Midi Madness Manual

Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 3   Installation .................................................................................................................................... 3   Registering.................................................................................................................................... 4   Probability Concept ..................................................................................................................... 5   Using MIDIMadness .................................................................................................................... 7   The User Interface Overview .................................................................................................. 7   Controls: Sliders ....................................................................................................................... 8   Controls: Curves ...................................................................................................................... 8   Controls: Line Curves .............................................................................................................. 9   Function Windows ..................................................................................................................... 10   Notes ....................................................................................................................................... 10   Chord Selector ....................................................................................................................... 11   Velocity .................................................................................................................................... 12   Length ..................................................................................................................................... 13   Octave ..................................................................................................................................... 14   Humanise ............................................................................................................................... 15   Sequence ................................................................................................................................ 16   Key Signature ..................................................................................................................... 16   Number of Bars.................................................................................................................. 16   The Sequence Clip ............................................................................................................. 17   Adding Note Weights ......................................................................................................... 17   Pitch Bend .............................................................................................................................. 18   MIDI CC ................................................................................................................................... 19   Live Play ...................................................................................................................................... 20   Acknowledgments & Legal ....................................................................................................... 21   Changelog .................................................................................................................................. 22  

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Introduction Thank you for downloading MIDIMadness, we hope you find this manual useful in discovering how the software works, and how you can find a boost to your creativity using it. MIDIMadness is an algorithmic melody generator presented as a stand-alone application, and a VST plugin. It can be used to create short melodic phrases or longer lines which follow a chord progression. It can generate the notes for bass-lines, riffs, sustained pads, or whatever use you may have for its output. As suggested by its name, MIDIMadness creates MIDI notes and events for you to use as you wish. It makes no sounds of its own.

Installation To install the Windows VST version, extract either the 32-bit or 64-bit version of the MidiMadness.dll file to the VST folder of your computer. The default for most DAWs is C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VstPlugins but it may be a different path depending on your setup. To install the Mac OSX VST version of the plugin, extract the MidiMadness.vst file to the VST folder of your computer. This is usually /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST. To install the Mac OSX AU version of the plugin, extract the MidiMadness.component file to the AU folder of your computer. This is usually /Library/Audio/PlugIns/Components. To

install

the

Mac

OSX

AU

MIDI

FX

version

of

the

plugin,

extract

the

MidiMadnessFX.component file to the AU folder of your computer. This is usually /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components. MIDIMadness requires no installation – everything is contained in the plugin file. User presets and settings are stored in the AppData directory. You can access these by typing %AppData%\Midi Madness (exactly as written) into the address bar on Windows Explorer. To uninstall, just delete the plugin files, and remove the MidiMadness folder in the AppData directory. MIDIMadness writes nothing to the Windows Registry. 3

Registering MIDIMadness requires registering before all the features are unlocked. The demo version will only allow 1 bar, 1 chord and will expire after 7 days.

Once payment has been made, a registration email will be sent with the details you need to register. To register MIDIMadness, enter your name, email and serial number in the 3 boxes below the ‘Register MIDI Madness’ button. Make sure you enter them EXACTLY as they were given in the email. You may continue the demo version by clicking the ‘Continue Demo’ button.

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Probability Concept MIDIMadness generates its notes and events based on selected probabilities (or probability weightings). You, the user, select the likelihood for something to happen; then MIDIMadness makes decisions based upon your choices. For instance, you may be after short repeated phrase to sit in a piece of music. The particular section you have in mind uses only the unusual chord of ‘A sharp diminished seventh’. To let MIDIMadness know this, you would indicate that the notes A#, C#, E and G should be available to be chosen. This is done using one of the available modules (in this case ‘Notes’).

As you can see, of all the notes available there, only A#, C#, E and G have bars against them. This would mean that MIDIMadness will only choose one of those notes when looking for a note. Notice that each of the notes has a different height bar, this indicates the relative probability of the notes being selected. The ‘A#’ has the highest bar, and so is more likely to be selected than the others. If you looked at what MIDIMadness generated for this chord, you would expect to find more ‘A#’s, followed by ‘E’s, then ‘C#’s 5

and the least occurring note would be the G. The note length section uses a similar format to select probabilities.

