Creating music for PianoBooster using MMA

[louisjb]

Hi All,

Just to let you know that I have successfully create a accompaniment to an ABC piano part for Piano Booster using MMA. Here is the details of the post:

http://n2.nabble.com/Creating-music-for-PianoBooster-using-MMA-Everyone-can-help-td4167350.html#a4167350

It was a bit of a struggle to get MMA to generate an accompaniment for an existing piano part but well worth it. Basically I hijacked the the Solo and Melody tracks for the left and right hand piano parts which should be on midi channels 3 & 4. (I am sure there is a better way to do this but I don't know how). I think I am trying to use MMA in a way that is was not originally intended (to add an accompaniment to an existing multipart MIDI file) but I think it a very good use of MMA.

I hit one bug in MMA, the MIDI file must not start with the silence as the silence is stripped of at the start.  This means the included MIDI music has to start on the beat. I think that this is a bug and should be fixed. I added V: DUMMY track in the abc file to get round this problem.

Also it is not clear what grooves work with 3/4 time. The Waltz should be in 3/4 time and yet grooves are marked as being four beats long.

Finally I would like to thank you for the all the hard work you have put into MMA. It looks like I can finally create some copyright free music with accompaniment that will work with Piano Booster. (Every one else -- help with this would be gratefully appreciated)

Thanks

Louis

[bvdp]

Cool ... and thanks for shaing.

I've never used the Piano Booster software ... but a quick search shows that's it is a piano teacher "in a box" Hmmm, midi accomp. and teaching both in the same box. The mind soars!

A few points:

- Setting the solo/melody tracks to a specific midi channel is perfectly valid. MMA accocates its tracks from 16 down, but that is completely arbitary.

- the silence at the track start is NOT a MMA bug. MMA will very happily generate long sections of silence anywhere in the track. The problem is when you take various MIDI tracks and combine them. You might want to look at the -0/-1 command line options or the Synchronize command (whole section in the manual).

- Not sure about your question about 3/4 time? MMA generates its stuff in any timesig. But, I see in your ABC file that you start off in 4/4 time. Is this conflicting?

- Another way to do all this (and I have done it with solo midi generated by MUP) is to use MMA's midi import. Essentially what would do is:

    - Create the solo line from ABC as a MIDI,
   - Create the accomp in MMA
   - Allocate one or more SOLO tracks in that file
   - import the ABC-midi and assign it to the SOLO track(s)

The nice thing about is is that the import facility will let you change volume and even transpose. Oh, and the 'Adjust" option lets you move the stuff you are importing around ... in case it has (or hasn't) siilence at the start Again, refer to the MMA manual for details.

You could also, depending on the size of the file, use the MIDINote facility. Pretty much the same as above, but this uses a text file of the midi.

Again, thanks for the post and let us know if the above suggestions help.

Best,

[louisjb]

Hello Bob,

- the silence I was referring to that MMA removes is from the INCLUDED MIDI file. I think the best thing is if I send you the midifile that fails and you can look at the problem your self.

- The 3/4 question is quite simple. Which groves will work with a piece in 3/4 time. (presumably not all your grooves will work successfully with a piece in 3/4) so how do I find out which grooves I can use with 3/4. (By the way the abc file PianoBoosterMusic.abc has two _separate_ pieces of music one in 4/4 and the other in 3/4)

trying the lines below does not work:
  Solo-LeftHand Channel 4   // the Right hand piano sound
  Solo-ReftHand Channel 3 // the Left hand piano track
  midiInc file=greensleevesSolo.mid Solo-LeftHand=4   Volume=80 octave=0
  midiInc file=greensleevesSolo.mid Solo-RightHand=3 Volume=80 octave=0

but these lines below work just fine (Remember I want to uses separate MIDI channels for the left and right hand piano parts)
  Solo Channel 4   // the Right hand piano sound
  Melody Channel 3 // the Left hand piano track
  midiInc file=greensleevesSolo.mid Solo=4   Volume=80 octave=0
  midiInc file=greensleevesSolo.mid Melody=3 Volume=80 octave=0

- Also how do I get complete silence at the start without a drumbeat of the metronome (a capital Z would be nice) {I am talking about MMA this time and not the MIDINC file}

- again how do I remove the drum beats at the very end of of the piece as 'z' silences everything apart from the drums.

Thanks for your help.

Louis