Yahoo Tuning Groups Ultimate Backup makemicromusic Secrets of MIDI realizations revealed

Margo Schulter wrote:
>>If I may ask, how did you record this music: by multi-track
recording from
a MIDI keyboard, for example? Am I right that this could be done
either by
recording each layer as audio output from the TX-802, or by
capturing MIDI
keystrokes and then playing them back?

When I first began creating MIDI realizations & compositions in
the '80s, I quickly realized
that the "enter notation and convert" approach resulted into wooden,
robotic results.
As a good pianist, I found a more direct route to expressive MIDI
performances by
recording my playing in a sequencer and then editing to my
satisfaction.

Of course, for polyphonic music with vocal ranges that frequently
cross (as in much pre-Baroque music), it is simplest to
enter each line separately in the sequencer, and combine 'em there.
Then with some
additional editing, the results are quite good pretty quickly.

One interesting finding, coming from years of piano lessons, was how
important the
release time of notes is to a performance. I had learned from the
late Detroit Symphony
pianist Mischa Kottler that to create a "singing tone" on piano, one
had to overlap the
release of one note with the attack of the next. This also makes
nice Classical-era 2-note
slurs. And of course the degree of staccato, if any, also can
greatly affect the quality
of the musical line. These insights have helped bring a lot of the
life to my MIDI realizations
and compositions.

Also, for the Willaert at least I gave each voice a separate pan
position
(usually MIDI controller 10) in the virtual stereo space, which also
aids realism.

I do know that with even more precise editing in the sequencer (plus
a bit of reverb),
these could be even better. To hear excerpts of other MIDI'ed music
(originals) by me, visit
http://www.geocities.com/harold_fortuin/HFCompos.html
and scroll down to "Electronic and Computer Studio Music"

Yours for improved MIDIaphony,
Harold

Hi, there, Harold, and thank you for a most informative discussion.

> When I first began creating MIDI realizations & compositions in the
> '80s, I quickly realized that the "enter notation and convert" approach
> resulted into wooden, robotic results. As a good pianist, I found a more
> direct route to expressive MIDI performances by recording my playing in
> a sequencer and then editing to my satisfaction.

Yes, and this is a limitation of the Scala files I produce by entering
pitches and note values in Scala, for example: the idea of recording an
actual keyboard performance in MIDI and then editing is something I'd like
to try. With a bit of experimentation, I might also be able to modify some
rhythmic indications in a program like Scala to detach or overlap notes,
and get idiomatic pauses between phrases, for example.

> Of course, for polyphonic music with vocal ranges that frequently cross
> (as in much pre-Baroque music), it is simplest to enter each line
> separately in the sequencer, and combine 'em there. Then with some
> additional editing, the results are quite good pretty quickly.

While for only two voices, e.g. a conductus, I sometimes like playing the
two parts on different manuals, which accommodates the crossing nicely
(a neat effect with contrasting timbres), I'd agree that recording layer
by layer gives some neat options -- as well as allowing for my
less-than-ideal keyboard technique <grin>. When trying to play three
parts, say, at once, I tend to disregard the crossing and do a sort of
keyboard reduction, at least to a degree (with a pedal keyboard and
someone skilled enough to use it well, this problem might be alleviated).

Anyway, you should know that your Willaert _Inviolata_ is a big hit here,
and that I've been listening to it lots, for while example while writing
this.

> One interesting finding, coming from years of piano lessons, was how
> important the release time of notes is to a performance. I had learned
> from the late Detroit Symphony pianist Mischa Kottler that to create a
> "singing tone" on piano, one had to overlap the release of one note with
> the attack of the next. This also makes nice Classical-era 2-note slurs.
> And of course the degree of staccato, if any, also can greatly affect
> the quality of the musical line. These insights have helped bring a lot
> of the life to my MIDI realizations and compositions.

Yes, and on harpsichord also, the fine points of articulation are very
important -- something I should indeed consider more. Maybe developing my
keyboard technique might suggest ideas for MIDI coding also when I do
approach things algorithmically. (Aaron Johnson has developed some general
routines to get some variation in rhythm, and your remarks raise the
question of refinements, maybe specified or added in manual coding.)

> Also, for the Willaert at least I gave each voice a separate pan
> position (usually MIDI controller 10) in the virtual stereo space, which
> also aids realism.

That's a touch also in line with one side of Willaert's style: the "split
choir" style later to be so characteristic of Andrea and Giovanni
Gabrielli. While _Inviolata_ seems to me more flowing and contrapuntal
than the more "antiphonal" style, the larger number of voices does invite
the kind of use of "virtual space" that you've done so nicely.

As a fan of quadraphonic surround sound (neat for rounds, for example), I
can appreciate your technique here, which is very nice on earphones.

> Yours for improved MIDIaphony,
> Harold

A neat term, MIDIaphony -- and one which your music I'm enjoying neatly
exemplifies.

Most appreciatively,

Margo

Secrets of MIDI realizations revealed

🔗harold_fortuin <harold@...>

🔗Kraig Grady <kraiggrady@...>

🔗Margo Schulter <mschulter@...>