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Is there any way to:

Hide "Velocity: Off" data without hiding all other continuous data (by choosing "only show Velocity: On")? And is there a way to have all edit windows default to that setting?

Who uses "Velocity: Off"? Aren't all noteoff MIDI messages "Velocity=0"?

1. Open your default "New File."

2. Setup menu > Set Input Filter... and uncheck "Off Velocities." This disables the recording of these data.

3. Setup menu > Set View Filter... and uncheck "Off Velocities" for both the Global View Filter and the Event List View Filter (select these from the menu at the top of the dialog window).

4. Save this altered "New File" as your default "New File" template. Now you'll never have to deal with this again in the future. For existing files, however, you'll have to do this for each one.

Note off velocity is not the same as a note off. The first is the *speed* with which you release the key, the second is simply the MIDI message sent when you release the key that tells the sound engine that the note should stop sounding.

I don't know of any synth that actually uses Off Velocities. Certainly none of mine do, so I choose neither to record nor to display them. But apparently some do, mainly for modulating amp/filter envelope release values. For synths that don't respond to this this parameter, DP assigns a default value of 64, not 0.

Kind regards.

Dave Bourke wrote:I don't know of any synth that actually uses Off Velocities. Certainly none of mine do, so I choose neither to record nor to display them. But apparently some do, mainly for modulating amp/filter envelope release values.

At least some Kurzweils transmit and respond to note-off velocity. In the K2000, it is available as a source parameter. I've come across a piano patch where it controlled the decay time as you suggest, but also a harpsichord patch where it controlled the volume of a "plunk" sound on release. Intuitively, it would seem that note-off could contribute a lot to realism and expression.

Gliding in DP...

It might not be new to you guys but today I rediscovered gliding in DP.
If I have 10 tracks I would like to record enable in the sequence Editor, I would always click on the first one and try to sliding over all the other tracks making shure I slide straight to it all the tracks. Well I discovered that you don't have to slide over all the tracks. You only have to click on the first one and then while holding the mouse button you go directly to your last track's recorde enable button. Work lioke a chram without having to be incredibly precise...

It occurred to me that everyone could use a frequency chart, and I happen to have one handy that I made a few years back, so here it is:

MiddleC3 FrequencyChart.pdf

MiddleC4 Frequency Chart

I figure it's kind of important to know your frequencies when you're working with plugins. I always used the ballpark figure obtained by doubling 440 for each octave above A3 (A4 by Kurzweil standards), but one day it occurred to me that it would be easier just to familiarize myself with the actual frequencies rather than doing the math each time. So, I made the chart. With the chart, just by humming or imagining a pitch you can also have a frequency to go by, which helps immensely when using EQ's, compressors, and other plugins. It also helps when working with harmonics.

Here's how I determined the frequencies in my Excel file:
The formula for frequency is
440 * 2^(n/12), where n = the number of half steps from A (440), plus or minus.
For example, the note beneath A would be G#, which is 1/2 step below. So, -1/12 = -0.08333333333
And 2 to the power of -0.083333333 = 0.9438743129
And 0.9438743129 times 440 = 415.304697676
Therefore: The pitch of G# = 415.30
Every frequency used the same formula relative to A=440. That it works is evident at the octaves of A -- they always come out even. Anyway, I hope some of you find the chart to be useful. I've used it often over the years; if you download it and remember that you have it, you can too!

Shooshie

PS: I'm going to post this also over at the Tips Sheet thread.

Is it possible these are off by one octave? I thought the low A on a bass was 55Hz, and that is not as low as A on the piano. I thought 440 would be the A above middle C which is nominally 256Hz.

bayswater wrote:Is it possible these are off by one octave? I thought the low A on a bass was 55Hz, and that is not as low as A on the piano. I thought 440 would be the A above middle C which is nominally 256Hz.

Some moron who did a bunch of the MIDI standardization decided that, for MIDI, middle-C was actualy C3 instead of the traditional C4. Because of him we have keyboards that go down to C-2. He probably thought it was a sick joke... the sadistic f***.

And thanks, Dave, for the advice on Note-Offs. I didn't read it until today (a few months later), but I'll do it immediately. I have an Alesis QS8.1, not the most advanced controller in the world, but for some reason, it seems to be one of the select few that actually send note-off velocities, so it's been a pain in the ass.

