|\/\/\/| Chris Ahlstrom; GEnie KICKAHA | | 9950 Topanga Canyon Blvd |\/\/\/| | | Chatsworth, CA 91311 | | | (.)(.) (818) 998-0490 (.)(.) | @ _) (_ @ | `___| |___/ | \ / Robert Geiger \ / /____\ GEnie RG.ALASKA /____\ / \ Anchorage, Alaska / \ Song Title: "Trilogy" by Emerson, Lake, & Palmer Source: Conversion & extension of old EZ-Track song Format: SMF 1, MIDI channels 4-16 Sequencer: Edit Track II (Hybrid Arts), Tiger (Dr. T's), MidiSoft Playback: MIDIMOVR.ARC (GEnie's MIDI sig); any SMF-capable sequencer Computer: Atari ST Native Synths: Yamaha PSS-790, Roland D-110, DD-5, etc. Date: 91.02.08 INTRODUCTION This is the first song we (Bob and Chris) know of, on GEnie, done as a collaborative effort, using GEnie as the communications channel. Here's what happened: A couple of years ago, after buying EZ-Track+, I (Chris) downloaded a file called TRILOGY. It contained a good rendition of the main parts of this ELP tune, as done by a single pianist. Of course, it was by no means a complete tune -- it was missing the two sections of improvisation, and had no bass, drum, or lead lines. The file was apparently keyed in live by some unknown person, on a non- velocity-sensitive keyboard, and converted from an Amiga format (AMS?) into EZ-Track+ by Rupert Spencer. Recently, I wondered what song to do next. I thought of this song, and imagined that it would be fairly easy to rework it into the complete version. Haw haw haw! I started by compressing some parts of the beginning of the tune, making them closer to the right tempo, and also making it all fit 3/4 time well enough. I added a tempo track, a very rough lead line, some bass, and accompaniment. So far, so good... just a matter of using what was there already. Then came the lead synth improvisations and the drums. What agony, both to do and to listen to. After a couple of weeks of feverish work, I gave up, and decided to go off on an Eric Clapton tangent for awhile. I happened to mention my efforts to Bob. Either he had this idea already, or my e-mail sparked it in him, but he started work on the conversion, too, using Tiger and Midisoft, I think. A bit later, he suggested the collaboration. I uploaded the file to him, he reworked it extensively, and uploaded it to me. He immensely improved the timing, added a lot of live drums, fixed things up quite a bit. One of the drum lines was clipped at the level of 127... Bob had hammered the heck out of that drum pad! I made it a little more dynamic, with guesswork, but there really wasn't anything else to do... he's much better at drumwork than I. I then added some more, edited here and there, removed a lot of redundant and endless notes that had somehow crept into the piano track somewhere along the line (I do that a lot, doubling up tracks by accident, and can usually recover the original tracks, to try again. This time, I had to text edit out every doubled, nay, tripled note!) I labored mightily to improve the second improvisation, though it still seems hopeless. We also added velocity variations, volume, patching, pitch bend, even some vibrato and reverb. This simple task turned into a big heartless monster that made us (me, at least) feel like fumble-fingered klutzes. Face it, Bob and I are no Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer. But I think you will agree that we got into the ballpark, and that our time was not wasted. CREDITS Original piano track: unknown EZ-Track version: Rupert Spencer Lead, other parts: Chris Ahlstrom (KICKAHA) Drums, other parts: Robert Geiger (RG.ALASKA) If you're bothered by the shaky leads, or by any other parts, by all means, rerecord them. Then, please, if you want, upload the corrected track (it must match the original timing, however) to KICKAHA on GEnie. If it is a substantial improvement, I'll incorporate it, and create TRILOGY3. I'll add your name to the credits above. In this way, we might get a very good rendition that only a rock pedant would fault. IRRELEVANT STORY By the way, a cousin of mine was very deep into ELP and into TV wrestling. So deep, in fact, that he became a professional TV wrestler, one known for his scientific approach and fair play. He took the nome de mat of "Greg Lake" (his first name was Greg, anyway). The other thing I remember about him was his modified wiffle bat (it had a wooden handle). With the powerful muscles of his bulky arms, he took a mighty swing at the wiffle ball, and pasted my eyeball shut. My uncle filmed me trying to force my swollen lid open. LYRICS I've tried to mend/ The love that end-/ ed long ago or will we still pretend?/ Our love is surely coming to an end/ Don't waste the time we've got to love again. We tried to lie/ But you and I/ Know better than to let each other lie./ The thought of lying to you makes me cry/ Counting up the time that's passed us by. I sent this letter hoping it would reach your hand/ And if it does I hope that you will understand/ That I must leave in awhile/ And though I smile/ The smile is really only there to hide/ What I'm really feeling deep inside/ Just a place where I can hang my pride. [ Interlude ] Goodbye! Goodbye! [ First Improvisation ] We'll talk of places that we went, and times we spent together penniless and free. You'll see the day another way, and wake up with the sunshine pouring right down where you lay. [ Second Improvisation ] You'll love again, I don't know when, but if you do I know that you'll be happy in the end. THE TRACKS (SMF version) Track Ch Notes 1 Tempo For mood at the beginning 2 Vocal =04 A horn to simulate the voice 3 Strings =05 Atmosphere for the beginning 4 Piano =06 Original track, pared down slightly 5 Lead Synth =07 Taken from top of original track 6 " Improv 1 =07 Chris's attempt (ok) 7 " Improv 2 =07 Chris's attempt (awful) 8 " Patching =07 Voices of the lead instrument (PSS-790) 9 French Horn =08 "Goodbye!" 10 Horn Accomp =09 Filler 11 Slap/Elec Bass =10 Improvisational bass (Greg Lake) 12 Alt Elec Bass =11 Accompaniment 13 Rhythm Synth =12 Fills out the bottom with repetition 14 Alt Bass Clav =13 Clavier for accompaniment 15 Add Lead Synth =14 Semi-useful filler (optional) 16 Organ =15 Pipe or jazz organ; grind it! 17 PSS-790 Patching Control/Patching for all but ch. 7 18 RGALASKA/KICKAHA MIDI hackers 19 SPENCER/others? Amigaphytes? Percussion Note Transposition to PSS-790 Drums 20 LoTom 1 #41 #6 21 CowBell #56 b1 22 Tambourine #54 #17 23 OpenHiHat #46 #13 24 KickDrum #35 #14 25 SnareDrum #38 #14 26 MuteCrash #57 #4 27 RideCymbal #51 #12 28 Crash #49 #11 29 LoTom 2 #43 #5 30 ClosedHiHat #42 #15 Total time (tempo control): 00:00 KEEPING TRACK OF TRACKS None of the tracks should have any patching or control information, other than pitch bend. You can clone the PSS-790 patch track, and modify the values to fit your synthesizers. There really isn't a lot of control information. The reverb control code (#91) really has only two values (on and off), but the PSS-790 has other values that show up in my editor as "undefined". For the pitch bend, set your guitar patches to respond to the range of -8169 to +8064 with pitch bend of -1 to +1 octaves. The PSS-790, even with only 7 significant digits to the pitch bend, having to cover a whole octave, still provides adequately smooth bending. I'd bet that the drum transpositions above would work for some other drum machines (based on not having to transpose some of the store-bought sequences I've used.) If you don't like any tracks, turn 'em off.