Demo of the Roland MT-90U MIDI Music Player

Now all but discontinued - the MT-90U is Roland's last all-in-one General MIDI playing 'Music Tutor'. It's also the only model in the range to feature a USB port rather than a floppy disk drive.
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Over Time - Vibe Tracks • Over Time - Vibe Track...
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ThatSFXGuy - • Six Million Dollar man...

[@jimbo573]

"I'm walking on sunshine. And don't it feel good?" The answer in this case seems to be "not particularly".

[@tomkatz492]

That is the most British thing I've seen in my life.

[@RaveTracks]

Very "Brett Domino Trio" I thought ha ha.

[@marktubeie07]

Come on, someone sample this, it's asking for it to be done!

[@DreitTheDarkDragon]

I think lyrics of "Don't wanna" from Electric Light Orchestra fit Techmoan quite well :D

[@Fake_Blood]

It's on par with waiting all night to get lucky.

[@-abacchus]

Did Techmoan ever work at a holiday camp? His enthusiasm during the karaoke section sounds all too familiar.

[@philmccracken6134]

He might have been a DJ at some point.

[@jukkakamala]

That karaoke was top of the line.

[@Troppa17]

What are you talking about? That was the most thrilling and finest performance of Walking on Sunshine I ever experienced. His enthusiasm knock me right off my feet and I really saw him dancing in the sunshine. I won't wonder if Katrina call him to join the next Reuninon Tour ...

[@Umweltfreundlich07]

'He's your Uncle Techmoan and he welcomes you to Tommy's Holiday Camp'

[@BertGrink]

@@Umweltfreundlich07 You, my good Sir or Madam, has just won today's internet! :D

[@martijnvalk5613]

I've just been Rickrolled by a Techmoan video.. But, that karaoke bit made it all better!

[@sebi506]

Martijn Valk I should not have read the comments before watching the video, I wouldn’t have minded a rickroll by Mat 😂

[@jticklemaker1265]

So i'm not the only one getting this feeling ^^

[@Fake_Blood]

We got RickRolanded?

[@mrkitty777]

Ik ben ook ge-rick-rolled 😮

[@nowayjerk8064]

@@jticklemaker1265 its more than a feeling ,it took my breath away lol

[@falagarius]

I remember having a Slayer midi where the vocals were replaced with gunshots.

[@Pierfy]

w h a t ‘ s a m i d i j o e l ?

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

@@Pierfy Unexpected reference, but I like it.

[@notgray88]

NOOO KRAMER

[@bmhater1283]

Idk but this comment made me lose my shit

[@rchaffer]

@@Pierfy i ' l l s h o w y o u !

[@revbobuk]

I'm Minister of a Church. We had the MT-90S version of this, and loads of hymns loaded on floppies. We took the box into Care Homes, and the great virtue of the box was that we could change the pitch and tempo to suit the congregation. Used it for years!

[@PilkScientist]

that sounds like a genuine blessing with some congregations, being able to shift the pitch. When a song comes out of a group, it comes out, accompaniment notwithstanding. Glad to know these things got good use like that

[@darkcoeficient]

That is actually pretty genius. Nice use of the equipment. I guess any street performer should take similar advantages.

[@johnr6168]

I run a pipe organ control system manufacturer. Our gear can communicate with MIDI (although it's not the system's native code). This means that a stand alone midi sequencer or computer with music software can be used to record all the organ data and play it back when there's no organist available. Again, the pitch and tempo can be altered at will, as can the stops that were originally used for the recording.

[@dougbrowning82]

@@johnr6168 Like this? Rob Scallion playing MIDIs off his laptop via a MIDI controlled pipe organ. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYKrlXl3opyabac

[@Schattengewaechs99]

Awesome story!

[@JimGardner]

There is a serious side to the MIDI scene, such as it is. Remember, when people say they "hate the sound of MIDI" what they're really talking about is the sound of the low-cost General MIDI sound chips which are used in these kinds of devices and entry level home keyboards. But MIDI itself is still very much in use in the professional music industry. For example System Exclusive or SysEx is used to control all manner of automation, from flying faders on SSL consoles to lighting rigs, effects sends and returns. Also, these hobbyist MIDI files do have a use in semi-pro music circles, where bands who don't have an actual keyboard player need nevertheless a synth or piano part in their live set. You strap the drummer up to a click track, and let the magic of MIDI do the rest.

[@Vamptonius]

"…strap the drummer to a click track…”

[@elimalinsky7069]

External sound cards for PCs usually have phenomenal MIDI sound. The piano especially sounds like the real instrument. The synthwave scene has loads of tracks entirely made in MIDI exported to PCM, and they sound absolutely out of this world.

