Merging 2 files for gig next month

[souwalker]

Hi

I read the thread of merging 2 files but it just went over my head. My knowldege of midi will not be a successful attempt nor do I have Cakewalk.

We have 2 files, Sway and Moonflower (Santana). They are both sort of cha-cha numbers and we were hoping to do them together in a wedding next month. We'd hope to play this 2 song as one song.

Any takers ;D

Thanks
Patrick

[JohnG]

The lesson was designed (started) for users of Cakewalk but as there was so little feedback I haven't continued it. If you want to send me the 2nd file I'll take a look. (no promises). You should find "Sway" (modified) in your in tray.
JohnG.

[JazzCat]

I can also take a look at them, of course with that 'no promises' guarantee as well!
LOL!!!

[JohnG]

Hi JazzCat,
Patrick has already emailed them to me and I've done the first edit by inserting an extra measure at the front of the first file to include a hi-hat 1,2,3,4, and Patrick seems quite happy with it.

They have quite a bit of GS SysEx in them both, which I'm preserving, although moving about a little bit. I know you're not that comfortable with SysEx messages so I'll crack on with it. BTW have you tried Mike le Voi's GSXG utilities? One utility does a decode of the sysex messages into something like English. I'll try to find the link for you.

All the best,
JohnG.

[JazzCat]

No I haven't even heard of it, but I believe I found the link....
www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/XG_GS_SYSEX/

clicking on the download link takes you here:
home.modemss.brisnet.org.au/~mlevoi/index.html

What all does it do? And what do you mean by 'English' ? LOL

Curious because I just spotted a question on another group that is sort of realted:

---------------
Perhaps some one knows of an XG to GM converter that is available on the net. One that actually changes the file to work in a GM synth, and not just changes the mode of the player.
---------------

[JohnG]

Yep,
Mike le Voi's site is the one I'm referring to.

The SysEx utility doesn't do XG to GM, only XG to GS and vice versa. Why? Because there often isn't an equivalent message in the GM set. For instance how would you change "set voice reserve for part 2 to 2" to GM? Whereas there are often similar instructions between XG and GS.

What do I mean by English? Well, in the previous paragraph is an example of the English decode of a GS SysEx event given by the utility. It means something to me but I doubt it means a lot to more than 90% of the people here. But its a whole lot better than: "F0 41 10 42 12 40 01 10 05 00 01 02 01 00 03 01 01 01 00 01 04 00 04 00 17 F7" I'm sure you'd agree? In XG speak it would say something like " Set part 2 element reserve to 2". Not a whole lot clearer I expect?

So the answer to the question about converting XG to GM is that only a very small subset of the things that can be done in either XG or GS can be done by a GM module. 70 or 80% of them (or maybe even more, I haven't counted) are untranslatable. A utility like Mike le Voi's will tell you what the command is and you may be able to translate it yourself to a standard MIDI message but the chances aren't high.

Er, does that explain?
In English?
JohnG.

[JazzCat]

Yep, that explains it in English quite nicely!
Yer right John, I don't understand "set voice reserve for part 2 to 2" much more than I understand "F0 41 10 42 12 40 01 10 05 00 01 02 01 00 03 01 01 01 00 01 04 00 04 00 17 F7" LOL

(and people think I'm a MIDI guru... Ha ha ha ha!)

BTW, I finally 'get' the hex in your sig line <smile>

[JohnG]

Hi JazzCat,

Well, let me respond by saying MIDI guru does not necessarily equate to GS guru or to XG guru. So I think you can safely wear the "MIDI guru" badge and display it with pride. I would not be happy to wear a GS guru badge and even hesitate to wear an XG one. Although I know a lot about them (more XG than GS at this point) it's not just the knowledge of what they do but very much IMHO being able to use them effectively in a MIDI arrangement or composition.

We used to talk about levels of expertise when I was in the computing industry. The highest status was awarded to the person who had read the manual. I think guru status is given to one who has read the manual, understood it and can implement it.

I don't know what award was given to the person who wrote the manual.

Glad you got the sig in the end. Not very funny is it?
Best regards,
JohnG.

[gibbo]

John,
I always thought your sig line meant "Turn GM off", I think that's pretty funny!
Am I missing something?
Cheers, Dave.

[JohnG]

No! Just suffering from boredom. ;-)
JG.

[midwaysue]

Hi
Just to say I have taught myself how to merge songs together, medleys of 2,3 and more songs. This is what works for me,
I use my Kn7000 loading them in via midi into song files 1,2 etc. and do all programming via nxsound -i find it easy now cos i've learnt this way.
Work out the parametres of the songs needing to be copied eg song 1 start bar/ end bar song 2 start bar end bar etc.
Copy song 2 to begin at say bar 50 (after song 1 would be finishing) delete all of previous bars 1-49 (this is important or you will get a messy sound!)
You need to make a note of all directions on song 2 at bar 1 so that you can insert it at bar 50 when song 2 will begin.
Then I copy and merge from track 1 song 2 to track 1 song 1, It works really well -it might sound a bit long winded but I've have got quite used to it and have done loads.
Its better this way cos you just load in 1 song and you've got a medley! Keeps people on the dance floor and the night pass a little easier!!
Have fun anyone who wants more detailed info just drop me a line,
MidwaySue.