Midi from cassette to CD to ..something?

elektro80

I just got this requext:

paul e. · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 9:28 am Post subject:

interesting question..

i have a similiar problem... i have data from an old yamaha qx5 on cassettes...if these could be read as standard midi files i might just weep for joy

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 11:16 am Post subject:

The tapes basically are about song files and I cannot see why these files could be read from a digital audio file instead. the best option would of course be just tha.. a "file conversion" into a "standard" midfi file readable by any DAW/sequencer.

Huh????

Shocked

( help? )

paul e. · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 12:12 pm Post subject:

if the issue is..

'will the data from the cassette transfer to a cd:?: '

then i think the answer is yes..

the bleeps and blips that make up the data on the cassette could just be transferred like any sound from cassette to cd

but if the question is

can this data be loaded into a programme , and then read as a standard midi file:?:

this seems unlikely, as any song format data dump is likely to be proprietary

but once you get that data on a cd, it would be easier to try various methods of extracting the raw midi data from the orginal data dump

paul e. · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 12:22 pm Post subject:

sniffed around the 'net but not real insight yet

this is a tough issue

the question seems to be

'is there a software programme that can interpret the audio bleep and blips that comprise the orginal data dump from a cassette [or a CD, DAT etc], and then convert that data into a standard MIDI file?

that is a tough call i think..probably could be done, but is there a high demand for such an app...any one else know about this ?:

ian-s · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 12:23 pm Post subject:

What an interesting challenge. I think converting the fsk to a byte stream would not be too difficult. I suspect what is stored on the tape is not a midi dump but a more compact, system specific format, with lots of checksums to detect data errors from dropouts etc. Translating to MIDI would be the difficult part, without some detailed info from the manufacturer. I could be wrong though Smile

.
Still, 15 years is a long time for data to survive on cassette tape, best get it onto digital media asap. Just in case something can be done with it.
There must be thousands of hours of hard work, slowly fading away on cassette tapes all over the world.

paul e. · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 12:28 pm Post subject:

jksuperstar · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 12:50 pm Post subject:

Honestly, the best bet is find a similar product (that still works...most likely) to extract the MIDI info. Then play (or dump) that to a PC via MIDI interface. Like Ian said, it's probably a simple task to extract the FSK to digital data(maybe use the nord modular to do this:) ), but what that data means is up to the manufacturer.

However, if the tape is not subject to high tempurature changes (like on a dashboard of a car) or worse, subject to high humidity (more likely..like in a basement/cellar), then the tape can actually hold data for quite some time...especially in FSK format. FSK (similar to FM, much like what modems use) is very durable, and does not use a larger part of the audio bandwidth. Hence, losses in high frequency don't effect it much. If none of the really bad things happen (like tape sticking to itself), tape can easily last 30 years, which is why it's used today for archival purposes (it's what I do for $$$).

mosc · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 1:18 pm Post subject:

I kinda think Justin is right here. If the data is worth it, buy a piece of the hardware - if just to recover the data. Maybe someone who has the equipment in question would be willing to read in the tapes and send you the data.

I think Ian is right on too - convert this cassette tape to digital format as soon as possible, but after 15 years, maybe a few weeks won't make much difference.

Hmmm.... I've got a bunch of DX7 patch files on cassette... At least I still have a TX7 that works, last I checked 15 years ago. Laughing

elektro80 · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 1:37 pm Post subject:

It was one of our new members who asked me about this since i have an MSQ-700 ( but i still have to figure out if it actually works ok). The way I remember how earlier Roland devices used cassette tape.. it would probably be just as good to use a CD player of some sort. So.. my advice would be.. transfer that tape to digital ASAP.. then consider how to transfer the control codes into music again. The way I remember the Roland dumpo to tape signals.. they pretty much had their own "format" and it is not really a midi file as such. Anyway.. sending this across the atlantic is probably not the best idea anyway. Am I the only one around here with an MSQ-700 ?