Once you know what notes and lengths you want to use, you then need to make a decision as to which octave and velocities these notes are going to use. A different type of probability selector is used to do this.

The image above is the octave selector window. This works similar to the notes screen above; the higher the curve in a particular location, the more chance it has of playing. In the image above, octave 2 is more likely to play than octave 3, and octave 6 will not play at all. If you want a bass line, make the curve cover only the left-hand of the window; for an melody lead line, you may choose something limited to just one or two of the higher octaves. MIDIMadness uses these probability controls to allow you to select everything about the choices it is allowed to make – which notes, which octave, the duration of the notes, if there are to be rests, how loud and how accurate to the beat. MIDIMadness can also be used to include pitch-bend and Continuous Controller (CC) events to twist up your sound. The controls are covered more in the ‘Controls’ section. 6

Using MIDIMadness The User Interface Overview MIDIMadness has a rich user interface, which attempts to present the underlying concepts of the application in the simplest and manageable fashion possible.

The main section where you do your editing in MIDIMadness is on the right side of the window. It contains 11 buttons to switch between the different screens, and the window showing the selected function. On the above image, the sequence window is shown, showing a generated riff, 2 chords, the sequence settings, and the blue playback head (used during live playback). Selecting other buttons will show that function in this place. The ‘now playing’ section shows you the currently playing notes and MIDI values. The note and velocity text show you the currently playing note, or the text goes dark grey if there is no note currently playing. The yellow pitch display shows you the amount of pitch bend going up or down. The 4 MIDI CCs will output the current value of your selected controllers. 7

The large ‘generate’ button will, when clicked, create a new riff, switch to the sequence window and display it. If you have routed the MIDI output to a synth (See ‘Live Play’ section), it will automatically playback the riff in sync with your host (VST version only). If you want to use this riff, you can now drag and drop the sequence to your DAW, desktop or anywhere else you can drag a MIDI file.

Controls: Sliders

You can change the position of the sliders by clicking anywhere in the range. Clicking will set the slider value to your mouse position.

Controls: Curves

Curves offer you different points to shape the curve as you wish. The curve follows the path of the solid white nodes, using the outlined nodes as a Bezier curve shape. The curve will always cross the solid nodes, but not necessarily the outlined nodes. 8

Dragging a node will move its position, and holding SHIFT and dragging the curve will move the whole curve left or right. If you right-click on a solid node you can delete it. Right-clicking on an outlined node will allow you take make that section linear, making the line straight instead of curved. Right-clicking on the curve will allow you to create a node at that position, or load a preset curve. You can have as many nodes as you wish, but there must always be at least one node.

Controls: Line Curves

Line curves are used to allow the user to specify the attack of a Pitch-bend or CC. Dragging the outlined node will change the curve, and instruct MIDIMadness how to generate the MIDI events required. Right-clicking on the curve will allow you to reset the curve to its default linear value.

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Function Windows Notes

The Notes module allows the user to specify the probability of a particular note from being chosen during the generation process. The higher the value of a note, the more change that note has of playing. Clicking the ‘Select Chord’ button brings up the chord chooser window (see below). The generate process uses these note weightings in conjunction with the Octave module to determine the actual MIDI note chosen.

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Chord Selector

The chord selector is selected from the notes window. It is a simple page which allows the user to quickly assign note weights which follow the pattern of common chords. It is sensitive to the selected Key signature on the Console, and presents a full octave of chords, highlighting those which are commonly associated with the key. The top line shows the numbers of the scale of the key chosen in the sequence window, with the line underneath showing the note names. The notes that are coloured in blue are the notes of the scale of the chosen key. The chords in blue are chords that work well in the key you have chosen. The list of chords will shift the starting note to be the key you have chosen (in the example above D Major). When a chord is clicked on, its associated weightings are shown in the notes window where it can be tweaked to taste.

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Velocity

The velocity window uses a simple distribution curve to allow the user to select how hard the selected notes are played. The x-axis gives an indication of the level the selected curve covers (from 0 to 127 – the standard MIDI velocities). In the image above, the velocity 127 will be the most common.

