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Topic: MidiOX vs Windows Media Player (Read 3423 times) |
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martinrleon
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MIDI-OX Rules!
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MidiOX vs Windows Media Player
« on: Aug 2nd, 2002, 7:33pm » |
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I know, I know, there's no comparison, but I wanted to generate some attention for this posting.
I just downloaded MidiOX last night to use as a means for dumping a .mid file containing an OS updated for a Kurzweil PC2R. Try as I might, I couldn't get the PC2R to accept the data the way that it's supposed to.
I had previously used the Windows Media player to do such an update, but I wanted to have something that was specifically a MIDI tool. I tried the Media Player again last night and it worked like a champ.
I put the PC2R in a mode where it's ready to receive the data. I have a USB MidiSport 1x1 connecting my laptop to the PC2R. I can see the MIDI out light blinking and the PC2R starts to act like it's receiving the data but it doesn't ever change the display. When I use Media Player, the display on the PC2R changes to indicate the progress of the update -- there are 27 "parts" being sent and it shows you "1 of 27", "2 of 27", .... With MidiOX it never goess beyond part 1.
I'm certain that I haven't configured something correctly. I'm wondering if it's the buffer sizes. Does anyone have any experience with this type of setup / problem?
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Jamie OConnell
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Re: MidiOX vs Windows Media Player
« Reply #1 on: Aug 3rd, 2002, 11:23am » |
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SysEx information embedded in a .mid file contains tempo information: it is played back at a specific rate. Some equipment requires this. You should be able to use MIDIBar to playback a .mid containing SysEx, just as you would use WMP -- I believe they use the same sequencer engine.
To send the file in MIDI-OX SysEx view, you would need to convert it to a .SYX (raw SysEx file), and you might need to insert buffer delays.
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--Jamie
Music is its own reward.
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martinrleon
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Re: MidiOX vs Windows Media Player
« Reply #2 on: Aug 4th, 2002, 1:05am » |
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I'm pretty sure I tried both the SysEx dump and MidiBar and neither one worked. How do I do the conversion you referred to? I'll look at the help documentation.
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Jamie OConnell
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Re: MidiOX vs Windows Media Player
« Reply #3 on: Aug 4th, 2002, 1:47pm » |
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Probably the easiest way to convert a .MID SysEx to a raw .SYX is to play it into MIDI-OX. You need to have MIDI Yoke (or another virtual loopback driver) installed.
1) In MIDIBar, select MIDI Yoke 1 as the output port.
2) Load the .MID in MIDI Bar.
3) In MIDI-OX, select MIDI Yoke 1 as an input port.
4) Open the the SysEx view.
5) Choose SysEx | Receive Manual Dump...
6) Start playback in MIDI Bar. When the file finishes, click OK in the MIDI-OX SysEx Received dialog. Save the file as .SYX
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| « Last Edit: Aug 4th, 2002, 1:47pm by Jamie OConnell » |
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--Jamie
Music is its own reward.
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martinrleon
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Re: MidiOX vs Windows Media Player
« Reply #4 on: Aug 4th, 2002, 7:44pm » |
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Thanks Jamie for the help, I was able to create the SysEx file the way you instructed, however, I was still unable to use MideBar to play the file correctly. I setup the MidiYoke and then used Media Player to dump the file while I captured it in the SysEx view.
This means of creating the SysEx dump works, but it raises the question whether it's really worth the extra time it takes -- this is an 18 minute midi file and then I still have to wait to dump it to the PC2R.
Would you be interested in looking at the .mid file from Kurzweil to see why MidiBar can't play it the way the Media Player does? It seems like a bug to me, although I know it may just be a configuration issue.
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Jamie OConnell
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Re: MidiOX vs Windows Media Player
« Reply #5 on: Aug 5th, 2002, 7:55am » |
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on Aug 4th, 2002, 7:44pm, martinrleon wrote:| Thanks Jamie for the help, I was able to create the SysEx file the way you instructed, however, I was still unable to use MideBar to play the file correctly. |
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By this do you mean that you selected your PC2R interface directly in MIDIBar and played the .MID to it? This is separate from your experiment in dumping to a .SYX file, right?
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This means of creating the SysEx dump works, but it raises the question whether it's really worth the extra time it takes -- this is an 18 minute midi file and then I still have to wait to dump it to the PC2R. |
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Probably not, I was just answering your questuion about how to make a .SYX file. 18 Minutes! That's one long MIDI file. Does the device really require that SysEx be supplied so slowly?
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Would you be interested in looking at the .mid file from Kurzweil to see why MidiBar can't play it the way the Media Player does? It seems like a bug to me, although I know it may just be a configuration issue. |
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There's not much I could do about it -- in both cases it it the MS Sequencer engine that is playing the MID file. MIDIBar has been shown to dump SysEx with a variety of Synths, so I suspect that there may be something amiss in your configuration, if it is not working. By default, WMP would use the device listed in "Sounds and Audio devices". What happens when you select that device directly in MIDIBar?
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--Jamie
Music is its own reward.
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martinrleon
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MIDI-OX Rules!
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Re: MidiOX vs Windows Media Player
« Reply #6 on: Aug 5th, 2002, 1:52pm » |
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In both cases, WMP is using the same device that MidiBar is using. When I was trying it directly to the PC2R, it was the MidiSport 1x1, when I was trying to do the .mid -> sysex conversion, it was the MidiYoke 1 device.
(BTW, one complaint about WMP is that I can't figure out a way to change the default midi device -- you have to go to the Control Panel to set it).
Are you sure that MidiBar doesn't handle SysEx data differently from music data? That's the way it appears to me.
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Jamie OConnell
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Re: MidiOX vs Windows Media Player
« Reply #7 on: Aug 6th, 2002, 8:20am » |
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Quote:BTW, one complaint about WMP is that I can't figure out a way to change the default midi device -- you have to go to the Control Panel to set it.
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There is no other way to change it: it always uses the MIDI Mapper device.
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Are you sure that MidiBar doesn't handle SysEx data differently from music data? That's the way it appears to me. |
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Based on your observations, I'm not so sure. In the past, versions of WMP used exactly the same sequencer engine as MCI to play MIDI files. It's possible that DirectMusic has added a new (different) layer for playing MIDI, and left the legacy MCI interface behind.
If this is the case, and the WMP works, it is probably the best device to use for your purposes. If you still want to track this down, I have thought up a research project...
Hook up MIDI Yoke as your default MIDI device in Control Panel, and use WMP to play the .MID file. Capture the output in MIDI-OX SysEx view and save the file as a .SYX. Now repeat the experiment using MIDIBar and save to a second .SYX file. Now Load both files into the MIDI-OX SysEx view (one in each Window), and then compare them using SysEx | Compare Windows. Any differences will be flagged by underscores.
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| « Last Edit: Aug 6th, 2002, 8:28am by Jamie OConnell » |
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--Jamie
Music is its own reward.
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martinrleon
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MIDI-OX Rules!
Posts: 5
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Re: MidiOX vs Windows Media Player
« Reply #8 on: Aug 6th, 2002, 3:06pm » |
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Hi, it's me again. I really don't have a problem with having to use WMP although I have to remember to turn off the "Repeat" function before I use it to do a MIDI dump. I mainly wanted to inform you guys about the problem and was actually hoping that you would just say "Oh, yeah, just turn of the midi defibulator setting (or whatever real setting controls this) and it will work". I will continue to try whatever you want me to, assuming that you want to try to figure this out.
As far as your experiment, this is what I already did. I want to send you a .gif file that shows how MidiBar starts sending the data 1 byte at a time after a certain point. How do I send you a file?
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