[@MrDeeg05]

@@elimalinsky7069 well, you could easily get another soundfont to sound awesome. Even some sound cards (Sound Blaster Live!) have option to set soundfont

[@pouncytaur]

MIDI definately had its uses.. It was a very small file that could be paired with games on the 5.25" floppies, and still turn out a full fledged song, albiet with sacrifices made. Those limitations, though, were the natural side effect of having a table of instruments that were generated as the MIDI instructions called for them. The Yamaha OPL3 Synthesizer chip was well know for its amazing reproduction of music (at least, when I became aware of it), and it was the best I have heard for playing the "Where in Americas Past is Carmen Sandiego". Later on, the Soundblaster Audigy's had a "Sound Font" which replaced the generated sounds, and used pre-sampled instruments to get even more lifelike. Still, there was the characteristic flatness to the tonality of the music, since there was no organic modulation to the tone as musicians would normal give it. The tempo feels rigid because it's as strict as the computer clock running it. It feels robotic.. because it's basically a robotic band playing sheet music. it's the slight pause, the error in tonality, the resonance of a guitar, which give real music its heart.

[@timbeaton5045]

@@pouncytaur I use it on a regular basis within Logic Pro X. Invaluable!

[@jennysbloke]

18:29- Epic. This is how everybody feels after 3-weeks in lockdown. :-D

[@jimherbert007]

had a touch of Phoenix Nights Jerry the Berry there ;-)

[@kvzsbt]

I haven't laughed this hard in a long time...

[@robinbrowne5419]

Don't give it to the Puppets. "Do you want to hear my favourite song?" "Noooooo... You've already played it a hundred times."

[@tylerwarren]

I feel like Midi is an addiction. I already have a Roland MT-32 and a Roland SC-55. Now I want one of these!

[@AndersEngerJensen]

tylerwarren Welcome to the club! You’re set for most retro MS-DOS gaming experiences with those though! :D

[@CousinHubertRetrogaming]

Sharp x68000 owner maybe??

[@SD-tj5dh]

A Midiction, if you will...

[@compufood]

Get an MT-90s! I just got one a few months ago and I use it every day. It's amazing to be able to play DOS game MIDI tracks on real hardware, from a real floppy, without having to fire up my 486.

[@originalmossman]

The bit where he talks about people hating MIDI... Those people obviously have no understanding that MIDI is kind of the backbone of *ALL* modern music production

[@CarcinogenSDA]

13:13 how could you

[@dakotathacker3821]

Goteeeeem

[@liam-ashton1]

oh my god no he pulled apart something that is his own

[@rich1051414]

I spotted Canyon.mid. The go to benchmark when testing a midi player :)

[@JonnyInfinite]

Flourish.mid ftw

[@sacleocheaterz]

A Onestop fan myself

[@Jayfeather298]

cssamp1 gang

[@mattb154]

passport.mid was always the superior file.

[@Lilithe]

I was a bit disappointed to hear it over an MT32 emulator. Seems the instruments are all wrong, which I guess is to be expected.

[@calembur]

*00:00** to **18:29* : *Tech* *18:30** to **18:55* : *Moan*

[@shrimp_on_internet]

Nice

[@RussianCowb0y]

Nice

[@darkunderworld]

Walking on sunshine, now available on DCC, Tefifon and Elcaset

[@TimmyJoe633]

🤣🤣🤣

[@frankschneider6156]

Does he have an official BBS for downloading ? I must still have an acoustic coupler for my C64 here somewhere.

[@MysteryMii]

I need it on 7” vinyl with his rendition of Get Lucky on the B-side.

[@benh.635]

I only buy mine on the highest grade wax cylinder

[@DanielMReck]

Techmoan talking: Comfortably dynamic with inviting conversational tone, eyes that smile, and nicely posed with pleasing framing Techmoan singing: Completely flat delivery in totally repulsive monotone, lifeless eyes, and posed like a mugshot in the dead center of the frame This is the attention to detail that keeps me coming back!

[@MacMcCardle]

For those who hate the so called "sound" of MIDI bear in mind it was never meant to be an actual format to listen to music from like MP3 or FLAC. It is specifically for controlling and recording the output of digital instruments. Basically like a punch card for digital music boxes really. Because the voices are like punch cards you can make just about *anything* playback MIDI, from setting up a mix pad all the way through to controlling entire organs MIDI is a massively versatile product. The input doesn't have to be the output either, you could record on a piano but feed that into a digital synth or change the voice to drums to quickly compose tracks. The elevator music type sound you get from MIDI is simply the default voice most software generates which is usually pretty limited, using better voices or using the MIDI to play back on an instrument such as a piano sounds as perfect as you'd expect.

[@belperite]

Indeed. Try a decent MIDI file on one of Roland's high-end synths and it's a whole different story.

[@frankschneider6156]

Absolutely. I mean midi is still at the core of most AWS. Read the song in extract the line you want, combine with you own composition, change the instrument assigned to it to whatever you want and there you go. Makes it easy to turn eg. Monty norman's classical Bond Theme into a death metal version. It's probably the most important music format in existence, albeit not for playing.

