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Pilot Synthesis
augurist writes: "Own a Pilot? Think there's nothing worth listening to on the radio these days, and you could do better? Or maybe you're a frustrated composer, or (like me) have to sit through hours of mind numbing meetings. Swivel Systems has produced a General MIDI synth and associated music software for the Pilot. Their SG20 looks pretty cool, but I just wonder how fast it gobbles batteries. 'No, no, really, I'm taking notes. What? These? Earbud headphones? Oh no, they're noise cancellation units that my doctor prescribed.'"
First off, you can build your own midi interface for the palm for less than $10. Do a search on the web and you should be able to find it.
Secondly, I'd like to hear this next to the Roland PMA-5, a hand-held device that provides a 18 note polyphony and effects, which now goes for $300 dollars new. It isn't much bigger, but provides more features. (and also guzzles your battery pretty quickly)
PMA-5 review
Ok, those issues aside, I'm glad to see people making music on their palm. I'm hoping somebody comes out with some handspring modules that do similar things too, and I've also seen some cool synth programs written for gameboy.
Just to elaborate on the other responses (Just Some Guy summed it up nicely), what you're thinking of is the General MIDI standard. .MID files that conform to the general MIDI standard sound roughtly the same on any GM-compliant synthesizer. To me, that just means all General MIDI files sound equally cheesy on everything.
MIDI is just a protocol. It's a serial protocol that runs at 38.4kbps.
General MIDI standardized 128 instrument sounds (so that patch 0 is a piano, patch 50 is "synthstrings," etc), that way
MIDI itself doesn't specify any instruments. It just specifies (among other things) that you can have 16 channels on a port, 128 instruments in a bank, and 128 real-time controllers (pitch wheel, pressure, et al), and it's up to the MIDI module/synth/sampler to interpret all that data in new and exciting ways.
You see, the MIDI protocol is ubiquitous in the music industry. Kind of like TCP/IP. Danny Elfman and James Horner use MIDI in their film scoring, combined with live recording. Nine Inch Nails-- MIDI out the arse. Moby... MIDI!
Anything techno, trance, industrial, all 100% MIDI. In fact just about any popular studio recording, even some "acoustic" uses MIDI somewhere, if just for synching.
Hell, Gary Rydstrom uses MIDI for his sound design work, such as Titanic, Jurassic Park, Phantom Menace, Saving Private Ryan, & other movies he's worked on.
Why does it all sound so good? Because the sounds are coming various mucho-$$$ samplers and synthesizers. But you have to have a way of controlling the samplers via input devices. And you do that with a highly versatile protocol known as, you guessed it, MIDI!
MIDI ain't going away. But I wish General MIDI would die, along with the "extensions" such as GS and XG.
So you see Timmy, you wouldn't want to live in a world... a world without MIDI!
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
doh, you're correct, i mislabeled it. i should have provided the link when i filled it out.
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Gonzo Granzeau
Gonzo Granzeau
"Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for.." -Roy Batty
Just curious, would any of the midi-based solutions be capable of playing back using the speaker on a TRGPro? It's a clone that licenses the PalmOS (Kind of like the Handspring Visor), but it claims to have some nifty extras, including "enhanced audio".
It also comes with a slot for compact flash cards. Hmmm... TRGPro + 340MB IBM Microdrive + Dragonball processor + "Enhanced Audio"... mp3s?
Actually, it runs as 31.2Kbps. How's that for a nice, round number?
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Find any keyboardist with even a modest rig and ask how he or she connects all their equipment. MIDI is the industry standard that lets me control a rack of keyboards with my guitar synth(or this Palm device, assuming its really MIDI.)
Classical music done with a wicked (MIDI-fied) rig: Dig up Emerson, Lake and Powell and listen to Mars, the God of War. Even better, compare that with Holtz' original version. I kid you not, Emerson actually improved on the original score.
No, Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you?
> As far as noise/music/muzak goes, MIDI isn't the
> greatest thing in the world.
