing MIDI files but create them in a composition program. I can deal with using 1 track in a comfortable music editor and then convert it with that tool.

It's extremely easy for me to make my songs into only one channel- I had drums which were cut out of the final product, so I have only one channel left.

If he sees this thread, maybe... But anyway, if you post your MIDI, I'll run it through the converter.

[Pong]

batari, on Fri Mar 18, 2011 8:12 PM, said:

Pong, on Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:57 AM, said:

theloon, on Tue Mar 8, 2011 1:52 PM, said:

I wonder if someone could convince the 1 track MIDI converter to release his little utility? Even one track is better than, er, none. For me the object is not to convert existing MIDI files but create them in a composition program. I can deal with using 1 track in a comfortable music editor and then convert it with that tool.

It's extremely easy for me to make my songs into only one channel- I had drums which were cut out of the final product, so I have only one channel left.

If he sees this thread, maybe... But anyway, if you post your MIDI, I'll run it through the converter.

I'll post it later.

I have a question about the converter, though- does it read note lengths right, tempo right, velocities, and notes right (songs tend to be from C2-C8, FL Studio scale)

[batari]

Pong, on Sun Mar 20, 2011 9:14 AM, said:

batari, on Fri Mar 18, 2011 8:12 PM, said:

Pong, on Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:57 AM, said:

theloon, on Tue Mar 8, 2011 1:52 PM, said:

I wonder if someone could convince the 1 track MIDI converter to release his little utility? Even one track is better than, er, none. For me the object is not to convert existing MIDI files but create them in a composition program. I can deal with using 1 track in a comfortable music editor and then convert it with that tool.

It's extremely easy for me to make my songs into only one channel- I had drums which were cut out of the final product, so I have only one channel left.

If he sees this thread, maybe... But anyway, if you post your MIDI, I'll run it through the converter.

I'll post it later.

I have a question about the converter, though- does it read note lengths right, tempo right, velocities, and notes right (songs tend to be from C2-C8, FL Studio scale)

I have no clue, but I'd be surprised if it did all that.

[yuppicide]

Here's some SID2TIA loops I did that came out decent if you want to hear:

http://www.atariage....ost__p__1784406