I'm mostly MIDI.

Why?

With MIDI I can edit the very good output of BiaB, and turn it into something I can use on the gig. The RTs are nice, but in the business of live performance, BIAB is not quite ready to outshine my competition.

There are so many edits you can do with MIDI that you can't with the RealTracks or any other prerecorded audio. Things like: Custom intros/endings - add song specific figures - change drum instruments - change instrument sounds - change chord inversions to feed a note to the singer - exaggerate or change the groove - custom kicks/fills - and so much, much, more.

As an auto-accompaniment app, BiaB is simple the best. But with some edits, you can take the best auto-accompaniment output and make it even better. Editing BiaB can make it more expressive.

As a lifetime pro musician, I've learned that tone is great, but expression is much more important. If tone was most important, singers like Dr. John, Stevie Nicks, John Lennon and so many others would have never been stars. And what is good tone anyway? Take guitar, is it Hendrix? Jeff Beck? Slash? Clapton? Terry Kath? Django? Joe Pass? Charlie Christian? Kenny Burrell? And on which guitar?

I have an array of hardware synths and sound modules with thousands of voices. I'd say they are over 90% as good as the "real thing", and with the editing capabilities, I truly believe I can make the song better than the RTs and overcome that 10% difference.

Of course, that's not for everyone. I've been editing MIDI since it first came out. It's a skill, like learning a new instrument. If I just wanted plug-and-play, I might prefer RTs for some songs and MIDI for others, depending on the style.

As always, there is more than one right way to make music, this is just my way.


Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Bob "Notes" Norton smile 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