[@lowdefal6306]

And this is why the midi standard has lasted for almost 30 years without the need for any substantial changes. It's such a ubiquitous tool that just about any commercial music is probably using it in some form even just for controlling the mix.

[@frankschneider6156]

@@lowdefal6306 Wasn't it created and standardized in the early 80s, so almost 40 years ago, or am I wrong ?

[@lowdefal6306]

@@frankschneider6156 Indeed, I can't count.

[@logan68k3]

My favorite part is at 13:12 when he takes the whole thing apart. The build quality is incredible!

[@taofanarchy96-renzomaracas14]

Why? Just, why?

[@BigRedStudios666]

1312

[@CrobinHood8BitGuy]

I just got rickrolled in the techmoan comment section.

[@LegendaryMaoMao20]

No one is safe!!! Even from Techmoan!!!

[@TomReinerDE]

Seriously, that „Walking On Sunshine“ performance? Breathtaking...

[@uribe_ramon]

Best part of the whole video

[@AndyMarsh]

It was so good I think he was risking a copyright strike.

[@p166mx]

Reminds of me of when I sang Common People at a karaoke bar in Brighton about 15 years ago, it emptied the entire bar :D It was worse than Matt :p

[@pomonabill220]

I was speechless!!!

[@MidWestConcertVideo2]

I haven't heard that lyrical a musical performance since the Flying Lizards version of "Money".

[@graealex]

I was missing "We're up all night to get lucky"

[@dzomo]

I was racking my brain as to what the karaoke skit reminded me of, it was Brett Domino, cheers

[@danny1959]

Words nobody EVER wants to hear: "I guess it's karaoke time."

[@IanJTaylor]

dannyeliot - I “disa gree”

[@Syntox]

A HAHAHHA

[@alifnajwan6834]

Is it weird that I like it?

[@danny1959]

@@alifnajwan6834 Live and let live. Whatever floats your boat.

[@KurtRichterCISSP]

Lol, nearly everyone I know enjoys singing and singing together 🙂

[@ki4gmb]

I absolutely adore the esoteric oddware on this channel. Thank you for everything.

[@bodeghost]

Absolutely! Techmoan is the best! 😉 💜 🍀 👻 🎶

[@garym81]

I will honestly say this is the best karaoke version of "Walking on Sunshine" I have ever heard. Of course, it's the only version I've heard, so it's also the worst version I've ever heard.

[@padawanmage71]

18:33 laughed so hard, i almost fell out of my bed! 😂

[@connectorxp]

That Sandstorm rendition sounds really good, reminds me when phones used MIDI files as ringtones and the quality of the sound depended on the speaker and synthesizer.

[@nom3nnescio]

YAY FINLAND!

[@sircompo]

This takes me back to my days working at Creative Labs in the 90s. Midi got a lot better with the addition of wavetable synthesis and SoundFonts™. I remember our flagship card at the time, the Sound Blaster AWE32 being released with additional memory and a full version of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Relax, as a MIDI file, INCLUDING VOCALS.

[@sircompo]

All that marketing suddenly went quiet. I think the bosses in Singapore found out what the song was about!

[@Tynamiitti]

Do you have link to that file or to an recording of that? I would be very interested in hearing that!

[@arwlyx]

@@Tynamiitti Same, I've got an itch to play that on my SB32 now, not sure if 8MB would do though?

[@RAMChYLD]

Big fan of the AWE card here. Yeah, you can have vocals, but it has to be uploaded to the card first using the provided soundfont, which wasn’t straightforward. I guess that’s what kept the song “No Surprise” under the radar (seriously).

[@jasonhawkins4528]

Yes I still have the xfi sound blaster platinum with all the software lol

[@An_average_drummer]

That MIDI rendition of "Take My Breath Away" was almost exact besides the theremin-type instrument doing the vocals! Also those screams in "Soul Man" brought tears to my eyes! Great video as always Mat, hope you're staying safe.

[@mariusmarincek4100]

The karaoke part was perfect.

[@countzero1136]

Sadly that wasn't even close to the worst karaoke I've ever witnessed LOL :)

[@grizzly6699]

I was personally expecting "we will rock you" or something from the Spice Girls.

[@DeschutesCore]

Only way it would have been better was if he'd pulled the Tequila stunt.

[@netsurferx1]

Me: *Hears Mat talking about the limitations of MIDI music making.* Me: "The Amiga MOD music community would like a word, mate!"

[@dash8brj]

Did someone say "Protracker"? (or the many varients of composition software available for the Amiga). :)

[@Milamberinx]

MOD isn't MIDI though

[@iscander_s]

MOD files are more capable than MIDI, you can pack any sample in MOD file, and not depend on preinstalled soundfont, like MIDI.

[@MarkTheMorose]

@thewestwardsky Best I can find is to run the DigiRoller player through an Amiga emulator. www.digibooster.de/en/download.php

[@BGBTech]

@@iscander_s Vs MOD, yeah MIDI is a lot more limited. The normal MIDI format is limited to predefined instruments, a limited range of options (eg: volume, pan, instrument, ...); and other than that is basically just turning notes on and off and similar. Though, it stores music in a reasonably compact form (songs are typically a few kB), and it is possible to get MIDI playback to work on fairly limited hardware (such as an MSP430 or AVR8 microcontroller), ...

