Interested in auto accompaniment software...

[CarlJ]

I am very interested in auto accompaniments software. I have not been able figure out if what I want is what these programs are really designed to do... I'm sure it could be "operator error" but I would love to understand better.

What I have done is - put in a score of the musical (a collection of 30 songs) into a notation software "Cakewalk Overture" and have various tracks of the midi music that look and sound pretty good. (The voice with lyrics and piano part on all of them) This has been a great project and we have been able to make vocal scores and audition and practice CD's customized to our range and speed needs/desires with these files. So this project has been worth the efforts already but we had sort of designed this whole project with "auto accompaniment" in mind or at least hoped for. Especially now as we have listened to and adapted these files in Midi and like what we hear with the added tracks of other instruments and percussion parts it would be a lot of fun to have some of these sounds available in the show but still be able to be "live and flexible" similar to how it would be if we have a live keyboard player playing the music with for the shows. This seems to be important as the the performers have skipped or repeating mesures or phases or started speeding up or slowing down under the preasure of the lights. If it were possible to have the computer do this we could continue to embellish the midi files if not it has been a lot of fun anyway.
I was under the impresion that Cakewalk "In Concert" was designed for a person at a live performance to be able to play one or two tracks of an existing midi file using the input for placement in the song, tempo, and dynamics and then the computer would follow and play with the other midi tracks at that speed and dynamics from the same place in the song... but I can't seem to get it to work as I had hoped. and I was told that Cakewalk Tech support are not supporting this program "anymore" I can't seem to find anybody that has used this program enough to understand my questions (Or tell me what I want is not what it does) I would love some help in finding out if the program does what we thought we had needed / wanted. If some one is aware of the way this program does work and could give a quick "Nope that is not possible" or "Not what this was designed for" would be great too.
If this is not what this program does/did I would think that a program like what I am asking for would be very handy and sellable for other small schools churches or amateur theater groups that love to do "Live" musicals performances but can't afford money, time, talent or space for an orchestra but do not like the idea of canned background music or "just" a single keyboardist is lacking some of the sounds that would make it more of a great production. (Even though a well done midi backup tape can be done and modified for a show or performer it is still a "canned" soundtrack and by far our last choice )

[duck]

I have band in the box and Jammerpro. I like Jammerpro better.
You can take a interactive tour to check out Jammerpro.

http://www.soundtrek.com/

Duck

[CarlJ]

These programs (If I understand) still are not "following" with other tracks that have been put in to the computer or midi file... but more of a style accompiniment It deffinatly is another option that might be better for a theatrical shoe than a canned CD or a "plain keyboard" I was not aware of this type of idea either and it may be worth looking into some more.
Sometimes we have to see other options too... Is this a program that is hard for a "Non computer" musician to figure out and use? Have you used this product in a live show?
How consistant does it play its parts if you are consistant in what you are playing?

Thanks again for your help and ideas... We really might find something yet

[DavidK]

Carl, what you are seeking does exist. It is called a virtual orchestra, or virtualpit or something.

I am a pro violinist, union member, and a lot of the union guys hate this thing and picket concerts with them, but that is not the point, the point is they exist and apparantly work very well.

The show Annie is touring with one right now, and they use about 8 people in the pit instead of 20 or so. I have read several articles on how it works, and I guess the "Conductor" can change tempos, and the sequence follows.

[DavidK]

check this out http://www.pocketcoach.com/vrtlorch.htm

[DavidK]

check this out too http://www.unionrecord.com/metro/display.php?ID=1347

we went through this here in Cleveland in January

[CarlJ]

This was not what I thought that was about when I heard about it before... Wow, I live close to Seattle and remember that now that you mentioned it but somehow I guess I never made the connection as I love the "live" aspect of theater and feel the idea of "canned" music for a Broadway style show not acceptable. I guess I didn’t listen to the Theater’s side of the discussion long enough to understand that they thought it was still a “live" performance. Many of the smaller amateur productions that I have seen are now deciding to use background tapes now and that was not acceptable either. I guess I saw my desire as a way to add at least one live musician to a smaller production not take them away from the larger ones. This is another change in perspective for me. I seem to be getting a lot of those here and that is GREAT. Thanks for the URL information too.

[DavidK]

Carl, I have mixed feelings about the whole thing.
I have a project studio with Synths, so maybe one day I will be on the other side, doing Synths instead of Violin!!!

However, I think the links I mentioned will give you a lot of information as to what is possible. The virtual thing is a hot topic; I would love it if a church or small theatre group used it, but as a pro I dont want my bank account smaller because a bozo has a synth.
A show like Annie, which is a worldwide tour, should hire more players and less synths.
I recently did the National tour of Beauty and the Beast here in Cleveland. They had 4 Keyboards ( playing Kurzweil 2500s), and we had 10 "locals". We only had 2 violinists, we were augmented with synth. Disney has enough money to hire 10million violinists, but they wanted to make even more money.

This doesnt matter, in your case a virtual orch would be great, because you are not Disney and aren't ripping people off. It is only when you pay $60 to see a show and get canned music that you are being ripped off.

I will look for some more info on V/O software, let me know if you find anything too.

[CarlJ]

This still sounds like something that could be very helpful in a smaller world where the space and talent pool is not what it is (and needs to be) at the Broadway level show. I would think that even something on a smaller scale than this custom progam thing that you are talking about.
But at leasst it helps me see that I am not waning something that is impossable... maybe just not at a level that I can do the work instead of paying for a team to do that as they discribed...