Midi/analog recording

14 Aug 00 - 07:36 AM (#277324)
Subject: Midi/analog recording
From: Steve Parkes

I'm sure this has come up elsewhere in different guises, but I can't find it ...
I have a four-track analogue tape recorder, one of those with double-speed tape transport, mixing controls, etc., which I have a lot of fun with, pretending to be the Everly Brothers or the Young Tradition. I also have a pc with Noteworthy Composer & TablEdit. What I'm trying to do is record vocals & (accoustic) instruments, but use the pc to add effects like echo (if need be, I'll have to go out and buy Goldwave or something), and maybe something from Noteworthy or TablEdit. Getting stuff out of the pc and onto tape is OK, but getting it into midi format from analogue or digital is something else

Question: can anyone recommend a website, a book, some software, or some advice/instructions, please?

Steve

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14 Aug 00 - 08:33 AM (#277342)
Subject: RE: Help: Midi/analog recording
From: GMT

Steve,

The way I went, before I spent more money than I could afford on an outboard effects unit, was to route the tape master out into the pc soundcard (I needed twin audio plug to mini stereo jack lead) and using Cool Edit (demo available from the Syntrillium site) converted to a .Wav file.

You can then manipulate the file using, if I remember rightly a maximum of two effects with the demo, Cool Edit.
Then play it back out to tape or use the .wav file to burn a CDR.

I hope this is of some use

Cheers

Gary

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14 Aug 00 - 08:35 AM (#277344)
Subject: RE: Help: Midi/analog recording
From: Ed Pellow

Steve,

The bad news...

If I understand correctly what you're wanting to do, the answer is that you can't.

MIDI is basically a computer protocol whereby 'tunes' are created with 'on' and 'off' switches.

A Midi tune results from your computer 'telling' your soundcard (or any attached synthesizer)to play certain notes, how long each note should last, what 'voice' should be used to play them etc. In many ways, it's quite similar to a fairground organ or pianolo, or any instrument that used punched cards to play music.

By itself MIDI produces no sound, it's simply a set of instructions.

Therefore, the sound of any midi tune will vary considerably depending on the quality of the soundcard that the listener has. With midi you are simply sending instructions as to notes that should be played, and for how long. The actual sound is determined by the end user's setup.

There are programs that can convert 'real' sound into midi, I've never found them to be at all satisfactory though.

If you want to distribute your recordings over the net, MP3 is currently the best way.

Hope this makes sense,

Ed

Do post again if you need further clarification

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14 Aug 00 - 10:04 AM (#277378)
Subject: RE: Help: Midi/analog recording
From: Steve Parkes

Gary - thanks. I think maybe I just need some experience so I can get the hang of things,

Ed - I think I'm really asking two questions, and I think I've got the second one the wrong way round. It would be useful to me if I could turn real sound into midi, but I can't play keyboards (I'd love to learn, but there's so many other things on my list!), and I'm not a brilliantly fast guitarist, but good enough to record tunes that way. I am not going to buy a guitar synth! I understand how midi works - in fact I thought it up myself in the mid-sixties, when there was no way I was ever going to afford a computer! - so I know why it's not a straightforward process.

I hadn't even thought about distributing stuff on the net. That's a good goal to work towards, I think.

Steve

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14 Aug 00 - 01:41 PM (#277502)
Subject: RE: Help: Midi/analog recording
From: Roger in Sheffield

First - I know nothing!
Except that you can download a trial version of Goldwave
http://www.goldwave.com/
I downloaded it but have not used it yet
How do you record Mp3's??

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14 Aug 00 - 01:56 PM (#277514)
Subject: RE: Help: Midi/analog recording
From: Roger in Sheffield

What I meant was - which program do you use to record Mp3's?

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14 Aug 00 - 02:42 PM (#277547)
Subject: RE: Help: Midi/analog recording
From: IvanB

Steve-

Ed Pellow gave you the true skinny on converting recorded sounds to MIDI - right now there's just no satisfactory way to do it. However, any reasonably good sound card on the market usually comes with wave editor software, and you can add effects with that. If the package included with your card isn't complete enough, then there are more complete editors - the two mentioned in this thread are both good, although you need the registered versions to really make them useful. And you can convert .wav files into many formats, such as .mp3 or Real Audio.

I have both Turtle Beach and SoundBlaster cards and the wave editors with both of them have provided me with all the effects I've needed so far. I have no ambitions of making professional level recordings, but either of them will add echo, reverb, normalize, etc. I guess the bottom line is that you needn't work with MIDI, you can do your thing with .wav files just as easily.

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14 Aug 00 - 02:52 PM (#277552)
Subject: RE: Help: Midi/analog recording
From: IvanB

Sorry, I ignored the second part of your question, Steve. As far as getting MIDI output from NoteWorthy and/or TablEdit into you music, there are a number of MIDI to .wav converters available. I use WavMaker III, but, if I remember correctly, the trial version comes with a very limited number of instrument instruction files (they're proprietary, so you can't use the regular MIDI patches) and registration was around $100 US. It does a good job of creating a .wav file from a MIDI, however, and then it's just a matter of adding effects to the .wav file and pasting it into the .wav file from your recording.

Roger, I use MusicMatch for recording in .mp3. Although I've registered my copy, the free version allows for an acceptably high sampling rate as well. There are a number of others available, but I haven't tried them, so can't comment.

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14 Aug 00 - 03:01 PM (#277561)
Subject: RE: Help: Midi/analog recording
From: Willie-O

For converting wav files to mp3's I use Bladeenc, a freeware converter that is basically designed just to do that. It's a command line interface that looks like a DOS program, which gets us old DOSers sentimental--but it's really a 32-bit windows application. It does the job right, (and easily once you learn the default interface) is a very quick download, and doesn't do a bunch of things to invade your privacy and overload your system like the RealAudio products and other "jukebox" multi-function sound-file player/recorder/converter/managers.

Bladeenc Home Page

Death to bloatware! Bladeence rules!

Willie-O

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15 Aug 00 - 08:50 AM (#278113)
Subject: RE: Help: Midi/analog recording
From: GUEST,John in Brisbane

Steve, my answer may be a little different to some of the above.

First find a good MIDI from the Web. Play it back through your sound card, adjust for echo and reverb if your soundcard/software allows it. (if your soundcard sounds crappy then download Wingroove). You already know that you can adjust the tempo and key and/or change the instrument settings to suit your own ear. Because all souncards do a lousy job of rhythm guitar turn that channel off or change to another instrument. Record to two of your four tracks on your faithful analog recorder.

Record your voice and guitar on the two remaining audio tracks. You can then do a digital stereo recording on your PC and add further effects if you like after this event.

Wingroove is about $20. This plus the cost of an audio lead should give you quite reasonable results for a very small outlay.

If you can't find a suitable MIDI then I can probably direct you to a free package that does most of the work for you. You enter the chords and the style - it's fun and the price is right, but it's better for pop, classical, jazz and country styles.

Hope that this helps. Regards, John

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16 Aug 00 - 03:25 AM (#278648)
Subject: RE: Help: Midi/analog recording
From: GMT

John in Brisbane,

Are you alluding to Band in a Box and Jammer ? Both of which I have found helpful in the past as my Band.

Gary

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16 Aug 00 - 07:56 AM (#278705)
Subject: RE: Help: Midi/analog recording
From: GUEST,John in Brisbane

Gary, I'm referring to Superjam which is free-ish. I have documented the link in the past but haven't gone looking for it. A Mudcat Super Search will find it. Regards, John

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