XGworks Tutorial 4 - creating a MIDI song file.

[JohnG]

Creating a MIDI file step by step.

A tutorial for XGworks beginners.

In this lesson I'm going to attempt to show you how to create a very simple MIDI file, from scratch, literally step by step using the XGworks sequencing program, using some clever inbuilt features.

The lesson will be divided into two sections, the first taking a fairly close look at all the things that are suggested should be done in initial file set up, the second looking at the entry of musical notes and then modifying the file to incorporate other MIDI messages, in this case specifically "pitch bend".

In this lesson we will only make use of the computer keyboard and the mouse, as far as note input is concerned. Naturally you will need to have your computer connected up to a suitable sound creation source; a sound card or module, or some kind of virtual instrument, if you want to hear our creation.

The lesson applies to both XGworks version 3 (XGw3) and the English version 4 of XGworks (XGw4) , and I'll try to make clear some of the slight differences between the features as they are implemented in both versions.

The tutorial was provoked (inspired?) by a question asked by a very experienced sequencer of good quality MIDI files, Wayne (Reed) Knazek, in the MidKar forum over in Yahoo Groups. tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/midkar/message/30496. Wayne wasn't sure how to sequence the opening bass notes for the Byrds version of Mr Tambourine man. Or, rather, specifically the slide from D to A in measures 3 and 4 of the song (repeated in the fade out at the end). Try here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=06rGW0AQGiY

This tutorial will just cover those opening, half dozen or so, bass notes and the pitch bend, but with many XGworks set up and sequencing lessons learned on the way.

Starting Out.
Start up XGworks and make sure you have done the System Setup as outlined in my previous tutorial on this subject. If you're using XGw4 then it will have created a new file with blank "blocks" in measure one, in all of the first sixteen tracks from channels one to sixteen (does that make sense?). Anyway, like this:



It will also automatically open a List View window initially, which you can close.

We only need track one for this tutorial so, if you like, you can delete the blank blocks in tracks 2 to 16 by highlighting them with the mouse, then pressing the "Delete" key on the keyboard.

For those working with XGw3 we will need to create a blank block in track 1. We do this by picking up the "Pencil Tool" and drawing in the block. The Pencil Tool can be found on the Tool Bar at the top, next to the Arrow Tool. Alternately and more easily, right click anywhere within the Track View and select the Pencil from the pop-up menu. See below:



Now draw, left to right, starting at the left of track one, measure one, a block in which we will place our MIDI notes and other messages. Take a look above and you'll see it, in red, already labelled by XGworks as "Block1".

One of the slight quirks of this program is that it needs a block created in Track View, in each track we intend to use, before we can enter notes and other MIDI data into it. This technique for creating blocks works the same for both versions of XGworks.

Before actually creating any more let's take a look at the XGworks Window. At the top, left, we find the program title together with the file name, if present, otherwise e.g. Untitled1. Immediately below that is the Menu Bar. Directly below that, normally, is the Tool Bar.



The Tool Bar can be moved anywhere convenient by positioning the mouse into a blank area of the bar and dragging to a new position. Notice that it will reorient itself vertically if docked at the extreme left or right hand edges of the window.

Also you should see, somewhere in the window, the Play Control. It too can be dragged anywhere convenient within the window. In XGw4 it will change shape to an elongated set of controls when docked at the top or bottom of the window.



May I strongly suggest that you read pages II-2 to II-6 of the manual (that's from page 39 of the pdf) to acquaint yourself with the functionality of both the Tool Bar and the Play Control. If anything is unclear you can always ask for clarification here, in the forum. A copy of the manual in pdf form is included with the software. You should find it within the Yamaha\XGworks subdirectory within Program Files on your C:\ drive.

Track View and Sequence Name
Moving on to the Track View itself we will find the title "Track View :" and, if entered, the name of the sequence. Let's enter a new sequence name for this file.

To do this we will need to open up the Master Track window. That's the last icon of the block of eight, to the right of the XG icon. I think it's meant to be the head and shoulders of a conductor. The contents of this window look remarkably like the List View but is dedicated to what is known as Meta Data. Meta Data is information about the contents of the MIDI file and some control data for its playback, e.g. tempo.

Meta Data is primarily information for the sequencing/playback software or hardware and isn't sent across the MIDI interface. So the majority of it will be at the very start of the file. That's Measure one, Beat one, Tick (MBT) zero or 001:01:000. Look at the columns labelled L1, L2 and L3, they show us the position of the data within the file.



N.B. Within a file created by, or saved in XGw there are always 480 sub-divisions of a quarter note, numbered 0 to 479.

Right click in the Master Track window and a pop up menu will appear, in XGw4 select "Insert Event" then "Meta Event", in XGw3 just select "Meta Event". In the pop up box, leave the MBT at 1:1:000 and change the "Text Event" to Sequence Name.



