From: ian@eruvia.org   
      
   On 2017-08-14 21:04:00 +0000, Andreas Kohlbach  said:   
      
   > On Mon, 14 Aug 2017 13:58:14 +0100, Ian McCall wrote:   
   >>   
   >> What you're describing is playing via the cheap sound card General   
   >> MIDI patch-compatible sound cards, like the Waveblaster (Sounblaster   
   >> with a wavetable synth built in) or similar. But MIDI is   
   >> sound-independent: it's the score, the , not the sound itself.   
   >   
   > No, I just mentioned that also casual users - like me - used MIDI back in   
   > the 90s, before MP3 and higher bandwidth (and Napster ;-) kicked in. I   
   > say MIDI used by the casual user was quickly abandoned in the very late 90s.   
      
   That's fair enough - you would have used wavetable synths built into   
   the sound cards in the mid-90s, not "MIDI" as such. MIDI would have fed   
   those sound cards, but its the sound cards you're describing. It's more   
   true to say that listening to the built-in sound card synths were   
   abandoned, than it's true to say MIDI was abandoned, but really we're   
   splitting the thinnest of hairs here.   
      
   >   
   >> I would -love- to have a modern, up to date SID2MIDI. I work in Logic   
   >> on the Mac, run various SID emulation instruments like QuadraSID (now   
   >> discontinued sadly). If you're starting a remix, you can do a lot   
   >> worse than start from the original MIDI. Feed the original MIDI into a   
   >> modern emulation and start playing with the sounds - excellent.   
   >   
   > What about MIDI to SID? Should be even easier. You might have like 128   
   > midi instruments defined in GM and could try to create sounds similar to   
   > that with the SID. You could put the parameters for these sounds in a table   
   > with other characteristics, like attack/decay/sustain/release. Then if   
   > say instrument #1 (piano IIRC) is played in a MIDI look up the piano   
   > sound for the SID from that table.   
      
   For me personally, the more interesting capability is definitely   
   SID->MIDI. Because then I can import the resulting track into Logic and   
   assign whatever instrument/effects I like, and also edit the   
   performance. In some cases that might be an emulation of a SID, but in   
   others I might decide it's time for an electric guitar, or some new   
   synth, or a vocal, or....   
      
   If I can go into random HVSC SID track, export it to MIDI and use it as   
   a start for a remix then that's really, really useful to me.   
   Particularly if it includes the automation of the filters/envelopes.   
   Even if I don't want to do a full-blown authentic SID remix but just   
   want to practice some production techniques, having a fully made set of   
   tracks to start with is handy. My aim here isn't to produce accurate   
   SID tracks, it's to take SID tracks and produce new arrangement with   
   modern instruments (which may or may not include emulated SID in them -   
   after all, the SID was a good synth in its own right).   
      
   SID music is what got me into writing music in the first place - SID   
   and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. I still use QuadraSID on almost every   
   track I do, often quite subtly so that unless you know you'd never   
   guess. Would be nice to be able to access the music direct and then   
   work with it myself.   
      
      
   Cheers,   
   Ian   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)