Disklavier

Good evening, everyone.

In a message dated 8/3/03 6:27:38 PM, Fred writes:

<< Has anyone heard or know of live Internet performances MIDI'd 

directly to the DKV?


Just heard Lang Lang on Live at Lincoln Center on PBS broadcast. 

Wouldn't it be fantastic to have your DKV play his live concert right 

in your own living room? 


For the technies, what would be the best way to stream MIDI with 

video over the Internet. Or just stream the MIDI, turn down the TV. 

Probably would be a slight delay? JTOL (just thing out loud). >>

This sort of thing has been done a few times, but the examples that I have 
read about have been experimental, or have involved unusual circumstances (like 
reserved bandwidth on inter-collegiate networks), have not involved video, 
and/or have involved abstract contemporary music in which timing anomallies would 
not have been a big problem.

All of the problems involved in the scenario that you have mentioned are 
solvable, but they have not been solved in a single, packaged way that is readily 
available to us.

I have experimented in this area during the last couple of years. The best 
solution that I have experienced has involved the recent iChat AV 
(http://www.apple.com/ichat/) video conferencing program from Apple coupled with a special 
"patch" that was written by Dr. Michael F. Zbyszynski for use with the 
Macintosh program called Max.

Max is a high-level programming environment for audio and MIDI. Many 
contemporary composers use Max to create interactive algorithms that become part of 
their composition. A number of Max compositions have been written specifically 
for a pianist playing a Disklavier connected to a Macintosh.

To use Max for long distance MIDI you need:

(a) Max for either OS X or OS 9
(b) a Max patch for long distance MIDI developed by Dr. Michael F. Zbyszynski
(c) a package of Max objects for establishing a TCP/IP connection (otudp and 
OSC objects from CNMAT)

(a) You can download a 30-day trial version of Max or purchase Max at:

www.cycling74.com

(b) You can get Michael's Max patch at:

http://homepage.mac.com/mikezed/index.text.html

This download contains patches for sending and receiving MIDI as well as a 
MIDI file of constant eighth notes for testing the timing of the transmission.

(c) You can get the otudp and OSC objects by going directly to:

http://cnmat.cnmat.berkeley.edu/OSC/Max/#downloads

There are two items listed on this page in the downloads section. Directions 
are contained on this page for using the objects. Once they are placed in the 
correct folder, you are ready to use Michael's Max patch.

One nice thing about this Max patch is that you can (a) set any amount of 
data buffering that is necessary to insure that the time-stamped data is played 
properly and (b) synchronize the MIDI data stream with the video. This works 
well for synchronizing the video with a digital MIDI instrument, but the 
Disklavier adds an additional 500 ms delay which requires the video to be further 
delayed. Regrettably, there is no simple, inexpensive way to adjust the video de
lay.

If you want to give these tools a try, you will find that we are 
tantalizingly close to a practical, inexpensivel solution to this fascinating scenario.

Regards,
PianoBench