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How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide #240568 02/18/14 07:36 PM Off-Topic
Joined: Feb 2005 Posts: 2,646 Kentucky P PgFantastic OP Veteran
OP PgFantastic Veteran P Joined: Feb 2005 Posts: 2,646 Kentucky	I have been wanting to create a lead guitar part using midi and the piano roll on Band in a Box. How can I create a hammer on and pull off sound, and also a slide from one note to another, that sounds realistic? I want to insert the chords and then insert the lead guitar part using midi notes. I can enter notes easily but do not know how to create the above mentioned licks on midi. I have heard some of you guys do amazing things with midi, help appreciated! My Tunes Psalm 57:7 My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide PgFantastic #240584 02/19/14 01:44 AM Off-Topic
Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 3,926 Kennesaw (Atlanta) GA Ryszard Veteran
Ryszard Veteran Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 3,926 Kennesaw (Atlanta) GA	Originally Posted By: PgFantastic I have been wanting to create a lead guitar part using midi and the piano roll on Band in a Box. How can I create a hammer on and pull off sound, and also a slide from one note to another, that sounds realistic? I want to insert the chords and then insert the lead guitar part using midi notes. I can enter notes easily but do not know how to create the above mentioned licks on midi. I have heard some of you guys do amazing things with midi, help appreciated! As far as geekery in GM, you kinda need to think like a Martian. First, there are some sounds that few people know about--like fret noise--which can add realism to otherwise static sounds. Be sure to look through the entire 128-voice sound set to see what is available. You probably know this, but, unless you render the sound to audio, the results are going to vary for each person, depending on their GM sound set. Another GM approach is to use sounds other than what you would expect in certain cases. For instance, for the hammer-on I would use the picked electric bass sound in the appropriate octave for guitar. I recommended experimentation for the pull-off, but it would be different than the hammer. Try upright bass and fingered bass. I once heard a very convincing simulation of Beatle Paul's Hofner bass which consisted of 60% upright bass and 40% acoustic guitar in the same octave as the bass, which gave it both depth and that round-wound sound. I just mention it as an example of thinking outside of the box. Best I've been able to do for a single-note slide was to draw in a pitch curve when I was creating a fretless bass sound. (I did it both with an original piece, and with a transcription of Jaco's rendition of "Donna Lee," which nearly brought me to tears of frustration). It sort of works, depending on the resolution of your mouse and how steady your hand is. You need a MIDI editor in which you can do that--not sure if you can in BIAB/RB. IIRC, I was using Cubase LE at the time. Chords are another matter; I think that would be very difficult to simulate, but hey. You may surprise yourself and us. Hope this gives you a starting point. Richard Last edited by Ryszard; 02/19/14 01:51 AM. "My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide PgFantastic #240597 02/19/14 06:26 AM Off-Topic
Joined: May 2000 Posts: 38,502 Chesapeake, Virginia USA M Mac Veteran
Mac Veteran M Joined: May 2000 Posts: 38,502 Chesapeake, Virginia USA	Step-entry for the thing is a very trying way to try to go about it, and even after long hours of work cannot duplicate what can be done using a MIDI keyboard controller with Pitchbend Wheel, Expression Pedal and simply Recording the part as MIDI in realtime. Even then, it is sometimes a good thing to go back and overdub the Pitchbends at differing parts after resetting the Pitchbend parameter, such that instead of full travel = +/- 2 half steps, the typical default, changing that to a different value in order to have longer or shorter slides can help. As for Hammer-Ons and Pulloffs, the real problem there has more to do with the MIDI synth patch in use, while some are a bit better than others due to having more Velocity layers to choose from, there are likely to still be problems with the Attack of each note in the given Patch, which if a Picked or Plucked guitar example, often don't have any samples without at least a small amplitude pickmark in them. MIDI "Jazz Guitar" patches may work better for this purpose, especially when followed by guitar effects and/or amp simulation plugins to alter the "original" sound of that patch. That said, I'm also of the mindset that certain instruments just should not be attempted using MIDI if your target is a finished recording and this particular instrument choice is one of those. That, or shell out the amount of money it takes to get your hands on the new Yamaha Tyros 5 and record its fantastically realistic modeled sounds as Audio to DAW... --Mac PGmusic FAQs, Tutorials and Updates! click here You must be Audiominds. www.audiominds.com

