Computers and Music

Subject: RE: Computers and Music
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 12 Oct 97 - 10:50 AM

A program that converts sound to MIDI is Autoscore.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: Computers and Music
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 12 Oct 97 - 10:47 AM

G'day,
Buried in the "How To" thread are my responses to a couple of questions.

1. Getting a MIDI file from scanned sheet music:

There are a couple of programs that convert scanned sheet music to MIDI. One is called Musicscan and is not too expensive. If I want to get a MIDI file for a melody I find it quicker to just play the music on a MIDI keyboard into a sequencer program. Even though I don't play keyboards very well the beauty of the computer setup is you don't need to be able to play at full speed to get a perfect MIDI file.

There are also programs that convert sound to MIDI i.e. you can whistle or sing and get a MIDI file. This really tests your sense of pitch!

2. Convert your computer into a multi track recorder (and burn your own CDs:
There are a number of programs which take advantage of the speed of pentium machines to turn your computer into a multi track hard disc recorder. You really need a full duplex sound card. That means it can record on say the left channel while playing back on the right. two sound cards would be better. I use Musicator Audio for this although other programs are probably at least as good. It is amazing what they can do. I have been using Musicator for years as a sequencer and notator and now as a hard disc recorder. Add a CD-R burner and you have a complete recording studio. Remember that you will need a big hard disc - go for 3 to 4 Gigabytes.

Cheers,
Alan