AnsweredHow can assign General Midi Pitch Bank to an instrument which is not using GM pitch Bank ?

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ramtin
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2013/11/21 04:10:35 (permalink)

How can assign General Midi Pitch Bank to an instrument which is not using GM pitch Bank ?

 Dear friends,
Last time, Jeff Evans helped me to draw a drum map for my keyboard in sonar (Thanks to him). And now I have not any problem to use my keyboard as output in order to play drums through the channel 10.
But, the other tracks performance, when are playing through laptop sound card, are not same as when using my keyboard as output. In other words the patches change when output change from laptop to keyboard. As I know, the entire midi instrument should have the same standard for their patch pattern. I guess that, there are again some discrepancies between my keyboard patches and GM Patches. If my guess is being true,
  1. Could anybody clear me, how can I make relation between the Patches?
  2. Sometimes I have seen that several patches, has been partly assigned to a track of  GM file.
2.1   How can I experience it in Sonar?
2.2   How can I Match the different Patches in one track to My keyboard
 
For instance I have put the link of a GM file witch is Include of the above mentioned.
http://www.4shared.com/music/AnID2_la/amr_diab_habibi_nour_el_ain.html
Thanks in advance for your advices
Regard
Ramtin
post edited by ramtin - 2013/11/22 10:13:55
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ramtin
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How can assign General Midi Pitch Bank to an instrument which is not using GM pitch Bank ? 2013/11/21 04:36:28 (permalink)
I had find something in manual,
 
SONAR stores these names in an instrument definition. If you are using an instrument that supports General MIDI, your patch list will contain the 128 sounds that are defined by the General MIDI specification.
 
I have Already done it^
 
To assign an initial bank and patch to a track
1.
Open the Track Inspector or Console view and select the MIDI track you want to configure.
2.
Select the desired settings in the Bank and Patch controls.
3.
To search for a patch containing specific text, click the Patch Browser button in the Track Inspector. You can also open the Patch Browser by right-clicking a bank or patch control in the Track Inspector or Console views.
To insert a bank/patch change
1.
Highlight the track whose bank and patch you want to change by clicking on the track number.
2.
Set the Now time to the time at which you want the change to occur.
3.
Choose Insert > Bank/Patch Change to display the Bank/Patch Change dialog box.
4.
Choose a bank and patch from the lists.
5.
Click OK.
 
I guess that this is my second question answer,(please correct me if i am wrong)^
but still I can not Match My instrument patches to sonar
 
post edited by ramtin - 2013/11/22 10:14:24
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Jeff Evans
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Re: How can assign several patches to a track of GM file ? 2013/11/21 09:47:48 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby ramtin 2013/11/23 07:46:33
Hi ramtin, You need to become familiar with the basic 128 patches for the general midi standard. These sounds are well organised and in groups of 8 or banks as well. What is important about the midi standard is the patch number and what it is. The drum channel has multiple kits too.
 
This is a handy link.
 
http://www.midi.org/techspecs/gm1sound.php
 
So you may come upon a midi file and the patch number might be say 23 which has to a harmonica for channel 1. You need to select the closest thing to that, either harmonica or close to that track.
 
It is good to know the patch numbers and their sounds. Notice the drum map below.
 
Technics really veered away from the general midi standard with certain models. It is worth getting later models or Yamaha keyboards all conform very well to the general midi standard making it all easier.  They can store songs as midi files on floppy that you can load directly into your DAW. It is easier getting a style loaded into a Yamaha keyboard too. The Technics have very good sounds though and are very realistic in certain areas. I can see why people like them.

