PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic Unhappy with MIDI sounds

I agree, MIDI controlled synthesizers (including GM and GM2) can run the gambit from sounding like a kazoo to indistinguishable from the 'real thing' depending on how much money you spend on the synth.

I've read in trade magazines and seen in the DVD extras that entire movie soundtracks have been produced with MIDI controlled synths. Many commercial recordings have MIDI controlled synths on them. Virtually every modern synth player is playing a MIDI controlled synth. So obviously there is nothing wrong with MIDI sounds.

However most of us only have enough money to buy a decent to very good MIDI synth. A very good synth will not sound quite as 'real' as an audio loop.

For sound, loops are slightly better than the average good MIDI synth.advantage audio loops

On the other hand MIDI data is infinitely editable by the end user. You can do millions of things to a MIDI track that you cannot do to an audio loop.

For edit-ablity, MIDI tracks are much better than audio loops.advantage MIDI

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So which is better? MIDI tracks or Real Tracks??? Neither one.

It depends on what you want to do with it and who is going to be listening to it.

For me it's MIDI for the reasons I don't need to repeat here. For others it's the RTs. Still others will want to mix the two. There is more than one way to make music.

But I will repeat this, the title of this thread is "Unhappy with MIDI sounds" and of course that means "Unhappy with the poster's MIDI synthesizer sounds."

MIDI synths can sound so like the real thing that even recording engineers have been fooled. It depends on how much cash you have to spend and how good the player is.

Each user has to balance the ability to edit the tracks with the ability of the audience to distinguish between the tone of the synth and the track. We musicians listen much more critically than the general public. If you play a recording of two tenor sax players, John Coltrane and Stan Getz to the average listener, they would think they are playing different instruments. If you play the same two to a musician he/she will tell you one has better tone than the other. If you play the same two to a good sax player, he/she will tell you reasons why the two tenor sax tones are different.

Considering my audience, most of them care more about expression, song specific licks, entire band kicks (figures), and other things that make a song less generic than they do about the finer points of the snare drum or other comp instrument sounds. I am going have vocals and two more instruments added to the backing track (sax, guitar, wind synthesizer, tactile MIDI controller and/or flute). MIDI tracks give me that capability where the loops do not. But that's for me. There is nothing wrong with others doing a song entirely made of RTs. We each have our own 'formula' and our own priorities.

When I play the standard introduction to songs like "Old Time Rock And Roll", "Satin Doll", "Superstition", "Time In A Bottle", "Take The A Train", "In The Mood", "At Last", "Your Momma Don't Dance and Your Daddy Don't Rock And Roll", Dancing Queen", "Black Magic Woman", "Don't Be Cruel", "Dreams", "Soul Man", "Hold On I'm Comin'", "Spanish Eyes", Pretty Woman", "Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu", "California Dreaming", "Margaritaville", "Crocodile Rock", "Brick House", "Sweet Caroline", "Twist And Shout", "Just The Way You Are", "Conga", "Hot Hot Hot", "Midnight Hour", "Moonglow", "Sea Cruise", "Smooth Operator", and scores of other songs, the audience immediately recognizes them and gets up to dance or stays on the dance floor. When the proper entire band kicks, horn lines, and other important parts are played by the entire band, they feel it. As you can tell I play for a baby boomer audience (good pay, short hours, appreciative audience), but it would work for any audience. Especially with many of the more contemporary songs that could not even exist without their song-specific parts.

But again, these are my needs. And for my needs, MIDI tracks are superior.

For yours, RTs might be better.

For others, combining the best of both.

Just don't tell me that MIDI sounds bad when MIDI has no sound or I'll get up on my soap-box again. I don't do this to criticize but to help. If you understand the limitations and capabilities of the various tools in your BiaB tool box, you can use them wisely and make better music. And isn't that what it is all about?

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