<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <!--Converted with LaTeX2HTML 2002-2-1 (1.71) original version by: Nikos Drakos, CBLU, University of Leeds * revised and updated by: Marcus Hennecke, Ross Moore, Herb Swan * with significant contributions from: Jens Lippmann, Marek Rouchal, Martin Wilck and others --> <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Patch Management</TITLE> <META NAME="description" CONTENT="Patch Management"> <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="mma"> <META NAME="resource-type" CONTENT="document"> <META NAME="distribution" CONTENT="global"> <META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="LaTeX2HTML v2002-2-1"> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Style-Type" CONTENT="text/css"> <LINK REL="STYLESHEET" HREF="mma.css"> <LINK REL="next" HREF="node22.html"> <LINK REL="previous" HREF="node20.html"> <LINK REL="up" HREF="mma.html"> <LINK REL="next" HREF="node22.html"> </HEAD> <BODY bgcolor="#ffffff"> <DIV CLASS="navigation"><!--Navigation Panel--> <A NAME="tex2html677" HREF="node22.html"> <IMG WIDTH="37" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="next" SRC="next.png"></A> <A NAME="tex2html675" HREF="mma.html"> <IMG WIDTH="26" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="up" SRC="up.png"></A> <A NAME="tex2html669" HREF="node20.html"> <IMG WIDTH="63" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="previous" SRC="prev.png"></A> <BR> <B> Next:</B> <A NAME="tex2html678" HREF="node22.html">Fine Tuning (Translations)</A> <B> Up:</B> <A NAME="tex2html676" HREF="mma.html">Reference Manual</A> <B> Previous:</B> <A NAME="tex2html670" HREF="node20.html">Low Level MIDI Commands</A> <BR> <BR></DIV> <!--End of Navigation Panel--> <!--Table of Child-Links--> <A NAME="CHILD_LINKS"><STRONG>Subsections</STRONG></A> <UL CLASS="ChildLinks"> <LI><A NAME="tex2html679" HREF="node21.html#SECTION002110000000000000000">Voice</A> <LI><A NAME="tex2html680" HREF="node21.html#SECTION002120000000000000000">Patch</A> <UL> <LI><A NAME="tex2html681" HREF="node21.html#SECTION002121000000000000000">Patch Set</A> <LI><A NAME="tex2html682" HREF="node21.html#SECTION002122000000000000000">Patch Rename</A> <LI><A NAME="tex2html683" HREF="node21.html#SECTION002123000000000000000">Patch List</A> <LI><A NAME="tex2html684" HREF="node21.html#SECTION002124000000000000000">Ensuring It All Works</A> </UL></UL> <!--End of Table of Child-Links--> <HR> <H1><A NAME="SECTION002100000000000000000"></A> <A NAME="patch"></A> <BR> Patch Management </H1> <P> Modern music keyboards and synthesizers are capable of producing a bewildering variety of sounds. Many consumer units priced well under $1000.00 contain several hundred or more unique voices. But, ``out of the box'' <FONT Face="Serif" Color="Navy"><I>MMA</I></FONT> supports only 128 ``General MIDI''<A NAME="tex2html71" HREF="#foot9811"><SUP><SPAN CLASS="arabic">21</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">1</SPAN></SUP></A> preset voices. These voices are assigned the values 0 to 127. We refer to the various voices as ``tones'', ``instruments'', or ``patches''.<A NAME="tex2html72" HREF="#foot9812"><SUP><SPAN CLASS="arabic">21</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">2</SPAN></SUP></A> <P> <H1><A NAME="SECTION002110000000000000000"></A> <A NAME="set-voice"></A> <BR> Voice </H1> <P> The MIDI instrument or voice used for a track is set with: <P> <Table Hspace="40%" CellSpacing=0 CellPadding=10 BGColor="OldLace" Border=3> <tr><td> <B>Chord-2 Voice Piano1 </B> </td></tr> </Table> <P> Voices apply only to the specified track. The actual instrument can be specified via the MIDI instrument number, an ``extended'' value, or with the symbolic name. See the tables in the MIDI <A HREF="node29.html#sec-voicenames">voicing section</A> for lists of the standard, recognized names. <P> You can create interesting effects by varying the voice used with drum tracks. By default ``Voice 0'' is used. However, you can change the drum voices. The supplied library files do not change the voices since this is highly dependent on the MIDI synth you are using. <P> You can specify a different V<SMALL>OICE</SMALL> for each bar in a sequence. Repeated values can be represented with a ``/'': <P> <Table Hspace="40%" CellSpacing=0 CellPadding=10 BGColor="OldLace" Border=3> <tr><td> <B>Chord Voice Piano1 / / Piano2 </B> </td></tr> </Table> <P> It is possible to set up translations for the selected voice: see <A