NAME imidiacy - record MIDI files from the PC keyboard DESCRIPTION Record a MIDI music file from the PC keyboard rather than a musical keyboard. The files are Type 0, meaning that all events occur on the same MIDI channel. It has the ability to change tempo and volume. The output of imidiacy may be synthesized with a sequencer, or revised with a music editor. OUTPUT A type 0 midi file is written to the working directory at the end of a session. In addition, the name A-G# of the note presently sounding appears in the console window. Its tone is heard on the PC speaker, if available. INSTALLATION AND DEPENDENCIES Imidiacy requires the development version of the ncurses library. Install that first. Then, compile with the command: user@host$ gcc -O3 -lm -lncurses -o bin_path/imidiacy bitwise.c speaker_fns.c term_fns.c record.c program.c To get access to /dev/console for speaker access, issue as root: root@host# chown root path/imidiacy root@host# chmod u+s path/imidiacy *** SECURITY WARNING: IMPORTANT *** To get access to the PC speaker, the program must open /dev/console, which requires that it be installed setuid root. Note that this is a critical security hole. Users on computer systems where security is a concern should not do this. This program will still run, in silence. USAGE user@host$ imidiacy A few simple dialogs are then asked of the user prior to recording: Channel numbers are in the range 1-16. It doesn't matter much which channel you choose, unless you enter 10. By convention, this is the MIDI drum channel and instead of hearing different pitches of a particular instrument, you will hear different drums from a particular drum kit. Note that 100 beats per minute is typical pop, 70 is slow, and 150 is upbeat. Velocity ranges from 1 to 127. Bigger numbers are louder. The legato setting determines the length of the note, as a fraction of the time between from one keystroke to the next. The allowed range is 0.5 to 1.0. Small numbers are staccato, and big numbers are legato. For key signature, remember the circle of fifths. So, calling flats negative: -7 = Cb -6 = Gb -5 = Db -4 = Ab -3 = Eb -2 = Bb -1 = F 0 = C 1 = G 2 = D 3 = A 4 = E 5 = B 6 = F# 7 = C# It is OK to just enter 0 here. Key signature affects only the way the sound is written, not how it is heard. For time signature, enter 4 for march time, 3 for waltz, or 2, 5, 6, 7 for something more exotic. Note that this affects only the way the sound is written, not how is is heard. Although MIDI supports changing the timebase from 1 quarter note to 1 beat, this has not been implemented. This means the only time signatures which may be created with imidiacy are 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, and 7/4. In the recording mode, the US PC keyboard has been used. Each letter and digit, plus period (.), comma (,), slash (/), and semicolon (;) represents a different pitch. Press Shift to lower everything by an octave. The right arrow key increases tempo (the way it will be written. It has no effect on your performance of the tune, which is recorded in real time). The left arrow key decreases tempo. The up arrow key increases volume. (This does have an effect on how your tune will sound.) The down arrow key decreases volume. Press Home to increase the spacing between notes (you will not hear a difference until you play back the file with a sequencer.) Press the End key to make the notes run more smoothly together. To silence one note without beginning another, press the spacebar. When you are finished recording, press Backspace, Escape, or F1. To assist you, the PC speaker will sound the present tone. The monitor will also show a capital letter and sharp or flat, placed on the screen left to right to represent pitch, and up or down to represent volume. After recording, there are more dialogs. The title of the tune will be used for a filename and should contain only letters and numbers. (Otherwise a default filename will be used.) CAUTION: If the name already exists, the old file will be overwritten. To select a patch (synthesized instrument sound), enter the number. Here's a list of the 128 MIDI