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Length

The length window allows for the selection of the note lengths, performance note lengths, and the chance of a rest being played. MIDIMadness allows for standard note lengths from semi-quavers (sixteenths) through to semibreves (whole notes), with dotted and triplet versions of all but the semibreve. The staccato/legato control allows the user to select the performance length of the note. The range can be selected by clicking and dragging on the slider. The coloured section shown is what MIDIMadness uses when making a choice of how much of the metrical duration to use. All preferences can be selected, whether it be sharp and choppy (mostly to the left), smoothly joined up (mostly to the right), or a mixture (filling the whole range). On the right hand side of the module is a bar for selecting the chance of a rest being selected. This control can be quite sensitive, and it is worth experimenting to find what works well for what you are hoping to achieve. For instance, if the control is raised above 50%, then most of the generated melodic fragment will actually be empty space, since there is a greater than 50% chance that MIDIMadness will select a rest of whatever metrical length selected.

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Octave

The octave window allows the user to select what range the generated notes are to cover, from a single octave, to the full 10 octaves that the MIDI specification covers. During the generation process, when an octave is selected, it is combined with the note choice to make the output note event. The numbers along the bottom show the MIDI note name octave number. In the image above octave 2 will be the most likely octave to be played; octave 4 will hardly be used whereas octave 6 will not be used.

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Humanise

MIDIMadness will allow for a level of ‘humanisation’ in the generative process. This is expressed in accuracy to the metrical ‘beat’, and depending on the users’ selection the generated note will be moved a number of ticks ahead or behind the beat. This allows for more natural expression in the melodic fragments, which may be appealing in certain settings (e.g. bebop jazz at one end of the spectrum, or country music at the other) On the module’s context menu (right click), there is an option to disable the humanisation so that all notes sit exactly at their correct place within the bar. You can narrow the curve to make the humanisation less profound as in the image above.

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Sequence

Key Signature MIDIMadness allows for all normal keys to be used. Clicking on the Key signature will bring up a menu allowing the selection of the desired key. Selecting a key from the menu will cause the chords in the chord chooser to show chords fitting musically to this key. It is still possible to configure note weightings to conform to whatever scale or chords a user desires; this key is not set in stone, it is merely a helper for the chord chooser window.

Number of Bars You can select the number of bars you want your riff to be from the selector. MIDIMadness will generate anything from 1 bar up to 32 bars. Unregistered copies of MIDIMadness do not allow the number of bars to be altered from the initial 1 bar.

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The Sequence Clip In the centre of the window is an area which displays the generated riff in a familiar ‘Piano roll’ fashion. After using the ‘Generate’ button, this area is filled with the notes or the sequence. Note velocity is shown by colour, the blacker the note, the lower the velocity. Clicking and dragging from this area will cause the notes shown in the window to be exported as a MIDI file which can be dragged straight into your DAW. The blue line is a playback head showing the currently playing position of the riff in live play mode. Right-clicking the sequence will give you the option to regenerate the CCs without regenerating the notes.

Adding Note Weights MIDIMadness allows for multiple note weightings to be used in to generate a riff, giving the ability to use chord progressions. There will always be one note weight, at the very beginning of the clip. The chords are shown as blue symbols with a ‘C’ in the centre. Additional note weightings can be added by right-clicking the piano roll at the desired place, and selecting the ‘Add Chord’ menu item. Note weights can be dragged horizontally to rearrange when they apply. The chords will snap to individual beats. Note weightings can be edited using the notes window, or deleted by right clicking on a note weighting symbol. The blue chord is the current chord shown in the note window.

Notes / CC Only MIDIMadness allows you to choose 2 modes: Notes and CCs, or CCs only. The Notes and CCs will generate a full riff as normal. The CCs only will only create MIDI CCs and pitch bend data, so you can route this into one of your own midi sequences.