Click in the Sequence Name field "Value 1" and type in "Mr.Tambourine Man - Bass Gliss" then "Enter". You should see the Track View title change. Now save the file to a convenient directory, in this case as an XGworks (XWS) file. We'll save it as a MIDI file, if we want to, later. I called my file "MrTM-BassGliss.XWS" in a directory (folder) called Tutorial.

Getting Organised
When we create a new MIDI file it's always a good idea, and recommended practice to create one whole measure to contain set up information. However, it's rarely the case that we need a whole 4/4 measure to contain this information. Usually a measure of 2/4 is quite sufficient. So lets create that structure now.

Open the Master Track again and alter the Time Signature to 2/4 (click in the Value 1 field, it turns red) then simply type "2" then "/" then "4" (no quotes) then Enter.

Now, using the same Insert Event technique insert at "0002:01:000" another Time Signature event followed by a Tempo event. You can alter the value of the Tempo event to something slower by altering Value 1 of this event. It should look like this if you've done it correctly:



Track Parameters
Within the Track View, on the left, are track parameters and on the right the tracks themselves, separated by a vertical line known as the Split Bar. This bar can be dragged to the right or left opening up one or the other section as needed. Typically we need to see and modify the track parameters at start up then the tracks during MIDI sequence programming.

To understand the functions within the Track View can I suggest that you read pages III-1 to III-9 of the manual, starting at page 45 of the PDF. Otherwise it'll take me pages to describe the functions. If you need clarification please ask. Then we'll get to use what you've learned right here.

In my use of XGworks there are three columns which I tend to use quite frequently, Solo, Mute and Record, in that order. So I have moved those columns to the left hand side. The other columns are part of the initial set up, so they can be in whatever order suits you. All columns, apart from the track number "Trk", can be slid left or right by dragging the column heading (the mouse pointer changes to <==> ). Column widths can be changed by dragging the lines between the column headings (the mouse pointer changes to <=||=> ).

Let's enter a name for the track by clicking in the Name field for Track 1 (channel 1). As we're going to be using the General MIDI (GM) voice Finger Bass for the sound, that's what I'm going to call the track that.

Make sure the Port field is set to point at the connection your MIDI sound card (or whatever) is connected to.

Lastly, as we are about to program a bass guitar, we will define the "Instrument Type" as Bass Guitar. Why do this and what does the setting do? If we use notation (Staff View) to enter notes, it is most useful if we see the notation in the same way that the instrument player would see it. A bass guitar is played an octave below what is written on the musical stave. By defining the Instrument Type as a Transposing Instrument, Bass Guitar, XGworks automatically transposes what we hear down an octave from what we write on the stave. Click, where it says "Normal" in the Instrument Type field of track 1 and fill in the fields as shown below:



One last thing. If it's not already red click once on "Block1" in the track view, it will turn red. Wait a moment then click again on it. A little text box should open into which we can name the block what we want. I'm going to enter "Bass Gliss" as that's what we'll be putting in, in terms of MIDI data. It's not necessary, but it can help identify what data we're working on if we were working on several tracks simultaneously.

Having completed that step we have now concluded the Meta Data set up for the file itself and for that particular track. To summarise, we have entered a file name and a sequence name, created a short measure at the start to hold MIDI set up data, and entered an initial tempo value for the file. We have also prepared the track to point to our sound card, entered an instrument name and prepared it for the input of bass guitar notes.

You could, if you want, slide the vertical Split Bar most of the way over to the left hand side. Mine is now just showing the three columns Solo, Mute and Record as well as the track number.

Track set up stuff!
Now, with the Bass Gliss track highlighted, right click on it and select List View from the menu, or click on the List View icon in the Tool Bar. It's empty, let's put something in it.

For a start it's a good idea to put what's called a "GM System On" or "GM Reset" message at the beginning of any MIDI file, unless we are making a file for some synthesiser and we don't want to alter any detailed programming we may have already created. The reason is that it tells our sound module to reset all internal settings back to their default values. For example, if there had been a fade out in a previously played MIDI file then all channel volumes will have ended up being down at zero. If our file doesn't put them back up again then the result could be silence when we play our file.

To insert this message, and all of the others coming up, we will right click in the List View window and use Insert Event / System Exclusive. Leave the MBT at 1:1:000 and select, in Model "GM", then in Param select "GM System On" then Input.

Don't Exit yet because it's likely that we'll want to enter a second event of this type. Set the Clock field to "240", we need to let a bit of time go by before the next message is issued, as it takes a fraction of a second for a hardware sound module to obey the GM On message. Setting the clock field to 240 makes sure the next message is not issued for about 1/4 of a second.

