Disklavier

Hi Carol Beigel / All

Wanted Eseq file Format.

I have a friend who is writing a program for me that will allow you 
to play Eseq ( .fil ) files from the PC.
It works like any other "midi" player but this one will play 
Pianosoft disks. It will allow you to make up playlists on the PC and 
via a midi lead, let you send midi data out from the PC to control 
the Piano.

It will also:

Do a batch Convert of eseq to midi.
Play the files using either the sound card or the piano via midi.
Will display the contents of the disk with timmings.
Soon it will be able to create a cataloge of songs from your disks to 
allow you to have an index of songs.
Play Eseq, Midi, .kar, .rmi 

I know we can convert eseq to midi by using Eseq2mid but this will 
only do 1 file at a time. As I have over 200 disks it would take a 
very long time to convert them all. 

Now, what I need is the spec for the Eseq file format. This will help 
with things like L-R, Solo, Tempo and others.

Thanks for anything you may have.

Midi Magic

I once had a copy of the E-SEQ format definition, but I regret that it 
got away from me.

Before the MIDI standard was conceived, Yamaha offered the E-SEQ 
standard to the MIDI Manufacturers' Association as a proposed universal 
format; however, E-SEQ didn't meet the needs of all and SMF0 eventually 
emerged.  I don't believe Yamaha considers E-SEQ to be proprietary. 
Cameron Shearer, formerly (I'm pretty sure) of Yamaha, was the 
knowledgeable gentleman to talk to about E-SEQ.  (I believe he was also 
the Godfather of the long extinct and dearly missed Global Jukebox site).

Somewhere in the archives at Buena Park, those few pages of E-SEQ 
definition must be tucked away.  I can tell you that that paper is quite 
terse and that most of us would also need a hand-holding tutorial that 
probably never existed.

I suggest that, with hat in hand, you contact Yamaha and ask for that 
paper.

Another approach would be to reverse engineer.  Start with simple SMF0 
files, convert them to E-SEQ (using the Giebler Utilities), and deduce 
the translation.



midi_magic2000 wrote:
> Hi Carol Beigel / All
> 
> Wanted Eseq file Format.
> 
> I have a friend who is writing a program for me that will allow you 
> to play Eseq ( .fil ) files from the PC.
> It works like any other "midi" player but this one will play 
> Pianosoft disks. It will allow you to make up playlists on the PC and 
> via a midi lead, let you send midi data out from the PC to control 
> the Piano.
> 
> It will also:
> 
> Do a batch Convert of eseq to midi.
> Play the files using either the sound card or the piano via midi.
> Will display the contents of the disk with timmings.
> Soon it will be able to create a cataloge of songs from your disks to 
> allow you to have an index of songs.
> Play Eseq, Midi, .kar, .rmi 
> 
> I know we can convert eseq to midi by using Eseq2mid but this will 
> only do 1 file at a time. As I have over 200 disks it would take a 
> very long time to convert them all. 
> 
> Now, what I need is the spec for the Eseq file format. This will help 
> with things like L-R, Solo, Tempo and others.
> 
> Thanks for anything you may have.
> 
> Midi Magic
> 
> 
> 
> 
> To Post a message to the group, send it to:   disklavier@...
> 
> To Post a private message to Todd Muncy, the group's founder and moderator, send it to:
> disklavier-owner@...
> 
> To reach our group's web site go to:
> http://Yahoogroups.com/group/disklavier
> 
> Todd's family web site was completely updated 01/15/03.  It contains some fun disklavier content and links to midi sites among many other things, The url is:
> http://MuncyFamily.com 
> 
> THINKING OF LEAVING THE GROUP?
> If you are thinking of unsubcribing because you are getting too much mail, go the the web site and change your email delivery option instead.  That will fix the problem, while maintaining your access to the group.  If you insist on leaving us completely send a blank email to:
> disklavier-unsubscribe@... 
> 
> Know someone who wants to join?  Have them send a blank email to:
> disklavier-subscribe@... or give them this link:
> http://Yahoogroups.com/group/disklavier/join 
>  
> 
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 
> 
> 
> 


-- 
Robert Welcyng
Anchorage, Alaska

Hi Robert

That's for that info, at least I know there is/was one. I will give 
Yamaha a ring here in the UK.