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide PgFantastic #240616 02/19/14 07:21 AM Off-Topic
Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 24,849 Hamlin NY MarioD Veteran
MarioD Veteran Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 24,849 Hamlin NY	I’m in the same camp as Mac in that getting a realistic guitar sound is not easy. In fact it is impossible if using a GM sound set. As Mac said if you want a realistic sounding MIDI guitar it is going to cost you money. On the software side there are a number of excellent sounding third party guitar patches for Kontakt. These will have guitar articulations assigned to keyswitches. For example press C1 while playing C5 to D6 for a hammer on, press C#1 while playing C5 to D6 for a slide etc. Then add some guitar effects to mask the MIDI like reverb, echo and chorus. But your best approach IMHO is to get a guitarist to play the part. That way you will be guarantied to get a realistic sound. Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers. 64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide PgFantastic #240619 02/19/14 07:29 AM Off-Topic
Joined: May 2000 Posts: 38,502 Chesapeake, Virginia USA M Mac Veteran
Mac Veteran M Joined: May 2000 Posts: 38,502 Chesapeake, Virginia USA	REALTRACKS. While not being able to provide us with the ability to play our own designated riffs and melodies, I have found that using a more realistic MIDI patch to play the designated part and adding in a Realtrack Dobro, Slide Electric or Steel yields the "aura" of the realistic slide guits in there. --Mac PGmusic FAQs, Tutorials and Updates! click here You must be Audiominds. www.audiominds.com

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide PgFantastic #240621 02/19/14 07:41 AM Off-Topic
Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 6,508 Fort Pierce, Florida, U.S.A. Notes Norton Veteran
Notes Norton Veteran Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 6,508 Fort Pierce, Florida, U.S.A.	I too find step entry a very difficult way to make most things sound realistic. For slides, hammer ons and pull offs, I do two things depending on the synthesizer I'm using. If the synth has a good legato mode, just playing the notes for hammer on and pull off will work. But again, that depends on the synth. If not, good, quick use of the pitch bend control works wonders. For slides, if emulating a glass or brass slide, I'll always use pitch bend. Depending on how much I want to slide, I might use the Continuous Controllers to control the pitch bend range so I can slide more than a couple of half steps. Using the CCs can also help with hammer ons and pull offs. If you set your pitch bend range to a half step, you can rapidly move the joystick or pitch bend wheel to the max to get a quicker transition between pitches, making the hammer on more realistic. One more thing, if you export your MIDI and import it into a sequencer, you can just play the first note and then insert the pitch bend at the right time. I've had very good results with this, but it takes a bit of trial and error to get this right. A complete list of continuous controllers and their functions can be found here: http://www.nortonmusic.com/midi_cc.html Insights and incites by Notes Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music https://www.nortonmusic.com 100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove & Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide PgFantastic #240637 02/19/14 08:57 AM Off-Topic
Joined: May 2000 Posts: 38,502 Chesapeake, Virginia USA M Mac Veteran
Mac Veteran M Joined: May 2000 Posts: 38,502 Chesapeake, Virginia USA	Pitchbends on a MIDI keyboard? The Master: PGmusic FAQs, Tutorials and Updates! click here You must be Audiominds. www.audiominds.com

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide PgFantastic #240732 02/19/14 10:22 PM Off-Topic
Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,913 Colorado Springs, CO, USA R rockstar_not Veteran
rockstar_not Veteran R Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,913 Colorado Springs, CO, USA	Imustbenuts, If you send me a link of what you are looking for I'll play the part for you. We can collab and both knock off one of our 14. My Songs, photos, writing,etc. My Sound Cloud