Now, what kind of sound module are you using?
If you are using a GM2 compatible module we will need to insert a GM2 On message.
If you are using a Yamaha XG sound module we need to insert an XG on message.
If you are using a Roland SC sound module we need to insert a GS on message.
We'll do the last one by putting in an XG On message and then altering it, as XGworks doesn't know anything about Roland SysEx messages.

So, with our MBT pointing at 1:1:240 do one of the following:
For a GM2 On message select Model "GM" then Param "GM2 System On", Insert and Exit.
For an XG On message select Model "XG", Param "XG System On" and do the same for a Roland GS On message.
Now, for a Roland we will need to alter the entry in the Value 2 column.
Click in Value 2 and then click again. The entry will change from red to highlighted text.
Using the arrow keys move all the way to the left change the 43 to 41 and, going right, change the 4C to 42, now enter 12 with a space either side, change the first 00 to 40, change the 7E to 7F, then before the final F7, enter 41 with spaces.
It should read "41 10 42 12 40 00 7F 00 41 F7" with a single space between each pair of digits.

Here's a picture of ALL of the messages entered.
Remember you only want the first and ONE of the three messages.



We now need to select what sound will be played, and we want a Finger Bass.
So, Insert Event / Packed Voice ... change MBT to 1:2:000
In the second field change Grand Piano to Finger Bass. If you're using and XG tone generator you can further choose from the various types of finger bass available in field three. If you aren't using XG leave them well alone. Then Exit.

This should be the result when the Insert Packed Voice has been Input.



Now I'd like you to try to insert three Control Events at MBT 1:2:001, :002 and :003 respectively. The events are Volume with a value of 100, Pan with a value of 64 and Reverb with a value of 50. Try discovering what the Auto Step with a value of 1 does.

It should all look like this when we've finished:



Now save the file.

This may all seem a little long winded, but when we've become used to it, it just takes a couple of minutes to set up the file and a few moments to enter the Voice parameters for each track. We only need to enter the System On messages once in a file and it's normal to put them in track one MIDI channel one.

That's the end of the set up part of the tutorial, next we'll be tackling the more interesting task of note and pitch bend entry.

Hope you enjoy it so far.
Copyright © 2013, John L Garside.

[JohnG]

An introduction.
So just what is it I'm going to try to explain in the second part of this tutorial?

It is that we don't necessarily have to have a MIDI keyboard in order to create musical sequences.
Everything can be done using the computer keyboard and the mouse.

The process is, perhaps, slower and more laborious and also, without extra work, will almost certainly sound less natural than playing in the notes. But this can be remedied, to a large extent, by moving the position and length of notes, as well as altering the note dynamics (note velocity), and by adding MIDI controller events (expression) to simulate human expressiveness.

The results can be made to sound amazingly good.

This lesson will, of course, only deal with the some of the fundamentals of this creative process.

N.B. This will, almost certainly, end up as a fairly long tutorial. I intend therefore to tackle it a bit at a time, adding explanation and diagrams as they occur to me. Upon completion I shall probably remove this little notice. Last edit 2nd April, 2013.

The Task
Let's remind ourselves of what we are trying to do here.
We are trying to create the opening measures of the bass track from Mr. Tambourine Man written by Bob Dylan as interpreted by The Byrds.

Wayne, in his request for assistance, gave the following two measure pattern for the notes:

| 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 |
| d ' ' d |~~ a ' a a |

With the ~~ representing the slide from d to a.

The music is in 4/4 time (we set measure 2 et seq to be 4/4 in the first lesson) with the first measure having the bass note D on the first and last beat, then there's a slide form D to the A above it. Followed by some repetitions of the A on beats 3 and 4. Actually the bass on the recording doesn't begin until measure 3, so we ought to replicate this.

We'll enter the notes, first in XGworks Staff View and then in Piano Roll View.
We're doing that so that you can see which of the two methods suits your way of working.
We'll have the List View open at the same time so we can see what is being created in terms of MIDI messages and their timing.

Before we can begin this process we need to become familiar with working within the three windows.
I shall, accordingly, spend a little time explaning some of the main features of each window and describing how we navigate our way around them.

For this tutorial I'm going to suggest that we have open, suitably positioned and sized, the three windows Staff View, Piano Roll View and List View.
To open them we can either click on their respective icons in the main Tool Bar after having highlighted the track we want to work upon, in this case track 1, or right click on the track and select the view we require from the drop down list as below.



Once we have all three windows open we can position and resize them.
I show my own arrangement below (reduced in size from the wide screen monitor).



The Track View has been minimized (not closed) as we don't need to access it for a little while.
Its minimized window is at the bottom left hand corner.
The List View has had the columns narrowed and the window width reduced, then lengthened.
Both the Staff View and the Piano Roll View have been widened and positoned so each is partly visible.
Using the Control + F4 keys we can very easily flick between the three windows. Try it.

