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tcepsaI have begun combining my love of (and desire to become better at) music with my computer geekery and developed a Java application that turns any standard 101-key keyboard into a MIDI musical keyboard (actually, I should double-check that...especially since I use certain keys such as '\' that aren't always in the same place).
For those of you who are familiar with Tracking, this uses a slightly different layout (though similar concept) for the keyboard arrangement. Instead of starting with C4 at 'z', I put it at 'v'. This results in the overall range of the keyboard being from F#3 (assigned to 'a') up to A6 (assigned to '\') and also means that I can play certain songs where they were written to be played, instead of having to transpose up an octave to get at all the notes.
As an example, here's how to play a slightly simplified arrangement of Ashokan Farewell in the key of D (with spaces to approximate most of the sustained notes ~grin~):
.2w 2/.k nk, knbcb cxbk.w55t5e .2w 2/.k nk, knbcb cxbk.w5.2ew k,. kbw ./2w.k nk nbc zx . knbk.q w/ 2w.k bxbk.w knbgb
And, as a bonus, here's Simple Gifts:
bb, ,./, /qw wq/ .,. . . , ./.,b b ,k,./ ../qw q/. ../ /., ,., w / ./q/., ./ /qw q/. ./. b, , ././qw q/. . / / ., , ,
And further extra super bonus, here's Prologue from some of the early Final Fantasy games:
b,.bq /.,k,.,,k n./nw q/.l/.n/. b,.bq /.,k,.,,k n./nw q/.l/.n/. e ew /qq/.l./qw r re qw w3w w3wq/.
(Oh wow... these are so much easier to read than notes on a staff... too bad there's no good way to indicate length of note this way ~wry~ Then again, I've spent a lot more time doing things involving sight reading text--even with weird punctuation--into a computer keyboard than I have involving sight reading music into an instrument, so it's not terribly surprising that it is easier (though I am still a little surprised at the degree to which it is easier...))
... and I should probably actually figure out some way to post the program, so if someone who reads this wants to actually try it they can ^_^
For those of you who are familiar with Tracking, this uses a slightly different layout (though similar concept) for the keyboard arrangement. Instead of starting with C4 at 'z', I put it at 'v'. This results in the overall range of the keyboard being from F#3 (assigned to 'a') up to A6 (assigned to '\') and also means that I can play certain songs where they were written to be played, instead of having to transpose up an octave to get at all the notes.
As an example, here's how to play a slightly simplified arrangement of Ashokan Farewell in the key of D (with spaces to approximate most of the sustained notes ~grin~):
.2w 2/.k nk, knbcb cxbk.w55t5e .2w 2/.k nk, knbcb cxbk.w5.2ew k,. kbw ./2w.k nk nbc zx . knbk.q w/ 2w.k bxbk.w knbgb
And, as a bonus, here's Simple Gifts:
bb, ,./, /qw wq/ .,. . . , ./.,b b ,k,./ ../qw q/. ../ /., ,., w / ./q/., ./ /qw q/. ./. b, , ././qw q/. . / / ., , ,
And further extra super bonus, here's Prologue from some of the early Final Fantasy games:
b,.bq /.,k,.,,k n./nw q/.l/.n/. b,.bq /.,k,.,,k n./nw q/.l/.n/. e ew /qq/.l./qw r re qw w3w w3wq/.
(Oh wow... these are so much easier to read than notes on a staff... too bad there's no good way to indicate length of note this way ~wry~ Then again, I've spent a lot more time doing things involving sight reading text--even with weird punctuation--into a computer keyboard than I have involving sight reading music into an instrument, so it's not terribly surprising that it is easier (though I am still a little surprised at the degree to which it is easier...))
... and I should probably actually figure out some way to post the program, so if someone who reads this wants to actually try it they can ^_^
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Date: 2007-09-12 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-12 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-12 08:42 pm (UTC)Or, in other words, what is gained from this?
(aside from an evening of fun stretching your skills and your brain, that is)
Oh, and I think you're terribly cute even if I don't understand the motivation to do things like this at all...
In feedback land:
First: I find notes significantly easier to read, but then I often don't actually bother to bring punctuation marks into sufficient focus to actually read them. I just get what ought to be there from context. And in this case there is only minimal context. (disclaimer: I do have some experience reading music)
Second: Would you be able to sight read a piece you didn't know from this notation, or is the "surprisingly easy to read" end of things a bias problem. You know the songs well enough to enter them, you entered them, is it any surprise that you can read the patterns inherent in the string you created?
Tangentially related question:
It is a string, right? Or do I have that technical term mis-defined?
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Date: 2007-09-13 12:24 pm (UTC)If you stick with this for a while You might consider spending the mucho buck to get a real keyboard rather than a qwerty. One of the things I recall from my time as a music geek is that keyboards are pressure sensitive so that you can POUND and get a loud noise and tap to get a smaller noise.
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Date: 2007-09-14 04:12 am (UTC)A cheap MIDI controller is, well, cheap, and most are at least velocity sensitive. A pressure sensitive one is a good bit pricer, but that's not as important. You can also find cheap, used older synths with half-keyboards that make fine controllers too. I had a Juno 1 I often used as a controller but there are many others you could use.
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From:MusicGeekery!!
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