PrimeMover wrote: Some moron who did a bunch of the MIDI standardization decided that, for MIDI, middle-C was actualy C3 instead of the traditional C4. Because of him we have keyboards that go down to C-2. He probably thought it was a sick joke... the sadistic f***.

I still do no understand why certain of you say that the C4 is the middle C... on the piano (cos keyboards looks like a piano IMHO) the middle C is the C3... so the one below is C2, C1, C0 and than the last 3 notes that are B-1 Bb-1 A-1... so if you think that keyboards doesn't use the same notation as a standard piano well maybe the C4 could be the center of your instruments, but this doesn't work here in Italy...
regards, Lorenzo

Dude, unless they teach music differently over in Italy, Middle C (261.626Hz) has always been "C4"... ALWAYS. You even had me for a sec so I looked it up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_C

Only in the MIDI world have we ever called Middle C, "C3", in classical music theory, Middle C has always been referred to as "C4"

it seems that here in Italy we use a different method... cos we start from the first A that is called (here...) A-1 then you can simply count C0, C1, C2 and C3 (middle C)... but I notice that many people starts to count from A0 so the first C is C1... I think it's just a matter of taste and no one can be right or wrong here.

According to my Korg dedicated piano tuner, my (regularily tuned) piano middle C is C4.

According to MIDI-Monitor software help, middle C is C4 in Rolland keyboards and C3 in Yamaha keyboards.

Both MIDI-Monitor and DP allows you to chose middle C between C3 and C4.

I've heard somewhere of MIDI devices with middle C referenced as C0 !!!

I don't like it but that's a fact, there's no standard yet.

Same as exact pitch reference can be 440 or 442 or whatever you can encounter.

I'm used to take a close look at my samples library pitches.
Some are 440, others are 442.
Some are math tuned (1 octave up = 2 x frequence).
Others are harmonically tuned (1 octave up = 2 x frequency + some very little more). These are generaly slightly more "natural sounding" (!) to my ears.

Does this mean ears would be still required to make music in 21th century ? Weird ! Strange !

If you go back to my post on the Frequency Chart, you'll find a link I've added to the Middle C4 Frequency Chart. The chart has been there all along; I just didn't realize that I had neglected to put the link in that post. It's there now. That's the chart I have hanging on m wall. The other one (Middle-C3) is for Yamaha users.

Shooshie

It's not just Yamaha users, practically every MIDI interface/program I've worked with has labeled Middle-C as "C3". I used to work with Max/MSP (still do from time to time), and the MIDI readout there is always set to Middle C=MIDI 64=C3. My Alesis QS8 has "C3" written above middle C, and if I remember correctly, Native Instruments labels middle C as C3 (if I remember correctly)... and yet, every music theory class I've ever taken has talked about C4 as middle C.

I genuinely think there's a discrepency between the MIDI world and the classical composition world. It sorta reminds me of how the Bb Trumpet and trombone are acoustically one octave apart, yet one is written in Bb and the other is written in C, and it becomes sort of a pain to try to switch back and forth because of it (I had to back in High School).

How to post URL's, mp3's, Pictures, and Formatted Text in the UnicorNation Forum


••• Method #1: Pasting the link directly into the message:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/75122252/TestPicture.png" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


••• Method #2 - embedding the link: Which gives you this:
Go to page with example file.

••• Method #2b Formatting for added emphasis to the embedded link for visibility:
Note that the link is hard to see in the example above. That's why I always add the underline and/or bold-face characters to the text part: The above code will yield:
Go to page with example file.
Go to page with example file.
Go to page with example file.

So, embed those formatting tags in a URL, like this: and you can get:
Go to page with example file.


••• Posting mp3's from a dropbox account: The above code will yield:
Bach Solo Flute Partita


••• Posting Pictures in a message: you basically just paste the URL using the following enclosure tags:
••• Posting pictures from a dotMac Account: [NO LONGER RELEVANT. DotMac and MobileMe are dead. Use Dropbox or some similarly convenient hosting service.] The above code posts the following picture:


••• Making colored, sized text: Yields: Colored, Sized Text
There are menus to do this, just above the text field in which you type your message, but in my version of Safari they are a little wonky and sometimes do strange things. I usually just type it, because I use QuicKeys to do everything that you see above in this message. It's all a keystroke or two for any given effect. I highly recommend QuicKeys for DP, too.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

Shooshie

I don't think I'll include this into the database on my site... but thanx for the tips!
Regards, Lorenzo