[@EpicTyphlosionTV]

I've never even heard of that MIDI archive, and I'm a person that's already downloaded a pack of over 100,000 MIDIs. You rock, Techmoan!

[@MrHack4never]

Can we make a thread just of people sharing MIDI packs?

[@MutedTrampet]

archive.org/details/sound_canvas_midi_collection. Some really nice gems in here, such as the various MIDIs written by Hiroyuki Oshima, and a rather genuine cover of the Silver Surfer theme. Be aware that although some artists made GM versions of their MIDIs available , many didn't, so to play most of these properly, you'll need either an SC-88Pro or later, or Sound Canvas VA set to the SC-88Pro map, though there are a decent number of MIDIs written for the SC-8820 and 50 in the collection.

[@CardboardSliver]

That's the most 90s English singing I've ever heard, and I love it.

[@lordpagano]

MIDI was all the rage back when I had a Nokia and polyphonic ringtones were a premium.

[@bengmo64]

That's a really cool machine! On a side note I get annoyed when my favorite KZbinrs have to jump through hoops to avoid offending the Content Match gods when they are just trying to make an honest video. Executives in their Ivory towers, grumble grumble, we oughta rise up etc

[@ssokolow]

Unfortunately, according to current copyright law, doing without Content ID might mean that this is flat-out illegal. I think fair use may only apply if you're using a fragment of the work for critical analysis of the work you're excerpting... not using it to demonstrate something else. Here's Tom Scott's "KZbin's Copyright System Isn't Broken. The World's Is.": kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3vaoGinmJxrh7c

[@KurtRichterCISSP]

@@ssokolow Regardless, copyright's sole purpose is to protect artists from having the value of their works reduced by improper distribution of their content. Nobody is going to decide against buying a song simply because they can come to this video and hear ten seconds of it instead, but that's the BS that is happening.

[@ssokolow]

@@KurtRichterCISSP If the difference between the intent of copyright and the letter of modern copyright mattered, creative works other than books and maps would be ineligible for copyright protection (When the U.S. founding fathers reinvented what was formerly a "you print only what we want and we'll arrest anyone else who prints anything" pact between the British government and the printing guilds, the intent was to enrich the public domain and incentivize "science and the useful arts"), copyright would be opt-in (no copyright protection unless you register your creation with the copyright office), and it would last 14 years with the option to renew it once for an additional 14 years of protection. Copyright protection for music *at all* is the result of greedy people incrementally moving the goalposts over the last two centuries and you can see that in how things like recipes, fashion designs, and jokes are still ineligible for copyright protection. (That's why big-name fashion designers prominently work their trademarked logo into their designs.) In fact, copyright is running directly counter to its original purpose, given how it's been on the order of a century since anything entered the public domain without either someone letting their copyright expire, intentionally given up their copyright prematurely (eg. CC0), or making a mistake in navigating the various forms copyright law took prior to the mid 70s (eg. Night of the Living Dead entered the public domain when the distributor failed to satisfy the requirement that intentional, public distribution include a copyright notice to maintain copyright status in the 60s).

[@8bitwiz_]

An interesting thing about Content Match was noticed a few days ago with the recent Nintendo software leak. It seems the N64 SDK had a bunch of sample .MID files, so someone made a KZbin video of playing them all. The video got blocked. It turns out that Hotel California is one of the few songs that is set to block the entire video if it is detected, and the MIDI playback was sufficient to flag it. The more you know!

[@ssokolow]

@@KairuHakubi Tom Scott did a 42 minute video explaining why my perspective is correct in much more detail than I can: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3vaoGinmJxrh7c Regarding the "face your accuser in a fair trial" part, the gist of it is that, since KZbin is a private business and hasn't been declared any sort of public utility, they have a right to say in their terms of service that you don't get to upload anything to KZbin until *after* you've agreed to whatever terms they set for ContentID. It's like those binding arbitration clauses a lot of American businesses use to force employees and customers to give up the ability to start or join class action lawsuits if they want the job/service. ...and it came about because record companies felt it was easier and more productive to sue KZbin for your their role in sharing your content than to go after you. From the law's perspective, you're not entitled to use KZbin, so, unless there's a law on the books like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 saying otherwise, they can set whatever terms they want for their product or service and you can go to a competitor if you don't like it. (Of course, if the U.S. had a functioning system of laws, antitrust law would have kicked in long ago. The Google/Alphabet/whatever family of companies reached "what we say goes and anyone who disagrees gets left behind" levels of power long ago.) One of the articles on the 2019 European Union Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market goes even farther, mandating that countries have to update their laws to force companies to take measures to ensure that, once something is taken down, it stays down... which basically means more Fair Use-ignoring automation at the scale companies like KZbin operate at.

