Zoom Gear & Home Recording Forum

Guys on this forum who are already into MIDI can bypass this if they wish. This is mostly for the benefit of those who have PMed me or asked me about MIDI in song postings, like Cracky, Jimmy Ryce and minerman. I've put together a small collections of snippets and tests of some things done between my two programs. Some are song ideas that are future projects and some are just me messing around with the sounds to hear what they sound like, but the key point is they're all MIDI. I've only been working with MIDI since the beginning of the year. There are some here who have much more experience at it than I do, but this is what I've been playing around with. I hope some will find it interesting. If you have any questions, post them here or PM me.

A brief explanation of the 9 snippets;
1. I've posted this example in an OT (Zoetrope's Minimoog) thread before so you might've heard it already. It was made in Samplitude in order to test three free plugins-a Minimoog, a polymoog and a Hammond organ. The drums and bass are Samplitude "residents".
2. Piano in Sampletank. Sampletank is a program in itself but is included with Samplitude Music Studio as a limited version sample format probably in hopes that you get to enjoy the program enough to buy the full version. I find the acoustic piano sample here particularly nice sounding. Some analog synth dancing around there too at the beginning.
3. This was done in Mixcraft. A synth in it called "Impulse" is featured. This is a future project.
4. Mixcraft. I call this "China Meets the Bayou in 3/4 Waltz time. The lead is a Mini Dizi Chinese (or is it Japanese) flute plugin I found for free on the net that you can make do the fast trills and fancy sounds that a real flute of this kind can do. The Bayou comes in because of the accordion.
5. Mixcraft. A solo viola.
6. Mixcraft. String ensemble
7. Mixcraft Human choir
8. Samplitude. Piano, bass & drum vamp. Possible future project.
9. Mixcraft. Jazz idea I'm calling "Leave 6". You may have heard of Dave Brubeck's classic "Take Five" which is in 5 meter. This is a similar swing style in 6, hence the title "Leave 6" . Get it? I plan to expand this further for a full project.

I hope you guys who are curious about MIDI will get some idea of what it is capable of here and how much it can add to your music. I'd particularly love to hear Cracky work with something like this because of the potential and scope I hear in some of his tunes. The main thing to keep in mind is that it's not real expensive. I use two programs here that were both (indivdualy) under $100.00. You really only need one, but Mixcraft offers a better library of "acoustic" sounds IMHO, where Samp has a great mixer/effect interface and lots of neat R&R sounds and tons of analog synths. I have the "best of both worlds" by having them both. In either I can make use of the tons of freebies available on the net in effects and instruments. There are other features like using loops also available. All you need, in addition to the program, is a fairly new PC (anything from the past two or maybe three years will probably run these, but check the Sys Requirements if you decide to buy), a keyboard with MIDI capabilities (can be bought for less than $100.00 for a basic. Keep in mind, you're only using the key mechanism so it doesn't matter what sounds the unit itself offers). You'll also need an interface if you want to do vocals or acoustic guitar or other microphone stuff (Cracky, you already have one of those in the Tascam U122 & minerman, I think you have one of those too).

http://www.voclizr.com/miditests.mp3

Please be for-warned. I didn't normalize these samples so they vary in volume, but are only meant to be "samples".

Cool samples voc. That's quite an awry of sounds you get. I'm particularly interested in what horns are offered in midi. My Yamaha keys have some horns but they sound kinda weak. Inde-Free doesn't give you any horns. Any freebies that you know of w/horns? Choir sounds authentic. Awesome piano/bass,drum vamp. I could go nuts w/some guitr on something like that. Your "Leave 6" is pretty cool also. Have yet to dwnld a midi interface for the PC. Prob gonna try out Mxcrft at one point. I did order a midi out/USB in cord for my keys though. Found a geberic one on ebay for $7. Was gonna go w/the Yamaha cord but it's like $40.

Marc;
That's the question of the year!!! You think like me!! Yes, there IS brass in Mixcraft. Their Orchestral brass is pretty good. If you mean trumpets, trombones and french horns, yes pretty authentic. Now if you want SOULFUL horns, ala Tower of Power or Chicago, I've been looking all over the web for that and it appears to me that the makers of VSTIs consider that sound the gem they can't part with for free. The problem is you need a soulful sax sound to build a soulful horn section and the freebie saxes are all too sweet and melodic ala Stan Getz. Not knockin' Stan. He's the "pretty, sweet and melodic" sax sound, but that sound simply lacks the timbre to build a soulful brass sound. I DID find a pay program called "Kick Ass Brass" and heard the samples of it. Yeah, that sounds like what I'm (we're) looking for, but you gotta part with about 300 George for that program. Sad but true. Mixcraft has an R&B horn section sound but doesn't quite cut it IMHO as far as realistic. If anybody looking in knows of any soulful brass freebies that sound real please. please , please make a liar out of me and point the way to it. I'd LOVE to be wrong on this, but I've been looking far and wide and haven't seen a realistic freebie in the R&B horns dept.

http://www.musicstudiodirect.com/produc ... Ass+Brass/

Actually we do have access to this sound in the person of Nigel Hardy (Keyshardy). I don't know if you've heard this, Marc, but Nigel can cook up some pretty realistic and soulful brass on his hardware based DAW.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_so ... ID=7177967

Thanks for the thoughts, V. I'm listening now. Nice sounds. Maybe one day I'll enter the midi world. It will probably be on the same day that midi is declared useless by most homerecorders and they've all moved on to the next big thing. That seems to be my style.

