[ Editor's Note:
[
[ Several years ago, at an "open house" at Mike Ames' collection, I
[ demonstrated two projects I was working on. I think the open house
[ was on one of the bus tours from the MBSI convention in the LA area.
[ I met several of the subscribers to this mailing list for the first
[ time at that tour.
[
[ I had an optical scanner set up in front of a Pianino. We could disable
[ the vacuum system on the Pianino and listen to the output of the
[ scanning system on a Roland Sound Canvas. This was still in the
[ "proof of concept stage" -- we'd not yet built a spool frame for the
[ system.
[
[ On that same tour, we hung output from an early version of the
[ "Template" program on the wall, along with the book from which
[ Mike had made a MIDI file using his book reader, which I had then
[ processed into dot-matrix printer output. The program could duplicate
[ the particular book accurately (1/4 inch in 70 feet), but it was
[ still an experiment. All changes in the output required recompiling
[ the program.
[
[ Since that time, in collaboration with David Wasson & Mike Ames, the
[ program has become a "commercial product". David __IS__ the
[ sales and customer service department for this product. He's worked
[ extensively on specifications for new features with one of the
[ customers who arranges and cuts book music commercially. I had the
[ fun of listening to a book cut this way at the Flint Organ Rally
[ last summer.
[
[ I want to point out that I did not put David up to posting this message,
[ but I can't resist publishing it, as it is timely considering the other
[ related issues being discussed right now. I'd like to point out that
[ my wisecracks about CO2 lasers are somewhat serious. It would not be
[ a big stretch to change the output device for this program from a
[ dot-matrix printer to something that could directly make the holes in
[ the paper.
[
[ Jody
Hi Robbie,
First let me thank you for calculating all the data regarding my
potential fun with my perforator. It took me a while to digest it
all, but I think you were right on the mark. I was surprised how the
quickly the paper build up on the take-up spool will affect the chain
patterns. As far as tunes seeming to play more staccato towards the end
of a roll, it doesn't happen now, so I don't think it will happen when
I run the perforator synchronously. Remember the paper advance is
greater toward the end of the roll but all events still have only one
punch diameter subtracted from each. This works very well perforating
asynchronously, so it should be OK when I perforate synchronously.
For the "Template" program, I will include the text which comes with
the program. The following text will help describe what the program is
capable of.
- - -
This program is designed to create a "picture" of a standard MIDI
file via a dot matrix printer driven by a PC. Included with the disk
is the Rainbow Key. This device must be plugged into the printer port
in order for the program to function. The printer cable should be
plugged into the other end of the Key. Included on the disk are the
TEMPLATE program, a copy of this text file, two example look-up tables
and their corresponding MIDI files. All of these files should be
copied into a directory called TEMPLATE.
This program will follow all tempo and meter changes that may occur
in a MIDI file. Not all sequencers will support meter changes. Tempo
changes that occur over several bars are difficult to do using the
drafting board style of arranging for automatic music machines. MIDI
makes this easy to do, and, this program makes this possible on
automatic music machines. MIDI also allows an arranger to hear an
arrangement before it is actually perforated. This lets the arranger
make sure the arrangement is really how it is supposed to be and that
the tempos are correct.
The procedure is for the user to first create a look-up table with a
text editor. The look-up table is given a name with the same prefix as
the MIDI file to be printed. The suffix of the look-up table is
".TAB". The template program looks for this look-up table when it is
invoked to begin printing a MIDI file. The MIDI file, the look-up
table, and TEMPLATE.EXE (the program) should all exist in the same
directory.
To invoke the program, the following is an example of what is typed
at the directory where the the MIDI file, the look-up table, and
TEMPLATE.EXE exist:
template bar#test
The first word is the name of the program. The second word is the
first eight letters of the file to be printed. After the second word
is typed, and the enter key is hit, the printer should start to print.
To stop the program, hold down the control key (Ctrl) and hit the C
key. Making the program "go" is obviously the easy part. The part
which is time consuming, is typing up the look-up table.
Included with the program are two simple example look-up tables and
their corresponding MIDI files. If you would like to see what the
printer output looks like, type template bar#test or template
metemtst. To make sure your printer is working correctly, the bar
lines of BAR#TEST should be two inches apart. The other file is an
example of what happens when a tune has meter changes and tempo
changes.
The look-up tables have in addition to MIDI note# assignment to hole
position, various other parameters that are unique to book music or
paper rolls. You may want to print out a copy of the sample look-up
tables included on the disk. All items that describe a distance are
defined in inches and parts of inches up to three places past the
decimal point.
•ITEM IN LOOK-UP TABLE DEFINITION
--------------------- -----------------------------------------
NUMBER OF HOLES 128 This is obviously the total number of holes.
BIAS 0.250 This is the distance from the edge of the book
to the center of hole number one.
