I want to export a guitar track as midi so that I can use it in Ableton. However the track is currently a RealTrack. I have been able to force a RealDrum track to midi and I thought I might be able to do the same with my Guitar track. It seems that I can select a midi patch, but this patch does does not become active, it's almost as if BIAB is ignoring it.
If the track has Realcharts -- this will be seen by a line under the track name on the upper, horizontal track display (i.e not the mixer) -- then you can export it as MIDI.
To do this, drag the track to the MID section of the Dropbox. The file is then found under \bb\dragdrop. This folder can also be accessed by right click on on the Dropbox.
The reason you can force a real drums to midi is because there is an alterative midi drum track available. This is not the case with realtracks they are Audio Some realtracks have a midi transcription for them (realcharts as Mat says) but these are only approximate and are for providing notation. The midi data from these tracks is not normally good enough to play as a midi voice and will lack a lot of finer detail and just be the bare notes without expression or effects. The possible exception to this is the piano track which is often made by a special type of piano that both plays acoustically and produces midi data stream at the same time, from its special key bed.
There are third part programs that claim to be able to produce midi for audio But unless we are dealing with single instrument audio don’t expect good results, and then it will be not much more than just note data suitable for simple notation. You can’t expect to unmake a cake and get the separate ingredients out as separate midi voices from a audio recording of a big band or orchestra. How would it know what note went with what midi instrument for a start? So don’t go there and waste your money, Just my thoughts, Mike
There are third part programs that claim to be able to produce midi for audio But unless we are dealing with single instrument audio don’t expect good results, and then it will be not much more than just note data suitable for simple notation. You can’t expect to unmake a cake and get the separate ingredients out as separate midi voices from a audio recording of a big band or orchestra. How would it know what note went with what midi instrument for a start? So don’t go there and waste your money, Just my thoughts, Mike
Mike, I agree with that statement if you are talking about horn lines. You will loose all of the nuances of those lines that you must reconstruct using CCs and that can be very time consuming. But it can be done if need be: As an example of why you would do that would be to change a RT sax to a MIDI flute or if you wanted the RT to play your melody. Been there - done that.
But if the guitar track is a rhythm track then Melodyne Editor does an excellent job of transcribing polyphonic audio to MIDI. I have done it when things needed to be changed, like a C to a Cm or a C to a C# chord. I have also done it to clone an audio track to a MIDI track. Converting an audio finger picking guitar track to a MIDI zither track and playing both tracks simultaneously can add some very interesting parts.
Converting audio to MIDI can be a very trying experience. I have used many different programs with little success but Melodyne Editor is absolutely the best that I have ever used.
Note I do not work for Melodyne.
Last edited by MarioD; 02/14/2004:17 AM.
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OK, thank your the information. I did have a feeling that because the RealTracks were pure audio then I would no have midi available. So, I'm guessing I will need to change the style to one where the track IS midi.
... So, I'm guessing I will need to change the style to one where the track IS midi.
Isn't it possible to just change the track to a MIDI track, no need to change the actual style, just the track?
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As mentioned above, the guitar Realtrack you are using may have MIDI attached to it in the form of a Realchart. If it does, that will give you the MIDI track you need (as I explain above).
If there is no Realchart attached to the guitar track you are using, then you would need to use Melodyne (or equivalent) to interpret audio as MIDI.
Regards, Noel
P.S. If you want to save all Realcharts in a song as a single, multichannel MIDI file, this option is available under "Options | Preferences | Realtracks". It is off by default.
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