New $1 MIDI Player for Macs announced (QT replacement?)

[mhschmieder]

For those who can't run the older version of QuickTime (the new version doesn't support MIDI, as Apple seem to think that was just used for sharing bootlegged music before bandwidth allowed MP3's etc, instead), or would like an alternate workflow when auditioning or verifying MIDI files for their project work, this $1 MIDI Player looks like an interesting option:

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2015/01/ ... s-on-macs/

I'll buy it tonight or tomorrow and give it a whirl.

This could also prove a big time-saver when auditioning drum patterns and the like. I often have to create a template project, load up a bunch of them, and compare, before settling on ones I want to pull in (though I rarely use them as-is).

[stubbsonic]

Thanks, Do let us know what you think. I still use QT 7 pro for the times when that need comes up.

I know it's just a buck, but still.

[mikehalloran]

For those who can't run the older version of QuickTime

Who can't? QT 7.6.6 is still available for free and runs fine in Yosemite.

QT 7.6.6 must be installed in the Utilities folder. It won't work anywhere else. If you have a valid QT Pro 6or 7 key for Mac, 7.6.6 will work with it.

QT 7.7 stopped working after OS 10.5 and should be trashed.

[mhschmieder]

I wouldn't know -- I'm not running Yosemite. I can't make assumptions for other people and their OS and/or hardware. I've seen enough stuff not run on Yosemite at work amongst my own clients to not be surprised at anything.

I think I was one version behind on my Pro license so I gave up on trying to get it to be recognized when I got 7.6.6 installed. I have other programs for format conversion now anyway, and some of the other stuff I depended on had to change lately as well (such as WMA support).

At any rate, they tout this $1 app as being able to work in-place within the file browser as a previewer the way QT Pro used to be able to do (it's been too long for me to remember if that was the case). That can save a lot of time if quickly going through some drum pattern files.

Not sure I have time to toy with it tonight; I'm busy trying your pointers for the more fine-grained possibilities of audio editing as I have one more minor (but highly detailed) splice to make on the drum set in the intro on one song and am looking forward to cutting down on my number of steps (I always got the accuracy I needed, but now I can do it quicker and also have less risk of overlap on multiple edits as that can happen sometimes).

[mhschmieder]

Well, I gave their site a quick look anyway, and am hesitant (it isn't about price, but about installing an app from an unknown developer, that interacts with CoreAudio, and fear it might cause side effects on DP for instance).

I can't (quickly, at least) see support for dragging the playback cursor within a file, as in QT. That's critical for me. Also, it does NOT associate file extensions in a way that allows you to preview MIDI files directly from the Finder. It supports drag/drop, just like QT.

Not sure off-hand of any obvious advantages over QT. They claim fewer clicks, but maybe just because you can set it to auto-play. I prefer, in general, NOT to auto-play things, just like I don't want websites to blast audio as soon as they start. Some MIDI sequences are poorly formed or have other issues and can create a screech and then hang up. I always do a sanity check first.

[billf]

FYI, interestingly enough Apple still sells QuickTime Pro 7 licenses.

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/extending/index.html

[mhschmieder]

Thanks, Bill. That's kind of weird, but it's no different from Vienna Symphonic Library selling simultaneous pro and non-pro versions of their stuff with different version numbers.

I'll have to take inventory of my conversion capabilities for videos and Windows-oriented formats like WMA sometime soon and see if I still have a real need for the codecs/etc. in QT Pro.

[mikehalloran]

I think I was one version behind on my Pro license so I gave up on trying to get it to be recognized when I got 7.6.6 installed.

A QT Pro 5 license won't work; a 6 or 7 license for Mac will. A QTP license for Windows won't.

You must spell your name and enter the key exactly or it won't be recognized. Like MOTU, dashes instead of minus signs, IIRC.

Unfortunately, Apple no longer stores that info in your iTunes account–tons o' complaints about that as one can imagine. When I did my recent clean install, I had to look it up in the QT Preferences on my G4 to get it exact and then it took.

[mhschmieder]

Thanks, Mike. Fortunately, I keep inventory of such stuff that might get "lost" easily, so I have a file somewhere that has my QTP key info. I'll look for it soon to see if it was for an eligible version. I always keep careful and detailed notes about such stuff.

[monkey man]

I'm not doing any work ATM, but I'll sorely miss the Finder's preview of SMFs for sure.

I've pulled hundreds, if not more than a thousand very basic drum grooves (often with no dynamics) from free SMFs for the purpose of auditioning them (with Finder's preview function) as starting points. Intended to save time only when fleshing out ideas with MIDI. The lack of this functionality was one of the first things I noticed after leaving SL for the newer machine. Not happy, Jan!

Amazed that Apple still hasn't restored this basic functionality, frankly. All that work for nothing...

[billf]

I'm not doing any work ATM, but I'll sorely miss the Finder's preview of SMFs for sure.

I've pulled hundreds, if not more than a thousand very basic drum grooves (often with no dynamics) from free SMFs for the purpose of auditioning them (with Finder's preview function) as starting points. Intended to save time only when fleshing out ideas with MIDI. The lack of this functionality was one of the first things I noticed after leaving SL for the newer machine. Not happy, Jan!

Amazed that Apple still hasn't restored this basic functionality, frankly. All that work for nothing...

I guess that is the new meaning of "upgrading" your OS: less functionality, flat ugly UI's, and built in Facebook.

[monkey man]

... and syncing with every poo I fling, Billy.

Lucky for me, I've never owned a pootable device, so there's nothing to sync to.

It is annoying that the interface is steadily being dumbed down in tandem 'though; it only makes me feel more as if I'm being pushed into the "sync cloud". Of course, my intolerance for EM radiation, specifically of the transmission varieties, means that I'll forever be clinging onto fixed hardware...

Observation: I can no longer buy a wired telephone from Telstra (Jungleville's infrastructure and hardware provider). The closest I've seen is of the "base-station" flavour, and those puppies only take 30 seconds to give me a headache. I reckon they'd be heating the brain much faster in light of this observation. You'd think that the comparatively short ranges involved might require much lower-level signals, but my reaction to these things suggests that in fact they're blurting out much stronger ones than conventional mobiles (you call them cells).

[billf]

It is annoying that the interface is steadily being dumbed down in tandem 'though; it only makes me feel more as if I'm being pushed into the "sync cloud".

That's the general trend, to be sure. I think there will be choices, but whether those choices remain on Windows and OSX, remain to be seen.

[monkey man]

I sure hope so, Billy.

My only choice is "non-wireless" everything. Otherwise I'm screwed.