Thinking of buying a MT-32, question about controllers

[pkbarbiedoll]

Will a controller's pitch wheel work with the MT-32?

[Ari]

Is there a reason you think it wouldn't work?

[pkbarbiedoll]

eesh.. actually yes, I don't know anything about keyboards or synth modules so I thought someone here would help me.    i want to make sure the MT-32 I'm looking at will handle pitch shifts with a controller's pitch wheel.  sorry if that is such a stupid question.

[shad0wfax]

Yes, the MT-32 midi implementation recognizes pitch bend messages (controler number #1), so you could use the pitch bend wheel of your controller, as long as the wheel uses controller number #1 for transmitting pitch bend messages (actually, I don't know of any controller that doesn't do that). Hope this helps.

[Ari]

eesh.. actually yes, I don't know anything about keyboards or synth modules so I thought someone here would help me.    i want to make sure the MT-32 I'm looking at will handle pitch shifts with a controller's pitch wheel.  sorry if that is such a stupid question.

I wasn't implying your question was stupid, I just wanted to know if you had any information to claim otherwise.
I'm not too knowledgeable in keyboards myself, but I was assuming there shouldn't be a problem but didn't want to give an uncertain answer.

I'm sorry if you thought I was being sarcastic.  :oops:

[Tom]

Actually, Controller 1 is Modulation, not Pitch Bend.  Bender isn't a controller, but yes, as far as I know, ALL MIDI devices recognize Pitch Bend from a MIDI controller wheel.  But the MT-32 doesn't recognize registered and non-registered parameters such as controller 101 and 100 (GM devices all do), so you can't adjust the pitch range via controllers on the MT-32.  This is a God-send on GM devices, though.

[pkbarbiedoll]

please forgive my overwhelming ignorance..  Tom does this mean the pitch wheel on my controller would *not* affect the MT-32 sounds?

[shad0wfax]

Actually, Controller 1 is Modulation, not Pitch Bend

You're right, Tom. I just mistook the wheel  :?  (modulation instead of pitch bend). Sorry for that. Otherwise, pitch bend should work on the MT-32.

[Tom]

does this mean the pitch wheel on my controller would *not* affect the MT-32 sounds?

Sorry if I confused you -- YES, it WILL work...the wheel WILL affect the MT-32's sounds.  

With newer MIDI devices, you can also adjust the 'sensitivity' of the bender wheel.  Does that make sense?  

[pkbarbiedoll]

yes -- gotcha

[Maxime]

It may have been already said, but the pitch bend range is not the same on the MT-32 than on GM devices.

I mean, if I move the pitch bend wheel of my master keyboard to the min or the max, the MT-32 pitches the played note one octave lower or upper, while, on my Sound Blaster Live! soundcard synths for example, the notes are pitched only one note lower or upper.

That's why, when you listen to some MT-32 MIDIs which use pitch bend (eg. The Timbermist Woods soundtrack from The Legend of Kyrandia, IIRC), the pitch bend differs between the MT-32 and a GM device, and vice-versa, if you listen to a GM MIDI file using a MT-32, the pitch bends will be much more important, making the notes out of tune most of the time.

But, don't worry, by transmitting a SysEx file to the MT-32, you'll be able to change its pitch bend range from one octave to one note, increasing its compatibility with GM MIDIs And, BTW, in case you'd wonder, SysEx files can also be used to make it nearly fully-GM compliant, I mean, changing the default supported channels (2-9) to 1-8, remapping its instruments to the GM instrument map, etc.

[Ari]

Where can one find such sysex files? I had a problem converting one or more MT-32 themes to GM because of that pitch issue.

[Tom]

It's been a while since I've used this, but I believe Roland's MT-32 GM utility contains the necessary SysEx to change the MT-32's bender range.  

http://66.49.226.244/utilities/mt2gm.exe

Sierra's GM soundtracks have all been setup to use the same bender range as the MT-32 ... one octave.  If you look at the beginning of a Sierra GM MIDI song file, you'll see the controllers:  CC101=0, CC100=0, CC6=12, which instructs a GM device to set its bender range to one octave.

[Ari]

even with those controllers I still have some problems. I don't quite remember which theme it was that gave me problems. I'll try to find it tomorrow.

[Tom]

Converting from MT-32 to GM, there were a few songs that I've converted (I think they were Ken Allen songs) where the default one-octave bender range didn't apply.  I had to set CC6 (Data value) to something like 4 or 6, instead of 12; don't remember, but I remember the surprise at it not being the same as the majority of Sierra songs.  So, the MT-32's bender range must have been set to something other than the default, one-octave.

Now that I think of it, there were a few LucasArts MIDI files that I had to do that with as well.

[Alistair]

4 or 6 huh? I think I saw one, once.

I also remember some Larry games running on 3 as well. Back in the days where I struggled to understand MIDI, I guess trying to mix LSL3 music (for example. LSL5 as well applies) was made harder by the fact that they both run on a 'Data Entry MSB' (or just Data value as Tom said) value of CC6 = 2, and I assumed all GM was CC6 = 12.

MT-32 GS tones also run on CC6 = 2.

Man, MIDI and the surrounding areas is fun to learn

- Alistair