Auditioning a Synth

In this example we test a melody in different synth voices by sending MIDI notes and program change events to an external synthesizer, which could be hardware or software.

MIDI Setup

First let's create a MIDI system output to connect to the synth:

local midiOutput = Midi.Output("synth")

A Simple MIDI Pattern

Now we'll create a one-bar MIDI Pattern from ABC notation, a simple melody courtesy of Ludwig van Beethoven:

local pattern = Midi.ABCReader().read("| B B c d d c B A |")

Schedule Notes and Program Changes

We want to test all the patches for the current bank so we create a basic loop to count over all the patches in the current bank (note program numbers are zero based):

for(local program = 0; program < 128; program++) {

We only want to schedule our midi pattern for every other measure to give the synthesizer a pause to change the patch, a process which may take some time on some equipment. Also note the measure counts starts at one and not zero so we compute the measure as so:

    local measure = program * 2 + 1

Now we create our MIDI program change message for this program:

    local pc = Midi.ProgramChange(program)

We schedule the program change to occur at the halfway mark of the first bar of each iteration, this gives the last iteration a half-measure to fade out (if there is e.g. a reverb or echo effect) and also gives the synth a half-measure to change the patch before the next melody plays:

    midiOutput.schedule(pc, measure + 0.5)

Now schedule the melody to play at the second measure of each loop iteration:

    midiOutput.schedule(pattern, measure + 1)

Finally, a transport master set to 99 BPM:

}

Transport.Master(99)

Starting the transport will play the melody on each of the patches in order.

Complete Script

local midiOutput = Midi.Output("synth")

local pattern = Midi.ABCReader().read("| B B c d d c B A |")

for(local program = 0; program < 128; program++) {

    local measure = program * 2 + 1

    local pc = Midi.ProgramChange(program)

    midiOutput.schedule(pc, measure + 0.5)

    midiOutput.schedule(pattern, measure + 1)

}

Transport.Master(99)