Thanx for the reply/post voc. Nige is really amazing w/all the dif sounds he comes up with. This "No One Said" is so authentic sounding. I feel like I'm listening to the radio. Beautiful "Funk Soul Ballad". That would be the correct genre? He added some horns to a collab we did a while back, "Night Crawler". There are actually 2 vers of that tune posted. Hiand mine. Big dif between his horns and mine though. Mine came off my Yamaha 225. Don't know where his are generated from but they sure sounded real. Like you said, the question of they year. Horns are really my main interest in Midi. Although the hundreds of other instruments will prob grab my attention to no end.
Here's a tune I recorded but never posted where I added some simple horns off the Yamaha 225. Just 2 voices, trumpet and sax(tenor I believe). I think they sound pretty real but the ones off "Night Crawler" didn't sound as good. Dif preset used on NC. "Brass Section" I think if you add the horns individually they sound better. Alot more time though to voice it and record it though.

"So What" by Miles Davis. http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7384772

I don't think you have too much to worry about there, Johnny. MIDI's been around for about 15 years now and just keeps getting better and better. What once was expensive but cheap sounding in the 90s is now affordable for the masses and much more realistic. It's the kind of technology that you think is best to wait for when it first comes on the market, but the need to wait is over. The price is probably as good as it's gonna get (how can you possibly beat all the realistic sounds that come in Mixcraft's MIDI library for $65.00?)

You do what you want, Johnny. It's your $$$$$$$$, but I seriously think you'd have so much fun with this and turn out some great stuff too! I mean, forget the writing!! This stuff is fun to just PLAY with! I've sat with the keyboard for HOURS just playing with the different sounds.

Found this website for free MIDI drums. Looks to be very helpful.
www.MIDIDrumFiles.com


What is MIDI?

M.I.D.I. - Musical Instrument Digital Interface

Basically, MIDI is a computer language used in networking two or more devices
together. The specific devices we are most often referring to when discussing
MIDI are musical computers, like synthesizers or signal processors. Essentially
this means that you can hook up two musical devices and have them "communicate"
with each other.

Some Basic Concepts

You don’t need to understand nuclear fusion to get a grasp on this MIDI stuff,
there are just a few basic concepts you have to grasp.

1. MIDI information IS NOT audio information. This is a hang up for many people
who are just starting out in the music and audio arena. MIDI is merely a set of
numerical instructions that are sent and received between the devices. The
musical devices then translate this data into meaningful commands. So when a
MIDI command is sent from one device to another, the signal is telling the
second device which notes to play, how long to hold them, which sounds to use...
etc.

2. You need to understand how the flow of MIDI information works. MIDI data is
sent out of the "OUT" port, MIDI data is received at the "IN" port. So for
example if you want to send a MIDI data from a sequencer to a synthesizer the
cables would connect on the OUT of the sequencer (because info is coming out) to
the IN of the synthesizer (because the synth is receiving info). This can be
confusing at first because the temptation is to plug the IN of one machine
directly into the IN of another. But if you do that, you are not going to get
any sound…. Ever.

3. Channels – MIDI data transmits on 16 different channels. This allows for 16
different sets of MIDI data to be sent at once, which means a sequencer could
control up to 16 different instruments at one time. Typically each instrument
would be sent separately on a different channel. For example, drum track
information is usually sent on channel 10 and so would play back on channel 10,
Bass guitar sounds are usually on channel 2, synth on 4 and so on. You just have
to make sure that the synthesizer that is receiving the channels has the correct
sound selected for that channel.

Because MIDI does not carry with it the actual audio sound data, but just the
note commands, midi files are extremely light and compact. A large number of
songs can take up a relatively small amount of space on a disk or hard drive.
This reason, along with it’s versatility makes MIDI an ideal language for almost
any musician, and especially those who are on the road for performances or deal
in large volumes of music.

Here's a cool MIDI notation program for you to download if you want to get into
midi notation, printing and editing....
http://www.mididrumfiles.com/programs/?p=notate
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Coming soon....
*Free Audio tips (Streaming audio)
*Converting MIDI to .wav or .mp3
*Cell Phone Ring Tones
*MIDI editing tips
*Much More! So keep watching for more information from www.MIDIDrumFiles.com