MIDI - to be or not to be?

[sikter]

I record all my instruments the same way by connecting them to PC and making WAV tracks. Many of my friends keep telling me that I should connect my keyboard by midi cable and begin to use midis. I don’t know anything about it but I’m afraid this means a lot of stuff to learn.
You are old fashionable, they said. It’s midi that rocks.
I am guitar player and don’t use synthesizers much because I don’t play them well.

Q is:
Should I learn this midi stuff or just keep doing my old way by recording analog instruments and edit them digitally. (I use A. Audition both for recording, editing and mixing)

I posted my first work in mixing clinic so you can hear the sound.

[Halion]

Midi is alot (ALOT) to learn, but it's extremely usefull if you get the hang of it. I listened to your first song ever in the mp3 clinic, and some stuff in there will definately benefit from midi. Like the piano in the beginning, it sounds both thin and perhaps a small timing problem here and there. Now had you tracked this with midi, you could have chosen the sound you wanted after you tracked, AND you could have fixed any minor (or major for that matter) musical problems. Also, I'm hearing some timing problems in every track nearly. These are easily fixed with midi. Midi has the great advantage of you having complete control over everything AFTER you've recorded. You can change anything into anything. Changing a major chord into a minor is extremely easy, as is fixing a timing problem, speeding something up, or adding a crash cymbal here and there. Although some stuff, like guitars, are best left without midi, and tracked like you have done now, because midi guitars are just shite.

[sikter]

[QUOTE=Halion]Midi is alot (ALOT) to learn,QUOTE]

Thank you!
I agree with you about playing and timing problems.
Back to Midi. I am old fashionable but I'll consider new way of doing things if it suits me and get me to better place.

I know there is a lot to learn about midis.
Is it hard to learn? Is it hard to start learning?
I use a lot of different software and consider my self as an easy learner.
True enough, I do not have plenty of free time.
This is unfortunately the last thing on my priority list.

If I start using midis in my music projects should I go to software like a Cubase or something else?

[TimOBrien]

There >>is<< a lot to learn.

Go to amazon.com or your local bookstore and get a basic MIDI book.

$8 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/186...lance&n=283155

$14 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/082...471686-2116719

[usdn rep]

I mean maybe I'm missing something, but midi aint really anything unless you have audio outs that you have to record from anyway.......

[pdadda]

MIDI is incredibly powerful, but has (in my experience) a pretty steep learning curve. Well worth the effort though.

[sikter]

Originally Posted by usdn rep

I mean maybe I'm missing something, but midi aint really anything unless you have audio outs that you have to record from anyway.......

Are you wondering if I had a keybord with midi out?

[altitude909]

I mean maybe I'm missing something

Quite a bit actually

[usdn rep]

I'll ignore subliminals lol.....how do you guys record midi...??? I usually have to reroute it to my sound card or my mbox..........using the audio outs to the ins..........

[Halion]

Originally Posted by usdn rep

I'll ignore subliminals lol.....how do you guys record midi...??? I usually have to reroute it to my sound card or my mbox..........using the audio outs to the ins..........

I don't get how you do it, but you shouldn't have to. Midi is data, it has nothing to do with audio. Any soundcard can handle midi (forgetting about latency for now). I think you're talking about General Midi, or more so, the Sound Canvas midi sound bank that comes with windows. If you want to record those sounds, you have to route outs to ins like you described, but that's not nearly what midi is all about.

[usdn rep]

Originally Posted by Halion

I don't get how you do it, but you shouldn't have to. Midi is data, it has nothing to do with audio. Any soundcard can handle midi (forgetting about latency for now). I think you're talking about General Midi, or more so, the Sound Canvas midi sound bank that comes with windows. If you want to record those sounds, you have to route outs to ins like you described, but that's not nearly what midi is all about.

I see......I always knew midi has nothin to do wit audio.......But I didnt know about the "GENERAL MIDI" which my sound module is........I thought all midi was like that, but what your sayin is General Midi has to be audio in and out and some other midis dont need that???

