Overview - Seeds etc - User guide - Musical note intervals - Scales - Midi in - Other pages
In menu , Edit / play along , How to make a new seed from Midi In , Presets , Play notes from , Note assignments , Midi in channels
See also Save as Midi File , FTS MIDI Gallery button , Record to MIDI as you play along in the User guide .
This lists all the MIDI devices available on your p.c. for MIDI in. Normally this will include MIDI in from your sound card, whcih can be a special socket, or may be done via the joystick port. You can plug a MIDI input device such as a MIDI keyboard into the MIDI in connection for your soundcard.
Click on Open now to open the device.
Tick Open for MIDI input at start of session , from In | Options if you want to be able to start playing from MIDI in straight away when you start FTS. This is unticked by default, to keep MIDI in free in case you need it for another program .
Open for MIDI output when a MIDI in note is played is ticked by default. When MIDI out is opened as a result of a MIDI in note, it remains open until you close it yourself, or exit from FTS.
Tick Show in Score to show all notes you play in the Tune... window. With this option, you will probably want to tick Tune | Options | Position by time (if unticked, shows all notes equally spaced). If playing along with the tune, you will also need to tick Tune | Options | Use actual times . If the fractal tune is stopped, the Tune window is reset after a minute with no new notes played.
If you have fractal tune which is paused, then all notes you play are shown at the time at which you pressed the Pause button, i.e. as a single chord. The count of time for the Tune window continues when you press Continue , or Stop .
Trouble shooting
If you find that now and again the notes are slow to respond when you press a key, see if you can find any other computing intensive programs running in the background at the same time.
It might not necessarily be one you started up yourself. It could also be one of the Windows "housekeeping" programs scheduled to run at that particular time. If you can find out which program is responsible, you can then solve the problem by stopping it. For instance, check what you have listed under Start | Programs | Accessories | System tools | Scheduled tasks .
You can also try Ctrl + Alt + Delete, look at the list of all the programs running, and see if you recognise anything that might be computing intensive.
You can also try closing any extra windows such as the Note Assignments , and Note played details , which respond as you play a note.
Playing multi-media is fairly computing intensiive, and the less you have running, the better.
As a last resort, you can try changing the priority class of FTS - use with care.
More details:
You can also send the output of another program to the MIDI in for FTS, or the output of FTS to the MIDI in of another program. If you need to do this, download the free Hubi's loopback cable (actually a software driver), which you can find in the zip file mdlbk251.zip at: ftp://ftp.cs.ruu.nl/pub/MIDI/PROGRAMS/MSWINDOWS .
Run the program Hwmdcabl.exe , and it will add extra ouput and input devices to the In and Out menus, such as LB1, and LB2. Then you can send the output of one program to LB1, and choose the same loop back line, LB1, as the input for the other.
You could use this to experiment with some of the Midi in options of FTS if you don't have a MIDI keyboard. Start some program that maps p.c. key presses to MIDI out, and send the output to LB1. You could use FTS for this, with a New Seed window, enable sound ticked, twelve tone equal temperament as the scale, and Follow Scale .as the mode / arpeggio.
Then start FTS with LB1 as the MIDI input device.
The same method could be used to change the tuning of a MIDI file played in twelve tone equal temperament. Set LB1 as the play back device for your MIDI player (if you use Windows Media Player, or some other program that uses the MIDI mapper , change this via Start | Settings | Control Panel | Multimedia | MIDI ). Start FTS with LB1 as the MIDI input device. Click on Open now to open the device. Then select whichever twelve tone scale you would like to hear it with. With this method, you can vary the scale while it is playing, and hear the result immediately. To record result to a MIDI file, use Record to MIDI as you play along .
You can also do the same if the file is played in some other twelve tone temperament. This is possible because FTS will read the notes input as key presses for the closest twelve tone equal temperament notes on the MIDI keyboard. For this, you need to tick Ignore pitch bends / wheel from In | Options | Midi Note Played Details .
You can then convert the file using some other program.
