MIDI input

• Jun 17, 2010 - 21:55

Mac using Version 0.9.6 and OS 10.5.8, via old Steinberg 3 MIDI interface plugged into auxiliary USB port connected to iMac USB port. Unable to activate note input from MIDI keyboard when following directions in manual. What am I doing wrong? Why does manual not mention availability of MIDI input for Macs?

Comments

• Jun 18, 2010 - 20:16

Alas, I don't think it is. I have installed the closest thing I could find to a driver for the MIDI interface I am using. But not sure whether that is really needed. The keyboard instrument that is sending MIDI data to the computer's USB port does indeed show up in Audio MIDI Setup. But that doesn't seem enough to get any program to respond when I play.
(I must say, MIDI setup does seem to me a tricky enough issue to merit the inclusion of some kind of palette or menu item in MuseScore itself.).

Reply

• Jun 19, 2010 - 06:02

There are at least two potential problems that could be preventing my keyboard's MIDI input from reaching MuseScore. One is that the Mac OS may not yet be set up properly to recognize data coming from my MIDI instrument. There should be no mystery about how to do this properly on an Intel Mac running OS 10.5.8. So I hope at least a basic outline of the normal setup procedure will be included in the handbook for Mac. The second problem is that the MIDI input procedure in MuseScore, as given briefly in the handbook, may not be sufficiently detailed or is otherwise lacking in instructions that apply to Mac users. As far as I can determine, there is no special note entry method for MIDI entry, other than to make sure the MIDI icon is showing as selected. Surely SOMETHING must be different? Would it not be helpful if some other sign that MIDI note selection is currently active, and normal note selection disabled, were provided in the interface, and mentioned in the handbook? Note selection is, after all, no trivial matter in a notation program….With thanks for your reply.

P.S. The handbook reads: 'you may need to tell MuseScore which one is the MIDI keyboard. Using version 0.9.6 or later go to Edit → Preferences... → I/O tab and select your device under the section labeled "Choose PortMidi input device"'
When attempting to follow this suggestion on my system, one discovers a) that the Preferences pane is not in the Edit menu but under MuseScore; b) that the box labeled "PortMidi input device" is blank and does not accept typed input; and c) that in the NoteEntry pane the check box for Export MIDI is missing.

Reply

• Jun 19, 2010 - 07:04

Relating to your P.S. addition. Thanks for pointing out the location of Preferences on Mac. I updated the handbook.

If the "PortMidi input device" is blank then it means that MuseScore can not see your MIDI keyboard for some reason.

For "NoteEntry pane the check box for Export MIDI is missing" could you show what you means using a screenshot ?

Reply

• Jun 19, 2010 - 21:46

"a heading for the items below it" doesn't seem quite correct. Export MIDI has nothing to do with NoteEntry, or with the other items on that pane. It may however belong under Export, which in my case only shows an option for activating Screenshots! (I wonder if that works, and if so how.)
I still feel something is missing in the interface that would activate and deactivate MIDI input, at least for the Mac version. Normal Note input with N certainly doesn't allow for anything but graphic input with the mouse.

Reply

• Jun 20, 2010 - 04:37

Sorry, but I cannot agree that no further addition is needed to the way N now works. Once N is active, the cursor immediately shows a note ready to be entered manually, wherever the mouse is next clicked. Turning the MIDI icon on or off has no effect. What's the point of having it then? It should b e possible to have EITHER manual entry by position, or MIDI entry, but not both. Otherwise, it seems to me MuseScore is just asking for trouble, and violating its own injunction to stick with foolproof entry methods.

If you insist that all entry methods should be simultaneously available and mixable, and are sure the program can distinguish between the three different types and sources of input it receives without confusion or mishap, then please do tell me more about the particulars of the Mac installation that you claim allows this successfully, so I can try to track down the reason why mine doesn't respond. Otherwise, someone should perhaps have another look at the code for the Mac version.?

I am now able to see two different options under Choose PortMidi imput interface, in the I/O tab. Still trying to make that match what I see when opening Audio MIDI Setup (which program deserves mention in the handbook, I'd say), but so far without success in responding to MIDI keys when MIDI note input is supposed to be working. ???!!!

Reply

• Jun 20, 2010 - 10:17

The code is here
The instruction to build it on Mac are here. Use the mscore-0-9-6 branch instead of the trunk for the time being. Patches are welcome.

I use a Edirol UM1-X Midi usb interface plugged to my Mac intel, 10.5.8 and MuseScore 0.9.6. I plug my Vdrum TD6KV or a my keyboard (an cheap yamaha) on it. The driver of the UM1-X is installed.
I follow the following step

  1. Plug everything
  2. Launch MuseScore
  3. Go to preferences and choose UM1-X in I/O
  4. Restart MuseScore as indicated in red
  5. Create a score
  6. Press N
  7. Press a key or tap on a pad
  8. I got a quarter added in my score
  9. I can add more notes using my keyboard, my mouse or my MIDI instrument

When I did that the MIDI button in the toolbar was ON. If I turn it off, I can still use my mouse or my keyboard but there is no more MIDI input enable, hence the button. I don't use Audio Midi Setup program at all during the process.

Reply

• Jun 22, 2010 - 03:12

Thanks much for kindly supplying this very clear list of the steps taken to activate MIDI input. You write:

1) Plug everything
2) Launch MuseScore
3) Go to preferences and choose UM1-X in I/O
4) *Restart MuseScore* as indicated in red
5) Create a score

The handbook says I must now select with the cursor the first rest in the first measure of the score. Is this still necessary?
When I reach this point, a quarter-note rest is preselected in the entry toolbar, the first two icons are permanently greyed out, and the MIDI icon is on.

In the I/O tab, the window labeled “Choose PortMidi input interface” reads: “CoreMIDI,E-MU XMidiX1 Tab In” which is in fact the name of the interface cable I am using to connect from the MIDI Out port of the keyboard to a USB port on my iMac. But is CoreMIDI also correct?

6) Press N

As soon as this is done, the arrow cursor appears with a phantom notehead, ready to be clicked into place on the staff with my mouse, or respond to my keypress of a letter on the computer keyboard. There is no response whatever from MuseScore to any key pressed on my MIDI keyboard, let alone one that corresponds to the note played.

7) Press a key or tap on a pad
8) I got a quarter added in my score

I assume the pitch of the quarter corresponds to the note played on your Yamaha keyboard? In the correct octave too?

9) I can add more notes using my keyboard, my mouse or my MIDI instrument

Wish things were so simple on this end!

As soon as N is turned off, a note is selected for editing, and a new pitch or duration is chosen for that note, N automatically turns on again. Is that what should happen? I assume MIDI input will have no effect on duration in edit mode. But does it also work to change the notated pitch?

Reply

• Jun 22, 2010 - 08:52

After 5, if you don't select the first rest, MuseScore assume it has to enter notes at the beginning of the score.
CoreMIDI is indeed correct. CoreMIDI is the low level API for midi handling on Mac.
The pitch of the quarter is indeed the one of the key I press, octave included (and that's the main benefit of MIDI entry).
Midi has no effect on duration and no effect on a selected note neither. It's indeed different than using the keyboard to change a pitch but it lets an user trying melody on his MIDI keyboard before inputing it and without messing the score.

I forget about that but there is also a video that show Midi input on Mac : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxy3IEUFxJM

Reply

Do you still have an unanswered question? Please log in first to post your question.