[MPA] Sheet music from keyboard MIDI data

[Charles Turner]

On Thursday, January 30, 2003, at 07:37  AM, Mac Pro Audio List wrote:

Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 13:28:32 +0000
Subject: [MPA] Can anyone tell me if the following is possible
From: Primrose Music <primrose.music at dsl.pipex.com>

> Make a midi file by recording onto an electric piano's floppy disk?
> That is, are the files created in the disk drives of electric pianos
> midi files? Or not necessarily? Recommended pianos?
>
> Put the floppy into an Imation SuperDisk Drive, linked to an iMac. Or,
> if not a SuperDisk Drive, some other external floppy drive?
>
> Import the midi file into Sibelius? (Or any other music notation
> software programme that imports midi files)

The Yahama Disklavier pianos (real acoustic pianos, not just electric 
models) can play from a diskette MIDI file, created on a computer (or 
however). Presumably when the Disklavier records its own diskette 
files, those are MIDI files. However, I haven't followed through on 
this to check exactly what they are.

Probably someone on the Disklavier users group could answer your 
specific questions:

<http://www.ptg.org/disklav.htm>

On the other hand, music engraving packages like Sibelius, Finale, et. 
al. can take their music input directly from an inexpensive MIDI 
attached keyboard. Alternatively some MIDI sequencing package could 
record the keyboard's MIDI output, and then that MIDI file could be 
imported into the music engraving package.

I have some limited experience with keyboard MIDI sequencing and 
importing MIDI into Finale. It takes better keyboard chops than mine to 
play in something cleanly enough for that captured MIDI to be practical 
for sheet music. Imprecise rhythm is the main problem. MIDI hardware 
and the computer are perfectly comfortable generating things that 
become, for example, triple dotted thirty second rests. Actual 
musicians don't want to read sheet music full of that stuff!

Quantizing can help clean this up. It probably comes down to the state 
of one's keyboard skills versus how much time one wants to spend 
editing, in the MIDI sequencer package or in the engraving package.  
For me using the MIDI keyboard to just 'click' in the notes one at a 
time is more practical!

You might say a bit more about your ultimate goal for this.


-ct