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide Mac #240765 02/20/14 10:17 AM Off-Topic
Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 6,508 Fort Pierce, Florida, U.S.A. Notes Norton Veteran
Notes Norton Veteran Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 6,508 Fort Pierce, Florida, U.S.A.	Originally Posted By: Mac Pitchbends on a MIDI keyboard? The Master: Ray was one of the all time greats. When I was a kid I had almost all his stuff on the ABC Paramont label. I've seen him live a couple of times and he did great shows. The world is better for the fact that he passed this way. I read that Edgar Winter fooled Rolling Stone magazine with his synth solo in Frankenstein. Rolling Stone awarded it one of the 100 top rock guitar solos. I didn't read the Rolling Stone article, so that could be urban legend. And my own contribution (although it's done with a MIDI wind controller instead of a keyboard): http://www.nortonmusic.com/mp3/_oldtimeguitar.mp3 It was recorded live on a gig on an old pre-iPod Archos Juke Box's internal mic so the fidelity isn't the best. The background is BiaB using one of my styles with synth horn lines added near the end of the clip. The MIDI controller is a Yamaha WX5 and the synth is a Yamaha VL70m using the Guitar Hero patch (tweaked by me). I mapped the pitch bend to the reed and used the reed as I would a joystick or wheel on a keyboard synth for both string bend and whammy bar effects. And if you listen, you can even hear where my thumb slipped off the octave key button and then recovered. I am proud to make mistakes on every gig, and equally as proud to cover them up so that most people don't hear them but me. I posted this one in a guitar forum, not telling them I did this on a synth. I got plenty of great compliments, nobody said it sounded like a synth, one person even said it sounded Jeff-Beck-Ish (to me a high praise). After dozens of supportive comments, I came clean, told them I did it on a synth and got even more great comments. Only then did one person come up and say he though something sounded a little funny but he couldn't tell what. Fooling guitarists on a guitar patch is the ultimate test that it can be done. This next one was done on a friend's CD. My friend is an excellent guitarist, but he wanted guitar synth on this cut and asked me if I would play it. It's a first and only take. I wanted it to sound guitar-ish but since he asked for synth guitar I wanted it to sound a bit "synthy" too. Again using the WX5 and VL70m combo but with an aftermarket Les Paul patch that I tweaked a bit. http://www.nortonmusic.com/mp3/_personalchoice.mp3 That's me playing synth guitar (for better or worse). Insights and incites by Notes Last edited by Notes Norton; 02/20/14 10:20 AM. Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music https://www.nortonmusic.com 100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove & Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide PgFantastic #240800 02/20/14 04:56 PM Off-Topic
Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,913 Colorado Springs, CO, USA R rockstar_not Veteran
rockstar_not Veteran R Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,913 Colorado Springs, CO, USA	I would have a hard time finding it, but there was about 6mo-1 year ago a killer set of both acoustic as well as electric guitar VSTi that used samples as well as physical modeling if I recall correctly. They sounded outstanding, complete with hammer ons and pull-offs if I recall correctly. I think I posted a link to them here at PG forums. My Songs, photos, writing,etc. My Sound Cloud

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide PgFantastic #240802 02/20/14 05:00 PM Off-Topic
Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,913 Colorado Springs, CO, USA R rockstar_not Veteran
rockstar_not Veteran R Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,913 Colorado Springs, CO, USA	I couldn't find the thread, but I did find the plugin series - from amplesound.net Watch the videos. Be amazed. In my opinion, these are the absolute best resources for both acoustic and electric guitar soft-instruments for midi response on the market. http://www.amplesound.net/en/pro-pd.asp?id=3 Make sure to watch the one called 'slidesmoother' you'll see what I mean. But then again, I would be willing to do a collab with you for FAWM if your immediate need is one of your 14 songs. I'm scottlake at FAWM. -Scott Last edited by rockstar_not; 02/20/14 05:03 PM. My Songs, photos, writing,etc. My Sound Cloud

