Any Octamed/MIDI gurus?

[marm]

Been enjoying getting to grips with Octamed. Using version 4 at the moment.

I'm using a MIDI controller keyboard and also running MIDI to a few external synths and samplers. All is generally well. The only thing I'm struggling with is the way Octamed handles "note offs" while passing MIDI from the controller to an external module.

The behaviour appears fairly erratic really, with some instruments and settings it triggers a note which sustains indefinitely. This is fine for triggering samples but not much good for synths. Sometimes it seems to just trigger a very short note - holding the keys down doesn't provide any sustain.

Sorry I haven't described this very clearly, I don't have the machine in front of me and I'm not 100% about what's going on, but it seemed to me that the KEY-UP and SUPPR.N.OFF buttons weren't helping.

It's not the end of the world in as much as there are ways around it in terms of entering and editing note information in to the tracker, but it would be nice to be able to manually play my midi instruments normally without having to re-patch (even if just for working stuff out, and resampling). Playing more than one note at a time also results in quirky behaviour. Is there any way to send MIDI thru untouched?

[emufan]

there was another one looking for note off feature in octamed.
there is also a manual for octamed v4.

[marm]

Originally Posted by emufan

there was another one looking for note off feature in octamed.
there is also a manual for octamed v4.

That's helpful, thanks.

Have got the manual. I actually spent some time reformatting it as the PDF linked to is in a proportional font, so the ASCII diagrams are useless. Happy to share.

[emufan]

good news.
I saw the "ascii-art" in the manual, if yours is better, just attach it or put it in the zone

[marm]

Originally Posted by emufan

good news.
I saw the "ascii-art" in the manual, if yours is better, just attach it or put it in the zone

It's in the zone... I wouldn't like to say that it's "better" though.

I fairly quickly edited it for printing (and using the minimum amount of paper) so it's in a small font and I've got multiple original pages on one page, if that makes sense. Works for me but it's not perfect. Would have been better to renumber the sections and ignore the original page numbers. Also I chopped out a couple of non essential (to me) bits which the original author might not be happy about (copyright notes ? etc., I forget now).

Anyway, what about this MIDI issue? Anyone got any ideas?

[adrdesign]

Use FFF command or the better: go to instrument parameters and set HOLD>0 for fixed value.

[marm]

Originally Posted by adrdesign

Use FFF command or the better: go to instrument parameters and set HOLD>0 for fixed value.

Cool, thanks, will try both later.

[marm]

Originally Posted by adrdesign

go to instrument parameters and set HOLD>0 for fixed value.

In combination with using "continue hold" (i.e. pressing return to extend notes) this is a good solution for programming sequences. Thank you! Notes still hang when triggering via MIDI but can be stopped by pressing (of all things) the stop button. I think I can live with that, but if there IS a solution then I'd be glad to hear it.

Also discovered that chord mode allows my MIDI keyboard to play external modules polyphonically. Obvious when you know - but then Octamed is a bit like that.

[emufan]

good to see there is some solution.
your manual edit is better, now one can see what those ascii art really means

#1) over at amigalove I found an article from the maker of Music-X
while he hunt down a "problem recording Midi data" bug,
some commodore engineer told him: "The Amiga can’t do Midi".
not a good statement, but a good read

[marm]

Originally Posted by emufan

good to see there is some solution.
your manual edit is better, now one can see what those ascii art really means

#1) over at amigalove I found an article from the maker of Music-X
while he hunt down a "problem recording Midi data" bug,
some commodore engineer told him: "The Amiga can’t do Midi".
not a good statement, but a good read

Glad the manual is proving helpful. One day I might do a better edit with proper section numbers.

Thanks for sharing that Music-X article - interesting stuff. I have a copy (and original manual) but haven't really explored it. I actually had a copy years ago, but again didn't really get in to it. For the time being I'm really enjoying working in Octamed and still have loads to discover.

[marm]

I had a play with Octamed 5 yesterday, and Octamed Sound Studio (not sure of exact version).

Was interesting, but on the surface (which I am barely scratching in V4) they just seem like a different approach to user interface. Apart from that, what are the main pros and cons of the newer versions?

[adrdesign]

Octamed v4 can run on KS1.3 and need lees memory (go to MISC, press DEP2 and CLOSEWB, save prefs and restart, you´ll earn some speed also).

Octamed v5 midi routine was optimised, the better for >16 track MIDI modules, it's more responsive. It uses standard intuition libraries so it's system friendly, can save compressed modules (requires powerpacker.library & lh.library). Documentation is in amigaguide format, easy to browse. Regarding to MIDI, you can select Preset number but also Bank number.

