Baslinux mailing list

[Ron Clarke <ariadne AT earthlink.com.au>]

Hi Sindi,

On Wed, 5 Jul 2006 14:35:22 +0000 (UTC)
sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org> wrote:

> >> 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?

    On the net, they only come as collections - usually zipped into one BIG 
lump.
On my hard drive, they are all spread out as individual files. Which ones do 
you want ?

> >> 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.

    Yes it would, and it is essentially the same as editing the .cfg file.

> I keep running across midi files in which the instrument was apparently 
> not specified at all (according to playmidi -r and my ear).

    Yes, there are a lot like that. Sometimes the original sequencer is at 
fault and sometimes it is the error of those whe have re-posted the MIDI 
without knowing what they are doing.

>  So the Bach cello suites come out on piano, as default.

   Piano is the global default for an unassigned track.

>  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.

   Rosegarden would be the one to use, but it will be helpful if you know 
which number (1 to 128) each instrument is. Rosegarden will ask for the 
instrument's number.

   Don't try to edit the MIDI file itself directly, I have destroyed some 
MIDIs trying to do it that way.

Regards,
         Ron

-- 
Ron Clarke 
AUSREG Consultancy      http://www.ausreg.com
Tadpole Tunes           http://www.tadpoletunes.com
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