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I have a bunch of scales and modes info (like a list of note names C D E ... for each scale) stored in an Excel spread sheet. I'd like to hear each of these scales played in midi, preferably by just clicking any one at will. Of course, I could convert the list to midi note numbers or any other form. I can't see a way to get excel to play midi. So does anyone know of a way to get Excel to play midi, or any way to copy and paste Excel data like this to some other program that could. I don't want to manually enter the notes into BIAB or other sequencer. Thanks for any insights.
kelso
Dell Desktop XPS 8100 W10 HomePrem/64 / Core i5 760 (quad, 2.8GHz) / 8GB DDR3 / 1 TB SATA / ViewSonic VG2428wm / EMU1616 PCI / Event ASP6 Active Monitors / BIAB 2019 64 bit (609) / Cakewalk
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--=-- My credo: If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing - just ask my missus, she'll tell ya  --=--You're only paranoid if you're wrong!
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If you know any visual basic programming (VBA for example that ships with MSOffice products), you could interface with with the API that allows you to do this. There are several 3rd party programs which will allow you to hook to the midi instructions to play the notes you have in your files. FMOD is one that I used very briefly in my previous employment: http://www.fmod.org/index.php/downloadIf you don't know VB programming, or any programming for that matter, then I'm afraid I don't have an answer for you. -Scott
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kelsoz
Probably the easiest way to accomplish your goal without any VBA programming would be to do the following.
1. Use Biab to produce a midi file playing the notes of each selection.
2. In Excel, create a hyperlink to the appropriate midi file in the 1st cell of each selection.
When you click the link the cell will play.
BTW:
1. This will also work with mgu and sgu hyperlinks, but will launch Biab when clicked.
2. For those of you who use Biab for gigs, using Excel and this method provides another way to create "playable" set lists that can be easily edited. Open Biab in the top half of you screen and your Excel playlist in the bottom half and you are in business.
Hope this helps.
Blatz
________
Lawrie
Thanks for the DailydoseofExcel.com link.
Last edited by JBlatz; 05/21/09 08:51 AM.
JBlatz
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Thanks Blatz - but if I'm hearing you, this will do the opposite of what. I don't want to trigger Excel to play a biab or midi file. I have a hundreds of scales in an excel sheet. In my dream world, I want to click in the excel cell to play any one of the scales.
If I had a life time, I would just program each scale into biab or any sequencer and play from there. The trick it to get some program (excel, biab, ....) to read the excel sheet. I would also be happy to copy/paste all the data from excel to some program that would recognize and play the scale sequences.
In the good old Commodore 64 days I could do this in basic.
kelso
Dell Desktop XPS 8100 W10 HomePrem/64 / Core i5 760 (quad, 2.8GHz) / 8GB DDR3 / 1 TB SATA / ViewSonic VG2428wm / EMU1616 PCI / Event ASP6 Active Monitors / BIAB 2019 64 bit (609) / Cakewalk
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If you learned them, then you wouldn't have to program them.
While there may appear to be *hundreds* in your spreadsheet, that is not really the case.
Investigate the Tetrachords, which are the four-note groups by all possibilities of half, whole and 1-1/2 steps for every four notes and then understand that any scale is but a combination of any of the two Tetrachords.
If you don't have time to program them, you don't have time to learn 'em anyway, so what's the point? Just being able to play back hundreds of scale or mode possibilities won't help here either.
--Mac
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Why do I think this is how BIAB started?
R.
"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."
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What makes you think I want to learn them? I am a musician, physicist, and number freak. I just want to explore, group by common elements, compare with chords, etc. And I have some other applications. It's just a hobby. While I appreciate your always-helpful approach on this and other forums, ignoring my query and suggesting a solution to some other problem is not real helpful. So, do you have any ideas to get a list of scale data in excel to play a midi sequence?
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Your welcome, kelsoz.
I was only trying to suggest a method that did not require VBA programming. Since you mentioned you were familiar with basic and VBA is Visual Basic, might I suggest examining the information contained on the great "dailydoseofexcel" link Lawrie provided. I bookmarked the page and downloaded John Walkenbach's "midi-player.xls", but I'm on my internet linux machine and haven't had time to transfer it to Windows and examine it in Excel. However, from what I've seen in Open Office on this Pc, it looks like it might provide you with the copy & paste functionality you seek. Also, one nice thing about using Excel and VBA is that you can always change the program and the spreadsheet to your specifications.
J Blatz
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I just couldn't fathom why you wanted to hear them...
==Mac
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So why not ask "Why?" instead of dismissing my request for some help?
kelso
Dell Desktop XPS 8100 W10 HomePrem/64 / Core i5 760 (quad, 2.8GHz) / 8GB DDR3 / 1 TB SATA / ViewSonic VG2428wm / EMU1616 PCI / Event ASP6 Active Monitors / BIAB 2019 64 bit (609) / Cakewalk
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Look, I am sorry if you think what I said was a dismissal.
I tend to think as a musician about such things and I freely shared with you what I know to be the best way for a musician to approach the subject.
--Mac
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Thanks Mac - I was a little prickly as well. I used to write little sequencer and patch editing programs for the Commodore 64 and Amiga before there was much out there. Being a scientist/engineer, I am inclined to categorize, chart, and graph everything, and this tendency lends itself well to music. So I am sometimes happy to spend many hours sifting through data and when finished, have nothing of value to show for it. So scales, chords, microtonality and tunings, wave forms, and on and on give me endless hours of entertainment. Then I also try to play a little jazz and pop.
BTW, I have found some programs characterized as "text to midi" that are aimed at doing what I want. But, so far, it appears that they are all DOS based, and not that usable.
Later,
Last edited by kelso; 05/22/09 05:53 AM.
kelso
Dell Desktop XPS 8100 W10 HomePrem/64 / Core i5 760 (quad, 2.8GHz) / 8GB DDR3 / 1 TB SATA / ViewSonic VG2428wm / EMU1616 PCI / Event ASP6 Active Monitors / BIAB 2019 64 bit (609) / Cakewalk
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I have sent a PM that may lead to a solution. Check your mail box.
PM
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For those who might be interested.
I have about 80 per cent of the code worked out for routines in excel that will play midi info as defined in john original post.
It would be something that you could play around with riffs and scales in excel. It allows you to define a note patter (scale or riff) a play pattern (a combination of volume and durations), select a midi player form your system, and a midi patch.
Not really sure it will have much in the way interest to most users. John presented it as something he was looking for and I had written much of the code years ago when I was first looking at midi and have begun to wrap that code into a package that actually does something useful, we, useful for at least on user's interest.
It is written in VB/VBA and so may be of some interest to people playing around in that particular environment.
Have a good one.
PM
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Quote:
For those who might be interested.
I have about 80 per cent of the code worked out for routines in excel that will play midi info as defined in john original post.
It would be something that you could play around with riffs and scales in excel. It allows you to define a note patter (scale or riff) a play pattern (a combination of volume and durations), select a midi player form your system, and a midi patch.
Not really sure it will have much in the way interest to most users. John presented it as something he was looking for and I had written much of the code years ago when I was first looking at midi and have begun to wrap that code into a package that actually does something useful, we, useful for at least on user's interest.
It is written in VB/VBA and so may be of some interest to people playing around in that particular environment.
Have a good one.
I should have noted, I have the working version, that plays midi from excel, and am 80 done a version with a user interface that allows determining how the scale/riffs in excel are played. Patch change, duration of notes, volumns, midi player, etc. etc.
PM
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