Quote:

<...>To my ears, if the recorded musicians were good and the recording engineer did a good job, the recording will sound much better than any MIDI sequence through any sound module.



But it would sound like a good recording, not a good live performance. There is a huge difference between the two. I've done session work and I've done live work from the 1960s to the present, and I play quite differently in the recording studio than I do in a live setting. It's the proverbial apples and oranges.

But the subject of this post is "Unhappy with MIDI sounds" so I'll stay on topic.

There is no doubt that in many cases recording a real instrument sounds better than the MIDI equivalent. Of course that is dependent on the synth. Many recordings and touring bands use synths, and virtually all modern synths are MIDI based. Grand pianos, Rhodes, B-3s, etc.

"Rolling Stone" magazine decided that Edgar Winters' "Frankenstein" was one of the 100 best rock guitar solos, and Edgar did it all on a synth. And today's synths are much better than they were back then. "Rolling Stone" magazine obviously didn't think the synth sounds were bad.

And as I said before, just what is good tone anyway? For electric guitar is it Hendrix? Slash? Les Paul? Van Halen? Joe Pass? Emily Remler? Orianthi? Terry Katy? Johnny Winter? Jeff "Skunk" Baxter? Wes Montgomery? Chuck Berry? Al Di Meola? Carlos Santana? Jeff Beck? Eric Gale? Randy Rhoads? George Benson? Duane Allman? Chet Atkins? Martin Barre? Allan Holdsworth? Scotty Moore? Brad Paisley? Bono? Steve Cropper? Noel Gallagher? Kenny Burrell? B.B. King? Freddie King? Albert King? Eric Clapton? Duane Eddy? Kirk Hammett? Joe Walsh? Peter Frampton? Robben Ford? Robert Fripp? Steve Lukather? I could go on and on.

And on which guitar? Which amp? What FX settings?

The point is that good tone is both variable and subjective. If the synth tone is only 90% there, for all practical purposes it nails it. Of course the $0.99 chip on your sound card isn't 90% there (or even close).

But a good synth module will get tone in that 90%-99% range on most instruments. Other synths will cover the sounds that the first one may lack.

The thing with MIDI is the potential expression is so variable. When the tone is 'in the ballpark' expression becomes more important than tone. And expression varies from musician to musician and even with the same musician it varies from song to song depending on the mood of the song. This is one area where MIDI excels over pre-recorded loops. But it has it's Achilles heel as well. Because it is easy to make a MIDI file, a lot of people make them who don't have the skills to do it right. And like any instrument, some are excellent and some are terrible.

I like MIDI for the ability to express myself musically. To me self-expression is what being a musician is all about. If I want to hear someone else express themselves, I'll put a CD or LP into my playback system at home. I enjoy that as well. But I also love to play music. So working with MIDI allows me to play the computer to get my expression into the music. Even when working with BiaB files exported as MIDI. I can add parts, subtract others and massage them until they represent my expression.

Looking at the number of synth players in pop, country and jazz music to me says that MIDI sounds are excellent. I even went to a classical music concert performed by a world-famous touring orchestra and the Celeste and Organ parts were done on a synthesizer.

You said <<if the recorded musicians were good and the recording engineer did a good job>> but in today's recording studios, many of the instruments used were MIDI instruments in the first place.

So obviously there is nothing wrong with MIDI sounds. There is no such thing as MIDI sounds. MIDI just plays the synth you are using. However there might be something wrong with the synth that many people use to play back the MIDI sounds.

To me music is all about individual expression. I'll forfeit a little sound for a way to put my musical expression into it any day. YMMV

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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