HREF="node22.html#set-voicetr">V<SMALL>OICE</SMALL>TR</A>. <P> <H1><A NAME="SECTION002120000000000000000"> Patch</A> </H1> <P> In addition to the 128 standard voices mandated by the MIDI standards (referred to as the GM voices) <FONT Face="Serif" Color="Navy"><I>MMA</I></FONT> also supports extended voice banks. <P> <DIV ALIGN="CENTER"> <Table CellSpacing=0 Width="80%" Align="Center" CellPadding=10 BGColor="#dddddd" Border=3> <tr> <td> <BR> <BR><SPAN CLASS="textit">The rest of this chapter presents features which are highly dependent your hardware. It is quite possible to create midi files which sound very different (or even awful, or perhaps not at all) on other hardware. We recommend that you <SPAN CLASS="textit">do not</SPAN> use these features to create files you want to share!</SPAN> </td></tr> </Table> </DIV> <P> A typical keyboard will assign instruments to different voice banks. The first, default, bank will contain the standard set of 128 GM instruments. However, you can select different banks, each with a variety of voices, by changing the current voice bank. This switching is done by changing the value of MIDI Controller 0, 32 or both. You'll need to read the manual for your hardware to figure this out. <P> In order to use voices outside of the normal GM range <FONT Face="Serif" Color="Navy"><I>MMA</I></FONT> uses an extended addressing mode which includes values for the patch and controllers 0 and 32. Each value is separated from the others with a single ``.''. Two examples would include 22.33.44 and 22.33. The first value is the Patch Number, the second is a value for Controller 0. The third value, if present, is the setting for Controller 32. <P> My Casio Wk-3000 lists Bank-53, Program-27 as "Rotary Guitar". It's easy to use this voice directly in a V<SMALL>OICE</SMALL> command: <P> <Table Hspace="40%" CellSpacing=0 CellPadding=10 BGColor="OldLace" Border=3> <tr><td> <B>Chord Voice 27.53 </B> </td></tr> </Table> <P> Yes, but who wants all those ``funny'' numbers in their <FONT Face="Serif" Color="Navy"><I>MMA</I></FONT> files? Well, no one that I know. For this reason the P<SMALL>ATCH</SMALL> command has been developed. This command lets you modify existing patch names, list names and create new ones. <P> P<SMALL>ATCH</SMALL> takes a variety of options. We suggest you read this section and examine some of the included example files before venturing out on your own. But, really, it's not that complicated. <P> Unless otherwise noted, you can stack a number of different options onto the same P<SMALL>ATCH</SMALL> line. <P> <H2><A NAME="SECTION002121000000000000000"> Patch Set</A> </H2> <P> The S<SMALL>ET</SMALL> option is used to assign one or more patch values to symbolic names. Going back to my Casio example, above, I could use the following line to register the voice with <FONT Face="Serif" Color="Navy"><I>MMA</I></FONT> <P> <Table Hspace="40%" CellSpacing=0 CellPadding=10 BGColor="OldLace" Border=3> <tr><td> <B>Patch Set 27.53=RotaryGuitar </B> </td></tr> </Table> <P> The assignment consists of two parts or keys joined by a ``='' sign. No spaces are permitted. The left part of the assignment is a value. It can be a single number in the range 0 to 127; or 2 or 3 numbers joined by ``.''s. The right right part is a symbolic name. Any characters are permitted (but no spaces!). <P> After the assignment you can use ``RotaryGuitar'' just like any other instrument name: <P> <Table Hspace="40%" CellSpacing=0 CellPadding=10 BGColor="OldLace" Border=3> <tr><td> <B>Chord Voice rotaryguitar </B> </td></tr> </Table> <P> Note that once the voice has been registered you don't need to worry about the case of individual letters. <P> It's even possible to register a number of voices in this manner: <P> <Table Hspace="40%" CellSpacing=0 CellPadding=10 BGColor="OldLace" Border=3> <tr><td> <B>Patch set 27.53=RotaryGuitar 61.65=BASS+TROMBONE </B> </td></tr> </Table> <P> Just make sure that the S<SMALL>ET</SMALL> assignments are the last thing on the P<SMALL>ATCH</SMALL> line. <P> It is relatively easy to load entire sets of extended patch names by creating special <FONT Face="Serif" Color="Navy"><I>MMA</I></FONT> include files. For example, for a Casio WK-3000 keyboard you might have the file <TT><SPAN CLASS="textbf">includes/casio-wk3.mma</SPAN></TT> with a large number of settings. Here's a snippet: <P> <Table Hspace="40%" CellSpacing=0 CellPadding=10 BGColor="OldLace" Border=3> <tr><td> <B>Begin Patch Set <BR> 0.48=GrandPiano <BR> 1.48=BrightPiano <BR> 2.48=ElecGrandPiano <BR> 3.48=Honky-Tonk1 <BR> ... <BR> End </B> </td></tr> </Table> <P> Now, at the top of your song file or in a <SMALL>MMARC</SMALL> file insert the command: <P> <Table Hspace="40%" CellSpacing=0 CellPadding=10 BGColor="OldLace" Border=3> <tr><td> <B>include casio-wk300<A NAME="tex2html73" HREF="#foot9941"><SUP><SPAN CLASS="arabic">21</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">3</SPAN></SUP></A></B> </td></tr> </Table> <P> A file like this can be created by hand or you can convert existing an existing file to a format understands. A number of ``patch'' files exist for the popular ``Band in a Box'' program from PGMusic. There files may be subject to copyright, so use them with respect. No patch files are included in this distribution, but many are freely available on the internet. For a start you might want to look at <TT><A NAME="tex2html74" HREF="http://www.pgmusic.com/support_miscellaneous.htm">http://www.pgmusic.com/support_miscellaneous.htm</A></TT>. These files cannot be read my <FONT Face="Serif" Color="Navy"><I>MMA</I></FONT> , so we have included a little conversion utility <TT><SPAN CLASS="textbf">util/pg2mma.py</SPAN></TT>. There is a short file with instructions <TT><SPAN CLASS="textbf">util/README.pg2mma</SPAN></TT>. <P> The S<SMALL>ET</SMALL> option will issue warning messages if you redefine existing instrument names or addresses. We suggest that you edit any configuration files so that they have unique names and that you do not rename any of the standard GM names. <P> <H2><A NAME="SECTION002122000000000000000"> Patch Rename</A> </H2> <P> The naming of patches is actually quite arbitrary. You'll find that different manufacturers use different names to refer to the same voices. Most of the time this isn't a major concern, but you have the freedom in <FONT Face="Serif" Color="Navy"><I>MMA</I></FONT> to change any patch name you want. For example, <FONT Face="Serif" Color="Navy"><I>MMA</I></FONT> calls the first voice in the GM set ``Piano1''. Maybe you want to use the name ``AcousticGrand''. Easy: <P> <Table Hspace="40%" CellSpacing=0 CellPadding=10 BGColor="OldLace" Border=3> <tr><td> <B>Patch Rename Piano1=AcousticGrand </B> </td></tr> </Table> <P> Each R<SMALL>ENAME</SMALL> option has a left and right part joined by an ``='' sign. The left part is the current name; the right is the new name. Please note that after this command the name ``Piano1'' will not be available. <P> You can have any number of items in a list; however, they must be the last items on the P<SMALL>ATCH</SMALL> line. <P> <H2><A NAME="SECTION002123000000000000000"> Patch List</A> </H2> <P> After making changes to <FONT Face="Serif" Color="Navy"><I>MMA</I></FONT> 's internal tables you might want to check to make sure that what you meant is what you got. For this reason there are three different versions of the L<SMALL>IST</SMALL> command. <P> <DL> <DT><STRONG>List=GM</STRONG></DT> <DD>Lists the current values of the GM voices, </DD> <DT><STRONG>List=EXT</STRONG></DT> <DD>Lists the extended voices, </DD> <DT><STRONG>List=All</STRONG></DT> <DD>Lists both the GM and extended voices. </DD> </DL> <P> For example, the command: <P> <Table Hspace="40%" CellSpacing=0 CellPadding=10 BGColor="OldLace" Border=3> <tr><td> <B>Patch List=EXT </B> </td></tr> </Table> <P> will produce a listing something like: <P> <Table Hspace="40%" CellSpacing=0 CellPadding=10 BGColor="OldLace" Border=3> <tr><td> <B>0.48=GrandPiano <BR> 1.48=BrightPiano <BR> 2.48=ELEC.GrandPiano <BR> ...</B> </td></tr> </Table> <P> <H2><A NAME="SECTION002124000000000000000"> Ensuring It All Works</A> </H2> <P> If you are going to use any of the extended patches in your MIDI files you may need to do some additional work. <P> Your hardware may need to be in a ``special'' mode for any of the extended patches to take effect. What we suggest is that you use the MIDI command <A HREF="node20.html#sec-midi">(details here)</A> to do some initialization. For an example please look at the file <TT><SPAN CLASS="textbf">includes/init.mma</SPAN></TT> which we include in our personal files. This file sets the volume, pan and controller values to known settings. It's easy to modify this file to match your hardware setup. <P> To use a file like <TT><SPAN CLASS="textbf">includes/init.mma</SPAN></TT> just include a line like: <P> <Table Hspace="40%" CellSpacing=0 CellPadding=10 BGColor="OldLace" Border=3> <tr><td> <B>include init </B> </td></tr> </Table> <P> in your mmarc file. See the Path section of this manual for details <A HREF="node26.html#sec-paths">(here)</A>. <P> To help keep things sane, <FONT Face="Serif" Color="Navy"><I>MMA</I></FONT> checks each track as it is closed. If an extended voice has been used in that track it resets the effected controllers to a zero state. In most cases this means that if you finish playing the file your keyboard will be returned to a ``default'' state. <P> However, you might wish to generate some explicit MIDI sequences at the end of a generated file. Just write another file like the <TT><SPAN CLASS="textbf">init.mma</SPAN></TT> file we discussed above. You can insert this file by placing a line like: <P> <Table Hspace="40%" CellSpacing=0 CellPadding=10 BGColor="OldLace" Border=3> <tr><td> <B>include endinit </B> </td></tr> </Table> <P> at the end of your song file. Or, use the MMAE<SMALL>ND</SMALL> command detailed <A HREF="node26.html#sec-mmaend">here</A>. <P> You can get about as complicated as you want with all this. One scheme you might consider is to use macros to wrap your extended patch code. For example: <P> <Table Hspace="40%" CellSpacing=0 CellPadding=10 BGColor="OldLace" Border=3> <tr><td> <B>if def Casio <BR> include casio-wk3000 <BR> include init.file.for.casio.mma <BR> endif <BR> <BR> Groove somegroove <BR> <BR> if def Casio <BR> Chord Voice ROtaryGuitar <BR> Endif <BR> <BR> 1 Cm <BR> 2 Dm <BR> ...more chords <BR> if def Casio <BR> include restore-file-for-casio.mma <BR> endif </B> </td></tr> </Table> <P> Now, when you compile the file define the macro on the command line: <P> <Table Hspace="40%" CellSpacing=0 CellPadding=10 BGColor="OldLace" Border=3> <tr><td> <B>$ mma -SCASIO filename </B> </td></tr> </Table> <P> This defines the macro so that your wrappers work. To compile for the GM voicing, just skip the ``-SCASIO''. <P> An alternate method is to use the V<SMALL>OICE</SMALL>TR command <A HREF="node22.html#set-voicetr">(details here)</A>. Using a similar example we'd create a song file like: <P> <Table Hspace="40%" CellSpacing=0 CellPadding=10 BGColor="OldLace" Border=3> <tr><td> <B>if def Casio <BR> include casio-wk3000 <BR> include init.file.for.casio.mma <BR> VoiceTR Piano1=RotaryGuitar ChoralAhhs=VoxHumana <BR> endif <BR> Groove somegroove <BR> <BR> 1 Cm <BR> 2 Dm <BR> ...more chords <BR> if def Casio <BR> include restore-file-for-casio.mma <BR> endif </B> </td></tr> </Table> <P> Notice how, in this example, we don't need to wrap each and every V<SMALL>OICE</SMALL> line. We just create a translation table with the alternate voices we want to use. Now, when the G<SMALL>ROOVE</SMALL> is loaded the various voices will be changed. <P> <BR><HR><H4>Footnotes</H4> <DL> <DT><A NAME="foot9811">... MIDI''</A><A HREF="node21.html#tex2html71"><SUP><SPAN CLASS="arabic">21</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">1</SPAN></SUP></A></DT> <DD>The General MIDI or GM standard was developed by the MIDI Manufactures Association. </DD> <DT><A NAME="foot9812">... ``patches''.</A><A HREF="node21.html#tex2html72"><SUP><SPAN CLASS="arabic">21</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">2</SPAN></SUP></A></DT> <DD>``Patch'' a bit of a historical term dating back to the times when synthesizers cost a lot of money and used bits of wire and cable to ``patch'' different oscillators, filters, etc. together. </DD> <DT><A NAME="foot9941">... casio-wk300</A><A HREF="node21.html#tex2html73"><SUP><SPAN CLASS="arabic">21</SPAN>.<SPAN CLASS="arabic">3</SPAN></SUP></A></DT> <DD>Refer to I<SMALL>NCLUDE</SMALL> <A HREF="node26.html#sec-include">(here)</A> for details on file placement. </DD> </DL> <DIV CLASS="navigation"><HR> <!--Navigation Panel--> <A NAME="tex2html677" HREF="node22.html"> <IMG WIDTH="37" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="next" SRC="next.png"></A> <A NAME="tex2html675" HREF="mma.html"> <IMG WIDTH="26" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="up" SRC="up.png"></A> <A NAME="tex2html669" HREF="node20.html"> <IMG WIDTH="63" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="previous" SRC="prev.png"></A> <BR> <B> Next:</B> <A NAME="tex2html678" HREF="node22.html">Fine Tuning (Translations)</A> <B> Up:</B> <A NAME="tex2html676" HREF="mma.html">Reference Manual</A> <B> Previous:</B> <A NAME="tex2html670" HREF="node20.html">Low Level MIDI Commands</A></DIV> <!--End of Navigation Panel--> <ADDRESS> bob 2008-09-28 </ADDRESS> </BODY> </HTML>