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Computer MIDI , help plz

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Adrian
User

Joined: 28 Sep 2005

Posted: Wed Sep 28 2005 14:13 Computer MIDI , help plz
hi all ... i m so new at computer midi ... i composed some music and wrote them with a midi program ... but my pc play it very bad , real artificial sound ... i want to know how can i play midi files on my pc w a quality like a professional keyboards or a sampler ? any software ? wat should i do ? thnx a lot for help ... ( my sound card s creative live! )

patm
Registered User

Joined: 03 Sep 2003
Location: Wisconsin USA

Posted: Wed Sep 28 2005 14:29
If you just want to play MIDI there is a free program called Anvil Studio. http://www.anvilstudio.com/

MagnarTBL
Registered User

Joined: 18 Jan 2005
Location: Ronneby, Sweden

Posted: Wed Sep 28 2005 15:01
Dear Patm, I believe you have tried to compose some music with a midi program, with your soundbank that gets shipped with your Creative Soundcard. And when you play that song at a friend, it sound all different... Am I right? Well, to be honest, there is no "standard" on different brand of soundcards, so most have their own wavesets making one song made with the SB AWE64 Gold card sound really cool on that card, but aweful on a SB Live 1024 card... Due to the fact that the waveset shipped with the different cards are different. Even tho the General Midi/GM standard gives you a bassdrum when trigging the same midi-event on both cards. The bassdrum might sound different. On a Ensoniq soundcard, yet new samples are stored in that waveset. Etc..etc... To be honest, I believe you are better off exporting the Wave-output from when PLAYING the midi stuff you composed into a MP3 file when you are finished composing. That way, the playback of your midi work will always be the same on any computer, as the new MP3 file with your midi work is basically just a layer-3 compressed recorded/sample playback of the audio YOUR soundcard is generating. That way, you are not anylonger depended on the next listener needs to have the exact same hardware (read: waveforms stored in his soundcard as you have in yours). - But moving this a bit further, I would strongly advise you to start tracking in Madtracker instead of using midi sequencers and soundcard wavesets. Madtracker has a great oppertunity to playback the wavesets in your soundcards aswell, however - it gives so much more! Madtracker has virtual instruments that possibly would beat the crap out of your soundcard waveform presets - anytime! It might take some time for you to adjust to the tracker interface, but if you are used to Midi sequencers, I guess it won't take that long to get familiar in Madtracker2... If you still wants to just play with midi stuff in sequencers with the waveset on your soundcard, I can recommend Cakewalk as midi-sequencer. Best of luck, - whatever you choose. /M

Walter Vos
Registered User

Joined: 04 May 2003
Location: Groningen, The Netherlands

Posted: Wed Sep 28 2005 15:30

MagnarTBL wrote:

Dear Patm,

preaching to the choir.... Wink

what is hip?

www.waltervos.nl

Adrian
User

Joined: 28 Sep 2005

Posted: Wed Sep 28 2005 16:29
hi MagnarTBL ... but my problem s not that , when i switch between output midi devices ( my soundcard synth and the standard MS GS wavetable Synth ) the sound s abit better with MS GS Wavetable synth ... and for sure it s diffrent on diffrent sound cards if i swith to their own bank ... my question is : is there any soundbank sw ( like MS GS WAVETABLE SYNTH ) that has a quality like a good keyboard or a sampler keyboard ? so i can use it instead of MS GS synth in my midi program ... ? or at least a sw to play the midi files with its own bank and w a quality like a keyboard , a virtual HIGH Quality KEYBOARD ? i want to record these midi into wave ... is there a way to use a korg bank on my sound card ? any sw ?