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide PgFantastic #240919 02/22/14 12:48 AM Off-Topic
Joined: Feb 2005 Posts: 2,646 Kentucky P PgFantastic OP Veteran
OP PgFantastic Veteran P Joined: Feb 2005 Posts: 2,646 Kentucky	Thanks everyone for lending your expertise! I will put some of the tips to use after FAWM is over, as I know it is a time consuming task to write parts and then make them sound human. Per the suggestions I will hook up my midi keyboard and try to produce some of these. Thanks to all, as always the guys and gals of PG forum are always so willing and knowledgeable to help! My Tunes Psalm 57:7 My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide PgFantastic #241014 02/22/14 03:27 PM Off-Topic
Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 6,508 Fort Pierce, Florida, U.S.A. Notes Norton Veteran
Notes Norton Veteran Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 6,508 Fort Pierce, Florida, U.S.A.	While it is definitely time consuming, it gets quicker with time as your skill level increases. Good luck. And remember, they call it PLAYing music for a reason Insights and incites by Notes Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music https://www.nortonmusic.com 100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove & Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide PgFantastic #241344 02/25/14 06:20 AM Off-Topic
Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 10,942 Middlesex, NC Guitarhacker Veteran
Guitarhacker Veteran Joined: Apr 2009 Posts: 10,942 Middlesex, NC	One thing I have noticed with the specialty VST's. Especially the guitars and the steel guitars with names such as "real strat" and others. There is a huge learning curve and keyboard skills are mandatory. If you're not already halfway proficient on the keys, you will likely have problems replicating the realistic sounds and articulations needed to convince most people that they are hearing a real guitarist. Two handed playing and manipulating of the pitch wheel are required. I picked up a steel guitar VST demo many years back during my search for a reasonable steel guitar sounding synth. I got it working just fine as far as getting sound from it. I believe it was a NI Kontakt compatible 3rd party VST. The bending of the strings and making it sound real.... like there was someone playing who actually knew what they were doing..... yeah, not so much. Then I found BB/RB and ..... problem solved. You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide PgFantastic #241389 02/25/14 11:42 AM Off-Topic
Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 5,163 California Muzic Trax Veteran
Muzic Trax Veteran Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 5,163 California	The Yamaha Keyboards like PSR750 thru Tyros have them built in already. The problem lies with GM being able to "read" the XG data. However, the latest keyboards can also save in wave format right from the keyboard itself. You may want to contact "Seeker" on here (Frank). He has a PSR and is also connected to the best PSR Forum on the net. Maybe they can record the slides and thumps you need? It is very simple to do on one of those keyboards and they sound as realistic as a real guitar. Trax

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide PgFantastic #241394 02/25/14 12:22 PM Off-Topic
Joined: Mar 2004 Posts: 6,725 USA Danny C. Veteran
Danny C. Veteran Joined: Mar 2004 Posts: 6,725 USA	As great as Mr. Charles was this tune really kicks in when the drummer comes in with that back beat on the tom, IMHO. This is truly a great raw performance. I forgot about this one thanks for posting Mac. PS: Robert I did not comment on your question as I feel there is "no way" to get a "realistic" guitar sound from a midi. Again just my opinion. Later, Danny C. www.dannycampo.com https://www.facebook.com/pages/Danny-Campo/379776252109306?skip_nax_wizard=true The More You Drink The Better I Sound

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide PgFantastic #241414 02/25/14 04:32 PM Off-Topic
Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,913 Colorado Springs, CO, USA R rockstar_not Veteran
rockstar_not Veteran R Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 7,913 Colorado Springs, CO, USA	Another master at pitch bends on keys is Chick Corea. However, neither Chick nor in my opinion Ray Charles are demonstrating 'realistic midi guitar slides', great pitch bending notwithstanding. If you take a look/listen to the link I posted from Amplesound - there is at least one example of a multi-fret slide where the note instantiations happening due to the sliding across frets that happens in a real guitar, is happening. IMO, there's a big difference between pitch bending and guitar neck slide simulation. This is a demo of a midi guitar 'slide': https://soundcloud.com/ample-sound/3-2-5-slidesmoother here's another: https://soundcloud.com/ample-sound/3-2-4-sio Again, these are MIDI examples using Amplesound's VSTi engine. In my opinion, this is the most clear demonstration of MIDI guitar slides that sound realistic. For that matter, I believe that this company has the most realistic acoustic and electric guitar MIDI sample/VSTi available, by quite a long shot compared to anything else. The articulations that they have available, including these slides, are quite amazing in my opinion. I've always been of the mindset that to get realistic guitar via MIDI, it had to be done with a real player or loops like realtracks. However, watching/listening to the demos from Amplesound has decreased my strength of opinion in that regard. These are dang close and in some respects better than what you can get out of some local hired-in guitar players - but you had better be really good with your keyboard playing/nuancing with whatever tools Amplesound provides to add in the realism. Here's some electric guitar slides that IMO are pretty danged spot-on: https://soundcloud.com/ample-sound/agg-80s-solo here's some great jazz guitar bends using one of their electric guitar bends - ala Doc Powell and others: https://soundcloud.com/ample-sound/agp-scotts-smooth-jazz-demo No affiliation with this company, but I was just wowed by their midi guitar stuff - slides included. I've heard some pretty convincing bend simulations before, but not slides like this. -Scott Last edited by rockstar_not; 02/25/14 04:41 PM. My Songs, photos, writing,etc. My Sound Cloud

