Anyway, hey all.

As some of you know (mostly because of my Batman theme query a few months ago), I compose music, albeit in MIDI format. That doesn't mean it sucks, it just means it doesn't sound exactly professional.

I've recently (Sunday in fact) put up a website where, among other things, I want to be able to share my compositions with the rest of the world. For that to happen, I need to record my MIDI files as WAVEs, and then compress them as MP3s. Unfortunately, that's the big problem. I've tried for the past year or so to do this and I've failed everytime. I thought there would be an easy way to convert a MIDI into a WAVE, without any hiss or loss of sound quality, but so far, nothing! I use CakeWalk 4.0 to compose which, granted, is very outdated, but I haven't seen any working recording function. I've downloaded countless demos which let you record a few seconds, or don't let you save, only one of those with which I was able to record and save, but there is hiss all over the place.

My question is, if you want to be able to hear that music, is there a way that you know to go from MIDI to WAVE without altering the quality of the sound? An internal process, maybe, where the recording comes out crystal clear?

If you need more information on what I use, feel free to ask. I just want to be able to get my music out there.

My Soundblaster Live! allows me to directly record every sound the card produces without going through analogue cables though. The quality seems to be reduced just a bit, but it's certainly better than an analogue connection to the "line it" port.

I recorded a few MIDI files I did myself that way. The card seemed to have problems sometimes though, and started to cut off notes in the middle of some pieces. For one file, I needed many takes until I had it without errors.

My personal suggestion: Say you have 16 tracks fully layered. Take each one and record them as seperate wave files. Then take each of those 16 and put them into a program where you monitor each track against them and mix them, your final mix being able to be exported back out as a wave file. The only way I know to do this is to have one of the following software programs:

Mixman Studio: There is a $20 version that is phenomenal. But doing it this way means absolutely knowing without a doubt as to when each part of your music is triggered, as opposed to where you have it now, where you don't have to worry about it. There's also some other program based blocks that you may have to work around once you've worked with it enough. Truth is, this is techno software, and it's for that kind of things so it's mainly to produce loops and shorter triggers of soundbites, etc.

Better Idea- upgrade to Pro Audio 9- Musician.com has it for $179.99 last I checked, and there are updates you can get from Cakewalk for it that might be just as inexpensive. Also, This is a complete music recording tool that centers around the software you already know how to use- meaning you can take waht you've already saved and covert it to the update level, but along with this, I strongly recommend getting the best possible sound card to support the software, like Soundblaster Live Plantinum. Additionally, make sure your computer is as powerful as it can get so you don't get drop loss of notes. You may also be able to get better sound performance from you keyboard, once it's tied in by MIDI to the card. You could probably do an upgrade to your computer for all this for less than $400. It all depends on your budget and your evaluation of what you plan to get.

As for upgrading to CakeWalk 9.0, I have thought about it, but I'm not ready yet. In the next few years, I plan on buying a whole new computer, a PowerMac this time, not some PC crap. Then, I'll start building a little studio, including some samplers, CakeWalk 9.0, and a much needed keyboard. Composing with a mouse is fun at first, but man is it annoying :)

Quicktime seems to have its own sound devices, but compared to my MIDI drivers, they're really excellent.
I've put some of my compositions into mp3 this way and they're quite presentable.

On the topic of wavetables, I forgot: In the end, I did NOT directly record the "internal" output from my Soundblaster Live!, because the wavetable of my older AWE64 is MUCH better. So I plugged the AWE64's output to the Live!'s input and recorded the MIDI files the analogue way - with hiss, but at least with decent sounds. When I get my e-piano, I expect the best way will be to let the piano play the MIDI files and record them by connecting the piano's output to the soundcard's line-in.

Wow, thanks for the tip. However, I did it, but like you said, it has its own sound devices, which sound like crap compared to my sound card.

Damn! It would have been so much easier.

Hehehehe... no, mine has a really good sound, much better than the QuickTime crap I produced. I tried the QuickTime thing, and it would have been so simple, but it does have its own sound samples, and it sounds horrible.

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Originally posted by Kosh:
I tried the QuickTime thing, and it would have been so simple, but it does have its own sound samples, and it sounds horrible.

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Which is exactly what I had expected.

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I tried FruityLoops, and so far, not a lot of luck. It too uses its own (limited) library of sounds, which aren't the same as mine. Isn't there a way to force FruityLoops to use MY internal synth to produce the MIDI sounds?

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I don't think so. If the soundcard provides this capability (i.e. directly recording the card's own output IN the card), you could probably access it through the Windows Mixer - like you can with the Live! Soundblasters, but as I said, all the wavetables that came with my card sound inferior to the wavetable of the AWE64.

I think the way to go would be a program that allows you to take any soundcard's wavetable, and then uses it to build the WAV file without using the soundcard's hardware.

Hopefully, I'll be able to control my consumer urges and get my new computer soon.

There is a site that I went to once that has loads of wave (I think they're wave)samples of many instruments. I don't remember the address, but Aaron Collins gave it to me.
Some of the files are quite large though.

