Music Write - FAQs
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PBL Extention and MIDI 
Q: I have the basic MusicWrite program (not the "Plus") and i have written
   with it many elaborate/long classical pieces of music, saved with extension
   .pbl on disquettes.  Now I want to convert them to .mid or .wav files in 
   order to have them played through my audio-card exploiting all the audio 
   effects, to be able to transfer them on a sequencer's audio tracks, to 
   record them in audio on my hard disk for CD-R copies without the use of an
   external cassette recorder/player (to have better quality resulting).
  
   Within the program, after loading a file ( *.pbl ) i erased the extension
   .pbl and typed .mid and saved it.   Then, the MusicWrite program would not
   show the file *.mid if i tried to load it. With another program, the file
   appeared as *.mid after selecting Midi file. But trying to play the file,
   it showed :  "this is not a valid midi file".
 
   I am wondering if i could convert the .pbl files to .mid with MusicWrite
   Starter Kit, SongWriter or Maestro...because i downloaded demos and
   manuals, and i have not seen a trace of .pbl files that they would
   support.
  
   All what i saw is  *.mwk, *.mid, *.qsd, *.cp3 and *.cp4

   I don't want to buy a program, Starter Kit or SongWriter, without being
   sure it will do the job. If it is only possible with MWrite Plus ( which 
   is discontinued ), is it still possible to buy it ( download or CD ) -- or
   -- would you have a kind of plug-in, patch or whatever that i could add to
   my MWrite Basic Program ?


A: That old Music Write software only saved in the proprietary format of .pbl.
   You cannot simply change the file extension to .mid. That won't work.
   Only Music Write Plus allowed you to save a .pbl file as a .mid file.
   But you would be able to record the music as a wave file though so you 
   could burn it onto a CD.

   In order to record the midi playing back in Music Write as a wave file 
   (which you could then burn onto a CD), you would need to also have wave
   recording software, such as AudioSurgeon installed on your computer. 
   You can purchase AudioSurgeon for just $29.95 on our website.
 
   Then you just have the select the appropriate recording source and 
   that differs depending on the type of soundcard you have.

                       ----------------------------

   Below are instructions on how to select a recording source:

   *  Click on Start>Programs>Accessories>Multimedia (or Entertainment 
      in Win98)>Volume Control

   *  In the upper left click on Options/Properties.

   *  Be sure you are set to Playback and check all boxes in the white 
      section at the bottom.

   *  Do NOT click OK yet.

   *  Switch to recording by clicking the Recording radio button.

   *  Check the all the boxes in the white section below for this setting 
      as well.

   *  Now click OK.

   *  In this recording volume control, be sure the source (it might say 
      midi, mixed output, stereo mix,etc.) you are trying to record from is 
      selected and the volume is up.

                        ----------------------------

Recording in AudioSurgeon:
--------------------------
In AudioSurgeon, you can just click on File>New and select 'CD  Quality' which
is under 'Named.' You can then record by pressing the red recording button. 
Once it is recording, you can then start your song playing in Music Write.

Once you have your song recorded as a wave file, you can then burn this wave 
file onto a CD using AudioSurgeon.
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