For instance you could do it using Scales Options | SCALA Scales | Show current scale in SCALA by adding this line to show_xx.cmd
EXAMPLE /MIDI <input file> <output file>
Select from the drop list at top right, to choose whether to edit or play along.
Options:
Play in Mode / Arpeggio - play notes of the arpeggio.
Play in Scale - play notes of the scale.
Edit new Seed / Scale / Arpeggio - when one of the Seed / Scale / Arpeggio windows is showing, play the notes shown as blue dots, and add new notes to the seed, scale or arpeggio.
Play new Seed / Scale / Arpeggio - when one of the Scale / Arpeggio windows is showing, play the notes shown as red triangles. For the Seed, play the blue dots, but don't add any notes to the new seed.
Tick Sync. New Seed etc to synchronise the Midi in drop list with the Edit mode | Play along mode | Silent drop list of the New Seed / Arpeggio / Scale windows. This resets to Play in Mode / Arpeggio for Silent .
The Edit new Seed / Scale / Arpeggio and Play new Seed / Scale / Arpeggio choices play / edit the one visited most recently.
When there are several New seed / scale / arpeggio windows showing, you can select one of them to recieve the input from MIDI in with a click on it's caption.
When there are no New seed / scale / arpeggio windows showing, the Edit new Seed / Scale / Arpeggio and Play new Seed / Scale / Arpeggio selections have the same effect as Play in Mode / Arpeggio .
Check you have Open now ticked in the In menu.
Go to In | Options
In the Voice channels to play for MIDI keyboard notes drop list , choose Channel 1, middle C as first note .
You can use the In | Options | Play notes from drop list to choose whether to play the seed from All notes or the White notes . The seed is recorded in the mode or arpeggio, so normally you will choose White notes . You will probably want to choose All notes if you have selected a twelve tone scale, with Follow scale as the Mode / arpeggio .
Tick Sync. New Seed etc
Now show a New Seed window. You can only record a new seed from Midi In when you have at least one New Seed window is showing.
You can leave Mouse activated ticked, and pass the mouse over the picture with the dots to activate edit mode. Or alternatively, select that from the drop list. The drop list at top right of In | Options will change to Edit new Seed / Scale / Arpeggio in synchrony (this is the reason for ticking Sync. New Seed etc ).
Now play the seed, using middle C for the first note of the mode / arpeggio.
When finished, click End seed .
To reduce the number of times you need to switch from MIDI keyboard to mouse and back again, some of the MIDI keys are assigned to buttons.
Default is:
c'' - Clear seed / arpeggio / scale
b' - End seed
b' flat - Apply seed / arpeggio / scale
a' - Apply seed / arpeggio / scale
So for instance, to end the seed, play b' . To play it back to hear what it sounds like, play b' flat , and so on.
These shortcuts only take effect when the drop list at top right of In | Options shows Edit new Seed / Scale / Arpeggio.
You can change these note assignments from In | Options | Note assignments .
Click Start , highlight the one you want to change, play the note you want to use for it, repeat for any others you want to change.
Click Unassign if you don't want to use the MIDI key shortcut.
Be sure to click Finish when it is all done.
The quick way to get started using MIDI in with FTS is to choose one of the presets.
Koto + Shakuhachi would be a good first choice, as it is particularly easy to improvise in, with no wrong notes.
This is a traditional Japanese combination of instruments. All notes below middle C are assigned to the Koto, while notes from middle C upwards are assigned to the Shakuhachi. The scale used is the Koto scale from the Scales menu.
The scale starts at middle C, with successive white notes mapping to successive notes of the scale.
Any black note of the midi keyboard plays the same note as the white note immediately below.
Koto is traditionally played with lots of fast arpeggios made by sweeping the hand across the string - you can get a similar effect by now and again brushing your hand across the white keys.
Shakuhachi is traditionally played with long sustained notes interspersed with fast virtuosic grace notes.
If you have a pitch bend wheel , it would be authentic to occasionally bend the start of a long note, especially on the koto.
