What do you think of MIDI?

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ziplock43

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I don't know about anyone else, but I'm sick of going through SoundClick's charts and hearing all of these MIDI drum tracks that sound fake as Pam Anderson's :eek::eek:

EDIT::
Sorry, I was gonna post a poll with this, but realized it was a stupid post. Can someone delete this?
 
There's nothing wrong with midi.

The problem is people who use poor sound samples or are bad programers/sequencers and that includes using cheap drum software with the timing of a monkey.

In other words, its the nut behind the computer keyboard's fault.

If you use real performances and real sound samples, there's no reason to tell a track has been done in MIDI or on a stage (in fact many hit records have their drum tracks converted to midi and rendered....)
 
I'm pretty sure the entirety of the latest Pirates of the Caribbean score was MIDI.
Sound On Sound did a feature on it.
 
MIDI can sound great, but most people only worry about note numbers and pay no attention to velocity when it comes to drums especially. My drums used to be MIDI, and being a drummer, I was able to get a pretty good feel with them because I programmed the parts the way I'd play them. Having said that, nothing can replace reall instruments, in my opinion.
 
The problem isn't with midi, it's with the people using it. If midi is set up and programed right it can be a very useful tool, but even the best tool in the hands of an amateur will not get professional results. I can't do much with midi but that's fine, I'm just a guitar player. I've heard midi work that sounded great and I've heard some that was pure crap, it all depends on the person behind the keyboard.
 
MIDI is great if you know what you're doing. If you don't, it can sound like a cheap 80's disco tune. IMO, attention to detail is one of the most important factors. All my drums are MIDI, and I spend way more time on them than anything else. I get a few surprised looks when I tell the average listener that it's a computer playing the drums. Dimmu Borgir, for their most recent album, elected to use all MIDI for their orchestrations rather than real instruments and players. And you really couldn't tell that from listening.
 
ziplock43 said:
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm sick of going through SoundClick's charts and hearing all of these MIDI drum tracks that sound fake as Pam Anderson's :eek::eek:
Click to expand...

And I'm tired of all those audio tracks that wound like absolute crap because the player sucks.

In my mind, there are two types of midi performances - those that capture 'live' performances, and those that are programmed. My bet is that with today's technology you would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between a 'live' performance and one that has been captured to MIDI and played back.
Emphasis on the garbage-in, garbage out part.

The 'programmed' kind is another story, and that I believe is where you have issues. So do I, but it is the operator, not the technology that sucks. If I have to listen to one more lame ass beat from a newb who thinks he is the latest and greatest just because he pirated a copy of Reason.......
 
I think the board is displaying a bit of split personality here, though I'm not sure who the who's are, but I've gotten the general sense at times here that midi drum tracks are second class citizens.
I like playing, recording, and mixing real drums, but I also have V-Drums that I use in conjunction with BFD. I really like this approach, and the flexibilty it affords for changing out elements of the kit, or even the whole kit, right in the middle of a mixdown sometimes! I practically never quantitize, but being able to do little tweaks to hits (velocity, timing) is very cool.
 
I hate MIDI! MIDI sounds terrible.



I also hate C++ and HTML...they all sound terrible too.
 
Robert D said:
I think the board is displaying a bit of split personality here, though I'm not sure who the who's are, but I've gotten the general sense at times here that midi drum tracks are second class citizens.
I like playing, recording, and mixing real drums, but I also have V-Drums that I use in conjunction with BFD. I really like this approach, and the flexibilty it affords for changing out elements of the kit, or even the whole kit, right in the middle of a mixdown sometimes! I practically never quantitize, but being able to do little tweaks to hits (velocity, timing) is very cool.
Click to expand...

hehehe, I have seen 'pro' drummers (whatever that means( fooled by midi drum tracks. I'm with you - that's exactly why I use MIDI most of the time, for the flexibility in changing sounds. I also rarely quantize. I really use MIDI as a means of recording performance information.
 
Yeah recording drums with midi really solves a lot of problems for the home studio.
I have no room for a full drum kit in my studio even if I did I don't have a good set of drum mics or a well treated room.
I have a little alesis dm5 kit that takes up hardly any room and sounds pretty good.
I'm not a drummer but I play some stuff in using the kit to get a more human feel, then I go in and correct the notes that are WAY off and leave some of the minor mistakes there.
It's great because then I can just cycle through some of my custom drum kits to pick the one that fits the feel of the track best.


It was also helpful when my friend brought me some tracks to mix down and the kick drum track sounded like total ass. I just ran the audio out from the kick drum track to the kick drum trigger input on my DM5 and recorded the midi output. We were able to replace the entire kick track in like 10 minutes.
 
This past summer I music directed a very small community theater production of Godspell. To make a long story short, they had no money for anything. All I had was one guitarist and two keyboardists. I could have gotten a drummer and bassist, but they weren't very good. I was the second keyboard and ended up playing various drums, bass, and other instrument sounds via midi. A few of my musically talented friends came and I was dreading what they would think of my "band." They were actually surprised at how full the arrangements sounded and were really surprised at how well the midi drums came out. I think it helped that I didn't preprogram the drums, but actually played simplified beats live. I would have loved a real drummer, as well as all the other instruments I had to "play" via midi, but I was actually very happy with the results. We sounded much tighter than if I would have brought in the lesser talented musicians.

Juan
 
TerraMortim said:
Sounds good =) Are those v-drums? Have you ever tried the sample set heavy mental drums? (that's my fave)
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nope, it's Drumkit From Hell Superior. programmed by me with the drum editor in Cubase.
 
ah. I've heard good things about that one. I haven't tried it yet.
 
Your midi just needs a tube interface to make the drums sound better.
 
bennychico11 said:
I hate MIDI! MIDI sounds terrible.



I also hate C++ and HTML...they all sound terrible too.
Click to expand...
I much prefer that vintage FORTRAN sound myself. Of course anything run on an ENIAC or other vintage tube platform just plain sounds great. The move to solid state computing just ruined it for the industry.

G.
 
Okay, this is geeking out to the nth degree. I mean, jeez, everyone knows the hardcore sounds come from Cobalt.
 
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