Control over midi output

[Mr Tim]

Hi all, I'm trying to use Lilypond to create midi files to be played by an
organ and I'm having difficulty getting it formatted the way it needs to be.

1) The midi file needs to be type 0 (everything in one track--the first
one). This is very common for driving instruments since it's simpler and
cost less to develop.

2) I'm looking to control which channels are used instead of having
Lilypond assign them. The note events will be in the first 4 channels, but
I will not always create sequential channels. I may just want all the note
events in channel 2, or maybe just 1 and 4.

These first 2 items will get me pretty far but I will still need to do one
a couple more things:

3) I need to send program (instrument/patch) change events on channel 11
which controls the organ stops. No notes will be on 11, just the program
changes.

4) I need to be able to embed a Sysex command at the beginning and end of
the file which tells the organ to clear all stops.

I've tried using the midi channel mapping. It ended up still type 1 file,
setting all the note events to channel 0, and using the channel prefix
(incorrectly) at the beginning of the track to set the channel which would
not help even if it worked correctly. By incorrectly, I mean it's sending
the meta event 0xFF 0x21 0x01 followed by the channel number. It should be
0xFF 0x20 0x01... according to the MIDI spec. anyway, it would not work as
I said since I need type 0 which sinks that ship at the dock. Not to
mention the organ may not even accept that meta event since it doesn't
record that way.

Any ideas?

[David Kastrup]

Post by Mr Tim
Hi all, I'm trying to use Lilypond to create midi files to be played by an
organ and I'm having difficulty getting it formatted the way it needs to be.
1) The midi file needs to be type 0 (everything in one track--the first
one). This is very common for driving instruments since it's simpler and
cost less to develop.
2) I'm looking to control which channels are used instead of having
Lilypond assign them. The note events will be in the first 4 channels, but
I will not always create sequential channels. I may just want all the note
events in channel 2, or maybe just 1 and 4.
These first 2 items will get me pretty far but I will still need to do one
3) I need to send program (instrument/patch) change events on channel 11
which controls the organ stops. No notes will be on 11, just the program
changes.
4) I need to be able to embed a Sysex command at the beginning and end of
the file which tells the organ to clear all stops.

LilyPond is not suitable for that kind of fine control over Midi
generation. Try post-processing the Midi with a program intended for
that kind of manipulation.

[Tyler Mitchell]

Post by Mr Tim
Hi all, I'm trying to use Lilypond to create midi files to be played by an
organ and I'm having difficulty getting it formatted the way it needs to be.

I've had a fair bit of success recently with midicsv and csvmidi:

https://www.fourmilab.ch/webtools/midicsv/

It can produce MIDI format 0 files, though you'll have to do some
transmogrification of the CSV to merge it all onto one track.

You can reassign which channel is used for note events, and should
be able to introduce program change events and system exclusive
events also.

Cheers,
Tyler