xmuseq - MIDI Sequencer

Introduction

xmuseq is a full functional MIDI editor/sequencer which uses the UNIX Sound System device drivers. It uses the Yamaha FM synthesizer interface to output music. It can also send sequences to an external synthesizer via the MIDI port.

xmuseq provides simple point-and-click operations for MIDI editing. Following is a description of the mouse button functions:

• left button - Add events to the staff
• right button - Delete events from the staff
• middle button - Shows event info. Step Button has been pressed, clicking the middle button on a Note Event will sound the note. To quit Step Mode, press Stop

File Menu

• New - Create a blank staff and initialize parameters.
• Open - Open MIDI files. The directory set to current directory. You may change this in the app-defaults file AWSEQ by changing the line Open*dirMask: to point to where you store MIDI files. Currently this value is set to /tmp
• Save - Save MIDI files. You may change the save directory by changing the line Save*dirMask: to point to the directory you want to save file. Currently this value is set to /tmp/
• Quit - Quit program

Edit Menu

• Undo - Undo previous deletes and cuts. Events are pasted back to their original locations.
• Clear - Clears all the events from the staff.
• Copy - Copy events from the staff. When you select the Copy option from the Edit menu, you must hold the left mouse button down and drag it to create a "copy" region. The “copy” region is described by a rectangle drawn with dash lines. Dragging the mouse around increases or decreases the “Copy” region. Releasing the mouse, copies the notes to an internal clipboard.
• Cut - Cuts events from staff. To “cut” events from the staff, press the Edit menu button and select Cut from the menu. Note that the Mode indicator changes to “Cut”. You must hold the left mouse button down and drag it to create a "cut" region. This region is described by a rectangle drawn with dash lines. Dragging the mouse around increases or decreases the “Cut” region. Releasing the mouse deletes the notes from the region and copies the notes to an internal clipboard.
• Paste - Paste notes from the internal clipboard to a specified location. Select the Paste option from the Edit menu button. A popup panel appears in which you must enter the location to paste the events. The location has the format "xxx:yyy" where xxx is the time index and yyy is the offset. yyy must always be less than the current Time Base.
• Refresh - Refresh the screen.

Window Menu

• Tracks - This provides access to tracks. When MIDI files are "Opened", the track information is stored here. Toggling on the track button will post events to the staff. If you are creating a new MIDI file, the toggling on a track will let you automatically enter all notes on that track. Toggling off the button will delete all the events on that track.
• Channels - This provides access to the MIDI channels. When MIDI files are "Opened", the instrument information is store here. Toggling the Channel button will post all notes on a particular channel to the staff. This is useful when several tracks use the same channel and you want to edit all notes on a channel. If you are creating a new file, then toggling on a channel will cause all notes to be entered on that channel. Toggling off the button will delete all notes on that channel.
• Faders - This provides access to the volume and pan characteristics of each channel. Setting volume on a particular channel causes the notes on that channel to have a default setting. Setting the pan positions, causes the channels to sound notes on left, middle or right output channels. FM synthesizer only provides 3 pan positions. Hence all control change parameters for controller 10 must be 0-45 left, 46-90 middle, 91-127 right.
• Event List - This window shows the MIDI events in text format. They are listed with the MIDI values in decimal format. Each event is color coded with the graphic colors.
  

Note Menu

• This menu displays the note length to enter on the staff. The notes go from 32nd to Full Sharp. The length of the note will depend on the current Time Base.

Events Menu

Note: All events are entered on the current track number. To change track numbers you must select a different track from the Track Window.

• NoteOn - Enter a Note On event. Enter Notes based on current Note, current Channel, current track, current Volume. It is assumed that there is going to be a Note-Off event after the duration of the note.
• Pressure - Enter a Key Pressure (after touch) Event. After entering the event using the Left mouse button, you may fill in the values by pressing the Middle mouse button. After touch requires a velocity value ranging from 0-127.
• Controller - Enter a Controller Event. After entering the event using the Left mouse button, you may fill in the values by pressing the Middle mouse button. Controller events require a controller number and a value from 0-127.
• Pitch Bend - Enter a Pitch Bend Event. After entering the event using the Left mouse button, you may fill in the values by pressing the Middle mouse button. Pitch Bend events require a value for the 7bit LSB and the 7bit MSB.
• Program - Enter a Program Change Event. To enter a Program Change event and set a channel first make sure that you are in the Insert Mode (press the Stop button to get out of any other mode). Next, select program from the Events Menu. Then click the left mouse button to enter the event on the staff. Now press the middle mouse button to pop up the Event Information. Press the Patches button to get a list of Patches or enter the patch number. Press the OK button. This will set the instrument on that channel. If you wish to load custom patches make sure that you have a "sbi.def" file in the current directory. Press the Load button the load new patches. The format for "sbi.def" is :

