is it possible to convert a vocals-only file into the sound of an instrument??

[beginner-HRF]

(I hope this is the right sub-forum)

Hi everyone

the OS is Windows 10.

I found a file with one of my songs’ vocals (only vocals).

If at all possible, I would like to convert this vocals-only file into one with only the sound of a musical instrument (piano, or strings, etc).

In other words, I would like to convert voice into piano or strings etc.

It’s only one file and, I suppose, not worth spending money on it. If push comes to shove, I can play/record such melody using my keyboard etc etc.

In the meantime, I’ve searched all over the internet (for apps, VSTs, plugins, etc) and I nearly lost the will to live.

Apart from a few phone-apps (??) nothing seems designed to do what I would like.

My question is:: is there anything that can actually do such conversion??

In advance, thank you very much for your kind help

Christian

​

 

[rob aylestone]

You can do it in Cubase - you extract the audio into pitch and warp, then export it as a midi file - but then you start to edit, and edit to make it sound right. To be honest, if you wanted it to be a piano - and can play - play it in, it's much better. It does work - but just fiddly. I think this is also a feature in quite a few other DAWs nowadays.

 

[gecko zzed]

What Eob says ^^

Reaper does this as well with Reatune . . . you can get it to send a midi note each time the pitch changes, then record that midi.

 

[rob aylestone]

To add to what we've said - the snag is that voice is tricky. A piano, converted to midi isn't too bad because the not is either silent, or playing - so start timing is good. With voice, people slide up, or slide down into the note and it often starts quietly - at some point it is detected as a valid note - so on playback on a piano sounds - it lags behind, note after note. Not the software's problem, but the singer's. Hence why it needs editing - and the way you would play it in naturally is very hard to emulate by hand in an editor. Useful to note Reaper does it.

I think maybe you were searching google for the wrong thing - try audio to midi

 

[Mr. ROUSH]

You can make virtually any sound out of virtually any other sound. Most sampling plugins are capable of facilitating this. You need to do some general research on sound design. There are any number of ways to do this with stock plugins in just about any DAW. I use FL studio. Let me give you an example. Cut out a part of the vocal with a plosive "T" sound. (assuming the vocal includes a phrase starting with "T") You just need the initial transient of the word, really. Put it into a sampler that has an envelope. Set the sustain and release to zero. Set the attack to the fastest setting. Adjust the decay until you're getting the response you want. Pitch the sound up or down until you get the color you're looking for. Just like that, you have yourself a hi hat. You might need to send it to a track on your mixer to add some additional effects to dial in the sound you're looking for, but you'll have the fundamental sound you need to work with.

You could easily create a piano sound from any vocal. Isolate a sound that you like from the middle of a word that sounds close to a piano. A sustained note would work best here. Chop out that portion and again throw it in a sampler with an envelope. Take a look at a typical waveform from a piano note being played. The goal is to set your envelope so that you're getting a similar response and result. Route the sample to a mixer track. Add a tuner to find out what note the sound is playing. If it's not quite in key with an exact note, use a tuner on the sound. For this example, let's say it's closest to C. Tune the sound until it is centered on C. Add any other plugins that might aid in shaping the sound to sound more like a piano. A bit of reverb comes to mind here. Lots of creative ways to use lots of different plugins. Now, you'd want to resample the note by recording yourself playing a C on your keyboard. Now, you can map that note across the entire keyboard. In FL Studio, you would do that by setting the sample to "stretch" in the sampler. This maps the sample across the keyboard fur the full range of the keyboard. You can now play the sound like a piano.

Hope this offers you some insight! Best of luck to you!