Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

On Wed, 5 Jul 2006, Ron Clarke wrote:

> Hi Sindi,
>
> On Tue, 4 Jul 2006 00:24:22 +0000 (UTC)
> sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org> wrote:
>
> > What exactly is a patch, does it have to be 128 instruments?  I think it
> > was derived from the use of patch cords in a Moog synthesizer.
>
>   A patch (*.pat) file is for a single instrument and contains actual sound 
> data, usually in a number of sections in the file, and information for the 
> player (timidity) on where to start and to loop back to at different 
> frequency ranges.
>
> > > > What instruments are included in the patches?  Could you limit it to just
> > > > ordinary orchestral instruments (no more than 20 of them)?
>
>   There are 128 named instruments in a set of patches.
>
> > Could I myself reduce the size of the 'patch' by deleting anything not
> > used in an orchestra or symphony band?
>
>    If you fiddle around with a patch file you will probably destroy its 
> functioning, at least partially if not totally.

I guess I should have asked 'can I reduce the size of a set of patches by 
deleting instruments not used by orchestras or symphony bands?.
And then substituting all high-quality (1MB or larger) patches for the 
ones that are not deleted?  Where could I find single .pat files?

> > A patch is one instrument and your package has 128 of them?
> > Can you (as with playmidi -p) specify which instrument to use for each
> > track and substitute one piano sound for another?

>    Yes.  The easiest way is to edit the configuration file, and direct 
> all pianos to a single piano patch, or all strings to a single string 
> patch, and so on.

symlinks worked too.

>    But it sort of destroys the whole point of using instrumental patches 
> in the first place - that of giving the music texture and contrast, and 
> making it live.  Otherwise you may as well just play a music-box.

I keep running across midi files in which the instrument was apparently 
not specified at all (according to playmidi -r and my ear).  So the Bach 
cello suites come out on piano, as default.  I can't get them to change 
instrument with playmidi or timidity unless the instrument is specified in 
the first place.  Perhaps I can edit the file with Rosegarden instead.


> > I need to make BL3 partition bigger before adding sound.  Can I run it in
> > BL2 (with libc.so.5 and libm.so.5 added)?  Do I add anything other than
> > the sound modules for my sound card (sb)?

>   I have been running timidity in BL2 for a long time.  You may have 
> noticed that MIDIs are MY THING, my websites are full of them, so it was 
> one of my first projects when I first started tinkering with BL.

What I meant was will the BL3 timidity work in BL2.  It did, with only 
libc5 added.  Your version has far fewer dependencies.  Congrats on the 
successful compilation.  I will try to make it work with an .sf2 file in 
the .cfg file.

> Regards,
>         Ron
>
> --
> Ron Clarke
> AUSREG Consultancy      http://www.ausreg.com
> Tadpole Tunes           http://www.tadpoletunes.com
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keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org