[@Gadgetonomy]

It's a good job you found the English manual, all those button combinations are insane!

[@rjbush7955]

MIDI was revolutionary when it came out in 80s. For the first time musicians could get all their synths/drum machines from different manufacturers to 'talk' to each other. People complaining about the sound are really referring to GM (General MIDI) format. Its purpose was to enable MIDI files to be shared between users who had different equipment. It ensured the instrument playing was the same on other devices. It wouldn't sound 'good' if your piano part turned into a crash cymbal on someone else's device.

[@BrasilGT]

Cuba Baion... speaking of which, will the puppets come back?

[@rucker69]

Right?

[@AtheistOrphan]

Alexandre Melo - Yes, but they have to remain 2 metres apart due to social distancing rules.

[@rucker69]

@@AtheistOrphan what is that in puppet meters?

[@PilkScientist]

@@rucker69 no, meters are the same between. It's about 18 puppet feet, though, give or take a few puppet inches.

[@frankschneider6156]

Well, I guess we have to force him to either bring the puppets back or do a 4-hr karaoke session of Hi-NG and Hardrock songs. I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy both equally.

[@cheaterman49]

13:13 HAHAHAH you just had to, didn't you!!! Love your sense of humor :-) EDIT: 18:31 : Hahahahahaa xD you're the best!

[@Lilithe]

18:30 I CAN FEEL THE SUNSHINE! (Love this)

[@juergenbernhard5442]

18:31: That's what everybody feels like after several weeks stuck inside the house.

[@gabrielledebourg2487]

Ah man, this would go great with my Cinco Midi Organizer!

[@maicod]

I absolutely LOVE midi music ! It started when I had my first MIDI-wavetable soundcard the Creative AWE-32

[@aspectcarl]

I bet the KZbin content matching servers going nuts a certain points of this video 😁

[@CrunchyF123]

even if you change the instrument sounds that triggers content match its down to notes and timing

[@LenweSaralonde]

I got some content matched on a video playing a MIDI file on a player I made kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZDOg6R5iLd8odE But it identified it as a cover, not the actual recording so I can still monetize my video but a part of the earned money will go to the right holders.

[@GigsVT]

@@LenweSaralonde lucky. Some cover artists are so good that they content match performances instead of the songwriter match.

[@ChrisMezzolesta]

Wow...MIDI memories. I got my first MIDI setup in 1988 in order to create live backing tracks for the band I was in, they were using cassettes made from 4-track reel recordings before then. I had a Yamaha YPR-9 keyboard, a Roland MT-32 and for the sequencer a Yamaha QX5 I believe (with an MDF-1 to store the sequences on Quick Disks as there was no internal memory yet for sequencers, and computer-based sequencing was EKS-PEN-SIVE!) - Never forget working all night on a sequence for "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life" since Dirty Dancing was just out & that was the huge hit - about 5am I saved the sequence to the Quick Disk, or so I thought. Entire night's work, GONE. Things got better, and I used that setup with the band for quite a few years, so fill out the sound of an already substantial band. For me the allure of MIDI was not in replicating tunes via GeneralMIDI, but in the spatial relationship of notes played into MIDI as opposed to being fixed in time & timbre on an audio tape. Like the works of player piano composer Conlon Nancarrow (prehistoric Black MIDI), and of course Frank Zappa's Synclavier works, one could create superhuman sounds unplayable otherwise. I explored this aspect & did some experimental cassettes in the 80s with this method - either by recording note events at a very slow tempo & speeding them up/jamming them together, or by recording at a very fast tempo & slowing the performance down. At the time it was pretty mindblowing. These can be heard (for free) on the jokingly-titled "All The Hits!" albums at chrismezzolesta.bandcamp.com/ Guess you hadda be there.

[@mikeb8674]

What does this one do? (presses metronome button) Roland: *EX-TER-MI-NATE! EX-TER-MI* (throws unit into microwave, burns down house, moves overseas)

[@KieranAPB]

I too was 'Walking on Sunshine' after listening to Techmoan's lovely rendition of this song.

[@blunderingfool]

I didn’t know Depressed Song Covers was a thing we all needed in our lives. XD

[@thehouseofcha1nsaw_]

The british voice make it soooo much better

[@djtechsane]

watch Brett Domino lol

[@mikeb8674]

New channel idea: "Techmoan does Morrissey covers of 80s One-Hit Wonders"

[@Gigidag77]

13:13 *he just midiroll'd us*

[@nataliekate2176]

We used the MT-80 extensively in Music back when I was in high school. It was a really handy tool to have around!

[@jub8891]

thats cool, our school didnt have anything this fancy but it looks incredibly useful for learning

[@JOELwindows7]

8:50 What is that MIDI Voice?! MIDI typically lacks singing vocal. Clever, Roland. You have that soundbank. 10:19 btw, I like MIDI! I am one of the few! 10:27 pfft! Those nay people are pathetic. Underestimated the potential power of the MIDI 17:40 Yay Inside your head Bear Lyric

[@gcewing]

Techmoan should release an album of him moaning along to various popular songs.

