I'm a novice when it comes to MIDI, so here's a dumb question.
I notice that the quality of MIDI music is vastly improved on my newer XP machine, compared to my old Win95 dinosaur.
Is this because XP has better instrument samples, or is it down my sound card?
It's the sound card.
You see, the sound card has to actually interpret the sounds and create the output, and different sound cards give different output.
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Hey thanks.
I'm actually finding I prefer MIDI to MP3s. Can you suggest a really good sound card for MIDI?
Not really, I've only tried one sound card my whole life, but the Soundblaster Audigy2 is supposed to be awesome.
I use MIDIs alot when I'm learning a new piano piece, and when I'm composing.
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Yeah, soundblaster live and audigy have great instrument sets and they also allow you to use the SF2 soundfont format so that you can make your own and use other people's instrumets that you download online.
Now all I need is a card with MIDI Input for use with my keyboard. I need it very bad.
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My soundblaster Live! has a midi controler on it, though I think you may have to connect the 5 1/4" control bay thingy to it to connect MIDI devices.
i also perfer midi over any other format it just sounds better
It does sound better in most cases. No compression. Did you know a 40 minute song in MIDI is about 400KB? But if you have an old sound card, it can sound bad. Also, not all midi is created equal. Some have flat boing tones, others have lots of dynamics and feeling. Also, if it's MIDI, and it's electric guitar, forget about it. Guitars sound weird, espeially electric, on MIDI.Originally posted by adamviper
i also perfer midi over any other format it just sounds better
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Awesome. What sort of software do you use for this? How do you use MIDI for learning piano pieces? Do you use a program to translate it to some sort of sheet music?Originally posted by valar_king
Not really, I've only tried one sound card my whole life, but the Soundblaster Audigy2 is supposed to be awesome.
I use MIDIs alot when I'm learning a new piano piece, and when I'm composing.
Try not.
Do or do not.
There is no try.
- Master Yoda
Depends on how much space you're willing to give-up for goo guitar samples and whether or not you want to get different samples for different effects. I've heard some really great sf2 guitars that you can download for free online.Originally posted by valar_king
Also, if it's MIDI, and it's electric guitar, forget about it. Guitars sound weird, espeially electric, on MIDI.
Also, if you're into midi, you really have to get DirectMusic Producer which let's you compose for the proprietary midi segment format and add scripting, variability, dynamic looping, etc. all contained within the file. They also allow for loading of external instruments so you can include an instrument set with your songs.
It's free too at http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/...mpositedoc.xml
What are you looking to do?Originally posted by Cshot
Awesome. What sort of software do you use for this? How do you use MIDI for learning piano pieces? Do you use a program to translate it to some sort of sheet music?
The industry standard for any kind of composing is Sibelius (http://www.sibelius.com), it has excellent MIDI loading. I can't afford it. I think it's on sale for like $179 right now. I use the shareware version of NoteWorthy Composer (http://www.noteworthysoftware.com/). It's adquate for my purposes and translates MIDI to scores pretty well. It even has a web plugin like Sibelius's that displays scores online. I think the full version is like $39, but the shareware never expires.
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A commonly used program in the game industry is Steinberg Cubase VST. For instance, if you apply for a job at Rareware, you would find that they recommend you have experience particularly with it.
The best completely free software I've come accross is DirectMusic Producer that I talked about in the previous post..
why do my midis echo
Check this place out, you'll find a great deal of information:
www.harmony-central.com
I'm not really a MIDI man myself as I prefer the analog sound. Give me some 24/96 audio equipment (which I'm buying soon) and I'm a happy man.
For recording software, I'm now a Cubase fan, but ProTools (mostly for Mac use) is huge. Also, get your hands on FruityLoops; it's a great software package and cheap too.
If you're serious about MIDI recording then I'd look into aquiring an M-Audio interface. They seem to be pretty hot right now and quite a good value.
