=== Charles Angelich wrote
 
------------Midi
 
> I lurked in many usenet 'audio' groups for a time
> and finally had to start asking for definitions of
> terminology. It's embarassing at times to have to
> ask but everyone was very polite and did their best to
> help me understand even though I admitted I was just
> a hobbyist and may never be able to return the favors.
 
 I'm such a rank amateur in many things that I have
 the same hesitation in requesting information.
 [Which was why this whole conversation started
 with me thanking you for your website and help in
 the past.] On top of that, I have the type of
 memory that [how to describe this?] that seems to
 have a built in delay before it retrieves stuff I
 already know. Then it comes out in a flood. But
 the problem is that that flood may occur an hour
 or a day after I need the info. :(   So I sometimes
 ask a question just to jar my memory.
 
 Incidently, I find FIDO far more friendly in that
 repect than the inet newsgroups. With the exception
 of the DOS newsgroups, I should add. Friendly folk there.
 There was something about DOS that encourages cooperation?
 
>> You believe that you are really _there_ within the
>> movie itself. Very nice.
 
PM> e, I believe! But I don't know about nice. One e
 
> Wasn't that 'Thriller' with Vincent Price?
 
 It was some kid's movie, the title of which escapes me.
 Probably blocked it out, after that harrowing experience. [g]
 
>> I had a MIDI online at my music page that is a very accurate
>> reproduction of Benny Goodman's "Sing Sing Sing". I liste
 
PM> How or where do you get a MIDI reproduction of Benny
PM> Goodman's "Sing Sing Sing". Are MIDI reproductions
PM> available commercially or do you yourself somehow
PM> transform the original into MIDI?
 
> Basically I fix 'broken' MIDI files or files that
> were never done properly at the start. There is a
> demo of a MIDI that is two pianos for four hands
> (a duet of pianos) that I used to demonstrate just
> what I do. I transform the pianos into a small
> group of other instruments (no pianos at that
> point) then back to two pianos again at the end
> and you can listen as it 'transforms'. The music
> is "Maple Leaf Rag" near the end of my music page
> at the bottom. http://www.undercoverdesign.com/dosghost/dos/samples.asp
> I do these and some I just 'fix'. Wrong instrume
 
 Neat. I've often wanted to 'fix' what I thought of
 as a blunder or some sour notes on some piece of music.
 
> The better MIDI are probably professionally done
> with full MIDI hardware and keyboard. I've seen
> full MIDI setups that look like the engineering
> room of a small radio station. :-)
 
 I've been in one of those MIDI studios. Actually a sound
 studio that also included MIDI. Every little button and
 lever ever manufactured in the whole world was in that studio!
 Hadn't a clue. [g]
 
 >> Many professional musicians are using MIDI
 >> synth in place of real musicians now and musicians
 >> aren't happy about it at all.
 
 PM> I guess not, it putting them out of a job.
 
> Somewhat, yes. It's still a bit spooky to see a
> singer on stage singing with a non existent band
> go over and push a button and the sound of an
> orchestra appears with no other persons on stage.
> I prefer real musicians just can't always find
> them or afford to see them when I do find them.
 
> Real musicians watch the lead singer or even lead
> instrument and will increase their volume to
> 'hide' sour notes or known weaknesses in the
> performance that recorded backup can't do to help
> them. I think pros prefer a live band. :-)
 
 I can see many uses for MIDI in imaginative hands
 and I certainly don't knock it. But IMO It should
 be considered as a separate medium. One thing that
 impressed me was that by even slightly altering
 the speed at which something was played back could
 completely alter the mood of the piece.
 
 But what you say above is also true - it helps a
 great deal to have someone -there- at the time,
 someone who reacts to the situation. And then
 there is also other stuff real musicians can do -
 in addition to covering up negative bits. A jazz
 band will try to back up the mood of or blend with
 or influence or even compete with the lead
 instrumentalist or vocalist. Important, that
 interplay, in jazz. That sort of thing works
 especially well with musicians who have been
 together for a time -- Basie's small groups, for
 example -- they sort of play off each other.

--- Maximus/2 3.01