MIDI

This patch contains examples of useful messages for playing MIDI files with the seq object.

To get the values of only one particular continuous controller, use the ctlin object, or use the route object to parse the controller data coming out of midiparse. To change one range of values into another, use simple math (usually one multiplication and one addition will be enough), or use the scale object.

This example demonstrates how to automatically pan MIDI notes with a given speed. The MIDI Continuous Controller 10 is designated for panning; any synth capable of understanding that message will respond appropriately.

Incoming MIDI control values (0 to 127) from a ctlin object can be scaled with the scale object to cover any desired pitch range (in terms of MIDI pitch number), and that pitch range can then be converted to frequency in Hertz with the mtof MIDI to frequency object.

Using any MIDI synth VST plug-in, you can control MIDI data such as modulation and volume.

When transposing the pitch of sustained incoming MIDI notes, you need to be certain that the note-off message has the same transposition. Otherwise, any time more than one note is played, each subsequent note changes the transposition before the previous note receives its note-off message. To solve this you need to keep track of what transposition you give to each incoming note, as illustrated in this example.

As a demo project to explore JavaScript programming in Max, this patch implements a script that harmonizes any played MIDI note with either a major seventh chord or a minor seventh chord that contains the played note. For any given pitch, there are four different major seventh chords and four different minor seventh chords that contain that pitch.