Help!!! Can I do this?!

[carlosguardia]

Ok, I have a question that might seem a little bit complex but I'm just hoping to be able to do what I have in mind. Ever since I upgraded my home studio from a cassette 4-Track recorded to a Computer Based DAW with SONAR I've considered myself blessed and have found that any idea that I have has been extremely easy to convert into something audible. Be it that it actually works or not in the context of whatever it is that I'm doing is a whole different issue. Anyways, just FYI, my platform is the following, a P IV 1.6 GHZ 512 MB RAM, 80 GB HD, Sonar, SB Platinum LIVE 5.1, a General Midi Keyboard, a Roland MGS-64 Sound Module, and Roland DS-90 Monitors. Now here's the Q: I'm working on a project and really want to use a Kick Drum sound that would sound exactly as the kick drum from one of my favorite drummers. I'm lucky enough to have an mp3 where in one part the kick sounds all by itself (without any background instruments going at the same time). Now, I thought: I'll load a track in sonar, set the recording input to be the output of my MP3 player of choice, record the track and then do the surgical process ...split the recording to "extract" that single BEAUTIFULLY SOUNDING KICK. Now that was somewhat easy and I can copy and reproduce it as many times as I want and in a Puzzle-building-kind-of-way I can place all the kick drums where I want them to be in my musical piece. BUT!!!... is there any way that I could (given the limited equipment that I have) convert that kick drum .wav into either a .mid or a .sf2 so that I could more easily quantize, copy, paste, alter in velocity etc before I go ahead and eq, rev, delay or whatever to taste??!!!!! Bottom line is: Can I, convert a .wav sample into a Sound font or a midi manageable piece of data??!!!! Thank you so much in advance for your feedback.

Carlos

[BloodHound]

Probably the best way to do this is to use a drum sampler like Fxpantion DR005 (or DR008 if you have Sonar 2) or Computer Music's SR202.

Note: Just watch out for copyright infringements if you want to publish the song later.

[moskus]

The Computer Musics SR-202 is a VSTi, so you need VST-wrapper, such as the one from fxPansion (which soon will be distributed by Cakewalk).

And the DR-008 is only bundled with Sonar 2 XL. And it's the best choice...

[carlosguardia]

Thank you guys for your prompt response and your help. Now one more Q: What exactly does the SR 202 do?! I mean, does it convert .wav's into a format that is then easier altered?! Thanks again,
Carlos

[BloodHound]

No. You just load the wav file into 202 and then trigger the note to play with a MIDI track.

The 202 is assigned as an instrument and the wav sound is then played by hitting a certain note value. Best is to assign the wav to the note value of the bass drum in general MIDI. That way you can use Sonar's session drummer (or any standard midi fle) without having to re-assign your midi notes.

Moskus, you can download the DR005 for free from the pzpansion web site (or at least you used to be able to before Cakewalk baught the company). It's not as powerfull as DR008, but does the job Carlos wants.

[James Argo]

Originally posted by carlosguardia
..., SB Platinum LIVE 5.1, ...

...Bottom line is: Can I, convert a .wav sample into a Sound font or a midi manageable piece of data??!!!!

...Yo, Carlos (Santana )
Yes you can !!! And fortunately, you have SB Live! which is the primary requirement for this app. Have you ever heard about Vienna Soundfont studio ?

This page by Ethan Winer (...also respected contribute for this BBS ) explained how to do that....


Jaymz

[carlosguardia]

Thank you again guys. I know that the SB is not the greatest or even close, but I really dig the whole idea of SoundFonts and my Aardvark Direct Pro Q10 to enhance the possibilities of my home recording. I guess I'll give the Vienna deal a test run. Gracias,
Carlos

[BloodHound]

James, you are correct that this can be done with SB live & soundfonts. Carlos can even use Livesynth Pro instead of SB live. Soundfonts have many problems, but many advantages.

The main problem is that you have to assign it to the drum track 10. If not, watch out the note lenghts. This means that the soundfont plays the sound wav for as long as the note is depressed. As long as you do not assign loop point, the note will die down at the end of the wav, irrespective of how long you keep the note pressed. Unfortunately it works the other way round as well. If you release the note before the wav file finished, the sound will be cut off.

[Torpid-x]

If you want, Email it to me and I'll make you a soundfont set with a couple different volumes of it. 16/44.1 mono .wav format

It still won't sound the same (in your mix) though, I've tried this before.

richard_4641@hotmail.com

[James Argo]

Bloodhound could be right I've never used Vienna anyway. I'm quite happy with those pre made soundfont. And FYI, Carlos, go :

www.thesoundsite.net
www.hammersound.net

for huge collection of free downloadable soundfonts.


Jaymz

[BloodHound]

James. Good links. That soundsite is just great. over a 1,000 fonts!! I purchased the whole CD set as it would take me many hundreds of hours to download them all. I use them a lot in my songs.

[James Argo]

Wha... Really ? Gee... thats great, Bloodhound. Have you tested 'em all ? Which ones were your favorite ? Well, since it's thousand of them, I didn't have much time to actualy test 'em one by one. I'm always in the mood to hear if anyone have any comment about their best pick... Share, baby... shaaaaree...


Jaymz

[carlosguardia]

Thanks guys, I DID IT!!!! I sampled a really cool sounding Dennis Chambers Kick and created a sound font that I used!!! Of course, I'll need to tweak it later but I just tried it out and it worked!!! Awesome.... now for some nice Hats I think I'll use a little of Stuart Copelands intro to Walking on the Moon, then maybe I'll try to find a Rush song where Peart's Snare is "solo" and I'll have a killer kick!!!! Of course that will be used for NON-DISTRIBUTION type of recordings to avoid copyright infringements!!!! Isn't it the best to be in a studio?!!!! Best Regards,
Carlos

[Torpid-x]

If you need cymbol samples ... Hit sabians site. tons of real samples mp3 format though

http://www.sabian.com/page.php?subse...0#Cymbal_Start

The links on top change product lines, the links on the left change cymbol type.

[BloodHound]

James, there's is not enough time to try them ALL. I choose whatever sound I need for a specific song.

Great general MIDI fonts are
049.6mg Cadenza Bank.SF2
63.3mg The Sound Site Album Bank V1.0.SF2

Sure the best French Horn sound out there is
French Horn (4,038KB).SF2

For piano sounds I love
Piano Florestan Bright Grand (7,626KB).sf2
Piano Giga Steinway B (17,169KB).sf2

For accoustic guitars I use
Acoustic_Guitars_1.sf2

A good choir sound is
052_Florestan_Ahh_Choir.sf2

Drums:
DRUM SET JLB'S (5,586KB).SF2
Drum Set Real Acoustic Extra (4,504KB).sf2
Drum Set Snare And Kick Kit (993KB).SF2

These are fonts I used in recent songs. I might have used others as well, but tend to get back to the favourites most of the time.

[BloodHound]

WELL DONE Carlos

[James Argo]

Bloodhound,
THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!

All those sounds is exactly what I was lookin' for usualy. Piano, Choir, French horn and orchestral thingee, & Drums... I'll check 'em out today

And FYI, GoldDrums from the soundsite is also one of the best around. For GM, I often use Sinfonia from this site...


Jaymz


ps. And Congrats, Carlos...

[BloodHound]

Thanks James. I'm immediately heading over there and downloading!!!