If you have a modulation wheel , note that it applies to both parts independently. For instance, to add vibrato to the shakuhachi part only, set the modulation wheel while playing a note on the Shakuhachi.
If you have a wheel to control the channel volume , this changes the volume for the voice channel for whatever note you are playing - the last column in the Channels window
The sustain pedal behaves normally - sustains any notes playing at the time in any of the channels.
The original koto can have several notes sounding simultaneously, while the original Shakuhachi, since it is a wind instrument, will normally play only one note at a time.
To make sure you can play only one note at a time for the Shakuhachi, click on the Note Assignments button, highlight Shakuhachi in the Assigned to column, and tick Solo. This is particularly useful when playing fast grace notes, as is authentic for the Shakuhachi - makes sure there are no overlaps from one to the next.
This is set for the instrument rather than the channel - the Shakuhachi will now be a solo instrument whenever you select it for MIDI in, until you untick the box for it again.
Other instruments in the presets that would sound good as solo are the whistle, the oboe, and the shanai (a type of oboe or shawm)
Some other presets to mention particularly
Church organ, quarter comma mean-tone
Quarter comma mean-tone is the scale that church organs were tuned to in medieval times, and for some time after - gives particularly sonorous major chords as it is tuned to give many pure major thirds. However has sharp fifths, and one wolf scale (G sharp major) which is completely unplayable - try playing a G sharp major chord, and you'll see what this means. This is the true wolf fifth , and unfortunately also has a sharp major third. Compare with the sonorous C major chord.
Marimba modulation array
Each double octave of the MIDI keyboard plays the just temperament 12 tone scale. The reference scale is the one centred on middle C on the keyboard (which also plays middle C). Successive double octaves above that start at the G, D and A of that scale, while the first double octave (MIDI notes 0 to 23) starts at the F of the reference scale. The last few notes play the scale that starts at the E of the reference scale.
Each JI scale thus starts a pure fifth above the previous one, except for the scale starting at A. The scale starting at A has its B in tune with the previous scale.
You can change the Scale to Pythagorean twelve tone to get all the scales starting a pure fifth above the previous one (but have sharp major thirds).
All melodic percussion and vibraphone
This assigns all 41 non melodic percussion instruments to successive notes of the keyboard from two octaves below middle C (C2, or C') upwards. Remaining notes play the vibraphone - modern jazz xylophone invented in 1921.
It's intended as an easy way to try them all out to hear what they sound like.
White notes - White keys play successive notes of scale. Black keys play same note as next white note.
Black notes - Black keys successive notes of scale. White keys play same note as nearest black note above.
All notes - Successive keys play successive notes of scale.
To set your own custom mapping, give the positions in the 12 tone scale to play successive notes of the scale. End with 12 if you want the pattern to repeat identically for each octave of the MIDI keyboard.
To explain Press same note of 12 tone scale for each scale / arpeggio repeat , a concrete example could help. Suppose you have selected to play the Folk scale from Rajasthan India from successive white notes. This has six notes to the octave, and there are seven white notes. With this box unticked, and middle C as the key to play the first note of the scale, then as you go up through the scale with the white notes, you reach the octave at the B above middle C on the keyboard. Then the next octave is reached at A, and so on.
This may be what you want, like playing successive notes on a harp, completely forgetting about the black keys.
However, you may wish to use the black keys as cues to the position in the octave.
If so, tick this box, and then the scale is padded out with duplicates of the last note in the scale until you reach the next octave.
For custom mappings, pads out with duplicates until the start of the next repeat of the map.
Use this window to adjust the note assignments for non melodic percussion, channels for voices, and keys to use for editing the new Seed / Arpeggio / Seed.
For non melodic percussion, click Start recording new non melodic percussion . Then choose an instrument from the non melodic percussion menu, which you can get by clicking the Non melodic percussion... button. Then play any notes on your MIDI keyboard which you wish to assign it.
Repeat for all the ones you want to assign - click the instrument, then play the notes you want to assign it to.
When finished click Finish recording new non melodic percussion .
