Scratch

paddle2see wrote:

It would be great if we had a program that could convert directly from MIDI format to the multiple list format you have developed here...

That would be cool.  Perhaps it could be written in python.  Here is a midi library:  http://www.mxm.dk/products/public/pythonmidi

Right now the process involves allot of steps:
- open midifile in Rose Garden
- export to Cmedia
(Example- Here's what a scale from middle C looks like)

;; Csound score file written by Rosegarden

;; Copyright note:
;; Unknown

;; Segment: "Acoustic Grand Piano"
;; on Track: ""
;;
;; Inst    Time    Dur    Pitch    Vely
;; ----    ----    ---    -----    ----
;; Event type: clefchange
   i0    0    1    8.00    100    
   i0    1    1    8.02    100    
   i0    2    1    8.04    100    
   i0    3    1    8.05    100    
   i0    4    1    8.07    100    
   i0    5    1    8.09    100    
   i0    6    1    8.11    100    
   i0    7    1    9.00    100    
;; Event type: rest
;; Event type: rest
;; Event type: rest

t 0 120

e

- open Cmedia file in openoffice.org as a Tab delimited spreadsheet file. (Excel should also work)
- sort all the notes by time.
- convert the (octive.key) note format to key numbers

=((D1-ROUNDDOWN(D1))*100)+(ROUNDDOWN(D1)*12)-36

so "9.04" (9th octave, 4th note) becomes "76"

convert the instrument to a number, plus 1 (to reference list item numbers)

=RIGHT(A1;LEN(A1)-4)+1

so "   i0" becomes 1

- Then save each relevant column to a text file.

- the tempo needs special attention:

t 0 170 18 170 18 140 24 140 24 170

becomes:

0
170
18
140
24
170

("0 170" tells it that at beat 0, set the tempo to 170 bpm.  I'm not sure why we need "18 170" yet. Perhaps if we were to play the music backwards?)  (I found that my tempo setting code in scratch is broken.)

- import all these files to their respective lists in the midi lists.

paddle2see wrote:

where can I find a description of the MIDI format?

http://www.sonicspot.com/guide/midifiles.html
But it's a binary format, so I'd use some library made for reading it.
I listed python above, here's one made for php, http://staff.dasdeck.de/valentin/midi/

I forgot to mention this:  This scratch player will start to lag at about 10 to 30 notes per second.  So it wont work on fast songs.  That's because the "player feeder" can't go any faster.  So some thoughts were to simplify it by sending only the midi note number to the players- (I should have thought of that sooner.)  so the players look up what they need from the midi lists--  and perhaps thread the "player feeder".  divide it up into a couple/few scripts.  Also It would be much faster if the tempo calculations were done before import. 

And it would be faster if it was tailored for piano only songs. 
This would be a fun one     http://www.hamienet.com/midi25986_Athletic-Theme.html
or anything from this site:  http://www.piano-midi.de/debuss.htm  I like "Andante très expressif"


I'll look forward to what you all do with this idea.

Last edited by AddZero (2009-01-17 14:51:16)

Paddle2See wrote:

I have an interest in this area but I don't have a MIDI producing device right now.  There must be music programs that produce a MIDI output file?

I don't have a midi keyboard connected.  All I've done with this project so far is just convert midi files I found around the internet. 
I'm not familiar with windows sequencers enough to recommend one. here's some: http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/cat/MIDI_SEQUENCERS/
Often you can just draw the notes like your scratch program.
For converting midi to play in scratch, I think the python library is a good bet.

Last edited by AddZero (2009-01-18 00:31:32)

awsomemaster wrote:

dose any body know how to import pics and sprints? like so i could take a pic with my camra and put it on scratch?

If it is a compatible graphic format, you can probably just drag the photo file over to an open Scratch project and drop it in Costumes area of a sprite.

By the way...your post has nothing to do with the topic.  Please post only to topics that relate to your post or make a new thread.  Thank you.