Hi all !  Robbie Rhodes asked for more information about my software,
Mid2Car, that does MIDI-to-printer processing.

 [> Please tell Jody and me <rollreq> more about your activities
 [> with programming.  Jody, also, has written software to print
 [> the image of a music roll or book music.  A small world, eh?!!

Here they are:

I started writing this software in August 1994, when Dominique
Robert asked me.  He is a French musician who makes and plays
various instruments and who composes music for mechanical instruments.
(You can find complete information about him and his activities on his
web site, "Cie Manivelle & P'tits Trous," at

    http://perso.wandoo.fr/manivelles/2accueil.html

but, yes, it is only in French !).

The software is written in "C".  I encountered a lot of problems with
the MIDI format.  It seems that some sequencers take some freedom with
the MIDI rules, and it was quite difficult to realize a program
powerful enough to handle every MIDI file.

Then I discovered "MIDI Tools", a set of software routines which
does the job for me.  I integrated one of the tools into my program
(it is totally free) and concentrated on the printer driver part of
the software.

Each barrel organ is defined by the position of the notes, to 1/10 mm
precision, and the user can easily define his own organ.  The larger of
the books is not limited to A4 format (21 cm / 8.25 inch) but can reach
42 cm and more if needed.  I included a "search for error" function
that determines if any notes in the MIDI file are outside the gamut of
the barrel organ that seems to be useful to the users.

I was involved in a related project too, when I modified Mid2Car into
a program to control a totally automatic perforating machine that
punches book music (1 to 4 at a time) from MIDI files.  The software
controls two stepper motors and one "electrovanne" [solenoid magnet].
One motor moves the cardboard, the other motor moves the punch across
the width of the book, and the solenoid moves the punch up and down to
perforate the book.  The machine works fine.

Another project involves a French school.  The professor of Manual
and Technical Education proposed to his student to build a barrel
organ which functions by optically reading the printed music template;
no more need to perforate the books, and moreover you can re-mark and
erase the drawing of the notes.  The modifications to the software
consisted of increasing the width of the stripes on the paper to
facilitate reading them with photocells.

The last project, still awaiting, is to make music rolls for an
automatic piano.  I don't have a lot of information at the moment,
but it seems that the principal is similar to the barrel organ books.
The differences are in the size of the hole (just little holes) and
that there are holes for the notes and holes for other controls.
The music rolls are in fact paper book music !  Where can I find a
description of that format ?

Mid2Car has printed templates for several different barrel organs:
27 and 29 note Hermann and Hopp (pneumatic barrel organs), 42 pneumatic
and 42 mechanical, 42 Odin, 24 and 36 Thibouville.

I'm not aware of all the books that have been printed and the organs
for which these books have been printed, since any organ can be
defined.  The only restriction is that its gamut does not contain more
than the 128 MIDI notes !

I'll be interested in having more information about existing similar
software.  In particular, in order to improve my software, I would like
to know what are the more requested functionalities asked by the
users.

Lionel Van Aertryck,  Rennes, France
email: <vanaertr@irisa.fr> or <mid2car@mygale.org>
Mid2Car Web site: http://www.mygale.org/02/mid2car/USmid2car.html

 [ Lionel,
 [    Thanks for writing about your project and interests.  I've
 [ mentioned my "Template(tm)" (book music printing) program here
 [ in the Digest before.  I've written several other programs
 [ which manipulate MIDI files.  Its good to have another MIDI
 [ programmer in our midst.  I found the MIDIFILE software package
 [ at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) a good
 [ source of inspiration on manipulating MIDI files.  The
 [ software is available at:
 [
 [   ftp://ftp.ucsd.edu/midi/software/unix/
 [
 [ Manipulating Type 1 MIDI files, which are internally organized
 [ by "tracks" is quite challenging on the PC running DOS, where
 [ memory is quite limited.  I have implemented and tested most of
 [ of my MIDI programs in the Unix environment and then ported
 [ them to DOS.  I hope some day to not have to port to DOS, but
 [ porting to Win95 has a steep learning curve.
 [
 [ Robbie and I are committed to collect and organize enough
 [ information about the common tracker bar scales so that a person
 [ like yourself could perforate a roll for a "common" instrument
 [ that was "new" to you.  Robbie will make an announcement
 [ about the location on the MMD Website for this technical information
 [ in the near future.     --Jody