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide PgFantastic #241432 02/25/14 07:58 PM Off-Topic
Joined: Feb 2005 Posts: 2,646 Kentucky P PgFantastic OP Veteran
OP PgFantastic Veteran P Joined: Feb 2005 Posts: 2,646 Kentucky	Thanks everyone, Rockstar you are right those sound pretty amazing to be midi, thanks for sharing! My Tunes Psalm 57:7 My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide PgFantastic #241444 02/25/14 10:22 PM Off-Topic
Joined: Oct 2008 Posts: 8,109 Winston-Salem, NC Pat Marr Veteran
Pat Marr Veteran Joined: Oct 2008 Posts: 8,109 Winston-Salem, NC	some synths have special guitar patches that articulate differently according to velocity (like a hammer on if velocity is higher than some threshold) I've also seen upper bank patches on some synths that do nothing BUT the crazy little sounds you just can't get from a GM guitar patch If you have a hardware synth, explore the upper banks... you'll probably find some interesting solutions. Older Roland modules have a lot of these patches. But, it still takes a lot of patience to build a convincing guitar part that way... (gotta love those Real Tracks!) https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ey71h8ep047758h/AAC12jNM0Hz9Q8zsh5iDeqNHa?dl=0

Re: How Can You Create A realistic midi guitar slide Pat Marr #241456 02/25/14 11:34 PM Off-Topic
Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 3,926 Kennesaw (Atlanta) GA Ryszard Veteran
Ryszard Veteran Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 3,926 Kennesaw (Atlanta) GA	I have heard precisely two keyboard players who could emulate a natural-sounding lead guitar. (I should probably get out more.) However, these were single-note lines with a distorted sound. I never heard an attempt at chords or multistring slides. Propellerhead Reason, a combination soft synth and DAW, has what they call Refills (sound libraries by PH and third parties) with some absolutely amazing Strat and other guitar sounds. But you have to own Reason (~$450 USD) and the appropriate Refills and be able to do those keyboard gestures in order to make it work. Any way you go at it there's a price to pay. "My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."

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Country, & Americana (Sets 483–488):
Our new country & Americana RealTracks deliver a rich collection of acoustic, electric, and roots-inspired styles! We have new country pop (9) with legendary guitarist Brent Mason. There is also a potpourri (14) of bouzouki, guitars, banjo, and more, perfect for adding texture and character to contemporary acoustic arrangements. We’ve added funky country guitar (5) with PG favorite Brent Mason, along with classic pedal steel styles (5) featuring steel great Doug Jernigan. There are more country songwriter styles (8) that provide intimate, rootsy foundations for storytelling and modern Americana writing. Finally, we have “background soloing” acoustic guitar (12) with Brent Mason — simpler, but still very tasty acoustic lines designed to sit beautifully behind vocals or act as a subtle standalone solo part.

Check out all the 202 new RealTracks (in sets 468-488)!

And, if you are looking for more, the 2026 49-PAK (for $49) includes an impressive collection of 20 bonus RealTracks, featuring exciting and inspiring additions to add to your RealTracks library. You'll get new country-rhythm guitar styles from PG Music favorites Johnny Hiland and Brent Mason, along with modern-pop grooves that capture today’s radio-ready sound! There are also new indie-folk styles with guitar, bass, 6-string bass used as a high-chording instrument, acoustic guitar, and banjo. Plus, dedicated "cymbal fills" RealDrums provide an added layer that work very well with low-key folky styles with other percussion.

The 2026 49-PAK is loaded with other great new add-ons as well. Learn more about the 2026 49-PAK!

May 06, 2026

2026 Free Bonus PAK & 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!

With your version 2026 for Mac Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons for FREE! Or upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!

These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!

This Free Bonus PAK includes:

The 2026 RealCombos Booster PAK: -For Pro customers, this includes 27 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles. -For MegaPAK customers, this includes 25 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles. -For UltraPAK customers, this includes 12 new RealStyles.
MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
Playable RealTracks Set 5
RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
iOS Android Band-in-a-Box® App

Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:

20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyle.
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)

Learn more about the Bonus PAK and 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac®!

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