patches. *********************************************************************** 1. Acoustic Grand Piano 2. Bright Acoustic Piano 3. Electric Grand Piano 4. Honky-tonk Piano 5. Electric Piano 1 6. Electric Piano 2 7. Harpsichord 8. Clavi 9. Celesta 10. Glockenspiel 11. Music Box 12. Vibraphone 13. Marimba 14. Xylophone 15. Tubular Bells 16. Dulcimer 17. Drawbar Organ 18. Percussive Organ 19. Rock Organ 20. Church Organ 21. Reed Organ 22. Accordion 23. Harmonica 24. Tango Accordion 25. Acoustic Guitar (nylon) 26. Acoustic Guitar (steel) 27. Electric Guitar (jazz) 28. Electric Guitar (clean) 29. Electric Guitar (muted) 30. Overdriven Guitar 31. Distortion Guitar 32. Guitar Harmonics 33. Acoustic Bass 34. Electric Bass (finger) 35. Electric Bass (pick) 36. Fretless Bass 37. Slap Bass 1 38. Slap Bass 2 39. Synth Bass 1 40. Synth Bass 2 41. Violin 42. Viola 43. Cello 44. Contrabass 45. Tremolo Strings 46. Pizzicato Strings 47. Orchestral Harp 48. Timpani 49. String Ensemble 1 50. String Ensemble 2 51. Synth Strings 1 52. Synth Strings 2 53. Choir Aahs 54. Voice Oohs 55. Synth Voice 56. Orchestra Hit 57. Trumpet 58. Trombone 59. Tuba 60. Muted Trumpet 61. French Horn 62. Brass Section 63. Synth Brass 1 64. Synth Brass 2 65. Soprano Sax 66. Alto Sax 67. Tenor Sax 68. Baritone Sax 69. Oboe 70. English Horn 71. Bassoon 72. Clarinet 73. Piccolo 74. Flute 75. Recorder 76. Pan Flute 77. Blown Bottle 78. Shakuhachi 79. Whistle 80. Ocarina 81. Lead 1 (square) 82. Lead 2 (sawtooth) 83. Lead 3 (calliope) 84. Lead 4 (chiff) 85. Lead 5 (charang) 86. Lead 6 (voice) 87. Lead 7 (fifths) 88. Lead 8 (bass + lead) 89. Pad 1 (new age) 90. Pad 2 (warm) 91. Pad 3 (polysynth) 92. Pad 4 (choir) 93. Pad 5 (bowed) 94. Pad 6 (metallic) 95. Pad 7 (halo) 96. Pad 8 (sweep) 97. FX 1 (rain) 98. FX 2 (soundtrack) 99. FX 3 (crystal) 100. FX 4 (atmosphere) 101. FX 5 (brightness) 102. FX 6 (goblins) 103. FX 7 (echoes) 104. FX 8 (sci-fi) 105. Sitar 106. Banjo 107. Shamisen 108. Koto 109. Kalimba 110. Bag pipe 111. Fiddle 112. Shanai 113. Tinkle Bell 114. Agogo 115. Steel Drums 116. Woodblock 117. Taiko Drum 118. Melodic Tom 119. Synth Drum 120. Reverse Cymbal 121. Guitar Fret Noise 122. Breath Noise 123. Seashore 124. Bird Tweet 125. Telephone Ring 126. Helicopter 127. Applause 128. Gunshot *********************************************************************** For reference, here is a list of drums (what you hear when you choose channel 10). The numbers here are not patch numbers, they are MIDI note numbers. Each half-step is a new MIDI note number, where middle C is 60. So then pressing each key on the keyboard is like playing a different drum from a drum set *********************************************************************** 25. Snare Roll 26. Snap 27. High Q 31. Sticks 32. Square Click 33. Metronome Click 34. Metronome Bell 37. Stick Rim 38. Snare 1 40. Snare 2 42. Hi-Hat Closed 44. Hi-Hat Pedal 46. Hi-Hat Open 49. Cymbal Crash 1 51. Cymbal Ride 1 52. Cymbal Chinese 54. Tombourine 55. Cymbal Splash 56. Cow Bell 57. Cymbal Crash 2 58. Vibra-Slap 59. Cymbal Ride 2 60. Bongo High 61. Bongo Low 63. Conga High 2 Open 64. Conga Low 65. Timbale High 66. Timbale Low 67. Agogo High 68. Agogo Low 70. Maracas 71. Whistle 1 High Short 72. Whistle 2 Low Long 73. Guiro 1 Short 74. Guiro 2 Long 76. Wood Block 1 High 77. Wood Block 2 Low 80. Triangle 1 Mute 81. Triangle 2 Open 82. Shaker 84. Belltree ******************************************************************** COMPATIBILITY timidity 2.13.2 works rosegarden 12.04 works muse 2.0 works LMMS 0.4.10 works qtractor 0.5.5 works CAVEATS The program has been tested on a single personal computer. Many incompatibilities are possible. Only a single melody may be recorded. PC speaker access is a SEVERE SECURITY RISK (see above). AUTHOR Andy Allinger andy_a@users.sourceforge.net DATE source code: 2006 - 2007 this documentation: 2016 LICENSE Free to everyone subject to the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2. A copy of the license should be included with the distribution, if not, write the Free Software Foundation: 59 Temple Place, Suite 330 Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA or visit www.fsf.org