Midi Magic



--- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, Robert Welcyng <rwelcyng@a...> 
wrote:
> I once had a copy of the E-SEQ format definition, but I regret that 
it 
> got away from me.
> 
> Before the MIDI standard was conceived, Yamaha offered the E-SEQ 
> standard to the MIDI Manufacturers' Association as a proposed 
universal 
> format; however, E-SEQ didn't meet the needs of all and SMF0 
eventually 
> emerged.  I don't believe Yamaha considers E-SEQ to be proprietary. 
> Cameron Shearer, formerly (I'm pretty sure) of Yamaha, was the 
> knowledgeable gentleman to talk to about E-SEQ.  (I believe he was 
also 
> the Godfather of the long extinct and dearly missed Global Jukebox 
site).
> 
> Somewhere in the archives at Buena Park, those few pages of E-SEQ 
> definition must be tucked away.  I can tell you that that paper is 
quite 
> terse and that most of us would also need a hand-holding tutorial 
that 
> probably never existed.
> 
> I suggest that, with hat in hand, you contact Yamaha and ask for 
that 
> paper.
> 
> Another approach would be to reverse engineer.  Start with simple 
SMF0 
> files, convert them to E-SEQ (using the Giebler Utilities), and 
deduce 
> the translation.
> 
> 
> 
> midi_magic2000 wrote:
> > Hi Carol Beigel / All
> > 
> > Wanted Eseq file Format.
> > 
> > I have a friend who is writing a program for me that will allow 
you 
> > to play Eseq ( .fil ) files from the PC.
> > It works like any other "midi" player but this one will play 
> > Pianosoft disks. It will allow you to make up playlists on the PC 
and 
> > via a midi lead, let you send midi data out from the PC to 
control 
> > the Piano.
> > 
> > It will also:
> > 
> > Do a batch Convert of eseq to midi.
> > Play the files using either the sound card or the piano via midi.
> > Will display the contents of the disk with timmings.
> > Soon it will be able to create a cataloge of songs from your 
disks to 
> > allow you to have an index of songs.
> > Play Eseq, Midi, .kar, .rmi 
> > 
> > I know we can convert eseq to midi by using Eseq2mid but this 
will 
> > only do 1 file at a time. As I have over 200 disks it would take 
a 
> > very long time to convert them all. 
> > 
> > Now, what I need is the spec for the Eseq file format. This will 
help 
> > with things like L-R, Solo, Tempo and others.
> > 
> > Thanks for anything you may have.
> > 
> > Midi Magic
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > To Post a message to the group, send it to:   disklavier@Y...
> > 
> > To Post a private message to Todd Muncy, the group's founder and 
moderator, send it to:
> > disklavier-owner@Y...
> > 
> > To reach our group's web site go to:
> > http://Yahoogroups.com/group/disklavier
> > 
> > Todd's family web site was completely updated 01/15/03.  It 
contains some fun disklavier content and links to midi sites among 
many other things, The url is:
> > http://MuncyFamily.com 
> > 
> > THINKING OF LEAVING THE GROUP?
> > If you are thinking of unsubcribing because you are getting too 
much mail, go the the web site and change your email delivery option 
instead.  That will fix the problem, while maintaining your access to 
the group.  If you insist on leaving us completely send a blank email 
to:
> > disklavier-unsubscribe@y... 
> > 
> > Know someone who wants to join?  Have them send a blank email to:
> > disklavier-subscribe@e... or give them this link:
> > http://Yahoogroups.com/group/disklavier/join 
> >  
> > 
> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to 
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 

> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Robert Welcyng
> Anchorage, Alaska

Midi Magic,

Here is the ESEQ format spec available from Yamaha:

   http://dp70.dyndns.org/tmp/eseq_format_spec.pdf

This was freely available by fax from Yamaha customer support not long
ago (no NDA required). I scanned it into PDF format and tried to add it
to the files section on the Yahoo group, but there's not enough space
left there.

Robert is right about this being pretty terse for a spec.  One of the
biggest holes is that they haven't documented the format of the
"Program Dependent Area" used by various models of Disklaviers and
other Yamaha products.

If the software you're developing will be free or open source, I'm
willing to provide a C module for reading ESEQ files.

Rather than writing a complete music player application completely from
scratch, it would save a lot of time to just add ESEQ support as a
plugin to WINAMP 3, using the WINAMP SDK that Nullsoft provides.  Then
you'd get all the playlist support, remote control, skins etc. that
WINAMP already has for free.  Just an idea.  I've written a WINAMP
plugin and it was pretty straightforward (the SDK comes with lots of
sample code).

Mark Fontana

On Thu, 9 Oct 2003, midi_magic2000 wrote:

> Wanted Eseq file Format.
>
> I have a friend who is writing a program for me that will allow you
> to play Eseq ( .fil ) files from the PC.
> It works like any other "midi" player but this one will play
> Pianosoft disks. It will allow you to make up playlists on the PC and
> via a midi lead, let you send midi data out from the PC to control
> the Piano.

Hi Mark

Thanks for the info. It's a shame about the "Program Dependent Area" 
as that is what we need most.  Still the rest is very useful indeed.

Once again thank you

Midi Magic 




-- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, "Mark A. Fontana" <mfontana@f...> 
wrote:
> 
> 
> Midi Magic,
> 
> Here is the ESEQ format spec available from Yamaha:
> 
>    http://dp70.dyndns.org/tmp/eseq_format_spec.pdf
> 
> This was freely available by fax from Yamaha customer support not 
long
> ago (no NDA required). I scanned it into PDF format and tried to 
add it
> to the files section on the Yahoo group, but there's not enough 
space
> left there.
> 
> Robert is right about this being pretty terse for a spec.  One of 
the
> biggest holes is that they haven't documented the format of the
> "Program Dependent Area" used by various models of Disklaviers and
> other Yamaha products.
> 
> If the software you're developing will be free or open source, I'm
> willing to provide a C module for reading ESEQ files.
> 
> Rather than writing a complete music player application completely 
from
> scratch, it would save a lot of time to just add ESEQ support as a
> plugin to WINAMP 3, using the WINAMP SDK that Nullsoft provides.  
Then
> you'd get all the playlist support, remote control, skins etc. that
> WINAMP already has for free.  Just an idea.  I've written a WINAMP
> plugin and it was pretty straightforward (the SDK comes with lots of
> sample code).
> 
> Mark Fontana
> 
> 
> On Thu, 9 Oct 2003, midi_magic2000 wrote:
> 
> > Wanted Eseq file Format.
> >
> > I have a friend who is writing a program for me that will allow 
you
> > to play Eseq ( .fil ) files from the PC.
> > It works like any other "midi" player but this one will play
> > Pianosoft disks. It will allow you to make up playlists on the PC 
and
> > via a midi lead, let you send midi data out from the PC to control
> > the Piano.