Adding Midi To Powermac 6500, MIDI INTERFACE Options

[dalbatross]

HELP! MY MOM WANTS TO HOOK UP A MIDI KEYBOARD TO HER POWERMAC 6500/250. SHE IS A COMPOSER AND WANTS TO TRY USING A MUSIC NOTATION PROGRAM. THE ONLY AUDIO-IN PORT IS A MICROPHONE JACK AND THERE'S NOTHING IN HELP ABOUT MIDI. DOES SHE NEED TO ADD A SOUND CARD? DOES SHE NEED SOME KIND OF EXTERNAL BOX? WHAT SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE DOES SHE NEED?

I HAVE PC BACKGROUND AND MY MOM IS COMPUTER CHALLENGED. DETAILED RECOMMENDATIONS WOULD BE MOST APPRECIATED!

[Levon River]

Hi, dalbatross.

First, please press your "caps lock" key so you're NOT TYPING EVERYTHING IN ALL CAPS, 'cause it looks like you're yelling.

Your mom will need a MIDI interface. If she wants to have the music notation program drive her MIDI keyboard, and listen to the results from the keyboard, she won't need an audio interface at this point, just a MIDI interface. She can listen to the MIDI keyboard through whatever she's listening to it through now.

There are several relatively inexpensive MIDI interface options: MOTU Fastlane and others. (I think for that Power Mac you'll be wanting to get an interface that has a serial port connection--not USB.)

If it's a 6500/250, I imagine she's running OS 9.x. Is that right? If so, once you have a MIDI interface, you'll need to download and install for her one of two free programs: OMS or FreeMIDI. These are system-level MIDI set-up utilities that let you define which serial port your MIDI interface is connected to ("Printer" or "Modem"), what keyboards or sound modules you have connected to that MIDI interface, and some other parameters. You'll probably want to get OMS since it is the one more universally used by MIDI-capable programs, but you may need to get FreeMIDI if you get a MOTU MIDI interface (I can't recall what the latest situation is, not having been in either OMS or FreeMIDI in a while.) Either way, FreeMIDI has an option for emulating OMS, or does it automatically now, or something like that.

There is virtually no documentation for either of those utilities, and they are *not* terribly intuitive in more than a few aspects, so when you get to that point, if you need help there are plenty of people here who can help walk you through any troublesome steps. But you can probably figure out at least most of what you'll need to configure for her particular MIDI keyboard and the MIDI interface you get.

So, your next steps are:

1) Buy a MIDI interface and hook it up, and,

2) Download and configure OMS (or FreeMIDI) to be the System-level interpreter between your MIDI interface and your MIDI-capable programs.

There may then be a some fiddling to do in the notation program to assign what plays where through the MIDI keyboard, but that's getting ahead of ourselves at the moment.

Good luck with it. Holler (but not with yer all-caps key) if you need more help wid it.

[Presto]

Get her to say how she might like to compose. I compose and don't use midi at all. I compose and use microphones and occasionaly line in from keyboard.

Does she want the firsthand audio sounds she makes on her favourite piano/guitar/sax, or sampled sounds? Does she want to print sheet music? Is the composition more important than the performance?

I think it would be more efficient if she came and talked directly with us - this IS the right place We'll help her to get to the point where she can ask the questions which are pertinent to her needs/desires.

We all started out not knowing anything and it doesn't have to be complicated.

We? Quite a mixture Experienced sound engineers, relative beginners, composers, even classical bents (some of us are bent).

Welcome Mum That could be her login

[dalbatross]

Presto- Thanks for the reply. My mom is a pianist. In the past, she has composed on the piano and done the notation by hand. She recently borrowed a Clavinola (midi) keyboard which we want to connect to her Powermac 6500. My mom is strictly interested in doing composition and notation. She is not trying to created a sound track or a demo or doing her own vocals. She just wants to be able to play some;thing on the keyboard and have it show up in musical notation form on the computer. I imagine after she gets the knack of the program (which we still need to get) she will probably edit with her mouse or keyboard. The final product will be a printed manuscript. to:

[Presto]

I used Finale years ago for scoring (and it liked midi), but at the time, although it was supposed to be the best, it was very fiddly to use. This was just before Cubase did proper scoring. I know others use scoring/midi apps on here so they with have to answer.

In the meantime try a search on here, and on the web in general.

If you don't get any answers on the English side of MM, just contact me and I'll ask on the French side.

[Levon River]

She just wants to be able to play some;thing on the keyboard and have it show up in musical notation form on the computer.

Then, dalbatross, she wants MIDI input capabilities, which means she will need to have a MIDI interface (as I described in my first message to you), plus OMS (if she's running OS 9--as I described in my first message to you).

And even though you made a point of ignoring my detailed post attempting to help you and your Mom, I'm *still* going to attempt to help you by pointing you to the least expensive software I know of that I think might functionally get her up and running on what she's trying to do (once there is a MIDI interface connected and configured). It's here:

http://www.myriad-online.com/harmony.htm

It's not Sibelius, but it handles most notation/scoring functions very admirably, with several levels of accessibility and complexity, from novice to pro. Personally, I recommend she cut her computer music teeth on some software like that before she moves on to an expensive package like Finale or Sibelius. YMMV.

I wish you both success.

This post has been edited by Levon River: Sat 11 Jan 2003, 06:41

[Presto]

Yes, of course Levon. Sorry! I went off the original hooking up topic (that you had answered masterly, as usual ). This is because I tend to look at computing from the user needs end, rather than the hardware end: define what you want to do, then find an appropriate app, and only then look at the hardware (which outside music sometimes leads to a PC )

(Anyway, I'm not a moderator so I can go off topic hehee)

[Levon River]

Yes, of course Levon. Sorry! I went off the original hooking up topic ...(Anyway, I'm not a moderator so I can go off topic hehee)

Nobody's got anything to be sorry about--unless we don't get dalbatross's Mom up and running with her MIDI and notation stuff. Then we're all dismal failures.

(I still wonder what happened to torchsong, and whether she ever found musical joy with a computer... )