Post by JohnG on Mar 24, 2009 11:24:26 GMT
Altering Channel Volumes in CakeWalk
Hi All,
This one is for you Jacqui!
What we are trying to do is to find ways to edit the volume of a MIDI channel.
There are several ways of doing it, and this is the first of a three part tutorial.
This first tutorial will look at a very simple way of inserting a "Channel Volume" MIDI message at the beginning of a track, if there isn't one already there, and setting it to a lower value than "normal". Lowering the volume on one or more tracks may be all we need to make the whole song acceptable.
A couple of explanations first. A MIDI file should have embedded in it, right at the very start, a command that says "set everything back to default status". This command is known as a SysEx command, and is normally called a "GM on" or "GM reset". In CakeWalk you can check whether there is such a command in the file, by looking in "View / Sysx". If it's there you will see a line saying "Turn General MIDI System On".
One of the many things that GM on does, is to set all the channel volumes to 100. The default. So if there is no specific Volume command in the MIDI channel data, and there was a "GM on", then it will be set to a value of 100. But 100 may not suit some channels, we may need a lower or higher value to achieve a balanced sound.
===============================================
So, as usual, open your file in CakeWalk and immediately do a "Save As" with a different name just so we don't damage the original.
The first thing to do is to left click on the track we want to edit so, in this case, we are going to edit the first "strings" track, track 6. N.B. MIDI channel 5. So left click the 6 and we should see the channel data change colour as in the image below.
Now if we want to enter a MIDI command then the best way to see what is happening here is to look at the "Event List". We can either do "View / Event List" or click on the little menu bar item "Event List View" and we should see the window below.
Don't worry about the horrendous level of detail here we are not concerned with it. Just observe the following: Under "Trk" in the first line we see "6". (Track 6). Under "Ch" we see "5". (MIDI channel 5). Under "MBT" (Measure, Beat, Tick) we see "10:01:415". (Measure 10, Beat 1, Tick 415). This last is where the music in this track actually starts to play. So a good place to enter our volume command will be just before the track starts to play. Maybe MBT 10:01:000. Let's do that by opening the menu item "Insert / Series of Controllers" see below.
In fact we are going to enter a series of just one controller as follows (see image below):
Insert "Controller", number "7-Volume", into MIDI channel "5".
What and where?
Value range beginning and ending with "90" (the volume will be 90% of it's former value).
In this case from "10.01.000", i.e. just before the music in the track begins. In this case we don't want lots of these, just one, so we repeat the place thru "10:01:000". Check it, then click "OK".
With any luck, if all is entered correctly, you should see this. (see below).
Can you see that we have entered a completely new line right at the beginning?
Track=6; MBT=10:01:000, Channel=5, Kind=Control, Data=7-Volume, (value)=90.
Now, if that is too quiet, click on the 90 and change it to (say) 95, if still to loud change the 90 to 80 or 85 or whatever.
And another useful tip, if you want to mute the track completely, change the value to 0 (zero).
Actually after doing this, I realised that it wasn't just track 6 that was too loud, but also track 4, MIDI channel 3.
So, click on the 4, take a look at the Event List, then Insert / Series of Controllers and enter almost exactly the same. See below. Note MIDI channel 3 this time, and I've moved the position forward by one tick.
So, here endeth the first lesson.
Watch out for parts two and three, two different ways of editing instrumental note velocities.
Hope that helps you, let me know.
All the best,
JohnG.
Hi All,
This one is for you Jacqui!
What we are trying to do is to find ways to edit the volume of a MIDI channel.
There are several ways of doing it, and this is the first of a three part tutorial.
This first tutorial will look at a very simple way of inserting a "Channel Volume" MIDI message at the beginning of a track, if there isn't one already there, and setting it to a lower value than "normal". Lowering the volume on one or more tracks may be all we need to make the whole song acceptable.
A couple of explanations first. A MIDI file should have embedded in it, right at the very start, a command that says "set everything back to default status". This command is known as a SysEx command, and is normally called a "GM on" or "GM reset". In CakeWalk you can check whether there is such a command in the file, by looking in "View / Sysx". If it's there you will see a line saying "Turn General MIDI System On".
One of the many things that GM on does, is to set all the channel volumes to 100. The default. So if there is no specific Volume command in the MIDI channel data, and there was a "GM on", then it will be set to a value of 100. But 100 may not suit some channels, we may need a lower or higher value to achieve a balanced sound.
===============================================
So, as usual, open your file in CakeWalk and immediately do a "Save As" with a different name just so we don't damage the original.
The first thing to do is to left click on the track we want to edit so, in this case, we are going to edit the first "strings" track, track 6. N.B. MIDI channel 5. So left click the 6 and we should see the channel data change colour as in the image below.
Now if we want to enter a MIDI command then the best way to see what is happening here is to look at the "Event List". We can either do "View / Event List" or click on the little menu bar item "Event List View" and we should see the window below.
Don't worry about the horrendous level of detail here we are not concerned with it. Just observe the following: Under "Trk" in the first line we see "6". (Track 6). Under "Ch" we see "5". (MIDI channel 5). Under "MBT" (Measure, Beat, Tick) we see "10:01:415". (Measure 10, Beat 1, Tick 415). This last is where the music in this track actually starts to play. So a good place to enter our volume command will be just before the track starts to play. Maybe MBT 10:01:000. Let's do that by opening the menu item "Insert / Series of Controllers" see below.
In fact we are going to enter a series of just one controller as follows (see image below):
Insert "Controller", number "7-Volume", into MIDI channel "5".
What and where?
Value range beginning and ending with "90" (the volume will be 90% of it's former value).
In this case from "10.01.000", i.e. just before the music in the track begins. In this case we don't want lots of these, just one, so we repeat the place thru "10:01:000". Check it, then click "OK".
With any luck, if all is entered correctly, you should see this. (see below).
Can you see that we have entered a completely new line right at the beginning?
Track=6; MBT=10:01:000, Channel=5, Kind=Control, Data=7-Volume, (value)=90.
Now, if that is too quiet, click on the 90 and change it to (say) 95, if still to loud change the 90 to 80 or 85 or whatever.
And another useful tip, if you want to mute the track completely, change the value to 0 (zero).
Actually after doing this, I realised that it wasn't just track 6 that was too loud, but also track 4, MIDI channel 3.
So, click on the 4, take a look at the Event List, then Insert / Series of Controllers and enter almost exactly the same. See below. Note MIDI channel 3 this time, and I've moved the position forward by one tick.
So, here endeth the first lesson.
Watch out for parts two and three, two different ways of editing instrumental note velocities.
Hope that helps you, let me know.
All the best,
JohnG.