I'm sure Aaron said he used some of these to produce some of his own mp3s.
Maybe it would be worthwhile emailing him.

Just a thought.

my DART CD-Recorder software converts MIDI to WAV lickety-split, all with the touch of a mouse button.

oh well. glad I couldn't contribute substantially.

::runs around the room, chasing JJH with an axe::

YOU LUCKY BASTARD! COME HERE!

Well, I've tried every suggestion thus far, none of them giving me a WAVE file that recorded the instruments as heard on my synth and without any hiss.

:(

So, I have recorded about 70 minutes of my pieces (sort of the second bunch of them...) with Acoustica (a demo, but fully operational). I have not taken any hiss off, because that automatically affects the quality of the recording. The hiss is not *that* bad, so that a recorded piece is of RealAudio quality. I can live with that for now.

If you still have more suggestions, feel free to write them here!

With that, I'll burn all of my music this way onto CDs and, after I'm done, I'll upload some to my website for your enjoyment. Since my server is a free host (I don't have any money to shell for that at the moment... I'm still a student, you know :) and since the uploading size is limited, I'll have to strike a deal with another website with unlimited bandwith. I have set my eyes on one that might work, so hopefully... ::crosses fingers::.

Meanwhile, PeterK was generous enough of his time to check out the Score Reviews part of it (my website, The Sanctuary, is actually a mixed bag of various things, among them movie, score, and book reviews, and my original compositions, when they'll be recorded). He added the Score Reviews page to the Links right here, on MovieMusic, so a big thanks to PeterK :)

If you want to visit it and check for my compositions, when they'll be uploaded (I'll write it here anyways), the root address is:
http://sanctuary.freehosting.net

I hope this isn't free advertising... if it is, Peter, please tell me. I just promised everyone to give the link for my music, which will be coming soon, except with some hiss.

Just to give you a little thought preview, it was composed in MIDI, so of course it doesn't sound professional. I have no musical education (except for guitar and clarinet lessons), so I'm self-taught. I have composed some pieces inspired by existing scores (pastiches, if you will, to understand how the greats do it... like a Main Title to APT PUPIL, and a GLADIATOR suite), full television scores, and I'm beginning to score things on my own, developing my own style along the way. I've recently done a cool DAREDEVIL: MAN WITHOUT FEAR suite, the main fanfare of which will probably be the first piece on my website.

That's it for now. Thanks all of you guys for your advice.

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Originally posted by Kosh:
I have not taken any hiss off, because that automatically affects the quality of the recording.

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You can take the "basic hiss" out without much loss of sound quality, if your sound editor has an option to do this at least: Record a few seconds of silence, create a noise profile (or whatever your program calls it) from that, and use this to remove the most annoying hiss from your recording.

You're a goddess!

It worked! Now I have to de-hiss all 70 minutes that recorded yesterday :( Oh well :) It's for the better.

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For anyone using Acoustica and who wants to know how to do it exactly, here it is:

1) Create a MIDI file (with Cakewalk or something similar) that is nothing but silence, except for a single note at the end of it. Make the file about 10 seconds long.

2) Record the track with Acoustica, closing all of the volume outputs except the Synth, to minimize noise.

3) Run a noise analysis on that.

4) Record your music on top of that noise... meaning, it'll just erase the noise that was there before. It's just so the noise analysis stays affected to that recording file.

5) Delete the noise using the noise analysis profile, at about 90% or so. Too much will start nibbling at your instruments.

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Originally posted by Kosh:
You're a goddess!

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Make that "god". Glad it worked!

I thought, with the make-up and all...?

No, kidding aside, your name is Marian? I'm sorry, but in French, with a slightly different spelling, that's a woman's name. Marie-Anne, or Marianne. That's why I got confused....

A thousand apologies, sir!

;)

Jonathan

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Originally posted by Kosh:
A thousand apologies, sir!

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None needed. Even here in Austria, people sometimes think I'm female when they only see my name (though then, I would really have to be called Marianne, which is also a valid name here). My parents obviously didn't expect me to post on English messageboards when they picked my name.

I used to post as "(Mr.) Marian Schedenig" on the first version of the FSM board to avoid confusion, but that seemed too stupid after a while.

Well, I managed to burn almost all of my music on CDs... took out almost all of the noise with Acoustica, added reverb, mixed in the channels, and it manages to sound pretty much like the MIDI on my computer, which is good. The sound is richer than my first CD mixes.

Anyway, the website is up, everything is green-lit... except that I need webspace.

I want to have available every two weeks a new piece in MP3 PLUS a sister webpage where I'll keep complete television scores I composed. Now, it would be possible to only put half of an episode at a time, but that would still amount for a total of 10-15 MB of webspace, plus the necessary bandwidth for user downloads... even though not a lot of people are visiting my webpage for now, though it is quite new.

With FreeServers, I'm not allowed that kind of space or bandwidth, and I've already emailed half a dozen webmasters who maintain an interesting webpage pertaining to the TV show I'm scoring (not officially, don't read this wrong), but so far, no answer from them.

So, if one of you guys is interested in providing some webspace because you have plenty available, do email me. You will definitely make my day.

Thanks,