TCG's ("Hell, I Never COULD Sing")
Homemade MIDIs/Karaoke/BIAB Pages

 
New (as of March, 2001): MP3 version of any MIDI file indexed on these pages (recorded thru SC-55ST) available upon request via email...

 
ALL NEW, as of 10/30/96: I spent money I didn't have on a Roland Sound Canvas and have thereafter made wholesale changes to all my MIDI files, fiddling with instruments, volume levels, control changes, etc. (QTMI, I discovered, was not only limited, but misleading.) The trade-off is less universality: the files marked (GS) will only sound "correct" through a Roland or other GS-compatible device.... (In fact, through QTMI, many sound pretty awful! You'd have to do some wholesale changes on the instruments, drums, and volume levels for a decent GM sound.)

1998!--BUT!--the new 3.0 version of Apple's Quicktime technology is much improved, with a full GM instrument set now, and even lots of GS patches. And it does Windows!

. . . As of 4/98, the non-beta QT 3.0 is out; midi-wise, however, it's a step backward from the beta versions. Now the GS voices have apparently completely replaced the original GM set, resulting in "thinner" patches in many cases, with resultant level/balance problems. Fortunately, the only .mov here that is really a problem is DeadRaptor.mov, since the MIDI tracks of the others use mostly pasted snds for "instruments." Rather than remixin' the MIDI for DeadRaptor.mov from scratch--and then having to do it AGAIN with the next QT release!?--I have merely made a few instrument substitutions, and must remain satisfied for now by pointing out that the original GS .kar file (DeadRaptor.kar) is available on my "Originals" page for play through a truly GS-compatible sound module. . . . Oops, another problem! My wife's voice in "MRluv.mov" tends to "stutter" now, which it never did in the non-beta releases of QT 3.0. (However, my relatively slow computer may be part of the problem here. [Yeh: works fine on a G3 . . . And seems fine now --12/98--after I reduced some note durations, changed some indtruments, and spoke some mumbo-jumbo that my mama taught me!].)

MIDI-Movie Examples: get/install QuickTime 3.0, including the QuickTime plug-in!

SelurNatas.mov {"Selur Natas"}: some tongue-in-cheek devil-worship music (MIDI, but mostly pasted snds--goat bleats, et al.!)

RaptorRap.mov {"Dead Raptor Rap": MIDI/karaoke-display}:

MRluv.mov ("MRluv": MIDI, but incl. audio of my wife's voice, Homer, and Barney G.):

(Sounds like crap [more than usual!?]? Don't hear my wife, or see visuals? [Never mind!--I "lost" the stupid visuals.] Then get version 3.0!)
{No plug-in? You can also download these--and other--movie versions from my "Original MIDI Files" page.}

WARNING: I'm no great professional arranger/studio-MIDI guru, so this is pretty much a "vanity" page. But to point you to a few at least decent files (though this, too, might be vanity!?), I might recommend "Don't Fear the Reaper" and several of the Xmas tunes, such as "Santa Claus Is Coming/Jingle Bell Rock" and "Jingle Bells", as files worth the download.
  Among the many originals, "Brave New World" is a recent semi-jazz ditty that's pretty cool. I'm pretty proud of most of the blues/funk tunes, too--try "Alpha Delta Funk" or "Bodhidharma." Also, "Browsin'" and "BathTub Blues" are nice orchestrations, with semi-humorous lyrics (via karaoke). Speaking of (bad) humor, I apologize to those faint of ear for my bad habit/trademark of ruining my MIDI tunes (even further) with a "joke" Intro and/or Coda--which I now recognize as unconscious sabotage, if you will, against the schmaltzy, saccharine nature of some the arrangements.

  Revisionary Note (7/97): the above suggestions are rather obsolete at these point: most of the tunes from, say, Opus #60 on kick butt on the MIDIs mentioned above because--if for no other reason--I've learned a lot more about MIDI....

  Gasp--my (other!) introductory "NOTES" got too long; they're now on a separate page, including info on PLAYING/DOWNLOADING these files (see index-table above)....

This MIDI Page has been expanded into several MIDI Pages, as of 1/17/97; 30 or 40 scrolling screens got to be a bit much....

NEW, as of 2/97: I've updated the textual notes to the MIDI tunes by including the instruments used in each tune. (For my own convenience--and sanity--I've stuck to the GS instrument names, even for the standard GM patches--thus Piano 2 = Bright Acoustic Piano, etc.)
  I've also "rated" each tune (totally subjectively, even spur-of-the-moment) on a scale of 1-5: I didn't give any 1's, but I'm biased! And my 5's, of course, are only rated so relative to my own tunes, not the tunes of that synth whiz whose page you were just at!
  Finally, I've added more detailed info on each file's use of GS/SC-specific MIDI messages (bank select, sysex, etc.) and/or GM messages that aren't universal to all GM modules (portamento, etc.)....

NEW FEATURE, as of 3/97: given the way I've arranged these pages, it's pretty tough to easily find my most recent stuff, so--

MIDI #162: Hackney
Those Tin Pan Alley changes strike again....

MIDI #161: DriveChain
Based on a "never-ending-chain" of a guitar riff of mine...

MIDI #160: Something I Etude
Based on an "obbligato" guitar arpeggio; jazzier B section...

MIDI #159: Xerox Blues/Depression before Spring
What I heard in my head to/with the xerox machine in the English Department; then the best jazz/Latin guitar tune I've written in a while...

MIDI #158: RaggedySwing
Blues-Swing tune...

Tom's HyperMIDI Stacks

HyperMIDIGuitar (Updated: 7/19/97; 72K [sit.hqx])  [oops/never mind--obsolete Mac OS9 file format]

--A freeware HyperCard stack that allows the (aspiring) guitbox picker with a Mac MIDI module or synth to "play" a virtual guitar fingerboard and experiment with lots of GM/GS parameters (including reverb & chorus) while so doing. Many of the features are Roland Sound Canvas-specific, but stack can be used with a GM module/synth. A direct modem-MIDI connection is the default, but printer-MIDI or Apple MIDI Manager connections can also be selected. Requires Hypercard 2.2 or above for full stack functionality.
 
**HyperMIDIPlayer** {COMING ATTRACTION}  [oops/never mind--obsolete Mac OS9 file format]

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