You can now play those instruments by playing the assigned keys on your MIDI keyboard.
For melodic voices, click Start .
Since FTS can actually play the notes on any channel, depending on pitch bends, one needs a word to distinguish the channel selected in the Channels box from the actual channel played, so this will be referred to as the Voice channel .
To change the Assigned to column, click on any channel from the channels box (click Channels... ). This selects the voice channel rather than the voice.
To change the voice for the channel, select a voice from the Voices menu, which you can do anytime.
The other things you can adjust are: the notes on the MIDI keyboard to play that voice channel, and which keyboard note plays the first note of the scale / arpeggio.
To change the highest note of the range for a row, click on the Top note / note column (or select it from the drop list). Then play the new top note from your MIDI keyboard.
The lowest note of the range for the first row is the lowest MIDI note (MIDI note 0). For the others, it is the note above the previous row's top note.
So to change the lowest note of the range for a row, change the Top note / note for the previous row. For instance, if you want the range to start at g , click on the previous row, and play an f sharp .
To change the Scale starts at column, click on the column (or select it from the drop list). Then play a note from your MIDI keyboard. This note will then be the one you play to sound the first note of the scale or arpeggio. It doesn't have to be within the range of notes assigned to the voice channel - if above or below, then it's the note you would play for the first note of the scale or arpeggio if the range continued that far.
This may affect only that row, or it may affect all the note assignment rows for voice channels, depending on what is selected in the drop list in
In | Options | For multiple voices choose first note of scale by:
If you wish the scale to run continuously from one voice channel to the next, you need to select Same for all, scale spans entire MIDI range . Changing the Scale starts at column for one row will change them for all the voice channel note assignments, so that they all have the same position for the first note of the scale.
Other options are:
Each new voice starts same position in scale .- the first keyboard note for each new voice channel plays the same position in the scale. Can be usefully combined with New channel for every octave , and New channel for every two octaves , which you can select from the In | Options | Voice ranges for MIDI keyboard notes drop list. If you select New channel for every two octaves , and Each new voice starts same position in scale , then every two octaves, a new voice channel starts, and each one starts at the same position in the scale. So all the double octaves play the same notes of the scale, except possibly the left-most double octave(see below).
If you choose one of the presets for two voices, and then select Each new voice starts same position in scale , the left half of the keyboard will go very high, because the scale is now starting at MIDI note 0 for the left hand voice channel.
Custom - stop auto synchronising first notes of scale - select this if you want to change the position of the first note of the scale independently for each note assignment row.
Same note name for first note of scale for each voice channel - the voice channels may start on different 12 tone notes of the MIDI keyboard, say, C for the bottom one, and all the others G. If you select this option, the first C for all the voice channels will play the same note of the scale.
The actual pitch played for the first note of the scale is selected using the Pitch... window.
Default: 1 - 16
List all the channels you wish to enter notes or other data from via MIDI in.
Any note ons, note offs, sustain, modulation, channel volume or pitch bend messages are processed by FTS.
Active sense messages are also processed. If one is recieved, expects that active sense, or other MIDI in messages will continue to be recieved every 300 milliseconds, and so if there is a break of more than half a second, switches off all sounding notes.
System exclusive messages are passed on unchanged to Midi out. This includes active sense messages.
Unprocessed controller messages are sent on to whichever channel was used to play the most recent note.
Any other messages are sent on to MIDI out unchanged.
When saving to MIDI file:
In | Options | Record Play Along .
System exclusive messages are ignored. Sustain, modulation, channel volume or pitch bend messages are processed by FTS, and are not saved as such.
Sustain messages are replaced by note ons and offs at appropriate places. Channel volume is replaced by reducing volumes of all notes accordingly. Pitch bend messages are replaced by adding an extra pitch bend to all the notes. Modulation is replaced by either passing the message on, or simulating vibrato / tremulo (see Effects ).
Any other messages are saved to the MIDI file unchanged.
Let me know if you have any particular requests for processing MIDI in messages.