Dude, probably 95% of the popular music recorded in the world makes use of MIDI. You're confusing crappy web-site software-based proggies with a world-standard Musical Instrument Digital Interface. AKA what you use to get your synths to talk with eachother, and sync to the recording console.
Please know what you're talking about before you post.
Causation can cause correlation
No offense, but I think you're misdirected on this one. MIDI doesn't sound like anything. It's a protocol.
Specifically, it's the Musical Instrument Digital Interface standard that was developed in the mid-80's by a music industry consortium. It was the first popular protocol for letting company A's keyboard send note-on/off events to company B's synthesizer (plus about 15 other types of events, if memory serves).
MIDI is used for large-scale studio automation, too. It's an easy and cheap way to, say, ramp up your mixer's treble response during the crescendo of that blazing guitar solo. Want to synchronize your light show to the drum track? Get a MIDI-aware controller. It's ubiquitous, really.
So, you see, those cheesy .mid files on the net aren't what professionals think of when they hear the word "MIDI". They think of a popular, well-defined and powerful method of getting musical or time-related events from one device to another. This little box is just a synthesizer that is designed to receive MIDI note-on events and play a sound. The box itself may have incredible sound, or it may suck. MIDI itself just sounds like any other layer-3 protocol you've listened to recently.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
I've downloaded and tried out the drum machine software that comes with it, so here are some pros and cons This is for the program BeatPad, there are a couple others, including a musical notation program, that I haven't tried yet.
Pros:
Cons:
Causation can cause correlation
It's not so much the MIDI synth, but more the combination of MIDI synth and sequencer software. That essentially lets you compose and arrange songs wherever you may be.
Myself, I am much more creative when not in front of my computer or even hunched over the piano. Hence, my Yamaha QY-10 (2x the size of the SG20 being discussed here) has been invaluable. Think composing while in the hammock in the garden, or in bed, or out in natute somewhere. Or playing with musical ideas on an airplane. The possibilities are really endless. The smaller, the better. Longer battery life helps, too.
LOL! That would would be an accomplishment, alright. Nah, my parents bought me a Yamaha TX-81z tone generator when I asked for a synthesizer for Christmas when I was a little kid. Talk about a harsh introduction to inter-device communication (not to mention modal user interfaces, FM synthesis, and other heady stuff for an 8th grader).
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Yeah, i've always wondered what 'classical' music would have been like had the composers of the time had access to things like synthesizers and electric guitars.
Dreamweaver
"If a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live" -- MLK, Jr.
While I am continually amazed at what the Palm seems capable of, I must ask why you would want a midi synthesizer for Palm. If it were free, I would probably play with it. However, does this have a real market?
Considering the mp4 project is intially based on midi support, this might make mp4 support on the palms REALLY simple! 1000x compression, here we come!
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Gonzo Granzeau
Gonzo Granzeau
"Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for.." -Roy Batty
Slashdot has had product announcements since it was chip and dips. Granted then it was linking to them on other sites, but just because the submissions are coming straight to slashdot instead of to ZDNet doesn't mean that announcements of tech the editors find interesting is shilling or off topic.
What's more, unless the company was disparaging their own batter life it sounds like this was an acutal reader submission instead of a press release.
In summary: shut up.
-1 off-topic
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Now I can listen to that MIDI of Gloria Gaynor's "I will Survive" anytime I want to!
Or, marvel in the glorious majesty that is Beethoven's 5th in MIDI format! There's nothing like a MIDI file to get me to appreciate music.
Its time to boogie, everyone.
As a semi-pro composer, I'm definitely getting one of these. Hopefully battery life won't be too much of an issue, but even if it is, it's worth it. I can't think of the number of times I've had a really nice melody or beat and lost it because I didn't have some sort of a musical sketch pad to jot it down on.
Sadly, it's not out yet. Should be released this summer. I think that Casio and maybe Yamaha also have some PDA-style musical sketchpads, but since I already have a pilot, this is more appealing. Plus, the software looks really excellent.
