PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic New gig last night - first question - "Are you doing karaoke?"

Come on John. This post was not free advertising, I didn't mention my own products nor the products the duo we got the job from uses. Because I sell products does that disqualify me from participation in a music discussion? If so, everybody on the board who has ever sold a song or played a gig should also be disqualified as they make money in the music industry as well.

I placed the tip as a help to other backing track gigging musicians. Perhaps I shouldn't be so helpful?

I've talked about my microphone choices, my speaker choices, my custom made saxophone, my guitar choice, my sonic maximizer, and lots of other musical subjects here. I've shared gear and performance tips and tricks with others, and I've learned a lot from the tips and tricks others have posted here. I thought that's what music forums were all about. Why is it that this is any different just because I sell MIDI styles? It's all music, isn't it? And if you prefer any other way of making music, let us know about it, perhaps I can glean a tip or two from you.

I'm a big supporter of BiaB. I loved BiaB before I started writing styles for it. In fact, I started writing styles for BiaB because I love it. I tried writing styles for other auto-accompaniment software apps (who I will not mention) but they didn't have the musicality in their output so the end product didn't turn me on. So I dropped them. BiaB is simply the best out here.

Google Karaoke tracks and you will hear a bunch of them. Recordings of songs, similar to the record, complete with background vocals. Sort of a Music-Minus-One approach. They sound great, pretty much like the recording, although a trained ear can hear insignificant differences. I guess the untrained ear can hear that they are Karaoke too - perhaps because they sound too much like the original recording - I don't know for sure.

You say you think MIDI will die a slow death. You have a right to your opinion.

Personally, I doubt MIDI will die a slow death, as it hasn't even reached it's potential yet. Virtually every modern synthesizer whether it is a digital piano, b-3 clone, jupiter 80, tyros, Oasys, Motif, or whatever has MIDI under the hood. These instruments aren't going away anytime soon.

And what about those soft synths I read about in Keyboard and EM magazines? Are they not controlled by MIDI?

And what about BiaB, isn't MIDI at the core of it's workings?

And what about Pro Tools, Sonar, Cubase and other DAWs, isn't MIDI at their core, controlling everything?

It's more likely that MIDI will become the core controller for even more inventive musical applications in the future. At least that's the way I see it.

Of course, something better may come along to replace MIDI, but I don't see that happening any time in the near future. There is still room for development in MIDI, there are unused controllers waiting for an application and also manufacturer specific controllers dedicated for whatever the synth maker wants to use them for.

Plus MIDI was a rare cooperation between competing synthesizer manufacturers. Something that they all decided would be for the good of the industry, and it turns out that it was very good for the industry. I don't see that happening again unless there becomes a great need for it.

So saying MIDI will die a slow death will say that synthesizers will also die a slow death. I don't agree and I hope you are wrong.

But to quote something I heard on the radio (and found unintentionally humorous), "It's terribly difficult to make predictions --- especially about the future."