Quote:

<...> If real instruments sounded worse than MIDI instruments you would never see anything else in a real studio. All real studios have a disproportional amount of equipment geared towards real instruments and real voices. <...> but in all the 100's of sessions I've ever done no one has ever said why don't you play your MIDI guitar it sounds better than your real guitar.<...>



So then you've never seen a synthesizer in a studio? MIDI drums? --- I have.

I have even been hired to play wind synth in a studio. A guitarist/vocalist hired me to play this MIDI guitar part on his CD http://www.nortonmusic.com/mp3/_personalchoice.mp3 (used with permission from the copyright holder). Both he and I play guitar. But he thought guitar synth was right for the lead on this song.

I've also been hired by another producer to play synth trumpet. And I've been in recording sessions where the drummer played an electronic MIDI drum set (Roland V drums if I remember correctly).

Which sounds better or worse? Neither. Use the right tool for the job. Because a MIDI sax sounds different from an acoustic sax, is no big deal -- Selmer sax with a rubber mouthpiece sounds even more different from a Keilwerth with a brass mouthpiece.

Acoustic does not sound better than MIDI any more than a Fender Strat sounds better than a Gibson Les Paul.

Does an acoustic piano player refuse to play a digital Rhodes voice because it doesn't sound like either an acoustic piano or an acoustic/electric Rhodes? Some perhaps, but not most -- as long as the digital Rhodes sound was appropriate.

Sometimes I prefer real acoustic instruments, sometimes I prefer MIDI instruments for the sound. When recording backing tracks for my duo in my home studio I generally prefer MIDI, even if the tone is not quite what I want (as long as it is close). Why? The audience doesn't know the difference and the ability to edit MIDI tracks far outstrips any tone issues.

Quote:

<...> As a guitar player, I would never use midi for guitar parts.<...>



In the wind synth community we call this HIB (Home Instrument Bias), and many people have it. However, most of us do not. My HIB is saxophone, I've been playing it for over 40 years. I use MIDI sax live on stage a lot, even though I bring my acoustic sax. The problem with HIB is that many players look to the synth pad and notice what the acoustic instrument will do that the synth patch will not do. And this is generally true. What many HIB people don't look at is what will the synth patch do that the acoustic instrument will not do. So when I play synth sax, I'm playing synth sax to play the sounds and/or nuances that my 'real' sax cannot reproduce. It's one more tool in the tool box and I feel that I would be foolish not to use synth sax when appropriate for the song.

I have 11 different sax patches that I have on my on-stage wind synth module, and I use most of them. They have different tones (one is a physical model of an alto sax that is made of glass instead of brass). Like guitars, saxophones are capable of producing a wide variety of sounds. Stan Getz sounds nothing like John Coltrane who sounds nothing like Clarence Clemmons etc., etc. Most of my synth sax sounds are closer to the 'universal' sax sound than Getz tone is to Coltrane tone.

MIDI is a very flexible and musical tool. I use it when I need it and I use physical instruments when I need them.

I don't do pre-recorded loops at all though (YMMV). Why? I am a musician and I want to participate in the creative process as much as I can. To me using pre-recorded loops is like painting by number while using instruments I play and/or edit myself (whether they are MIDI or physical) is more like oil painting. I am in complete control of the output.

  • What if I don't like the way the loop plays a note? In MIDI I can change it, in loops I cannot.
  • What if for a particular song I'd like the piano part to be an acoustic piano instead of a Rhodes? In MIDI I can change that, in loops I cannot.
  • What if I want to eliminate the tambourine on a track? In MIDI I can do that, in loops I cannot.
  • What if I want to change that held note to a sforzando followed by a crescendo? In MIDI I can do that, with loops I cannot.
  • What if I want to transpose one instrument up or down an octave so it doesn't 'fight' with another in the mix? In MIDI I can do that, with loops I cannot.
  • What if I want to eliminate a drum roll and put a non-roll measure in without interrupting the decay of the cymbal in the pre-roll measure? In MIDI I can do that, with loops I cannot.
  • What if I want to change the timing of the notes in a strummed or glissed chord? In MIDI I can do that, with loops I cannot.
  • What if I want to change that slow/chorus Leslie speed on a B3 sound to a fast vibrato? You guessed it.
  • There are literally an infinite number of other musically valid things I can do with MIDI that I cannot do with loops - and whey I get done editing and listen, it's rewarding to think "I did that!".

To summarize, there is nothing wrong with MIDI generated synth sounds. They may sound a little different from a physical instrument, but then two similar physical instruments can sound much more different. Physical instruments can do things that the emulative MIDI patch cannot, but then the MIDI patch can do some things that the physical instrument cannot. If the MIDI synth is good, the audience does not care if you are using a MIDI or physical instrument. The editing capabilities of MIDI are light-years greater than the editing of pre-recorded loops.

So for me, I'll play acoustic and synth sax, electric and synth guitar, acoustic and synth flute, plenty of MIDI instruments I cannot play (like trumpet, trombone, harmonica, etc.), MIDI bass exclusively (I even sampled my Faux-Fender-Jazz Bass), and for my backing tracks, good old editable MIDI (including some samples of acoustic instruments that I sampled myself). For my situation I am picking the best tool for the each task at hand.

So I guess I'm a moderate.

Once again YMMV.

Insights and incites by Notes

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

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