[@iainoggy]

When this lockdown is over il take u to a karaoke bar you can knock em dead 😂🥳

[@AndRewUK24]

That karaoke moment was excellent. That's the moment I've been waiting for the whole video.

[@bf0189]

I love the kitschy nature of midi. It's literally the late 20th century version of prepared piano and we should embrace it as such!

[@slipknotboy555]

This is going to get buried (and some people will be like "so what!?" anyway), but I've got to say it - MIDI does not refer specifically to .mid files or the General MIDI soundsets (the different "instruments" referred to in the video are an example, as indicated by that logo on the front). The word "MIDI" by itself refers to a control standard. It's a standard for controlling electronic musical instruments that's been around since the early '80s. That's why it stands for "Musical Instrument Digital Interface" (or something like that), heh. It's an interface. And that's why those 5 pin DIN connectors are a thing. It was created for controlling synths, and is still the main standard for controlling hardware synths today (well, and software synths, but yeah). If you have a MIDI-equipped desktop synth module, for instance (so no keys), and want to play it with a keyboard, you connect the MIDI Out of a controller keyboard to the MIDI In of the synth. The MIDI information tells it what pitches to play, when notes are pressed and released, etc. It has nothing to do with the sound (the timbre) generated by the synth itself. Heh, just had to post, because many people seem to think "MIDI" refers to MIDI files, General MIDI (which again, are *soundsets* that don't have anything to do with MIDI itself), etc. I've seen it super often, and as a synth guy, it's just one of those little things that's kinda irksome, haha.

[@edgarwalk5637]

13:13 You've been rick rolled!

[@MarkRyanSchulz]

MS-DOS era games with MIDI soundtracks were so awesome. Coming from an old 286 with a PC speaker and booting up something with Lucas Arts or Sierra and hearing that sweeping stereo sound from a pair of beige speakers plugged into the SoundBlaster or AdLib or indeed Roland card was an experience I will never forget.

[@hisham_hm]

For some reason I always hear in my head the ending theme going "Techmoan videos, Techmoan videos, Techmoan videos..." I wonder what a karaoke rendition of that would sound like

[@kenny9648]

That Karaoke performance made my day! :-))) Thanks, Matt!

[@firsyinactive]

Hmm... What if you play all the Motorola W220 Ringtones in that?

[@RealGengarTV]

MIDI is awesome, especially if you have a DAW and software synthesizers. You can use the MIDI as a digital sheet music and make some interesting remixes

[@lowdefal6306]

And I use decently made midi files from game music to convert to sheet music for instrument use. Just a shame so many game midi files are badly auto converted from their native format and essentially unusable.

[@benh.635]

I use MIDI as a protocol almost every time I make music, as I have a MIDI keyboard and two synthesizers that connect over USB or DIN MIDI and a synthesizer that can use MIDI over serial or DIN MIDI (the latter I use DIN MIDI and the former I use USB). It is insanely useful for my uses.

[@digitalmediafan]

Ah I use to be well into midi files in the windows XP days, I used the roland sound canvas 3 and Yamaha s-yxg100 softsynth, incredible results. Some midis sounded better on the Yamaha than the roland and vice versa. Unfortunately these aren't compatible with win 10, I think the yamaha worked with 7 though?

[@christopherpappas7474]

Mat please what ever you do don't give up the singing career! I am waiting for your next album release and tour... 🙃☮️

[@thebiggerbyte5991]

Ringtone material right there! :D A very interesting device, very well presented.

[@AndersEngerJensen]

The Bigger Byte In the 2000s we actually used MIDI files as ringtones. Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones did support them. I made a few myself. Here, have a go at these: www.dropbox.com/sh/wv3ifnj7dbd0pua/AACwf6wk6VUlMQAUc7Pm55g9a?dl=0

[@KyoshoLP]

A tip for anyone looking to play around with MIDI files of more recent songs (or just any songs that you can't find), is to get yourself a copy of Guitar Pro, and then look for Guitar Pro tablature on sites like Ultimate Guitar. People post Guitar Pro tabs for about 80% of every song I've ever searched for. Usually, they've programmed in every instrument, not just the guitar parts. You can then export the Guitar Pro file (usually .gp3 or .gp5, or .gpx) to a MIDI file (.mid) with Guitar Pro itself. And, BAM, you've got yourself a MIDI of a song you otherwise couldn't find one for. Perfect starting point for making your own arrangements of songs. I do this all the time.

[@WildBluntHickok]

I've enjoyed this for about 15 years now. One caveat: terrible selection of non-guitar music (specifically I sometimes look for electronic music like Aphex Twin or Orbital). But then the word guitar is in both the program name and the site name so what do you expect?

[@TheLebbe]

I remembered your last video on the MT-80S, had been dreaming about that model ever since. After your video, I plunged and secured me MT-90U. I just couldnt hold myself any longer.