My own method of working is to have only Staff and List Views open, as I am most familiar with notation.
If you are more familiar with working from a keyboard you may prefer Piano Roll and List Views. But try all three for this lesson.
We can then observe how altering one affects the other. You'll probably find that useful.

Understanding the Staff View
Let's take a look at the Staff View.
N.B. It should be kept in mind that although XGworks is able to handle notation, it is in no way as comprehensive as a proper notation program.
I'm thinking of the most well known two, Sibelius and Finale, nor is it as good as the one I use, Mozart Notation software.
It should appear something like the picture below.



We can zoom in or out either horizontally or vertically using the "+" and "-" (plus and minus) icons in the main program Tool Bar, on the right hand side. These affect the central part of this window, the displayed size of the notes and the width of each measure.

Working from top to bottom of this window we see (1) the Staff View Tool Bar (it's the same tool bar as in Piano Roll View (PRV)):



From left to right, after the track name (if we entered it), we find two icons together, the first to add an extra Controller Pane (up to 3 are allowed) or to close them down again, one at a time.

By default we are given, first Note Velocity, then Pitch Bend, then Expression (Exp), but they can be changed to any permiited values. See later.

The next six icons deal with the grid size of notation area and whether or not quantization will take place. The first, the "Free" icon, removes quantization when pressed down, that is the score becomes "free" of quantization, not quantized.

The next three icons define the grid and, if applicable (Free off) the note value to which quantization takes place. Quarter note (1/4), eighth note or sixteenth note working from left to right. An even finer grid if needed, 1/32 note, can be had by accessing the setup menu and "Display Quantize".

The last two icons of this group of six allow dotted notes (a note and a half) and triplets (a note divided into three) to be entered, if required.

The very last icon, on the right, opens the special (as far as I know unique) XGworks Pitch Bend window. We will be taking a deeper look at this later in the tutorial.

Below the Staff View Tool Bar we see (2) the main note display/entry area with a vertical line indicating the place where note entry will take place, accompanied by a flashing note entry cursor, a black square, possibly with extra short lines below or above it, known as "leger" lines.



This note entry cursor can be moved up or down using the up/down arrows on the keyboard.
Its position within each measure, exactly where the note(s) will be placed, can be altered using the left/right keyboard arrows. With "Free" off, it will "snap" to each line of the grid forcing note entry to be at an exact timing point within each measure.

By default we should see the treble or "G" clef on the extreme left, the symbol that looks like an ornate combination of an upper and lower case "G", i.e. "G" plus "g" with an upward squiggle.
It is possible to change the clef from treble to bass (G to F), or to a grand stave (G and F), and even have a C clef as in a score for viola. More of this later.
It is also possible to enter key signatures on the staves from 7 falts all the way to seven sharps. Again, more later.

To the right of this we see the two time signatures that we entered in the first lesson within the Master Track View, 2/4 then 4/4.
We can enter new time signatures or change existing ones within this Staff View which we'll touch upon later.

And to the right of that a set of horizontal lines known as the Staff or Stave.
In the picture you can see the measures divided up by thick and thin lines indicating measures and beats within each measure. In the picture we can see just the first three measures marked 1, 2 and 3 at the top, the 2 partly obscured by a green triangle.


Overlaying this, in the picture provided, is (3) the floating Note Palette (or Tool Bar) for version 3 of XGworks (XGWv3), which I will explain in more detail later.



In XGworks version 4 (XGWv4) this Note Palette takes on a different appearance.
It is initially in its minimized form to the right of the current Main Tool Bar and possibly the Play Control, like this:



If we click on the note head, on the left, we get this:



If we click and drag in an empty area we get a floating tool bar, similar in some ways to the XGWv3 one.



This note palette can be moved to an easily accessible place on screen, in order to select the note value we require quickly and easily.

The purpose of the Note Palette is to allow us to use the mouse to define precisely the note duration and velocity that we wish to enter into the score. We can also define whether the note is sharp, flat or natural.

If we look at the Note Pallette of XGWv3 above
The first nine icons deal with note size, from full note (semibreve) down to 1/32nd note, then sharp, flat or natural (accessed by right clicking on the #), then the actual percentage value of the note from 100% down. Default is 97% AFAIK. When we play it is fairly rare to hold a note for the exact duration unless "legato" is specified.
The next eight icons from "ppp" to "fff" define the loudness (note on velocity) of the note to be entered. Yamaha suggests values of 8 for ppp going up in steps of 16 to 120 for fff. The fine control at the end allows adjustment of the suggested values.

At the foot of the Staff View window is (4) the Control Pane.



This area by default displays the velocity of any notes that are within the visible portion of the main note display area.
Although what controller values it displays can be changed, e.g. Modulation Wheel instead of Note Velocity.
There are more options for different displayed controllers in XGWv4 than in XGWv3.

