Please Help Me Understand Midi

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Aled_King

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I've spent ALOT of time reading up on this subject recently, and I think I am starting to understand it better.
However, I was hoping you could help advise me on what I need for a basic set-up.
At the moment my set up is very simple:

it's just me, an acoustc guitar (also an electric), an AT 2020 Mic, an EMU 4040 Audio and my laptop.

I am wanting to do this as very much of a hobby as a one man band, doing reasonable recordings.

Obviously I want other instruments in my recordings; especially piano, strings, and drums. I do not play the keyboard, however, it seems to be able to do midi I need to input the sound through a midi keyboard. Is this the case? I've seen midi notation software, which I think allows you to use the mouse to create the midi. Can I do this for free by downloads VSTi's?

Basically, I would appreciate any help you guys can give me on how I could (cheaply) go about creating my own midi tracks for those instruments. Please be as basic as possible.

You're help is greatly appreciate.
Aled
 
well you can input midi from your comp keyboard... but it's tedious as hell... but if you dont want to play keyboards what would that matter i suppose... drum software is an easy find... toontracks makes a good product called EZdrummer and they are hardly alone... they allow you to import drum files and play against them so that would solve that problem for you... on this side of the pond you can find it on sale every once in a while for @$100 usd... retail is around 150...
 
Band-In-A-Box www.pgmusic.com
Complete 'virtual band'... all you have to do is type in the chords and it'll build a full backing band.

If you want to dive into producing everything yourself, you need a sequencer that'll do midi and vsts .... try out Reaper (www.reaper.fm); its free to try out as long as you like and only $50 for the license when you see how good it is.

You can add instruments using soundfonts ( www.hammersound.net has jillions of FREE ones) and a soundfont-playing vsti like the free SFZ ( http://www.project5.com/products/instruments/sfz_player/default.asp )

If you want to go pure notation, look at Harmony Assistant at http://myriad-online.com
1/10th the cost of the big notation packages but tons of power and will export sheet music and midi files.
You can even get a plug-in to scan in sheet music books.
 
^^ What Tim said.

Think of it this way. MIDI is simply a set of instructions telling a device to play a particular set of notes in a particular way.

There are many ways of creating this set of instructions, and there are many ways of getting those instructions enacted.

The two most common ways of creating them is through a midi keyboard, or using computer keyboard and mouse. Both require an application to interpret the input. Typical recording software such as Cubase, Reaper, Logic and so on will record midi as well as audio. Programs such as Sibelius are dedicated notation packages, and deal with midi exclusively. All allow realtime recording of midi, or step-by-step (putting in one note at a time).

The ways you can enact these instructions include:
* letting the application play these notes through your computer's internal sound card;
* letting the application play these notes through an external sound module (e.g. Roland Sound Canvas or similar);
* letting the application play these notes through a 'virtual instrument' (VSTi).

All will allow you to select the type of instrument you want to play the notes (piano, bass, trumpet, drums or whatever). However, whereas the internal soundcard or an external module contain a library of instruments and their sounds, a virtual instrument plays only one type of sound at a time (though this can be varied, of course).
 
Try anvil studio. It works fairly well, from what I've used of it. Also Jeskola Buzz has some good drum machines in there, and they're both free.
 
You should have gotten Cubase LE with your EMU 0404 and it has everything you need for midi, including VSTi's and notation. I think the LE version only let's you assign two instruments, but it's enough to get you started.

Unfortunately, the manual might be a little rough to read as they tend to assume you know it all already (I hate that about EMU). You can go to www.cubase.net or visit the Cubase section here at HR for more detailed answers on how to use it.

I think once you get started with Cubase, you'll find that you will want to upgrade. The next level up should provide you with everything you need for a one-man band.

I second the nomination for ezdrummer. Well worth the money.

Hope this helps.
 
I downloaded Reaper last night. Think I may use that instead of Cubase, I prefer the interface.

I think I will download some instruments this evening. So when I download these soundfonts and VSTi's are they all pre-made samples, or will I be able to create my own using my keyboard/mouse?

I think I'll also look into gettin EZ drummer (and maybe Myriad depending on my success with soundfonts), as i've heard nothing but good things.

Thanks, as always, for all your help and guidance!
 
Aled_King said:
I downloaded Reaper last night. Think I may use that instead of Cubase, I prefer the interface.

I think I will download some instruments this evening. So when I download these soundfonts and VSTi's are they all pre-made samples, or will I be able to create my own using my keyboard/mouse?

I think I'll also look into gettin EZ drummer (and maybe Myriad depending on my success with soundfonts), as i've heard nothing but good things.

Thanks, as always, for all your help and guidance!
Click to expand...

Reaper is a very good product, and a significant benefit is that you get the full version when you download it. It does differ in many ways from other audio programs, and takes a while getting used to. However, if you start with it and heed the manual you should be fine.

There are two broad types of VSTi. The first type synthesizes its own sounds (e.g. Absynth). The second provides a framework in which you can load samples (e.g. Battery, which uses drum samples). For these, you can either create samples, or download samples to load into them. However, I can't help you much with these because, other than Battery, I have little experience with them.
 
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