            <patch #> <patch name> <patch file> 

            example: 
                     10 WierdSound /u/demo/wierd.sbi 
                     12 Marimba2 /tmp/marimba2.sbi 

• ChanPressure - Enter a Channel Pressure(after touch for channel) Event. After entering the event using the Left mouse button, you may fill in the values by pressing the Middle mouse button. Channel Pressure events requires a velocity parameter ranging from 0 to 127.
• SysEx - Enter System Exclusive Messages. You have to enter the length and the message bytes manually. · Digital Audio - Enter digital audio trigger event. After entering the event using the Left mouse button, you may fill in the values by pressing the Middle mouse button. You must specify the digital audio file path name.

Track Menu

• Quantize Track - Quantize Tracks based on a quantization value and a quantization method. This menu option displays a panel consisting of:
• Unaffected: The note length is unaffected but the start times are aligned to the quantization value.
• Aligned: The note length is quantized and the start time is aligned to the quantization value.
• Equal: The note length is quantized but the start time is unaffected. ·
• Track: Specifies the track number to quantize. If All Tracks is toggled on, all tracks are quantized.
• Unit: The Quantization value. The unit must always be less than the current Division.
• Division: The Time Base of the MIDI file.
  
• Filter Events - Filter events from the track. Toggling "on" events will delete events from the staff. You may delete events from a track or all tracks.
• Move Track - Moves all events on a track to a specified location. Format for time is xxx:yyy.
• Change Volume - Changes the volume of all Note On events on a track or all tracks.
• Change Channel - Change the channel number of all events on a track.
• Key Transpose - Transpose all notes by specified number of semitones. Select the semitone by pressing the arrow buttons. Transpose affects a selected track or all tracks.
• Oct Transpose - Transpose all notes by specifed number of octaves. Select the octave by pressing arrow buttons. The default is 5 which is the center of the MIDI octave range.

Devices Menu

• FM_PORT - MIDI bytes are written to the FM port; Sound is heard on the FM synthesizer.
  
• MIDI_PORT - MIDI bytes are written to the MIDI port. Sound is heard on an external synthesizer attached to the MIDI port. If you have the Wave Table daughter card, then sound is played through the Wave Table Synthesizer. Note that WAV events cannot be heard when MIDI_PORT is selected since the Digital Audio and MIDI share the DSP.

Buttons

• Record - Record MIDI events using the MIDI-In port on the soundcard. Before recording MIDI events, you must set a Track in the Track window. Use the Track Window or Channel Window to post notes on the staff.
• Rewind - Rewind MIDI notes currently posted on the staff. The cursor and the time window are updated to reflect the current position.
• Play - Play all notes on the staff.
• Forward - Fast forward events on the staff. The cursor and the time window are updated to reflect the current position in the MIDI file.
• Stop - Stop playing the MIDI events. If the Step mode is turned on, pressing Stop will turn off the Step mode.
• Repeat - Rewinds the song to the start.
• Step - When you press the Step Button, pressing the middle mouse button on a note will sound the note on a channel. (You must enter a Program Change event before you can hear any thing. Please refer to the section on Program Change Events above).

Other Controls

• Tempo: Sets the tempo of the song. Sliding it right will make the song go faster.
• Time Base: Sets the time base of each measure. If the Time Base is 120 then the cursor positions are tracked from 0 to 120 in each measure. Look at the Time display to get the position of the cursor.
• Digital Counter: Tracks the song position only when it is playing fast-forwarding or rewinding.
• Scroll Staff: Enables automatic scrolling of the staff window when the song is playing. On slower machines, this may cause delays in the song due to redrawing the screen.
• Scroll Event: Enables automatic scrolling of the event window when the song is playing. On slower machines, this may cause delays in the song due to redrawing the screen.
• Volume: Controls the total volume of the song.

Merging two or more MIDI files

Open a MIDI file and post all notes to the staff. Open a second MIDI file and post all notes to the staff. Then play the notes on the staff.

A Typical MIDI editing Session

1. run xmuseq from an x-term window.

2. Click on the File menu and select Open

3. Select a MIDI file (with a “.mid” extension) and press OK

4. Click on the Window menu and select Tracks

5. From the Tracks window, press any/all Track toggle buttons which have an valid channel.

6. Now you are ready to edit!

7. To save the the file, click on the File menu and select Save.

8. Enter the name of the file and press OK.