Robert is doing great! He has quite a ways to go to get through all of this, but he's been staying on top! And getting better day by day. Robert has been in the hospital since early December. This just in from Robert . . . Robert, my friend, our prayers continue! From Robert, earlier today . . . "Finishing second round of chemo. May be home by Monday or Tuesday until time for round 3. Will be 6-8 rounds altogether. I feel great and appetite still strong. Hanging in there. Say hi to all for me. Bob"

Robert has been in the hospital since December 7th. He has a brain mass, and has had a pretty rough few weeks. Robert has been on steroids and is seeing positive results! And is now well enough to begin chemo treatments. He started them today. Robert, my good friend, you are in our thoughts and prayers. You are on the road to recovery! I'm so glad!! For newer members who don't know who Robert is . . . Here's a brief MidKar history. (Just the bare details) MidKar was started over a decade ago by 4 guys. Three have passed away over the past years. Robert is the only founding member still with us. A few months ago, Robert retired, after many years of dedication, much work, many hours! And for some time, handling most of the financial burden of keeping MidKar going. Over the past couple years, one of our other long time members (who chooses to be anonymous) has handled the financial responsibilities. Cost of renewing the domain, as well as the monthly hosting fees for the site, etc.. In an effort to keep MidKar going after Robert's much needed retirement, I purchased the website/URL and set up a new Yahoo Business account so we'd continue to have a website for our group. SIDEBAR: We have Robert and Bob. 2 different guys! Gary, Bob and I have been MidKar members almost from the very beginning. Bob has helped in countless ways as a senior member, and moderator, and major contributor to the group. And Gary has done the same, as well as hosting the MidKar Guess This Song game for almost a decade now! I help when and where I can. Sequence midis for the group occasionally. And I'm kinda the "theory" guy. Answer tech and music theory questions,yadda yadda yadda! LOL Gary, Bob and I worked together and organized our new MidKar group here on groups.io because YahooGroups decided to no longer host Yahoogroups. We moderate the group together. So our older, long time members know Robert was an "every day" figure on MidKar. Moderating with his long time friends who built MidKar Yahoogroups into a great forum of friends, sequencers and performers, and midi lovers! Robert is still a member, and is The MidKar Grand Poobah Honorary Owner of our group, and will continue being an active member once again as soon as he has recovered. This has surely been a trying year! Stay safe! Be blessed in this special time of year. And . . . Remember the Reason for the Season! Wayne, Bob, and Gary, MidKar Owners & Moderator Team

One of MidKar's original founders is in need of prayer. He's currently in the hospital, seriously ill. We never discuss religion or politics in our forums. I only ask those inclined to believe in prayer to include Bob Sylvestri in your prayers. Thanks. Be safe. Wayne

New Ideas . . . Thanks to Dick & Jane Schmitt for this spark! A lot of our members are Boomers. We have a lot of "history" we can share. I know a couple of our members who could share VOLUMES! I've been a performing/studio musician since the mid 60's. So you KNOW I have stuff to share! (Or . . . maybe not share! LOL) Many members are younger. Some might not relate to our stories. But perhaps many would be interested to hear some of our stories, shenanigans, anecdotes etc. from the past. I think if we all just posted these stories to our main group, maybe some members would be turned off a bit. Maybe too many long posts not really midi related. Should we start a MidKar Remembers group, and then add links from the MidKar.com site? Maybe even add Memories to our MidKar site? I'd be open to the idea of adding pix or our members to the MidKar site, with links to their BIO AND memories posts! We could have a Topic of the Week. Then members could post to that topic. Maybe just start a Memories group, not necessarily a MidKar group. And invite those who join Memories to join Midkar? Input, ideas and comments welcome!!! Wayne

I know there are many ways to generate/program musical midi files. Just wondering if any of you folks would care to share your methods. I usually start with PowerTracks Pro Audio (PG Music software) running on a desktop computer. It comes with Real Tracks but I don't use that feature. Once I set up the tracks I use one of my Yamaha keyboards (connected via USB cable ) to enter the data. Most of the time I simply play it in real-time. The PTPA software offers several other entry methods also. I have some software synths but prefer to let the Yamaha keyboard serve as the playback sound source (latency is almost nil). Occasionally, I start with a " Band In A Box" arrangement (also PG Music software) and render it to a midi file (one mouse click from within BIAB). I then load it into PTPA and customize it or use as is. Usually, the BIAB renditions are a bit robotic and repetitious but can easily be made quite musical. With all that said, the operative word is "usual". I experiment with other software and hardware but the method I've outlined seems to yield the most usable and enjoyable results. Thanks, Deat

Welcome aboard new members! Our *Yahoo MidKar members* are starting to roll in. Many people don't check their email every day, so I expect it could take several days for everyone to find the invitation, and come on board. *Everyone is welcome to post here!* And if you're reading the posts from the site (not your email) you can *"LIKE"* a post! So if you don't want to reply just saying you like the post, or a posted midi, you can simply click *"LIKE"*. Gary (also Admin/Owner) will be posting his great "Guess This Song" game this week! If you haven't played the music trivia midi game before, please join us this week! Again, welcome, and thanks for being loyal, active members of MidKar! Welcome members who are new to MidKar. And a special welcome to all of our Yahoo MidKar Group for joining us here. Same family, new home! Wayne, and the whole Admin/Mod/Owner team! Wayne, Gary, Bob and Robert

Groups.IO has SO MUCH MORE to offer group members than you're used to with the Yahoo Groups! And you can learn all about them if you'll spend some time reviewing the *HELPS*. https://groups.io/helpcenter/membersmanual Want to add your name in your profile, change your email address? Want to add in a brief BIO? Don't know how to mark some topics, how to "not see" all messages or topics? Want to add your picture'/avatar to the group? It's all under *Setting Preferences*. It's all there, in a highly organized HELPS menu. There is SO MUCH we can do in this Group! Life is a learning experience from day 1, until . . . . Add to your knowledge base. Spend some time in the HELPS pages! As Monk used to say . . . You'll thank me later! LOL