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ramtin
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How can assign General Midi Pitch Bank to an instrument which is not using GM pitch Bank ? 2013/11/21 12:53:22 (permalink)
Dear Jeff,
Thanks for your explanation and the useful links which you had put there. Actually I had already found GM pitch Bank and Technics KN 1000 pitch bank using Default. ins and Technics.ins in cakewalk installed  file. And tried to prepare a table, in order to match Technics pitch Bank with GM one. It was awfully. Most of the patches were not compatible with standards GM. I put the table (in excel and PDF format) in the following links.
http://www.4shared.com/office/0EGysIjN/Technics_KN1000_Bank_Select.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/8NyYv8_h/Technics_KN1000_Bank_Select.html
Can you please take a look on them and advise me how can I make a relation between them?
Is the process like Drum Map? For Drum Map using your advice, once I could draw a Map and every time I load it as input and output for Track 10 and then everything is ok for playing back the GM files.
Is there same Method /Similar Method for pitch Banks? If the answer is positive please advise how can I do it?
 Regards
Ramtin
post edited by ramtin - 2013/11/22 10:14:58
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ramtin
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How can assign General Midi Pitch Bank to an instrument which is not using GM pitch Bank ? 2013/11/22 09:54:07 (permalink)
Jeff Evans
Hi ramtin, You need to become familiar with the basic 128 patches for the general midi standard. These sounds are well organised and in groups of 8 or banks as well. What is important about the midi standard is the patch number and what it is. The drum channel has multiple kits too.
 
This is a handy link.
 
http://www.midi.org/techspecs/gm1sound.php
 
So you may come upon a midi file and the patch number might be say 23 which has to a harmonica for channel 1. You need to select the closest thing to that, either harmonica or close to that track.
 




I had already prepared a table of GM pitch Bank and Technics KN 1000 pitch bank using Default. ins and Technics.ins in cakewalk installed file. If you can take a look on the table,you can find that i have put GM pitch Bank in the first column and put Technics one in the second column. Most of the patches were not compatible with standards GM. 
http://www.4shared.com/office/0EGysIjN/Technics_KN1000_Bank_Select.html
http://www.4shared.com/file/8NyYv8_h/Technics_KN1000_Bank_Select.html
 
Is there any option In Sonar(such as Drum Map Manager which you had already introduced me for drum channel) to let me match the closest Pitch Num in My instrument with the corresponded GM pitch Bank in Sonar?
Regards
Ramtin
 
post edited by ramtin - 2013/11/22 10:15:30
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brundlefly
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Re: How can assign General Midi Pitch Bank to an instrument which is not using GM pitch Ba 2013/11/22 10:49:50 (permalink)
Check the KN1000 User Manual. I think it has a General MIDI compatibility mode that will give you correct patch change message mapping with appropriate sounds.

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ramtin
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Re: How can assign General Midi Pitch Bank to an instrument which is not using GM pitch Ba 2013/11/22 15:16:19 (permalink)
brundlefly
Check the KN1000 User Manual. I think it has a General MIDI compatibility mode that will give you correct patch change message mapping with appropriate sounds.
 




Hi,Brundlefly
I had Checked the manual several times but I did not find anything about the matter. Actually Technics keyboard has their own Patterns and do not support GM.
There are just two tables called midi implementation chart on Pages 115 and 116. There is nothing there regarding the task.If you are interested you can take a look on the below link.
http://www.4shared.com/office/l4qfDkHP/SX-KN1000.html
Actually, I had prepared a table which is include of GM pitch Num.  and of Technics KN 1000 pitches bank. I just want to know where can I assign them In Sonar X1?
http://www.4shared.com/file/8NyYv8_h/Technics_KN1000_Bank_Select.html
Regard, ramtin
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brundlefly
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Re: How can assign General Midi Pitch Bank to an instrument which is not using GM pitch Ba 2013/11/22 15:40:39 (permalink)
You would need to edit the .INS file in a text editor like Notepad to alter which patch change messages bring up which patches, and if they're in different banks you're not going to be able to pull it off unless maybe you write them all to a User bank in the KN1000. EDIT: Actually, on second thought, I don't think you can remap the Patch Change message response. At best you can make the names of patches match GM names, but a GM MIDI file is not going to call up the right patches without editing the patch change messages.
 
And if the instrument is not intended to be GM-compatible, GM files are not likely to sound very good even if the patches are roughly matched. GM-compatible sound modules and soft synths have their patches adjusted for timbre and level so that they mix reasonably well and consistently from one platform to another based on MIDI volume, panning, reverb etc. settings in the MIDI file.
 
Conversely, you wouldn't want to author a GM file based on the sounds in your KN1000 and expect it to sound right/good on another platform.
 