[@Goresaka]

I really hope someone, somewhere is playing Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites on a midi player

[@jftechdrones]

Have you seen the Evan Duffy cover? That could be played on here.

[@NolanAlighieri]

I made a quick overview of what MIDI is and (more importantly) how it is used in modern music today. Considering there were some who talked about not liking MIDI's sound, I think many would be surprised that most music today uses MIDI. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jnikgJt4icuBqsk Consider this kind of like the old school KZbin video responses, as I made the video in direct response to this video.

[@thisisnev]

People get confused with MIDI, the music composition and performance control system used by professional composers, performers and studios, and General MIDI, the barebones 128-soundfont set standardised for home keyboards and soundcards.

[@dbfi01]

18:30 HAHAHA PRICELESS!! Sooo funny!!

[@VideosfromNH]

I've always wanted to feel like being in an elevator from the comfort of my home.

[@milfhunter6999]

13:13 we all got rick rolled.

[@SnowBunneh]

Never Gonna Give you up. Never gonna let you down. Never gonna run around and hurt you. Never gonna make you cry. Never gonna say goodbye. Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.

[@Breakfast_and_Bullets]

I'm not even mad

[@jasonheckenlively1172]

nevergonna.mid

[@jub8891]

we're no strangers to rick rolls

[@StevenLemmens261061]

With the possibility's of midi, you could choose an other sound out of a soundlibrary from another soundmodule or synthesizer. It's ideal for people who actualy play an instrument. This isn't really mend just to listen to.

[@foxorian]

the output and soundfont on this thing is *Clean* I almost want one myself now....

[@vaderexmachina]

MIDI files are simply amazing, i wish every single album released included MIDI files for every song so we could learn them exactly as they were recorded

[@zybch]

No E1M1 :( Thats always my first test .mid track I use to see how good/bad the system is.

[@markanne54]

I'd imagine budding musicians would love this, the ability to remove their instrument so they could learn to play along with the rest of it. I'd also imagine it sounds somewhat better fed out to a decent stereo system.

[@frankschneider6156]

Well you can do this on any computer (incl smart phone) no matter how cheap or old, but dong this on dedicated hardware is not only more comfortable, but of cause also way cooler.

[@VeraTR909]

Yeah, it's also perfect for music teachers, with most popular songs available in MIDI you instantly have a backing track for the pupils song of choice.

[@sadiqmohamed681]

That is who I assume this was aimed at, plus teachers. Once upon a time there were discs (vinyl, or even shellac!) called "Mix Minus" for soloists to practice with. They had a full piece minus the solo instrument or voice. My Dad had some, back in the 60s and 70s. I can't remember if they ever got to cassette, but this would be so much easier to work with. I had no idea that such a thing as a stand alone Midi player existed. Matt has all the best toys for audio!

[@aj383]

My choir teacher did just this in the 90's until he retired. He recorded tapes for us to use in practice. One side was just the solo or group part and metronome, the other side was accompaniment and all other parts. Get familiar with your part, then figure out how it works with the rest of the choir.

[@BertGrink]

@@sadiqmohamed681 Yeah i remember reading about those "Music minus One" records; there were many different editions of the same song, for instance minus drums, minus piano, minus sax, and so on. This device is so much more verstaile of course. Thanks for reminding me of those records. :)

[@DTXGaming]

18:32 - Someone please sample this into a full song. This just brightened my day. :)

[@edwardsp1916]

Another bloody KZbinr using their channel to try to get a record deal, I expected more from Technoman. Still, I was surprised at the quality of his singing voice.

[@frankschneider6156]

Yeah, but Techmoan is the only one, I have seen so far that truly deserves a record deal (well hopefully it's a Laser disc deal).

[@donaloflynn]

Cracking tune at 13:13. Can't wait to share it with friends.

[@OttosTheName]

9:40 that looper function combined with a Midi Drum machine and you can make yourself some rad midi hiphop!

[@thrilhous]

I had the same thought.

[@PeteJohnsMusic]

Not hitting any of the right notes when singing is a great strategy to avoid copyright claims Mat. Well done. 👍

[@abzhuofficial]

7:06: F--- My Life? Sounds like the soundtrack to the pandemic that has led us to all being stuck at home. LOL

[@JOELwindows7]

Darn! I wish Yamaha make Genos but compact like this. Crazy!!! Yamaha Genos the ultimate MIDI XG keyboard costs *$5000* !!! Hey Yamaha!! I am that Market section of "MIDI listener" Also pls, my Yamaha DGX 305 succ!

[@rhtr.]

18:32 This passion! 😂😂

[@rhtr.]

@@pseudomemes5267 hahahaha, good one 🤣

[@Ryusennin]

All those Roland MIDI boomboxes indicate they're compatible with GM and GS... but that doesn't mean much. Which tonemap is actually used? SC-55? Or something cruder like the SC-33?