[Dags]

MIDI isn't all that hard to come to grips with.
As a means of writing with synths and drum machines, MIDI has been around for well over 20 years. But I suppose the accessibility of direct to disk audio recording has meant that 'sequencing' is a stage which gets easily overlooked as part of the songwriting process.
(except for dinosaurs such as myself who grew up with MIDI)

The most basic type of MIDI info is note on (and off), controller and pitch bend info which can be fairly easily edited if you make a balls-up - very handy for those of us who aren't virtuosos
Each note, pitch bend stage or controller change is an 'event' in MIDI and these events are assigned to a bar/beat/step to keep them in order of how they were inputted, or need to occur in order to make something happen (changing sounds, for example, in Roland gear typically is a two-stage control event)
I still find it so much easier constructing songs in MIDI and noodling around with notes and volumes and velocities and the sounds until I am happy with it before committing it to the HD as audio which is not freely editable.

You're right though, pdadda; it is a very powerful tool if taken beyond the simple note, volume, patch change and controller information, and what I have seen people do in Logic's MIDI environment is probably one of the best examples of how powerful MIDI is as a tool for screwing around with this kind of data.

But I don't think that MIDI is as challenging as what people have made it out to be. It's definitely worth learning to use as a means of constructing the backing elements of a song before laying down the guitar or vocals or whatever. As Halion mentioned, you can also use it to fix up timing problems to make the songs tight before committing it as an audio file.

Give it a shot. MIDI is your sequencing friend!
Dags

[sikter]

Originally Posted by Dags

MIDI isn't all that hard to come to grips with.

Give it a shot. MIDI is your sequencing friend!
Dags

OK. Why not? I'll do it.
I do have keyboard, why not have it all.
I'll buy midi cable in the afternoon.
What software?
Cakewalk? Cubase? AutoCAD

What about my Adobe Audition 1,5? I used to import midis into Audition.
I use to convert them to WAVs and worked as I usually did.
But those midis were made by somebody else and already imported to PC.

Now I need software for transfers and editing MIDI files.
Any recommendations?

[noisewreck]

Not to sound conceited, but exactly what is it about MIDI that's so hard to come to grips with, or has a steep learning curve? You hook up a couple of cables, record some notes, go to the MIDI tracks, and edit the notes, draw some controllers, etc. What's so complicated about that?

[Halion]

Originally Posted by noisewreck

Not to sound conceited, but exactly what is it about MIDI that's so hard to come to grips with, or has a steep learning curve? You hook up a couple of cables, record some notes, go to the MIDI tracks, and edit the notes, draw some controllers, etc. What's so complicated about that?

It's still alot easier to plug in a cable, hit record and that's that.

[Dags]

Originally Posted by sikter

OK. Why not? I'll do it.
I do have keyboard, why not have it all.
I'll buy midi cable in the afternoon.
What software?
Cakewalk? Cubase? AutoCAD

Hmmm.....I don't think AutoCAD has a quantising function. Try MapInfo

Cubase has a nifty entry level version (SE, I think) which will give you all you need for MIDI and audio recording (I'm presuming you're on a PC).
You just need to make sure that your MIDI in and out is directed to the MIDI interface in the setup for that MIDI track in order to accept data from and send data to your external synth. To use internal (VST) software, you'll need to direct the MIDI out of the track to your VST instrument.
(It should all be in the manual....I don't use Cubase, but I have tried it out in the past and it seems fairly straightforward and I'm no mensa-dude )

Have fun sikter!
Hope it all comes together easily for you.
Dags

[sikter]

Originally Posted by Dags

Hmmm.....I don't think AutoCAD has a quantising function. Try MapInfo

Cubase has a nifty entry level version (SE, I think) which will give you all you need for MIDI and audio recording (I'm presuming you're on a PC).
You just need to make sure that your MIDI in and out is directed to the MIDI interface in the setup for that MIDI track in order to accept data from and send data to your external synth. To use internal (VST) software, you'll need to direct the MIDI out of the track to your VST instrument.
(It should all be in the manual....I don't use Cubase, but I have tried it out in the past and it seems fairly straightforward and I'm no mensa-dude )

Have fun sikter!
Hope it all comes together easily for you.
Dags

Thank you!
I'll try (but not today).
You were right! I am on PC.
See you!