Key signature changes on green top bar, as colored regions

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TonE
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Post by TonE »

Now having Midi Optimizer which can add to any midi file, mainly for piano performance recorded midi files, fitting tempo events and correct key signatures, it would be great if Synthesia could show those different key signature regions as colorful regions? The main big top bar can be still green, only a thin area can show the color of key signature?

I tested already, the scale numbers are changing already greatly and correctly based on those key signatures, what is missing is only the big picture view of those various key signature changes. I thought the top green bar is the perfect place for showing them. You can use the same color palette which I posted for the pitchclass values, here again, major keys are lighter, minor keys darker:
Image

Anyway, Midi Optimizer, Synthesia, LilyPond are great friends now, supporting each other.
kiwi
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Post by kiwi »

Personnaly all of my midi files are in Cmajor :/
But i would like this feature.
TonE
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Post by TonE »

If you played them in c major, then its ok, if not, Midi Optimizer adjusts to the correct values.
kiwi
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Post by kiwi »

ah good i was meaning Synthesia say Cmajor,ll try midi optimizer but anyway i know what is my key when i play ;)
Nicholas
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Post by Nicholas »

Regarding the colors: did you mean that the 1st scale degree (of any key) would be that green color? That is, in C Major it would be C that is green, but in F Major the green note would be F?

If so, that reminds me of this discussion where the structure of the key is shown on the keyboard.
TonE
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Post by TonE »

Nicholas wrote:Regarding the colors: did you mean that the 1st scale degree (of any key) would be that green color? That is, in C Major it would be C that is green, but in F Major the green note would be F?

If so, that reminds me of this discussion where the structure of the key is shown on the keyboard.
This request is not about coloring notes, even the picture above does, I posted it to see which color which scale can get. It is about scale coloring. Where? On the green bar at the top of Synthesia screen. It is about segmenting a song, a Beethoven, Mozart piano composition, based on which key signature segments are available in the file. Those different key signatures can be created e.g. via Midi Optimizer, which does it quite well. Synthesia understands them already, if you switch to scale number view on the keyboard, you can see how those scale number positions 1,2,...,7 change when a key signature is changing. Nicely, even the tempo values are updating correctly. So everything is perfect already in Synthesia. It is great to see Synthesia did not ignore many general principles, otherwise it would bite back now or in future with another feature experiment. For note coloring themselves, setting transparent color as default, I created another topic, but here it is about coloring the key signature segments on the top green bar, using the colors on the above picture. If you look at the mkeyscape website and all the images, you can see in the lower area of the triangle which represents the whole song in its most detailed chunk form, a similar color sequence we would see at the top in the green bar. Changing as often as key signatures are changing. There are 12 major keys, 12 minor keys.
TonE
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Post by TonE »

Nicholas wrote:Regarding the colors: did you mean that the 1st scale degree (of any key) would be that green color? That is, in C Major it would be C that is green, but in F Major the green note would be F?
To answer this question separately, no I would color keys on the keyboard ALWAYS using an absolute scheme, so green notes will be always C, nothing else. The color frequencies matching sound frequencies. Sound frequency mix will equal to color frequency mix.
TonE
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Post by TonE »

Here is one example mkeyscape triangle, where different key regions are visible as different colors. Imagine now you used for each song its mkeycape triangle as background image and on the top green bar you would see the same color segments, key signature based segments, if Synthesia would consider those borders for looping, another useful feature to loop and practice those different key signature segments.
Image

Which key signature values does the midi standard support? Do we have a full list anywhere?
Nicholas
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Post by Nicholas »

TonE wrote:... if Synthesia would consider those borders for looping, another useful feature to loop and practice those different key signature segments.
It already will. In the latest development preview of Synthesia 10 you get automatic bookmarks at each key signature change. So you can use the usual bookmark/loop shortcuts to do this today. :D
TonE wrote:Which key signature values does the midi standard support? Do we have a full list anywhere?
A key signature MIDI event contains two pieces of info: number of sharps/flats and whether the key is major or minor. So you can do all 12 major and all 12 minor keys. Synthesia reads the major/minor split correctly, but I've seen a lot of editing software out there that ignores that half of the event and only bothers with the sharp/flat count.
kiwi
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Post by kiwi »

Am not English but the TonE post was very clear he want coloredMarkers in the timeline depending on the key.So it 'll be absolute; "C" 'll be always Green.
For now markers are only purpulle but maybe it 'll ne also possible to disable key color cause it can be so much colored in some pièces where tonality change too much.
TonE
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Post by TonE »

No, not colored markers, but instead the timeline itself having this 'key signature color', if not the whole timeline width, half or third of it, the lower segment for example. I would use probably the lower third height for key signature color, the above 2/3 of the timeline, as now, green. Or simply giving the full, 100% timeline height the key signature color.
kiwi
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Post by kiwi »

yep i was understood timeline but maid a labsus when reading others post :p
TonE
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Post by TonE »

Nicholas wrote:It already will. In the latest development preview of Synthesia 10 you get automatic bookmarks at each key signature change. So you can use the usual bookmark/loop shortcuts to do this today. :D
Did not try the latest version for some time, yesterday I tried 2840, yes great having key signature markers automatically, together with the other options. Great work. Especially text based markers. Now each analysis preprocessor could generate/add its markers. Will the marker text be visible in Synthesia? Maybe at the position where is now the key signature name, left bottom, above the keys? Lyrics or karaoke can be there too, by the way.
Nicholas
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Post by Nicholas »

TonE wrote:Will the marker text be visible in Synthesia?
Isn't it already? Did you try a song with markers? Marker names should be showing up exactly the same as key signature names and Metadata bookmarks.
TonE
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Post by TonE »

Not yet, only checked the key signatures. Then its great, thanks. Lyrics are missing probably?
Nicholas
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Post by Nicholas »

No lyrics yet. Is that really something that works at the side of the screen? Shouldn't those text events be attached to specific notes somehow? I suppose MIDI doesn't really give a good way to associate a Lyric event with a Note On.
TonE
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Post by TonE »

The lyric event can be before or after the note on, did not check myself, so this order of events would be the linking.
TonE
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Post by TonE »

Nicholas wrote:No lyrics yet. Is that really something that works at the side of the screen? Shouldn't those text events be attached to specific notes somehow? I suppose MIDI doesn't really give a good way to associate a Lyric event with a Note On.
Still no lyrics?
TonE
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Post by TonE »

Nicholas wrote:A key signature MIDI event contains two pieces of info: number of sharps/flats and whether the key is major or minor. So you can do all 12 major and all 12 minor keys. Synthesia reads the major/minor split correctly, but I've seen a lot of editing software out there that ignores that half of the event and only bothers with the sharp/flat count.
Great, now Synthesia only needs to display scales as light on supported keyboards, my K-Board would profit from velocity=1 for scales, velocity=15 (max) for played notes. Synthesia can show now only played notes as LED, but not scale notes. Having another scale velocity setting and output would make it perfect. Then you could even have fun without looking at the screen, just look at the lights and play something on the scale notes.
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