XGworks allows us to have up to three of these controller panes, stacked one above another, open at the same time, and we can select which controller we wish to see in each pane.
An example might be Note Velocity in one, Expression in the second and Pitch Bend in the third.
We can also resize each pane vertically by dragging the edge of the pane up or down.



We open the extra controller panes by using the leftmost icon of the Staff View Tool Bar, and close each one by using the icon next to it on the right.

The Controller Pane Tool Bar allows us to draw in, with the Pencil Tool, or Erase, events within the pane.
We can draw straight lines, in free format, or a variety of curves by selecting the appropriate icon in addition to the Pencil.

Finally you will observe a little scrollable box on the right of the Controller Pane Tool Bar labelled "Interval". When we draw in events, e.g. a line, the number in this box will determine how far apart, in MIDI ticks (480 per quarter note), the events will be spaced.

Entering notes in the Staff View
The 'normal' way of entering notes into the Staff View is by positioning the flashing cursor (square block) where we want the note to be (using the arrow keys on our computer keyboard), selecting the duration of the note either by using the Note Palette (which gives us fine control) or by using the Function Keys (F2 to F12 (more on this in a moment)), then pressing 'Enter' will insert the note at the selected point. We'll start entering the notes we want in a minute.

On the other hand we can right click in the Staff window, select the pencil, and click where we want a note, having first selected the note value we require. Although this way of working is probably more applicable to the Piano Roll View.

The Function keys
The function keys are an alternate way, in Staff and Piano Roll Views of selecting note lengths (coarse control). They work as follows:
F2 = a whole note, F4 = a half note, F6 = a quarter note, F8 = a sixteenth note, F10 = a thirty-second note and F12 = a sixty-fourth note.
The odd keys F3 to F11 create what are known as 'dotted notes', in between values, e.g. F3 = a half plus a quarter note, F5 = a quarter plus an eighth note, and so on.

On to the Piano Roll View (the PRV) next.

Last edited 15th April, 2013.

[JohnG]

The Piano Roll View (PRV)

Let's take a fairly quick look at the Piano Roll View, so called because it kinda reminds us of the old punched hole roll of thin card that was used to drive a player piano.



You'll notice that the Tool Bar at the top of the PRV is the same as that for the Staff View.
You should also notice that the Controller Pane at the foot of the window is the same, with its associated Tool Bar.

With XGWv3 the floating Note Palette will also open, but not with XGWv4.
In fact with XGWv4 you'll perhaps notice that, although the extra Tool Bar is added to the main Track View tool bar, only the note icon is available and the other icons are all 'greyed out', i.e. unavailable. Those icons are all to do with notation so not applicable to the Piano Roll View.

If we look at the main section of the PRV, we'll see that the piano keyboard with its black and white keys, on the left, is turned vertically with the higher notes at the top and lower notes at the bottom. We can scroll up and down, or open the window vertically to view more keys.

The horizontal grid is divided up in a very similar way to the Staff View, with its measure and beat separations represented by vertical lines, with the PRV Tool Bar working in the same way.

Normally the Piano Roll View will open with two of the white keys in the display labelled "C3" and "C4" visible. This represents approximately the centre of a piano keyboard with the note A3=440Hz positioned between them. Count upwards, using just the white notes, from C3 to D3, E3, F3, G3, A3 then B3 to C4.

Entering Notes in the PRV
The 'normal' way of entering notes into the PRV is by setting "Free" on in the PRV Tool Bar then drawing in the note at the appropriate position on the grid and dragging the length of the note out, horizontally to the duration we require. But it can be entered in the 'normal' way as in the Staff View, i.e. position the flashing cursor, select the note duration required (as described before, either fine or coarse) and press Enter. (This would normally be done with 'Free' off.)

Getting on with Tambourine Man
It's about time we started to enter some notes isn't it?
Let's go back to the Staff View and work out how to position the notes correctly.

We need to understand, if we don't already, how the notes are positioned on the stave.
If you understand this, then skip over this section.

Note names on the Stave
A little further back I introduced you to the "G" or "treble clef".
In addition to that one line, the second from the bottom on the stave, all the lines have note names and the spaces between the lines have note names too. As follows:



Take a look at measures 2 and 3.
There are five notes entered. They are called quarter notes because each one occupies one beat of a 4/4 measure. 4/4 means four quarter notes.
Each note is entered on a line of the stave.
Below each note, entered as a lyric for ease of reference, is the name of the note.
From the bottom line going upwards E, G, B, D and F.
I was taught 'Every Good Boy Deserves Favour' to help me remember (make up your own mnemonic).
The strange squiggle in measure 3 is the symbol for a quarter note 'rest', i.e. silence.
The solid rectangle on top of the B line is the symbol for a half note rest, i.e. silence for two beats.

