julian.brooks

I have written a piece of music that has a 3 note chord and an 8 note

the number of notes each bar plays from the melody,

the rhythm of the melody plus all note lengths and

the chord placement and inversion of the chords.

For the past couple of weeks I have been messing around with 1 bar midifiles

I have two separate 1 bar files, chord and melody, which I'm reading into a

'seq' each. I have managed to set up a random function that works for the

tempo (using a small piece from one of the midi tutorials). I'm going out

of 'seq', into 'midiparse', which I'm aware allows me to see the midi data

using 'unpack' and 'pack', then back to 'midiformat'.

What is troubling me at the moment, is that this all seems to be happening

after the fact, so to speak. I'm also getting the feeling that this is an

I have the idea that this could all be accomplished using 'lists' of some

sort, rather than midifiles? This route is outside of my technical

know-how so far, so I throw myself at the feet of the list collective

It's my first post, after lurking for a while, so be gentle with me please.

I have written a piece of music that has a 3 note chord and an 8 note
melodic line per bar.

                       the tempo that each bar plays at,

                       the number of notes each bar plays from the melody,

                       the rhythm of the melody plus all note lengths and
velocities,

                       the chord placement and inversion of the chords.

For the past couple of weeks I have been messing around with 1 bar midifiles
with limited success. 

 I have two separate 1 bar files, chord and melody, which I'm reading into a
'seq' each.  I have managed to set up a random function that works for the
tempo (using a small piece from one of the midi tutorials).  I'm going out
of 'seq', into 'midiparse', which I'm aware allows me to see the midi data
using 'unpack' and 'pack', then back to 'midiformat'.

What is troubling me at the moment, is that this all seems to be happening
after the fact, so to speak.  I'm also getting the feeling that this is an
inelegant solution to my needs.

I have the idea that this could all be accomplished using 'lists' of some
sort, rather than midifiles?  This route  is outside of my technical
know-how so far, so  I throw myself at the feet of the list collective
wisdom for some enlightenment.

midifile-manipulation

You might want to take a look at Eric Lyons SeqPlayer external (available at 

http://www.ericsinger.com/cyclopsmax.html)

It allows you to jump around to specific points within a midi file and change tempos on the fly. It won't do everything you're after, but its a start.

Quote: julian.brooks wrote on Sat, 03 March 2007 06:06

----------------------------------------------------

> I have written a piece of music that has a 3 note chord and an 8 note

> the number of notes each bar plays from the melody,

> the rhythm of the melody plus all note lengths and

> the chord placement and inversion of the chords.

You might want to take a look at Eric Lyons SeqPlayer external (available at http://www.ericsinger.com/cyclopsmax.html)

It allows you to jump around to specific points within a midi file and change tempos on the fly.  It won't do everything you're after, but its a start.

Quote: julian.brooks wrote on Sat, 03 March 2007 06:06
----------------------------------------------------
> Hey all,
>
>
>
> I have written a piece of music that has a 3 note chord and an 8 note
> melodic line per bar.
>
>
>
> What I would like to do is; 
>
> randomize the order of the bars, 
>
>                        the tempo that each bar plays at,
>
>                        the number of notes each bar plays from the melody,
>
>                        the rhythm of the melody plus all note lengths and
> velocities,
>
>                        the chord placement and inversion of the chords.
>
>
>
>
----------------------------------------------------


It might in the long run be much easier to accomplish this if you 

store the data not as a MIDI file but in a [coll] with note numbers, 

velocity, onset time, duration, delta time, etc. - that way you could 

easily read out selected data and manipulate it on the fly. I did 

something similar to this as a grad student almost 20 years ago in 

piece that algorithmically altered stored musical phrases 'on the fly.'

Quote: julian.brooks wrote on Sat, 03 March 2007

> the number of notes each bar plays from the 

> the rhythm of the melody plus all note 

> the chord placement and inversion of the 

It might in the long run be much easier to accomplish this if you  
store the data not as a MIDI file but in a [coll] with note numbers,  
velocity, onset time, duration, delta time, etc. - that way you could  
easily read out selected data and manipulate it on the fly. I did  
something similar to this as a grad student almost 20 years ago in  
HMSL  for a gallery installation  
piece that algorithmically altered stored musical phrases 'on the fly.'

Quote: julian.brooks wrote on Sat, 03 March 2007
----------------------------------------------------
> I have written a piece of music that has a 3 note chord and an 8 note
> melodic line per bar.
>
> What I would like to do is;
>
> randomize the order of the bars,
>
>                        the tempo that each bar plays at,
>
>                        the number of notes each bar plays from the  
> melody,
>
>                        the rhythm of the melody plus all note  
> lengths and velocities,
>
>                        the chord placement and inversion of the  
> chords.

> It might in the long run be much easier to accomplish this if you store 

> the data not as a MIDI file but in a [coll] with note numbers, velocity, 

> onset time, duration, delta time, etc. - that way you could easily read 

> out selected data and manipulate it on the fly.

I agree, I don't see much need for creating 1 bar midifiles. In addition 

to the above said, have a look at Karl-Heinz Essls RTC collection. He 

collected everything which would help for this kind of manipulations. 

And a lot of it are abstractions which let you learn how to do things in 

Steven Miller schrieb:
> It might in the long run be much easier to accomplish this if you store 
> the data not as a MIDI file but in a [coll] with note numbers, velocity, 
> onset time, duration, delta time, etc. - that way you could easily read 
> out selected data and manipulate it on the fly.

I agree, I don't see much need for creating 1 bar midifiles. In addition 
to the above said, have a look at Karl-Heinz Essls RTC collection. He 
collected everything which would help for this kind of manipulations. 
And a lot of it are abstractions which let you learn how to do things in 
Max....

-- 
Stefan Tiedje------------x-------
--_____-----------|--------------
--(_|_ ----|-----|-----()-------
-- _|_)----|-----()--------------
----------()--------www.ccmix.com


Many thanks to Dan, Stefan and Steven for the advice. After much messing

around, this was the conclusion that slowly started to dawn upon me, that

this was not the way to do what I wanted to achieve, yet with my limited

experience these are the roads that need to be travelled along for learning.

I must say that this is one of the things I really like about using Max and

probably most other software that involves building your own apps (PD SC

etc), the almost philosophical approaches that each individual has to take.

The being stuck and sleeping on it, waiting for a mild eureka moment.

From: maxmsp-bounces@cycling74.com [mailto:maxmsp-bounces@cycling74.com] On

Subject: [maxmsp] Re: midifile manipulation

You might want to take a look at Eric Lyons SeqPlayer external (available at

It allows you to jump around to specific points within a midi file and

change tempos on the fly. It won't do everything you're after, but its a

Many thanks to Dan, Stefan and Steven for the advice.  After much messing
around, this was the conclusion that slowly started to dawn upon me, that
this was not the way to do what I wanted to achieve, yet with my limited
experience these are the roads that need to be travelled along for learning.

I must say that this is one of the things I really like about using Max and
probably most other software that involves building your own apps (PD SC
etc), the almost philosophical approaches that each individual has to take.
The being stuck and sleeping on it, waiting for a mild eureka moment.

-----Original Message-----
From: maxmsp-bounces@cycling74.com [mailto:maxmsp-bounces@cycling74.com] On
Behalf Of Dan
Sent: 03 March 2007 17:13
Subject: [maxmsp] Re: midifile manipulation

You might want to take a look at Eric Lyons SeqPlayer external (available at
http://www.ericsinger.com/cyclopsmax.html)

It allows you to jump around to specific points within a midi file and
change tempos on the fly.  It won't do everything you're after, but its a
start.