PAPER WIDTH 7.500 This the distance from one edge of the book to
the other.
COMPASS 7.000 This is the distance from the center of the
first hole to the center of the last hole.
HOLE WIDTH 0.050 This is the printed width that you would like
to make each hole.
HORZ DOTS INCH 60.000 This is how many dots per inch your printer
is capable of printing. 60 is a typical number
for dot matrix printers. This number can be
adjusted if you feel your printer is not
printing accurately.
VERT DOTS INCH 71.750 This is like the HORZ DOT INCH, but the other
direction. Adjustment here will effect tempo.
If you print out TEMPLATE the file BAR#TEST, the
bar lines should be two inches apart.
SPEED 60.000 This is the velocity of the book through the key
frame or paper across a tracker bar. It is
defined in inches per minute.
GRID 0 This allows the printer to print a line down the
center of each hole position. 0 means this
feature is off, 1 means this feature is on.
LEFT TO RIGHT 1 This will allow the holes to printed in the
opposite order, depending on which side you like
to see hole one, or which side of a book you
like to perforate from. As before 1 means on, 0
means off.
BAR LINES 1 This will cause the printer to print a bar line
at beat one of each measure. 1 is on, 0 is off.
BAR NUMBERS 1 This will cause the printer to print bar numbers
on the right margin. 1 is on, 0 is off.
STARTING BARNUM 0 This is the number that you would like to call
the first bar. Some tunes have registers or
playing notes that begin before the first
complete measure of music. If this is the case,
you would probably want to call the first
measure 0. 1 or any other number will work as
well.
NO PRINTER 0 This function is used mostly for diagnostic
tests of the program. Since you will almost
always want the printer to operate, this should
be left at 0.
DASH 6 This feature causes the printer to print a
dashed line down the center of the hole position
indicated. This feature can be used on any or
all holes. Just type the word DASH and then
indicate which hole position you want it to
effect.
DOT 101 This feature is exactly like the DASH feature,
but, with a different pattern.
OFFSET START 6 0.125 This feature will offset, or move the beginning
of all events that appear in this hole position.
The number that appears after the hole position,
is the amount that the offset is to be. This
amount can also be a negative number. Just
precede the offset number with a minus sign (-)
The offset features of this program were
designed to properly place percussion holes in
relation to the music.
OFFSET END 25 0.125 This feature is the same as OFFSET START, with
the difference being the end of each event is
moved instead of the beginning.
LENGTH 101 0.500 This feature allows all events in this hole
position to have the same length regardless of
the MIDI tempo. For instance, you would probably
not want snare drum holes to get longer if the
tempo of a tune went from a fast tempo to a slow
tempo.
• Using the offset features in combination with the length features,
will probably cover all percussion requirements that you will come
across. Initially, experimentation, will help greatly in discovering
how these features can cleverly interact with each other.
Any line of the look-up table can be made to be ignored by the
program by typing a "#" sign at the start of the line. This is so you
can experiment without having to completely erase a line and then
retype it when you want the line to become active.
The LOOK-UP part of the file is organized into three columns. The
first is simply the hole position. The second and third column specify
what MIDI channel and note number is to be assigned to that hole
position. Middle C is note number 60.
[ Editor's Note:
[
[ The lookup table, while very simple in structure, is really key to
[ issue of editing convenience. The arranger uses track, channel,
[ and note assignments that work well for editing and playing via
[ a MIDI synthesizer. Only when the data is processed to be printed
[ on the dot-matrix printer, does the tracker-bar layout need to be
[ known. The only issue that really needs to be better addressed is
[ that of registration changes. These are generally depicted as
[ "note events" on a "muted track" while editing and playing on the
[ synth, but they get printed because the template program does not
[ know they are muted. With the discussions that are going in the area
[ of "editing tools", I look forward to (and would be happy to collaborate
[ on) tools that would help the arranger hear what the tune will sound
[ like on the actual instrument.
After you have printed several tunes, you will discover that you may
use the same kind of look-up table over and over, especially if you are
mostly making music for one kind of music machine. Instead of typing
the look-up table each time for each tune, a generic table for that
kind of book or roll can be made. Each time a new tune is to be
printed, it's look-up table can be made by copying the generic look-up
to the new tune name.
- - -
This is perhaps a bit lengthly to include in Jody's journal but there
may be some people that are not aware of the existence of this
program. The program is available in two versions. One is limited to
printing 1000 "production run" feet and costs $250. Short test runs
are not counted against the 1000 foot limit. A second, unlimited
version costs $500.00. I would probably start with the shorter version
and then pay the rest for the upgrade. It costs the same but you don't
have to lay out $500.00 all at once. A friend of mine is using this
program to hand cut rolls for his band organ and it is working out
great.
Hope this helps you out.¶
Sincerely,
David F. Wasson
619-481-1663
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