How do you change the midi to sound real?

[Debsonic]

Hi everybody. First I would like to congratulate you on an excellent reference to home recording. I am but a embryo in the world of recording.<br>
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If you like for instance import a midi file to cubase vst, it obviously sounds like a midi when played back. So how can you change the sound of the midi with only cubase vst as a tool, so that the midi does'nt sound so dull and plastic like.<br>
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I have a SB Live card so my guess would be to change the Environmental Audio to an desired setting and record the midi to a audio track.<br>
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please help...<br>

[Fishmed]

You will need to buy a better MIDI Gear - better sound card, keyboard, or sound modual. You will have to shop around to find the one that fits your needs and budget. As the saying goes, "You get what you pay for."

[Riegs]

Hi Debsonic,

Enter the world of soundfonts.

I also own a SBLive card and my only option to get realistic MIDI has been to download soundbanks to replace the default 8 megabyte bank which ships with the SBLive. Your amount of RAM is the issue here. The more the better, in this case. I have 96 and use a 40-meg bank and it sounds really nice. Make sure to disable it when you're not working with music as it eats up your RAM as long as it's in use.

I'd recommend going to http://www.synthzone.com/soundfont.htm and head to Soundsite; try the other links as well. Search around and you'll find what you want. You might need SFark (decompresses and compresses soundfonts) to unpak the .sf2 (soundfont) file.

If you have the money, I think you'll be impressed with Sonic Implants for instruments.. they have mp3 samples for you there so you can hear what it sounds like.

Get yourself a decent sounfont editor, and you can create your own custom bank.

Hope I've helped.