Re: Stop the resonance of the open hihat in the Midi rendering

[Aaron Hill]

On 2020-01-28 1:27 pm, Bric wrote:
> This might be broadening the scope of the original concern, but as
> food for thought:
>
> One would want to control the timing of the HH closing for *artistic*
> purposes... the HH closing can make for rhythmic expression (and often
> does, in live performance)....

General MIDI is limited in its expressiveness of nearly all instruments, 
but in particular percussion.  The original design was overly simplistic 
given the variety of drums and cymbals that exist plus the myriad ways 
to articulate them.  That is not to say MIDI drums cannot be useful in 
their own right; but achieving anything close to a real drummer on a 
live kit requires careful programming with custom-crafted sound banks 
which frequently ignore the GM standard's mapping of drum sounds to 
notes.  After all, the synthesizer really does not care whether note 56 
actually sounds like a cowbell.  If you do not need the sound, use it 
for something else.

I use Reason in my music workflow and have several Refills for drums, 
many of which substitute the range of supplemental percussion for 
alternate playing styles of a standard kit.  Some of them, for instance, 
include several degrees of partially open hi-hat.  Programming these 
variations in place of an otherwise fully open hi-hat sound helps to add 
a more natural sound.


> That said, however, the automation of the above (in lilypond) may be
> outside the scope of what the app is intended for (primarily score
> engraving).  Correct me if i'm wrong.

It would be a difficult undertaking to support all of the non-standard 
drum synths and sample banks out there.  The principle advantage of the 
GM standard is that it is a singular, generalized thing to target.

I suspect the original intent for MIDI output in LilyPond was to allow 
users to spot-check their scores, as it may be easier to hear a mistake 
in engraving that we might not otherwise see during proof-reading.  But 
some folks may be using the MIDI output to generate backing 
accompaniment or practice tracks.  In support of that, the output should 
be a practical and high-quality rendering of the score.  In fact, I 
would love to see something like articulate.ly that humanizes the 
performance more so by adding in natural imperfections.  Since few 
performers are machines, it could be beneficial to listen to several 
"takes" of a complex score to gauge its feasibility.


-- Aaron Hill