Essential Toolkit for Windows - Part 2:
(Mostly) Free Musical Utilities for Power Users
In Part 2 of his series on Windows utilities Peter Kirn covers cool music software tools for the power user including: MIDI-OX, SendSX, Edrum Monitor, Jack and more.
Last time, I talked about my favorite free non-musical tools, for tweaking your Windows system into the high-performance music environment you've wanted it to be. Now, we get into the fun stuff: music-specific tools, from the practical to the arcane.
I tend to befriend programmers, many of them are on Windows. They're not satisfied to leave well enough alone: why wait for a solution if you can hack your own? Happily, many are generous enough to share the fruits of those labors. It's often these tools that interconnect your software and hardware that wind up being the most useful.
To keep life exciting, I've got some rock-solid, must-download tools, and some bleeding-edge stuff, and a bit in between, so I've rated the items accordingly.
MIDI Power Tools
MIDI-OX, MIDI-Yoke
www.midiox.com
www.midiox.com/myoke.htm
Click to enlarge
Advisory Level: Must-have
Before I even get to installing a music app, the first tools that go on a new PC for me are MIDI-OX and MIDI-Yoke. MIDI-Yoke does just one thing, but it's an important thing: it allows you to route MIDI between different applications. It works on everything from Windows 3.1x to Vista. (Vista isn't mentioned explicitly, but it works; it's what I use on my main desktop PC.) Once installed, you'll see virtual inputs and outputs for MIDI-Yoke in all your MIDI apps, just as though it were physically-connected hardware. Simply route the output of one app to MIDI-Yoke and the corresponding input into the receiving app, and data will flow from one to the other. On my Mac, I use Apple's IAC driver for routing MIDI between apps, and it is nice having that available out of the box -- but I find the combination of MIDI-Yoke and MIDI-OX even more flexible.
MIDI-OX is a MIDI tool that does, basically, everything with -- so much that it may be a bit intimidating at first. At its simplest, it monitors MIDI messages, and if you use it for nothing else, it's worth a download. But it's also capable of insane remapping, filtering, SysEx librarian, and SMF recording and logging. Via that recording facility, you can use it as an always-on MIDI recorder for your virtual studio. MIDI-OX is free for personal use; for commercial use, you have to pay, and donations are encouraged (encouraged by me, for one - it's great work)!
For inter-app MIDI alone, you might also look at Hubi's MIDI LoopBack. I've always stuck with MIDI-Yoke
but know some people who swear by Hubi's:
members.nextra.at/hubwin//midi.html
You'll also find a joystick-to-MIDI controller driver at the Hubi's site, an additional reason it could be worth a visit.
You'll see these two "loopback" devices mentioned in the documentation of many of the other utilities in this list, as some make use of these virtual MIDI drivers in order to communicate with other applications.
Essential for when you don't have a MIDI keyboard handy, Bome's Mouse Keyboard can use joysticks, keyboard, and mouse to play instruments
Bome MIDI Translator
Click to enlarge
Advisory level: Must-have
MIDI-OX can be used to create rules and mappings for live performance, but Bome's MIDI Translator is even broader in its MIDI processing features. In addition to translation mappings, filters, and the like, it adds powerful features like timers, rules, conditional execution -- basically allowing you to manipulate incoming MIDI data however you like. Can't be bothered to create these rules yourself? It also has plenty of presets, and developers can author their own and ship them to you fully-formed.
The real killer feature of MIDI Translator, though, is its ability to map to and from QWERTY keystrokes and mice actions. That means if there's something in your software that doesn't support MIDI, but does have a keyboard shortcut, it can be controlled with any MIDI device.
Costs range from free to EUR59 for the end user editions -- pricey here in the colonies given the sagging US dollar, but worth it if you're building your own settings, and well-supported by the developer.
MIDI Translator's creator Florian Bomers has two other must-download utilities on his site:
SendSX
Advisory Level: You'll know if you need it
SendSX is a simple, free utility for sending System Exclusive data.
Bome's Mouse Keyboard
Click to enlarge
Advisory Level: Must-have
Essential for when you don't have a MIDI keyboard handy, Bome's Mouse Keyboard can use joysticks, keyboard, and mouse to play instruments, even supporting patch scripts, custom knobs, pitch bend, controllers, and chords. It's not the only option for the job, but it's uniquely powerful, and free, to boot.
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Author
Composer, visualist, and author Peter Kirn has come from a classically-trained music background to
interactive digital music and visuals. His work ranges from collaborations with modern dance to live
audiovisual sets in clubs. He's the author of Real World Digital Audio (Peachpit) and runs the sites
createdigitalmusic.com and createdigitalmotion.com.