On 2017-08-14 21:04:00 +0000, Andreas Kohlbach  said:

> On Mon, 14 Aug 2017 13:58:14 +0100, Ian McCall wrote:
>>
>> What you're describing is playing via the cheap sound card General
>> MIDI patch-compatible sound cards, like the Waveblaster (Sounblaster
>> with a wavetable synth built in) or similar. But MIDI is
>> sound-independent: it's the score, the , not the sound itself.
>
> No, I just mentioned that also casual users - like me - used MIDI back in
> the 90s, before MP3 and higher bandwidth (and Napster ;-) kicked in. I
> say MIDI used by the casual user was quickly abandoned in the very late 90s.

That's fair enough - you would have used wavetable synths built into
the sound cards in the mid-90s, not "MIDI" as such. MIDI would have fed
those sound cards, but its the sound cards you're describing. It's more
true to say that listening to the built-in sound card synths were
abandoned, than it's true to say MIDI was abandoned, but really we're
splitting the thinnest of hairs here.

>
>> I would -love- to have a modern, up to date SID2MIDI. I work in Logic
>> on the Mac, run various SID emulation instruments like QuadraSID (now
>> discontinued sadly). If you're starting a remix, you can do a lot
>> worse than start from the original MIDI. Feed the original MIDI into a
>> modern emulation and start playing with the sounds - excellent.
>
> What about MIDI to SID? Should be even easier. You might have like 128
> midi instruments defined in GM and could try to create sounds similar to
> that with the SID. You could put the parameters for these sounds in a table
> with other characteristics, like attack/decay/sustain/release. Then if
> say instrument #1 (piano IIRC) is played in a MIDI look up the piano
> sound for the SID from that table.

For me personally, the more interesting capability is definitely
SID->MIDI. Because then I can import the resulting track into Logic and
assign whatever instrument/effects I like, and also edit the
performance. In some cases that might be an emulation of a SID, but in
others I might decide it's time for an electric guitar, or some new
synth, or a vocal, or....

If I can go into random HVSC SID track, export it to MIDI and use it as
a start for a remix then that's really, really useful to me.
Particularly if it includes the automation of the filters/envelopes.
Even if I don't want to do a full-blown authentic SID remix but just
want to practice some production techniques, having a fully made set of
tracks to start with is handy. My aim here isn't to produce accurate
SID tracks, it's to take SID tracks and produce new arrangement with
modern instruments (which may or may not include emulated SID in them -
after all, the SID was a good synth in its own right).

SID music is what got me into writing music in the first place - SID
and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. I still use QuadraSID on almost every
track I do, often quite subtly so that unless you know you'd never
guess. Would be nice to be able to access the music direct and then
work with it myself.


Cheers,
Ian

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