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Pitch Bend

The pitch window allows the user to determine whether pitch-bend modulations will occur during the melodic fragments, and the nature of them. There are 3 controls, one for choosing the direction and depth of the bend, the likelihood that a note will bend, and the attack of the bend. The direction and depth of the bend can be chosen to be only up, only down, or a selection of either, depending on the nature and placement of the curve. The chance control allows the user the freedom to choose how likely it is that a note will bend, from not at all (0%), to every note (100%). The attack control is a simple curved line control. Moving the node change how the pitch-bend will reach its destination. Note – the pitch-bend events generated by MIDIMadness follow the MIDI specification, but can make no guarantee that the synthesiser/ sample player/ media player that plays the notes will render them as hoped, this will depend on the patch selected to play, and the pitch bend range set within that patch.

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MIDI CC

MIDIMadness has the capability to generate up to 4 different Continuous Controller events for each note. The CC window is the most complicated module within MIDIMadness, and allows for control over the final value of a CC modulation, the chance of a CC being generated, the attack of the modulation, whether to reset to a given value when a new note is chosen, and if so what value to reset to. The value, chance and attack controls should be easy to follow (especially in the light of the pitch-bend window). The ‘Reset’ control is a simple On/Off switch with a filled square being ‘On’ and the ‘Default Value’ is only relevant when ‘Reset’ is selected. If ‘Reset’ is not selected, the last used CC value will be used as the starting point for the next modulation. To determine which CC number a module uses, right click on the ‘Current CC’ button and select your chosen CC number. All 128 standard CCs are supported, but it depends on patch selected on the target synthesiser/ sample player/ media player how the CC events are rendered. In the VST version, it is possible to send a CC event to the host in order a synthesiser or sample player to ‘learn’ a CC number that the user wishes to use. In order for this to 19

work, the host will need to be able to route MIDI messages from one plugin to another, and the receiving plugin will need to be set up to ‘learn’ if it has that function (see the ‘Live Play’ section. When the host playback is stopped, you can send a CC message by either moving the ‘Default Value’ slider, or selecting a new CC number. If your synth is setup to learn MIDI events, this CC will now control that parameter.

Live Play An exciting new addition to version 2 of MIDIMadness is the live play mode. This allows you to playback the generated riff in realtime right from within MIDIMadness without having to drag the clip into your DAW. Note – this will only work with the VST version. The AU version does not support live play. To setup live play, you need to route the midi output of MIDI madness into your chosen track with a synth. Below is an example of how to do this in Ableton Live. MIDIMadness is on the first track, and a synth is on the second track. The synth track takes its MIDI from the MIDIMadness plugin and the monitor is set to ‘in’. Your chosen synth will now playback the MIDI from MIDIMadness, and is also set up to MIDI learn (see CC section).

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You can see the currently playing values in the now playing section at the bottom left, and a the blue playhead will show the position within the clip. This clip will sync to your host DAW.

Acknowledgments & Legal MIDIMadness and this manual are copyright 2015 MIDI Madness Software. No unauthorised copying, renting, hiring, distributing, lending, deconstructing, re-selling or any other unintended use. You know the score.

MIDIMadness was developed by Adam Rogers of Arctican Audio (arcticanaudio.com) based on a concept by Jim Urquhart. VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. The Audio Units logo is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. midimadnesssoftware.com 21

Changelog 2.1.3 • •

Fixed a bug with Reaper not opening the plugin window sometimes Added algorithm optimisations

2.1.2 •

Fixed bug in MIDI AU FX and AUAval for some users

2.1.1 • • • •

Regenerate velocity separately Regenerate pitch bend data separately Disable velocity Windows no longer requires the Microsoft Redistributable Pack 2010.

2.1.0 • • • • • • • • •

Added a CC curve disable feature Allowed regeneration of CCs Fixed humanisation bug – note timing and crashes Added CC only mode Fixed bug where plugin may crash if deleted and reloaded Added half bar sequence length Fixed now playing not refreshing properly in some hosts Fixed notes being held for too long when fully staccato Fixed a problem where some notes where hanging in some hosts

2.0.3 •

Fixed crashing when humanise is enabled in some situations

2.0.2 •

Fixed issue with register screen not showing in some hosts

2.0.1 •

Fixed issue with logs sometimes showing on desktop in OSX

2.0.0 •

Initial Release

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