Moozak!

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Buggy(Posted 2006) [#1]
Can someone recommend a good, preferably free or cheap music creating program that I could get? Mine is extremely limited and glitchy, and I bought it in a store!


LineOf7s(Posted 2006) [#2]
http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=59763

http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=59310

The search function works a lot better than it used to. Try it. You might like it.


Buggy(Posted 2006) [#3]
Thanks. I forgot all about searching.


Buggy(Posted 2006) [#4]
Can Midisoft's "Studio ensemble 2003" create music that I can save in a music format such as .mp3? The website was informative, but it seems that all of their products can only create sheet music, and I want to be able to create my own orchestral classical music - not from a template or anything - and put it into my games without having to print off my sheet music and hire the local philharmonic. Get my drift? Or rather, my rift?


LineOf7s(Posted 2006) [#5]
Well, the thing is, it's a MIDI sequencer. As it stands, it doesn't actually make any sound by itself. This is true of all MIDI sequencers, so there's nothing weird about that.

What you need is a sound source, and some way to record that sound source on the computer so you can process it (eg turn it into an mp3). Often the sound source is the General MIDI compatible synth on your sound card. Sometimes it's an external MIDI instrument. Sometimes it's a 'virtual' MIDI instrument which is really a little program running on your computer alongside your sequencer (eg DXi, VSTi). You need to sort out what's available to you and what suits the kind of music you want to make.

Then you've got to work out how to record it. This step is marginally more complicated, and depends on a few things. If you're using the synth on your sound card or a virtual instrument, the sequencer may be able to record the output of your sound card (ie all the sounds it makes while you're playing back your lovingly-crafted sequence) as a digital audio track in your project. I read that Studio Ensemble 2003 (SE2K3) can let you
Add digital audio files to any performance. Use up to 256 separate digital audio tracks to lay out vocals, sounds and other effects with your music.
but I don't know if that means the same thing. I know the 'name brand' sequencers these days can (eg Sonar, Cubase etc). If you're using external synths, the process is much the same, but you'll need to sort out how to physically connect the line outs of those synths to the input of your sound card first. Depending on how many synths you're using, you may need to put them through a mixer first etc etc

As I said, I don't know if SE2K3 can do any of this, or if you have access to any other sequencing software that does. There are other ways to get around it, but it starts getting a bit kludgy and beyond the scope of this post. You can certainly write your music in it, if nothing else - it certainly seems very capable. Perhaps if you find you can't do any recording in SE2K3, and it's all a bit difficult otherwise, you can write all your music conformant to the General MIDI standard, and then get someone who does have a suitably capable sequencer to record it for you into an mp3. *shrug*

Anyway, see how you go. The journey of discovery is fun while it lasts, if nothing else. :o)


RiverRatt(Posted 2006) [#6]
You might like to see this site.
http://www.freebyte.com/music/#free_synthesizers


jfk EO-11110(Posted 2006) [#7]
Not sure if software synthesizers are useful for classical soundtracks, I'd rather try to use them for trance sounds etc.

I think there ain't so many cheap classical composer apps. These cost a few hunderd $:
http://www.sibelius.com/products/sibelius/index.html
http://www.finalemusic.com/finale/

this one's for free:
http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/Mstudio_win95/
tho probably there are better tools today.


Buggy(Posted 2006) [#8]
Thanks so much for all of the info!

Let me just get one thing straight, though...

Synthesizers can create sounds without having to have a keyboard plugged into my computer or some of my own sound files, while sequencers only rearrange things that I make with said keyboard?


Gabriel(Posted 2006) [#9]
FYI.. you don't want to use MP3. It's very expensive to use MP3, even if your software is free. Use OGG if you want digital music, and Mid or Mod/XM/IT if you want instrument-based music.


jfk EO-11110(Posted 2006) [#10]
yes Gabriel, because MP3 is a patented algorithm that requires to buy a pricy license in theory and Thomson will eventually sue you if you don't. OGG is good as MP3, but there ain't no license troubles.

Buggy: Synthesizers basicly synthesize sounds. They send electricity trough a lot of electronic modules (or emulate this process in software only) and then play the resulting sound. The range goes from realisticly or not so realisticly sounding synthetisized orchestra instruments to pure fantasy sounds, drums and bass, even speech synthesis etc.

At the other hand there are Sampleplayers. they play recorded notes (eg. .WAV) of real instruments. They are capable of transposing the samples, so you can play multiple octaves with one recorded sound. Better Sampleplayers use Multisampling to prevent mickey mouse artefacts when a sound is transposed more than about a half an octave, so they use a set of recorded notes to produce the whole keyboard scala. These Sample based composers sound much more realistic, because they use sounds recorded from real instruments.

A lot of Applications allow to mix these both methods.

Now this all has nothing to do with the matter if they are sequencers. Sequencing means the device is capable of recording your keyhits, be it from a Midi piano keyboard or from your PC keyboard. They will store the time you used to hit the keys and also what note it was. This allows the sequencer to REPLAY your actions. You may even sequence multiple tracks one by one and then replay them simultanously, eg. an entire orchestra.

Sequencers usually use the MIDI (music instrument digital interface) port to record from a piano keyboard. So when you got a piano with MIDI-out and a Soundcard with MIDI-in then it's easy to set up a MIDI system.

There are many E-Pianos with built in synthesizer, sampleplayer and Sequencer, some of them are even pretty cheap. Noless I'd suggest to use/buy one with a decent keyboard and don't worry about the sounds, cause when you use it with your PC then Composer app and Sound Banks are replaceble.

The device must be able to handle multiple keyhits simultanously (I'd say at least 16 voices polyphonic) and there should be dynamic key touching (quiet to loud).

Hope this helps.


Buggy(Posted 2006) [#11]
Thanks for all the input, everyone. Just a few finishing questions:

If I use a sequencer to record input from my regular, old PC keyboard, how do I set the notes I want? Can I fix my mistakes without playing the whole thing again?

Also, are there programs in which I can insert a music file and the program will divide up the different "instruments" and/or come up with sheet music for each instrument, or is that too hard?


jfk EO-11110(Posted 2006) [#12]
1) this really depends on the software you're using. To use your PC keyboard you need an App that can make use of a virtual claviature (virtual piano keyboard). To edit the notes it must offer some kind of manual editing mode. Really depends on the software.

2) Not that I know. I think Steinberg had Software that was capable of scanning Note Sheets and play it, but that's something diffrent.

I think it's also very hard to seperate instruments since music is based on harmonics and the characteristics of instruments are the exceptions from the harmonics. So it will be very hard to know what characteristics are part of what voice.

Well if you "insert music" as Midi file then it's no problem since the instruments have never been collapsed to one stereo sound, unlike e. .MP3 etc.

There is a method to remove the vocals from a song. This is used by Karaoke apps. But it simply removes components that are mixed identicly on left and right channel, a common feature of the lead vocals in songs, where all other intruments use other pan settings.


Buggy(Posted 2006) [#13]
Ah... Finale looks good for me then. Anyone use it?