 

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ramtin
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Re: How can assign General Midi Pitch Bank to an instrument which is not using GM pitch Ba 2013/11/22 16:16:23 (permalink)
Excelent! Brundlefly,
The thing Which I expect that, Sonar X1 can provide me is, Something which let me to assign the closest Pitch in my instrument to GM pitch Banks(f.e. something like Drum Map Manage which use for Drums). Then I will able to:
  1. When I perform a song in my keyboard, can play it back in Sonar Midi track roughly with the similar pitches.
  2. When I playback a GM in Sonar X1 using my keyboard as output, the performance would be the closest to the original.
Now can you please tell me,do you know any option in Sonar X1 which can help me on the matter?
 
Regards
Ramtin,
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Re: How can assign General Midi Pitch Bank to an instrument which is not using GM pitch Ba 2013/11/22 16:36:31 (permalink)
As I said, you will need to set this up yourself. Re-thinking again, I think my original answer that you need to copy all the patches to a "User" bank in the KN-1000 (if it has such) is the right answer. But a quick check suggests the KN-1000 does not provide a programmable User bank so I'm afraid you're just out of luck. Bottom line: It's not feasible and not worth pursuing even if it were. Your options are:
 
1. Continue using the TTS-1 for GM playback/authoring, maybe substituting the KN-1000 for piano or other sounds that it does particularly well.
2. Get another GM-compatible software synth that's more current and capable than the TTS-1.
3. Get a GM-compatible hardware synth or sound module - many second-hand units are available on eBay.
4. Just say "no" to GM-based music, and set yourself free!
 
 

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ramtin
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Re: How can assign General Midi Pitch Bank to an instrument which is not using GM pitch Ba 2013/11/23 07:45:06 (permalink) ☼ Best Answerby ramtin 2013/11/23 07:46:58
 
Congratulation!
Finally I found a way; Actually, It was not as hard as I was thinking!
Ultimatelly, I got the point, after I prepared the table Include of GM Pitch Banks and corresponded Technics KN 1000 ones. The table gave me a good Idea,
Using sonar X1, when we import Technics KN 1000 instrument by using Edit/performance/Instruments/define/import
We are able to import 3 .ins file
1-      Technics_KN1000 Bank Select.ins
2-      Technics_KN1000 full Map.ins
3-      Technics_KN 1000 Drums.ins
After we import all the 3 files into instrument definition, we should assign the channels to the appropriate Instrument. we must assign Channel 10 to Technics_KN 1000 Drums and for other channels  we can choose two methods:
1)      Assign the Other channels to Technics_KN1000 full Map.
We have to  come back to Track view and change the chosen Track Bank to Technics_KN1000 full Map in The first combo box in Inspector window. In the second combo box we should choose “Blank”.Then by using the above mentioned prepared table (the link is as fallow) we can change the pitches in third combo box to corresponded pitch in Technics. We must repeat the process for all the tracks. For channel 10 (drum Chanel) we must use Drum Map Manager to define the compatible drums with GM drums.
http://www.4shared.com/file/8NyYv8_h/Technics_KN1000_Bank_Select.html
Now when we play back the Midi file through Technics KN 1000, we have the closest sounds to original Midi. We should note that the pitches have been change to Technics KN 1000 song format, Thus In order to keep the original Midi file we can save the midi file in our private folder.
2)      Assign the Other channels to Technics_KN1000 select Bank.
In this option we can Assign GM pitches just to 8 ”user banks” which is define by user in Technics KN 1000 Keyboard .The advantage of the method is that we can define a desire sound in the “user bank” and easily assign it to the Midi track in Sonar. Also, when we are going to play keyboard in real time, we can assign the “user bank” to tracks, which are supported by VSTi, such as TTS-1.  And can enjoy of our performance with great sounds.
 
I should say Thanks to Jeff Evans and brundlefly who advised me and their advices caused to create the Idea in my mind,
 
So I can keep my Keyboard and no need to change it.
 
At the end, I would like to add that, it was my idea and May not be the best solution. I would like to ask from every ones who read the post, to leave his comment if he/she has a better Idea.
 
Regards,
Ramtin
post edited by ramtin - 2013/11/23 12:04:09
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