Causation can cause correlation
for people who didn't read the whole article... They claim "weeks of regular use on one pair of AAA batteries " and as for price: Swivel Systems will release the SG20 in summer of 2000. Final pricing has yet to be determined, but is expected to be around US$200 for a bundle that will include the SG20 itself, the MIDI/Audio expander cable, batteries, and software including all miniMusic titles."
Do something about world hunger. Click here
All III-series devices can use these add-ons that snap onto the bottom of the unit. Using the PalmDock as described on the web site, apparently Palm V and Vx (same form factor) users can use these III-series add-ons. I haven't tested it myself, so YMMV. The bottom line: The shape of the bottom of the device is what matters.
For more information, click here.
Especially Hedgehog
and
Tractor Pull
If you're a musician/composer and are on a train, at your day job, or in some other place inconveniently far from your studio, and you suddenly get an idea for a melody/beat/riff, having something like that to write it down on is a godsend. That's why devices like the Yamaha QY70 and the Roland PMA-5 exist.
Traditionally, musicians have had to know sheet music, though in the age of computer sequencing, there are many composers who don't know it, and who don't have perfect pitch.
Yamaha have the QY-70, with MIDI interface, dedicated LCD screen and rubber chiclet keys. Roland have the PMA-5, a boxy looking device like an oversized Pilot/Newton, only it just does music. Given that entering music is limited to using a stylus on the screen, and that it probably wouldn't fit in most pockets, it seems a bit gimmicky. Not sure about Casio; a friend of mine has a pocket Casiotone synth, but it has no memory/sequencing functions.
True, though you probably wouldn't use it for heavy-duty sequencing... For jotting down a harmony, a riff, or a rhythm, that may be enough.
If you're serious about music, you'll have something better at home to transfer it to.
There he is sitting at his table scratching away at parchment when you step out of the time portal and hand him a tiny box and headphones...
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Eric is chisled like a Greek Godess
marotti.com
You can build your own MIDI interface for $10, or get cheaper ones, they're out there. What's cool about this SwivelSystems box though is that it makes the sounds for you, instead of having an external synth. But if you want to make "real" sounds, and not $5 general midi chip sounds, build your own midi interface and hook it up to your synth or sampler or softsynth.
See my page at http://www.execpc.com/~tz - For about $10 you can play any midi file from your Palm (V or III or even VII, or old Pilots) to any MIDI synth with a standard MIDI port. I wrote this two years ago. The file is: playmidi45.zip
The README inside gives instuctions on building the interface and there are three jpegs showing images of the basic interface.
FYI - Swivel systems expects the interface to cost around $200, but it isn't determined and they aren't shipping.
The program plays anything, but has very limited record capability (I haven't had time to work on it nor has there been interest expressed). And the seek-to SMPTE time or beat needs work.
I'm the music director for Technophobia, an a cappella group on campus at Virginia Tech. I arrange songs you might hear on your friendly local radio station (for example, one of our biggest crowd-pleasers right now is Why Don't You Get A Job), and then I and six other guys sing them without instruments.
Currently, my process when creating music for us to work on is:
1. Arrange music -- listen to it, write down melody, bass line and vocal harmony, convert guitar and keyboard parts into something singable, and figure out a vocal percussion line that works.
2. Save this file and send it out to all the guys (we use a software package called NoteWorthy Composer). Guys listen to it/sing it through with their home computers if they have time. All guys print out the music.
3. I throw my 20-lb., 4-foot-long electronic keyboard in my truck to drive to campus for practice twice a week, cart that thing through the student center to our practice room, and then play through the guys' parts. Badly.
With this, I could simply save the song files as MIDI files, copy them over to my IIIx, and leave the damn keyboard at home! We'd have a better way to listen to the songs (minus my screwups when I try to play through the arrangements on the keyboard), and no pain-in-the-ass keyboard hauling for me.
This thing'll be VERY useful. If it really does wind up as only ~$200, I'll be first in line for it.
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... damn lameness filter. No caps. Anywhere... did you see caps?
DNA just wants to be free...
Therefore, it can interface with any other MIDI device.
No, Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you?