The MIDI input scam

It works like this. You go to a computer music show, and you see a keyboard hooked up to a program. Someone plays something on the keyboard and as they do so, notes appear on the computer screen. It looks wonderful.

Sometimes the notes disappear as the next part of the demo follows on so quickly that you don't really get time to see if they are good. Sometimes you do get a chance to see, and it is really good. But the player was a professional musician.

and when you get it home...

you find that you didn't quite keep time as well as you hoped and that the computer has recorded what you actually did. The first bar is just fine, but then you hesitated for a split second and all the following notes are shifted and split across bars, and some of the notes aren't quite the length that you meant. By the time you have edited it into what you meant it would have been quicker not to have bothered.

Of course if you are a professional keyboard player, then you may be in luck because what you play will be exact.

So "why?", you ask, "does Muse support MIDI input?".

Well, firstly, the above is all true. The quickest way to get a tune in is through the computer keyboard, not through a MIDI keyboard, but
1. It's a tick in a box. If someone is compiling a list of features of programs, I can say "yes". That's a rotten reason. I'd be ashamed of that if it were not for...
2. It's a challenge. In some ways it's almost like speech recognition. I am only at the beginning of the road. Muse does not do at all well at the moment, but I am persuing some ideas that might bear fruit. In the meantime, for those who like to play with this kind of toy - feel free, but don't have high hopes.

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