In measure 4 you will see the four spaces in the stave occupied by four more quarter notes, again labelled below, F, A C, E.
No mnemonic needed.

In measure 5 you will see that we can enter notes both below the stave (beats 1 and 2).
The space below is D, the added line below (a leger line) is C.
This is also known as "Middle C" and is the same as the central Middle C on a piano.
Also in measure 5 you will see that we can enter notes above the stave (beats 3 and 4).
The space above is G, the added line above (also a leger line) is A.

Entering the notes
Remember a while back I wrote that the bass started in measure three?
Well, we added an extra measure right at the start of our MIDI file to hold the set up data.
So the music itself will start one measure later, in other words we need to enter the bass notes beginning in measure four.

Position your Staff View so you can see measure 4 and 5, like the picture below.



Initially we are going to enter quarter notes (crotchets for those from the UK) which is represented by a black solid blob (the note head) on the end of a line (the stem) in the position shown in the picture above, on beat 1 of measure 4.

The note is played reasonably loudly, so we need to change the note velocity to duplicate this.
You will see that, in the note palette, I've selected "ff". It will give a note velocity of 104.
However, I did it by pressing F6 to get a quarter note, then Shift + F8 to get ff.
(Check out page XII-9 of the manual (page 259)).
It's well worth while having a print out of pages 258 to 261 (XII-8 to XII-11) by your side as you get used to the shortcuts.

Now, with the flashing note entry point positioned on the D space below the stave, press Enter.
Right arrow 3 times and Enter again.
Right arrow once (to measure 5, beat 1), up arrow to the second space in the stave (A) and Enter.
Continue in this fashion until you have the following.



If you make a mistake, just backtrack until the flashing cursor is over the note, then press Del(ete) and re-enter the note in the right place.
You'll also find you can drag the note up and down, or left and right using the mouse. Try it.

You could now try going across to the PRV to see where the notes have been entered in that view.

At this point you may be wondering (I'm sure some of you are) why I'm entering bass notes into the treble stave.
The answer is that I simply feel more comfortable working up here, and that I want to demonstrate a useful tool in XGworks that transposes at the push of a button.

The notes we have entered can hardly be called bass notes (even though they are being transposed down automatically by our setting of Electric Bass Guitar, way back, in the Instrument Type field).

Let's transpose them down an octave.
Draw a rectangle around the notes we wish to transpose using the mouse, as below:



Now go up to the main XGworks Menu and choose 'Jobs' then 'Transpose'.
In the 'Transpose' field enter "-12" (minus twelve) and click on 'OK'.
The notes will be moved down an octave (12 semitones).
Check the PRV again to see what has altered.

Actually there's a great little keyboard shortcut we can use for transposing exactly one octave. With the notes we want to transpose highlighted, we can use Ctrl + Page Down to shift them all down instantly. Ctrl + Page Up would transpose them up an octave. Good, eh?

Let's make this look correct by moving the notes onto the bass clef.
Over on the left of the Staff View, click with the right mouse button above or below the treble clef and the 4/4 time signature. You should see "'Key/Time Signature Settings" and below it "Layout". Click on 'Layout'.
Then in the Lines column, change 'Upper' to 'Lower' and click OK.
The box is slightly broken in XGWv4 but still works okay.
This should be the result.



The notes are in a different position vertically and, over on the left, the G clef has been replaced with the F, the bass clef. However, the notes are still D and A but transposed down into the bass.

Here's a picture showing what the notes on the lines and the notes in the spaces are called, as we saw on the treble stave before, but in the bass stave. Also what the notes above and below the bass stave are called..



I suggest you now have a listen to what we have entered to see if it is starting to sound like the original.
Hmmm!
Sort of, but the first note is much too short, I think it should be held for beats 1, 2 and 3 of measure 4.
And the first note of measure 5 is too short too, it should be held for beats 1 and 2.

Lets rectify that.
Click within the Controller Pane and you should see a small square appear at the top left of each indication of note velocity. See the above picture.
If you slowly move the mouse pointer until it hovers over the top right hand corner of the first note's velocity, the pointer will change to a double headed, left/right arow. Click and hold this and drag it to the right until it almost touches the next note's on velocity, do the same with the first note of measure 5. The result should be similar to the picture below.



Let's take a look at what's happened.
In measure 5 the quarter note has been changed to a half note (a flattened circle note head with a stem).
In measure 4 the quarter note has been changed to a dotted half note, i.e. a half note plus a quarter note.

Let's listen again. No, apart from the missing slide, there's something wrong with the last bit.
Too many notes I think.
Let's try joining the last two notes together to form one longer note.

