Disklavier

Good morning, everyone.

It is correct to say that a reasonably featured sequencing program is  
all you need for editing XG MIDI data. HOWEVER, the original question  
sounded as though the owner of a Mark IV Pro might have been asking  
about so-called XP data (using the wrong choice of words):

 >I'm interested in to explore midi editing but I cannot find a
 >suggested one to work right with XG extra-midi data

When the Disklavier engineers designed the Disklavier Pro, they  
needed to come up with a way of providing:

--2-types of note-on events, one for hammer velocity and one for key- 
down velocity

--higher-than-normal resolution for hammer velocity, key-down  
velocity, and key-up velocity

--a way of representing silent notes (notes whose keys move but whose  
hammers never hit the strings)


Since these requirements go beyond the confines of normal MIDI data,  
the engineers came up with a cleaver way of using undefined MIDI  
messages to provide these features.

Regrettably, all sequencers are ignorant of XP data. When you use a  
sequencer to open an XP MIDI file, the sequencer reads the file into  
its own internal format. When you save the file as a Standard MIDI  
File, the sequencer exports the data back to the Standard MIDI File  
format. During the process of importing and exporting the MIDI data,  
the typical sequencer:

--blows away all sequencer-specific meta events (including various  
messages that are put there by the Disklavier)

--rearranges the order of MIDI events that occur on the same clock  
tick (the order of these event is crucial to the interpretation of XP  
data)


The result is that the function of the higher resolution XP data is  
lost. The file is still playable, but the resolution is normal.

There is only one program that I have found with which you can edit  
XP data with certainty: MidiGraphy for the Macintosh. This is an old  
program that does not run under OS X.

I am not sure, but I suspect that the old Yamaha XGWorks program for  
Windows will enable you to edit XP data. Unfortunately, this program  
is no longer published.

What is needed here is one of the following:

(1) a simple MIDI editor which does not remove any MIDI events behind  
your back and which does not change the order of any MIDI events AND  
the user needs the knowledge of how the XP format works

(2) a professional sequencer that is smart about XG

If you want to edit a performance that was recorded in XP format on a  
Pro, my advice is to strip the XP data (leaving you with a regular  
MIDI file) and then edit the MIDI data in a sequencer of your choice.  
The Pro (both Mark IV Pro and pre-Mark IV Pro) has a feature for  
stripping the XP data.

Regards,
PianoBench

On Sep 4, 2007, at 6:52 AM, athomik wrote:

> Any decent sequencing package, such as Cakewalk or Cubase, should  
> allow you to edit MIDI data. All you need is the facility to edit  
> SYSEX messages, which will allow you to access all XG parameters.
>
> athomik
>
> On Sep 4 2007, ipermedia wrote:
>
> >Hallo to everybody,
> >I'm an happy brand new owner of a C3ProMarkIV, after a long time  
> spent
> >to decide if and what to buy and more than 6 month waiting for  
> delivery.
> >I live in Rome, Italy, and I am a retired computer technician
> >(Windows, Mac, Linux).
> >
> >I'm interested in to explore midi editing but I cannot find a
> >suggested one to work right with XG extra-midi data.
> >I used lot of professional editors in my life for composing and I'm
> >not afraid to learn one more editor.
> >
> >Has anyone found a good product to edit XG? (I've tried for this
> >answer in the group messages before posting......).
> >
> >Thanks in advance
> >
> >Roberto Fasciani