midi files sounding right

[oldsage]

hi as i frequently do midi files and use a variety of programs to do them,i realised something wasn,t right when i played certain files through my keyboard.i went over and over these files but could not figure out why certain sounds did not come out right.my keyboard uses gm and gs midi,s but reading through the literature found that it was only for bank1 for each.now when you use special effects such as say thunder,on the gs it is bank2 patch 122 but on my keyboard it plays seashore noise,as it only recognises bank1,this is also true for the gm2 bank patches.so if your keyboard doesn,t sound right on certain tracks this could be the answer,it is simply playing the only patch available to it.does anybody else get this problem? how about the big yamaha keyboards do they recognise more than 1 bank,and gm2 multi banks?i will have to remember not to add special patches on the 2-3-4 banks,as they would only play the patch number on bank 1

[Stephanie]

There are also several different ways to do bank selects: some manufacturers use a controller message to select the bank followed by a Program Change to select the patch; others use two program changes; etc. Keyboards and modules usually number there patches 0-127. Some editing software also numbers them 0-127 but other programs number them 1-128. Yet another source of confusion...

[JazzCat]

The original numbering is 0-127. The reason is that MIDI comands use two 8 bit binary bytes. 2 bytes in binary can give you numbers from ranging from 0 to 127. 0 is indeed a number in the computer world . The reason programs began to show you numbers from 1-128 is because most users are not geeks and are not familliar with binary. Non-geeky people think of the number zero as nothing.


Have you noticed that everything in MIDI only goes up to 127 ( or 128 depending on how your prg reads) Volume 127 pan either goes 0- 127 with 64 being center, or for the non-geek it is displayed in easier to see numbers as L 64 and R 64 with 0 as center, 128 patches in each bank ( unless some are left blank within a bank)

Everything in MIDI is 127.
But , you say, what about pitch bend?? well pitch bend is divided up even more. It takes another byte for pitchbend so you with up with smaller divisions of 16,384 ( notice that's equal to 128 times 128.)

Banks work the same, byte wise, so you actually can have 128 separate and unique banks each holdng 128 patches.

Companies decide what sounds they want to use and whenre they want to put them. the only thing they do need to stick to is the basic GM Standard bank of sounds and GM controllers. Roland expanded theirs with GS. Yamaha went another direction with XG. And some outside companies follow some of those standards. Everything else is free game. Each Roland or Yamaha board not only has their GS or XG additions but also their OWN patches. You need to know what you particular board's other banks and patches are and how your board accesses them. That should all be listed in the manual as well as a MIDI implementation chart. In other words, a chart of what MIDI messages your board will react to and what it won't.
Cat >^..^<

[oldsage]

thanks cat,another brilliant lecture on midi architecture,and use.i suppose when these guys or gals use a midi for backing at a gig,it uses a player so the bank issue wont really matter to them,and the sounds will come out as intended.that,s a relief i thought then that some of my files would n,t play right. many thanks steve

[muso]

gs sounds can be implemented using controller 0
program change Seashore cc0 with a value of 2 gives you Thunder.
3= Wind 4= Stream etc
Check your manual.
Hope this helps

[thingyy]

Also cc# 32 can be used to address banks.
You need to look at the midi implementation chart for your machine.