Click on the last quarter note in measure 5 so that it is highlighted, it should change colour.
Now, try Alt + V (together). If you've done it right the 2nd note in measure 5 should change to a half note, and the 3rd note disappear, like this:



Now have a listen again. Aha! That's more like it. Good. Now on to the glissando.

Here's a little picture of all the notes on both treble and bass staves showing how they join up at middle C in the centre, the first note of measure 5.



Last edited Wednesday 17th April, 2013.

To be continued

[JohnG]

Okay, So after much blah blah we've got the notes into track 1, MIDI channel 1.
I'll write a little addendum later which shows how to do this but using the Piano Roll View.
Of course this is the same procedure for entering notes for subsequent tracks, only we don't need to put in the SysEx commands right at the start. Just start with the instrument allocation etc.

Understanding Pitch Bend.

What we now need to program in is usually referred to as a Pitch Bend in MIDI terminology.
But before we proceed we need to understand a little about what the bass guitarist, in this case, is doing. Listen again carefully to the original audio track. Keep looping back so you hear it a few times.

The note D is played and held, then played again and the whole hand, with probably the middle finger holding the D, slides up until the A is sounding. Then the A is played again twice. In its progress from the D note, the finger will slide over several frets before it reaches the A.
D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, to A. That's seven semitones. This technique is usually referred to as a "gliss" short for glissando or perhaps a "slide".

Normally a pitch bend, with the guitarist pushing or pulling the string sideways across the fret, is just a semitone or two. The default pitch bend range, as defined in the MIDI standard, is therefore set at 2 semitones. Let's try using this first, then see how we can alter the range in MIDI to accommodate the gliss we need.

Within the Staff View use the + and - horizontal icons in the main tool bar to zoom into the last note of measure 4 and the first of measure 5. See the picture below.
In the staff view use the Add Control Section icon in the staff view tool bar to add a second controller section. As directly below.



It should automatically set this controller pane to Pitch Bend, if not you can change it.
Resize the height of the two open controller panes, in order to get a taller Pitch Bend pane and a shorter Note Velocity one.

Note that, towards the left hand edge of the two panes, the velocity goes up to 127 only (positive values), whereas bend goes from -8192 through 0 up to 8191 (positive and negative values). Pitch bend can be down, below the written note, as well as up, above the note.

So if we wish to insert an upward bend from a given note, in this case D, we will need to draw this into the the pitch bend controller pane, from 0 just after the beginning of the note, up to 8191 just before the end of the note. See the picture below.



We do this by selecting the Pencil Tool from below the two controller panes on the left. It's selected in the picture. There are all sorts of shapes of lines and curves to choose from but we're just going to use the straight line for this one.

In this particular case we're going to try to emulate the slide as if from fret to fret on the bass guitar, i.e in seven discrete steps. So we want the steps of the slide relatively far apart. So set the value of the 'Interval' to 50, to the right of the controller pane tool bar. That should do it.

Now, in the pitch bend pane, just after the beginning of the D note, draw a diagonal line from the centre (0) up to 8191 to just before the end of the D. Look at the velocity box for alignment. Check the picture above to get the idea. Count the number of dots. There should be 8 in total. One at zero, the last at 8191. If you've made a mistake use Ctrl+Z to erase them all, then try again. It took me two tries to get it right.

Normally, if we were entering a standard pitch bend, or trying to emulate a fretless bass, we'd have these Intervals much closer together, maybe at 5 or so. This would result in a much smoother slide from start to finish. The setting of 50 gives us a set of steps.

If we now listen to what we've created, we should hear a slide from D to E then a jump to B.
That's because the pitch bend range is just 2 semitones. Let's alter that to 7 semitones. D to A.
At the same time we can see what we've created when we entered the pitch bend.

Make the List View the main focus and you should see something like this:



You'll notice that the second D note at 0004:04:000 is highlighted. Click on that one.

After that, starting, in my case at 0004:04:052 is the first part of the pitch bend data.
Eight steps from 0 to 8191, each one 50 ticks further on from the previous one.
Yours should be similar, it's unlikely to be identical.

Before that first Pitch Bend MIDI message we need to set the pitch bend range to 7 semitones.
Right click on that second D 1 (38) at 4:04:000.
We need to insert a set of events directly after it. So choose "Packed Rpn ...".
Where it says 'Clock' enter "010". Where it says 'Data Entry Msb' enter "7" (that's 7 semitones).
Click 'Enter' then 'Exit'.
You should see a new entry at 4:04:010 reading "RPN Pitch Bend Sensitivity", with Value 1 and 2 set to "[0]" and value 3 set to [7]. When the file is saved as a MIDI file, that line will be expanded to three MIDI commands that do the pitch bend range change.

Now, before we have finished, we need to make sure the pitch bend we have inserted is not still operative when the A note is played. We need to insert a return to zero just after the D.