MagnarTBL
Registered User

Joined: 18 Jan 2005
Location: Ronneby, Sweden

Posted: Wed Sep 28 2005 18:30
Erm, lot of questions there. First of all, I am guessing you are using a Soundfont (without knowing) on the MS GS Wavetable synth. So, by changing output from the soundcard synth to the MS GS wavetable, you have 2 different wavesets to work with. There exist a lot of different programs that can load/edit soundfonts, and then store it into your soundcard memory. Some soundfonts can even be bought on www.modernbeats.com. And if you search the net, I bet you will find someone that actually recorded every damn note on their korg hardware as well and put it together into a soundfont. Secondly, there actuallly is a Korg Wavestation VST, but it is not for free. It is a virtual synth emulating that can be played basically just the same way as the original hardware syntheziser. BUT... I think the main thing you need to get straightened out is the different between midi, wavesets and sequencer: * What is Midi: midi is just an old fashion way to send events to different receivers, like old hardware synths or digital vst plugins. Midi itself is just a "protocol" to communicate with devices. * What is a Tracker/Sequencer: That is the program you use to edit and compose your song in. That is the program that stores the timing information between all midi events. For instant, event at 01:00:00 c-4 feda34ec ... 01:34:00 e-4 2037 etc... Plays a c-4 note followed by a e-4 note... All very tidy placed to a timeschedule, or a master/synctimer that controls the pace each event is to happend. ... All events are stored as "bytes" inside the computer memory representing notes, aftertouch, volume, panning etc...etc...Even MadTracker has midi control possibilities due to the fact it supports the VST interface, even with automation. Which is kinda new compared to old trackers that only had information stored about the target note + effects to play on different recorded sample(s). * What is a waveset: Well, a waveset is just a bunch of recorded sounds, put together neatly in a package. It can be found in lot of different forms and presets: Soundfonts loaded into a memory on the soundcard, preinstalled waveforms in the hardware (ROM chips) of your soundcard or just a bunch of single instruments with linked samples in Madtracker. All of these ways of handling a lot of recorded samples (RAM upload, ROM preinstalled, Instrument samples in MT2) are in my case considered as a predefined Waveset. Maybe a bit far stretched, but within limit of the truth anyway. Bottomline: Yes, it is possible to do all the stuff you do with hardware synths on the PC. (But it requires quite a lot of the CPU, so it better be a rather fast PC if you wish to emulate a lot of stuff at the same time) Yes, you can buy most hardware synths as digitalized plugins. No, the hardware synth plugins are not soundfonts or wavesets. They are small applications that runs seperately with usually a DirectX or VST interface. But yes, you might even find good soundfonts/recorded samples on the net from the synths you fancy about, and use those samples/soundfont in your Sequencer. ... And please consider making/composing music in MadTracker instead of traditional midi-sequencers. It is so old-fashion! /M

patm
Registered User

Joined: 03 Sep 2003
Location: Wisconsin USA

Posted: Thu Sep 29 2005 14:11
I never compose to midi, but by listening to compositions from different people, there is a great difference in the sound. Like everything else (including MadTracker) the more experienced produce better sounding music. If you want to listen to the best midi I have ever listened to do a Google search for Don Carroll Or just click on this link - one of many available. This guy is a master! http://www.albertarose.org/Music/donniec.htm

MagnarTBL
Registered User

Joined: 18 Jan 2005
Location: Ronneby, Sweden

Posted: Tue Oct 04 2005 18:14
I believe the real topic here is about what kind of sequencer you feel comfortable with, and gives you the best and easiest experience composing within. Traditional midi-sequencers like Cubase, Cakewalk, Pro-tools, or Madtracker. They all got one thing in common: The more skilled the person behind the keys have, the better outcome it generates. Right now I prefer Madtracker, but who knows.. In 3-5 years, I might be back in some other more traditional (midi) sequencer application. This, however, doesn't really have anything to do with the midi protocol itself, and its serial way of communcation to different devices wether those are hardware or virtual software. This is all about preference. And how skilled the musician infront of the application truely is. /M

bobbias
User

Joined: 01 Oct 2005

Posted: Tue Oct 04 2005 23:32
I think he just wants his midi instruments to sound better... nothing to do with which program he uses, or anything, but I'd suggest finding soundfonts, and using them instead of the built in midi banks on the hardware you have. Soundfonts can be found all over the web, but my favourite place so far has to be http://Hammersound.net

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