Simple record and playback of files.

[Klokdoc]

Hi there
I use an old MIDI recorder/player (Viscount RD70, 3 1/2" discs) as if it were a tape recorder. I press record, play the music, press stop. The RD70 records the incoming data in a file. If the performance is required again someone can just play the file.

The instrument in question is an electronic organ with three keyboards and a pedal board, four channels.

These are output on a single track.

The track also contains the instrument specific system extracodes which control stops and swell pedals. This means that the files created only make sense on the specific instance of the organ played.

The RD70 is wearing out.

Do you know of anything that will run on an Android phone which will play MIDI files direct through USB as a single track and passing through all the SysEx?

I use Audio Evolution to record. It will also play back but only by first loading a file into the editor and this is too complicated for 'the person who happens to be there at the time' to use.

I want to keep it simple.

Thanks
Chris

[resistorman]

I wonder if a floppy emulator will work in the Viscount? Also, I believe the Alesis DataDisc did that, and if you can find one of those, this emulator is for sale:

https://reverb.com/item/33807480-floppy ... lank-disks

This free iPad app by Moog software engineer and all around good guy Geert Bevin will do it. Of course you will need an iPad and midi interface.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/midi-tape ... 1598618004

[Klokdoc]

Thanks for that.
I'll have a look. What I do know is that a standard 3 1/2" drive will not work in the RD70, I've tried several. Searching for the particular model number yields no results apart from noting its existence.
For the other approach I'll borrow an iPad. I already have a Roland UM-1 which connects USB to MIDI DIN plugs.

[James Perrett]

For the other approach I'll borrow an iPad. I already have a Roland UM-1 which connects USB to MIDI DIN plugs.

I'm not an iPad user but I understand you will need the camera connection kit to hook up a USB device to an iPad.

[Klokdoc]

Thanks. Having had a look at iPad versions I noted that it's fairly recent pro and air devices that have USB ports and found some 30 pin to charger and USB port connectors online. For cameras or whatever. A case of try it and see!

[Klokdoc]

I just looked at the documentation for MIDI TAPE RECORDER. There's a warning at the top saying that it will not record ANY Midi System Messages. Unfortunately that makes it useless for my purposes as all the stop controls and swell pedal movements are SysEx. The result being that I would record all the notes bit nothing else, so playback would be inaudible unless someone physically moved the stops. The Alesis seems to just receive or send a file. What I need to do is start recording, play the music, then stop recording when done. ie if I play nothing I would have an track with no events lasting for however many seconds. Because of this all my recordings have lead in and run out silences.

Anyway thanks for your ideas.

I might have to go down the other route and build one, get my coding and soldering head on then start Arduino development, see GitHub

[Sam Spoons]

It's simple enough to do with a computer DAW and a midi interface but if you want to do it without a computer then I'm not so sure as all the midi recorder/sequencers I know of are very old now. You could look into Roland MC series sequencers, I think it may be possible to use mod them to use memory cards, even if not they do, IIRC, use generic 3.5" disk drives.

[shufflebeat]

Waaa-aay out of my comfort zone here but happy to opine nonetheless.

Would Reaper on a Raspberry Pi work?

[James Perrett]

Would Reaper on a Raspberry Pi work?

It would do the job but you would still need a screen and keyboard to control it.

I must admit that I am a little surprised that there doesn't seem to be a simple MIDI recorder for Android. I think n-Track studio might be able to do it but I've not tried it personally.

[forumuser931182]

Something like this would do it for you.
https://retrokits.com/shop/rk008/

[MarkOne]

Not that this helps at all, but I used to run my live backing tracks on an RD70, hooked up to a Yamaha TG100. Both literally have just found themselves an electronics afterlife in the electronics recycling bin at the civic amenity site.

It's amazing that I hadn't even thought of the RD70 for probably decades, sat in it's flight case and mere weeks after finding it and disposing of it someone comes here talking about one.

Synchronicity, I guess.

[James Perrett]

Back in the mists of time I remember getting hold of a disc that contained software for a Casio FZ1 that turned it into a simple sequencer. I think the main intention was to allow automatic in-store demos but it was useful for recording a performance without firing up the computer.