We do that by right clicking on the last pitch bend, with a value of 8191 in the picture, and insering another "Pitch Bend..." event. Change the clock to 475, i.e. 4:04:475, and change the value to zero. Then "Input" and "Exit".

The result should look like this:



To see whether it's done the job, reset the play control to the beginning and play it again.

Last edited on Wednesday 17th April, 2013.

To be continued.

[aprilla]

Whew! That was fun

I didn't match 2 attempts at 8 steps LOL but got there... But I never did get my drawing of the pitch bend to end at 8191, so I deleted my last number and typed in 8191, then it sounded fine.
There is a lot to learn here, really appreciate your work.
I'll try again, and again ...

I'm using XGWorks v3 and quite happy so far, is there any reason I might prefer v4? I do not have interest in audio, just midi.

[JohnG]

Well done Aprilla,

Se pleased to hear to say "that was fun"!
It gives me a lift, as I get so little feedback over the years.
But one or two, like yourself do take the time. Thank you.

It takes some effort (especially as a newbie) to work through that lesson.
The main thing is that it gets you familiar with using many of the different views, as well as note input and using the controller pane.

As far as XGW v4 goes, there's not a huge amount different.
Most notably, for me, the controller pane deals with more of the available controllers, but still not all.
When using some virtual instruments one finds one needs to input controllers that are not defined in XGW v3 or v4.
I sometimes find myself moving the MIDI file on to SQ01 (a much later version (sort of) of XGW).



This is a virtual instrument sample player called ARIA from Plogue using samples provided by Gary Garritan.
Into the first slot is loaded a flute. You'll perhaps notice that in the area below there are lots of controls to modify various aspects of instrument playback.

The results can be unexpected realistic.
Regards,
John.

[aprilla]

Thanks JohnG, while ARIA looks awesome! I'm not tempted lol
If there's not much different in v4 then I'm happy to continue my way learning in XGWorks v3. Everything is working nicely together and it's enough to get to grips with.

I've been playing with the pitch bend, gave it more steps and tried changing the numbers around, typing them in List View. Not always pretty but... interesting.

[JohnG]

That's the way to do it.

Become familiar with the different views, List and Master are the most intimidating, definitely.
But, the more one uses them ...

Try right clicking in the List view to bring up the command insertion window and selecting "Insert event".
There's loads to explore there. Work your way through a few maybe consulting the XGworks manual to discover some more about them.

Regards,
JohnG.

[gordonswxg]

JohnG:

On Mar 11, 2013 at 9:15am, JohnG wrote a tutorial that will do:

"In this lesson we will only make use of the computer keyboard and the mouse, as far as note input is concerned. Naturally you will need to have your computer connected up to a suitable sound creation source; a sound card or module, or some kind of virtual instrument, if you want to hear our creation."

There's a lot of text, which is good, but I want to confirm if there's a tutorial on how to insert midi notes from a digital piano via a midi usb cable with XGWORKS using sw1000xg? I've tried for hours, and got to the point where I can use the virtual keyboard in XGworks to play music on the physical digital piano via the usb cable, but I'm not able to insert notes / music into XGWorks via the digital piano. Is it possible?


I've also skimmed msg written on "Apr 2, 2013 at 1:38am" "It is that we don't necessarily have to have a MIDI keyboard in order to create musical sequences.
Everything can be done using the computer keyboard and the mouse." ...But I don't see anything about midi keyboard input. If very possible, can someone do a tutorial on how I do a start to finish to getting my midi keyboard setup and input into XGWorks? And please give a screen shot of the setup -> system setup. I've googled for hours, but no go.

Lastly, where can I get a copy of version 4 of XGWORKS? Can someone PM me? I only have version 3. This is my first post. Thank you very much. Gordon

[JohnG]

Hi Gordon,

Here's a quick reply:
Open the "Setup" menu, then "System Setup".
Make sure you have your keyboard's USB interface in the "MIDI In" slot, and the SW1000-XG in the "MIDI out" slot. "OK"

Then go to the "Setup", "Record/Playback Settings" and select "Step" if you want to enter one note at a time using a notation pop-up menu.
If you want to play live, in time for instance, to a MIDI file you've already loaded, then select "Realtime".

Now, you need to know what MIDI channel your keyboard transmits on.
If you can easily change it select a track/MIDI channel that is currently free.
Now "arm the track for recording". This means clicking in track view in the column marked "Rec" so a little red "R" button shows.
Then "arm XGworks for recording". This means clicking on the round dot within the "play controls" box, so that it turns red.

Now you're ready to go.
Pressing "play" in the controls box will bring up a notation set of controls in "step" mode or start a countdown in "realtime" mode.
You should hear what you're playing as you go along.

Read chapter I in the manual.

That's it for a quick starter.
Regards,
JohnG.