MUSC 108. Introduction to Music Technology - Fall 2013

07Lab5 - Convert Famous Song to standard MIDI file

[Overview] [Syllabus]

Fill in the Excel SMF template

Do your work in the SMF tab. Use the "SMF Template" tab as reference only.

This SMF will contain five tracks.

  1. Tempo Track
  2. Instrument 1 - MIDI Channel 0
  3. Instrument 2 - MIDI Channel 1
  4. Instrument 3 - MIDI Channel 2
  5. Bass Instrument - MIDI Channel 3

Note: The choice of MIDI channels is arbitrary. Channels 2, 4, 6, 8 would work just as well. It's simply a matter of keeping the MIDI channel consistent for each instrument.

Fill In The Track Header

Fill in the number of tracks (5) and the PPQ value (480).

Fill In Track 1 (Tempo Track) Meta Events

Key Signature meta event (FF 59 2 sf mi)

The key signature is D Major, 2 sharps.

Time Signature meta event (FF 58 4 nn dd cc bb)

The time signature is four four.

Tempo meta event (FF 51 3 tt tt tt) :

The tempo is 48. You'll need to convert it into microseconds per quarter note.

Microseconds per quarter note formula

Fill In Instrument Tracks 2-5

Track 2 = Inst1
Track 3 = Inst2
Track4 = Inst3
Track5 = Bass

Follow this procedure for each track.

insert the Controller and Patch change messages at the beginning of each track

All messages are preceded by a PPQ time.

Reset All Controllers (Bn 121 0)

Volume Control (Bn 7 dd) Use 100 for your first attempt.

Pan Controller (Bn 10 dd). Spread the instruments out from left to right.

Pan Chart

Patch Change (Cn dd) : Use any instruments from the General MIDI sound set. Be sure to choose a bass instrument for Instrument 4. The piece was originally written for three violins and cello.

MIDI messages

Copy and paste the ppq-status-data1-data2 messages from the appropriate tab.

Reset All Controllers (Bn 121 0) and End Of Track

Be sure to end each track with the Reset All Controllers message followed by the End Of Track meta event.

Paste Into MIDIDisplay And Export As SMF

Paste the SMF data into MIDIDisplay and export it as a SMF. Name it whatever you like and save it to the Desktop.

Play The SMF

Select your SMF (one click) and press the space bar. Adjust the patch change, volume, and pan settings as necessary.

Save Your SMF

Save it to your USB drive or network home folder. You can email it to your friends and they can play it. It can be playdc on Windows with MediaPlayer or iTunes.

Continue with 07Lab6.

[Overview] [Syllabus]

Revised John Ellinger, January - September 2013