Octamed v6+ MIDI replayroutine was rewritten from scratch and can use different command pages in the same pattern, very useful when you need 2 or more commands in the same line (volume and portamento, for example). It can handle amiga soundcards (like Delfina). Can be used in any screenmode, and it's fully configurable (shortcuts and so).

Octamed Soundstudio introduced software mixing, but MIDI's still the same.

I would use SoundStudio for MIDI purposes having 2mb RAM+ and HDD. Octamed V4 is recommended for plain amigas (512k KS1.3).

Hope my english is enough.

[marm]

Originally Posted by adrdesign

Octamed v4 can run on KS1.3 and need lees memory (go to MISC, press DEP2 and CLOSEWB, save prefs and restart, you´ll earn some speed also).

Octamed v5 midi routine was optimised, the better for >16 track MIDI modules, it's more responsive. It uses standard intuition libraries so it's system friendly, can save compressed modules (requires powerpacker.library & lh.library). Documentation is in amigaguide format, easy to browse. Regarding to MIDI, you can select Preset number but also Bank number.

Octamed v6+ MIDI replayroutine was rewritten from scratch and can use different command pages in the same pattern, very useful when you need 2 or more commands in the same line (volume and portamento, for example). It can handle amiga soundcards (like De lfina). Can be used in any screenmode, and it's fully configurable (shortcuts and so).

Octamed Soundstudio introduced software mixing, but MIDI's still the same.

I would use SoundStudio for MIDI purposes having 2mb RAM+ and HDD. Octamed V4 is recommended for plain amigas (512k KS1.3).

Hope my english is enough.

Thanks, that's really helpful. I'll probably continue with V4 for a little while as a change will slow me down, but at some point I'll explore the newer versions further.

[marm]

I've got another question.

I spent half an hour this morning making some samples. The software I used was Aegis Audiomaster, my sampler is a Technosound Turbo. I had no issues with the shorter samples, but a longer one (saved as an IFF) seemed to cause an issue once loaded into Octamed.

Basically when I loaded it in, although I could see the entire sample in the SAMPED window, it would not play in full. Initially it was just looping around the first second or so, so I turned off loop.

Weirdly although the sample cuts out audibly after a second or so, the graphical "oscilloscope" display still shows playback, and the cursor continues to scroll through the sample in the SAMPED display.

Any ideas?

[Samurai_Crow]

@marm

The Amiga hardware can't play samples bigger than 128kBytes without software intervention. If you switch to OctaMed SoundStudio and try the FastMemPlay or Mix modes, it should work.

[Amiga1992]

For best results, sample within your tracker of choice, this case, Octamed. That way you make sure you make files that are accepted by it.

[marm]

Originally Posted by Samurai_Crow

@marm

The Amiga hardware can't play samples bigger than 128kBytes without software intervention. If you switch to OctaMed SoundStudio and try the FastMemPlay or Mix modes, it should work.

Good to know, thanks, but I'm not sure the sample is more than 128K. I'll check. But it's definitely playing less than 128K worth of the sample if that makes sense.

[marm]

Originally Posted by Akira

For best results, sample within your tracker of choice, this case, Octamed. That way you make sure you make files that are accepted by it.

Yeah, had crossed my mind. So far I've found recording in Octamed to be a little buggy (sometimes it just refuses to sample) and also slightly confusing, although I'm sure I can get my head around it.

It seems to want to have a sample loaded already before it will record, and whatever you record seems to be limited in length based on the length of the last sample...

FWIW samples saved as .SVX files in Sound Forge 4 (on a PC) have been fine.

[daxb]

Tried to record with Octamed 4 and noticed the same as you. OctamedSoundStudio worked fine with max. 128kb sample length. Don't know if you can load/record longer samples. Edit: Ok, you can have al least 400kb samples, maybe much more or unlimited.

[marm]

Originally Posted by Samurai_Crow

@marm

The Amiga hardware can't play samples bigger than 128kBytes without software intervention. If you switch to OctaMed SoundStudio and try the FastMemPlay or Mix modes, it should work.

You were right.

I checked, it was just over 128K so I trimmed the end off and it played fine.

Originally Posted by Akira

For best results, sample within your tracker of choice, this case, Octamed. That way you make sure you make files that are accepted by it.

Tried sampling with Octamed today. Very poor results, massive DC offset, very distorted output. Audiomaster seems to work pretty well so I think I'll stick with that, although it's a bit of a pain that I can't run both applications at once.