[@6581punk]

You're gonna start a trend of people live remixing general MIDI :)

[@frankschneider6156]

I guess he also revived Karaoke everywhere outside of Japan.

[@6581punk]

That's what X-factor is for?

[@LadyNicola]

Cool. OpenMPT in a Box. Or Anvil Studio. Personally I drag them into Reason and change them all to more realistic instruments. 😊😁 Why does Karafun have only 3 Led Zeppelin Songs on thier playlist????

[@CrashPilot1000]

18:30 Commander Data reporting in for Karaoke

[@a_Fax_Machine]

Darude Sandstorm and Never Gonna Give You Up MIDI. This pleases me

[@stevesmusic1862]

Reminds me of mod files on Amigas etc. Play Doom level 1 and Gods Into the Wonderful on it :)

[@frankschneider6156]

Mods and Midis are largely the same thing, the major difference is that the instruments used to play midis aren't included with the file, but reside within the Midi player, while with Mods the instruments are included with the file itself (which is why they can have vocals, and also why they are much larger than midi files). BTW archive.org doesn't just have Midis .. they also have license free mods. And both formats can of course still be played by any half-decent media player.

[@davidmcgill1000]

I'm honestly surprised E1M1 doesn't get content matched given the number of videos about it.

[@JamesMossR33]

Just occasionally I'll fire up UAE and put on Guitar Slinger. In fact, hold my tea..

[@woodsiee]

great vid ! thanks. just a remark to "lots of places STILL where you can download midi" 3:59 is wrong. nearly all music production "still" involves midi files. you find midi everywhere. a music producer.

[@demogorgonzola]

18:30 Happiest performance evar!

[@EquinoxTheGryph]

whoa

[@ouch1011]

Ooh I want one of these! Back before the days of broadband internet, I was really in to MIDI songs. I had an XG synthesizer and it was amazing what some people were able to do with the XG instrument set. Some of the songs really sounded like actual band performances.

[@CallMeBlake1]

That was interesting. I remember when it seemed the ONLY music on a web page was a midi.

[@Formedras]

"I hate MIDI" = "I've only ever played those MIDI files built into old versions of Windows, in Windows Media Player" Try the DOOM soundtrack, and use a synth app like Audacious (uses FluidSynth) or TiMidity, not Windows Media Player. Or even the built-in Windows MIDIs. Canyon.mid is really good if you've got a decent synth. (If you like it you can get into stuff like VirtualMidiSynth and custom soundfonts to get Windows Media Player or MPC-BE sounding good, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.)

[@boringpolitician]

13:12 - This is what you are looking for. You can thank me later.

[@allan.n.7227]

12:15 WOW.. I did NOT expect Darude Sandstorm in this review .. :-) 😎😁👍... Given the light and compact design of the player I am impressed by the sound quality! Great video as always btw..

[@gabrrom]

Please let the "Moans" do some Karaoke with it!

[@moonshine3333]

I'll answer that for Mat. He can't do the Moans as they are classed as for children and that can conflict with some of the advertising. Not a very technical answer as there is a regulation governing it and I have no idea what that is but I hope that helps. And depresses ☹️

[@gabrrom]

@@moonshine3333 that's a pity!! I realy loved it! maybe some day they get their own Channel!

[@moonshine3333]

Gebi Xi Found it ... COPPA ... not read the article, just the first one the search threw up. Mat mentioned it a few videos ago, probably in the comments. www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-20/youtube-plans-to-end-targeted-ads-to-kids-to-comply-with-ftc

[@sundhaug92]

@@moonshine3333 While a full video of the Moans singing could be a problem, having them on the end would probably be classified as what's essentially "Kids might watch this but it's not the primary demographic". COPPA is written with the understanding that not all content is just for children, and that some content may be "family" or for adults. Given that the primary-portion of the video is obscure tech I think it'd be very unlikely for it to be designated as "primarily for children"

[@moonshine3333]

sundhaug92 Not according to Mat

[@Davvg]

I feel like techmoan might be the only person who could, in 2020, say he’ll get a lot of use out of a stand-alone MIDI player and have me believe it

[@MarcusBadi]

Thos remembers me when i used to listen to music on my 386 and my pentium 166 mmx until we got .mp3. Toto - Africa was one of my favorite and i also used on a website (that was really cool at the time).

[@BennySalto]

Midi is a protocol for musical notation. Saying you don't like midi is like saying you don't like grammar or spelling or words. All hardware synths & drum machines after the early 80's have midi. How do you think modern music recording is done? Midi is the bread & butter of music production.

[@SpiritedSpy]

It's tech time at 3 in the morning

[@philipperostin]

Midi is still very important because it allows control of one instrument from another one. Also its still the core of DAW based music production (digital audio workstations) like Ableton live, cockos reapper, Maschine, etc. Without midi a sequencer cant work. Fun to notice, midi was created in the 80's and is still in version 1.0 !!!!!! Because it is just perfect as is !!!