MIDI Merlin
The entire application was made using Max. The palette of tools, Max externals and object libraries available to Max are what made this project possible. Every single time there was a new feature to implement, Max could always offer a solution to realize the implementation.
Hi,
I'm very interested in your project. i was working on something similar, but not to invent the wheel twice (do we say that in english?) i'd like to try your application. unfortunately, i could not open the dmg-file. could you upload another file? maybe ven a max-app?
looking forward,
greetings,
leonhard
Hello, I have added a new link to a zip archive. If anyone else is having a problem opening the dmg please let me know by leaving a comment. Thanks very much, cheers, Randy
My MacBook Pro (OSX Lion 10.7.2 French) tells my that the dmg is corrupted an cannot be opened.
hallo, i'm an engeneering student from belgium, and yesterday we got a new project: a midi controlled theremin, so this will help a lot, thanks! if you want we can stay in touch and share our findings, additions or ideas!
great work! and your theremin handling skills are amazing .
greets
lex
it took me a while to figure out, i have to use the continuous mode for audio-to-midi conversion. but now its just woking fine. thanks for the great app!
and it tracks so well. how did you actually manage this? i would be interested in wich algorithm you used.
greetz,
leonhard
Thanks Leonhard. I hope I can make it more intuitive in future versions. The tracking is done with the Max external called sigmund~ written by Miller Puckette. MIDI Merlin is free because many of the components, plus the huge library of objects within Max were not coded by me. Max(MSP) deserves the credit. I'm just a wizard that mixes existing ingredients to make something new.
Thanks Alex. I hope everything works out great. In a near future version, I will implement "custom canvassing" to allow only certain selected MIDI notes to be triggered by the incoming tracked audio. I will use it in my own theremin playing, but I'm sure it would be useful for projects like yours.
Thanks Thierry. I have left the zip version available until I can find a solution for easily creating a dmg compatible with All Mac OS X versions from 10.5 - 10.7.
Cheers,
Randy
Hi Randy, I have a friend who has been using your software. I'm really interested in giving it ago myself at home but only have a PC. Is there any chance of a Windows version being made available? or is there one already out there that I'm unaware of?
Thanks,
Luke
Hi Luke, Thanks for the question. I'm happy to be able to give you a good answer. I will be posting the newest version of MIDI Merlin very soon, which is compatible with both Mac and PC. there are also some new features in this upcoming release. the time frame is about a week to two weeks from today.
Cheers,
Randy
MIDI Merlin version 1.02 for Mac OSX and Windows, now published. download links at the top of the project description. Enjoy. make some Magic, and then let me know about it at the MIDI Merlin Facebook Page. Cheers, Randy
Is it possible to have it pitch bend automatically? Possibly by detecting the base note and then sending the pitch offset. Also, polyphony would be a nice addition.
I should have specified that the automatic pitch bend feature would be for Audio Input mode. Any chance at open sourcing this?
Could you release the Max project?
Hi Steve,
I created a test of automated pitch bend in Audio Input mode, but it does not work well. The pitch bend mode would have to be manually enabled 'on demand', otherwise every midi note would be generated with continuously shifting PitchBend data, and the output MIDI data starts sounding like a microtonal mess. maybe in a future version, I can find a good solution.
Sorry, I don't choose at this time to make the project open source. it's quite complex on the inside and not well documented either. I am also currently at a standstill with development because of a strange bug in the current version of Max.
Polyphony is not possible with MIDI Merlin, except for sequentially entered notes held with sustain... for instance, slowly strumming a guitar, while holding down the 'sustain' function.
I can see how the MIDI data would sound like a mess when using your instrument of choice (the theremin), but I was thinking more along the lines of an instrument like a guitar where every note is (almost) exactly centered and can then be shifted. I'm a guitarist and I really enjoy being able to play other instruments with my guitar (at no extra cost). On demand is the best way to go anyways. More user control. This feature would mean a lot to me and I'm sure a lot of others, even if it's just a beta test.
Who better to document and debug than the community? I respect your choice of close sourcing it (especially if you plan on selling it in the future), but I think releasing this to the community could really speed up its development. I'm not entirely sure how Max projects work or how version control could be implemented for them, but if you could put the project up on a site like GitHub it might get the attention of a few other Max developers or even inspire a few people to learn Max for themselves.
I figured it would be. Is that a limitation of Max or is it just too complex for this particular project?
I would very much like to earn something from the project, since it was quite an undertaking. I included a donation link in the application, but have yet to receive any support. at the moment, my focus is on a few other projects, so this also slows things down a bit.
I was about to write what you suggested... yes, for guitar or other fretted/keyed instruments, the pitch bend could work better...
the problem with opening this project really comes down to organization. I am not really a software developer by trade, i was just having a ton of fun in Max, and it evolved into an incredible monster. I'm also not ready to just release all my hard work. Max development is pretty much an open environment by its nature... the Max 'standalone' is the only way to "close source" a project.
Thanks for your interest and feedback. I'll definitely put the pitch bend option at the top of the list for the next release. send me your email address to midimerlin [at] randygeorgemusic [dot] com and I if/when I have a beta version you can try, I'll let you know.
Hi Randy,
is it possible to use Merlin as a percussion input device?
My idea is to drum on a desk or something else and Merlin translates the audio input to Midi Notes. For this it would be necessary to avoid the pitch detection, right?
Thanks for your great application.
Cheers,
Steffen
Hello Steffen, thanks for your message. MIDI Merlin doesn't respond well to sounds with ambiguous tone, such as noise, percussion hits or breath sound. Perhaps in a future version, I could implement what you are suggesting. it would take quite a bit of work, but there is a good possibility that it could plug in nicely. The max external written by Miller Puckette called bonk~ is a percussion follower, able to detect sudden changes in frequency range of percussive sound in the spectral domain. the audio input source could then be switched to a percussion mode and the output MIDI could trigger General MIDI percussion mappings.
And so the gates to the great city in the sky opened up. And lo, was this app.
I played with this device all day long and I really like it!
one thing that bothers me though is that I cannot seem to get rid of the long latency. my AI buffer size is set to 2 ms, and I've set both I/O and Signal vector sizes to 64 samples. Still, it sounds like I have a latency of several hundreds of ms...is there anything else I might not be considering here?
Hi Omer, I've answered your question on your post on MIDI Merlin's facebook page. For anyone else interested, it's about signal quality. the input signal's quality can have some impact on tracking performance and can sometimes give the impression of latency. Good results are obtained from MIDI Merlin after a bit of trial and error, configuring settings and adjusting levels, but most important is that the quality rule applies. Quality in => Quality out
Hi!
I'm looking for as special fonction....
I have a AxiomPro61 with many buttons ans slider....
I would like to use it as GAME CONTROLLER for a airplane cocpit for X-Plane.
I would like to have information if your software could help me with that or if some one could give a me clue to get closer to my goal!
Thank's so much for your feed back!
Year
2011 - 2015 on-going
Location
Los Angeles, CA
Author