Quote:

The Real Bass and Real Drums are what they are, real. When I play with midi bass and midi drums, it's like playing with a metronome (a little exaggerated). For the jazz players, especially pianists, the real tracks are great. Later, Ray


That depends on the style. If the style is quantized, or done with the old fashioned drum grid, it will sound like a metronome. If the style is entered by playing live, it will sound as live as the player, even if the player is using MIDI instruments to input the style.

If the MIDI style sounds stiff or robotic, it's the fault of the style writer, not MIDI.

All of my styles since the introduction of the "live drums" feature have been done by playing the drums and are not quantized. All the other parts in all of my styles, right back to version 4 of BiaB have been put in via live entry. With one exception: Techno and other dance styles that are supposed to be quantized.

I play the parts live into a sequencer so they have the proper groove (or "feel") and then import snippets into the BiaB StyleMaker and assign the proper masks for that snippet. The result is MIDI instruments with a live feel because they were played live.

It's not MIDIs fault. Any recording done by live musicians with any electronic instrument, whether it is a drum set or synthesizer was done with MIDI. MIDI is only quantized and robotic if it is entered that way or played that way.

Now to make things perfectly clear, PG Music has done some wonderful things with the RTs. I am simply amazed at what they can do with audio loops. But they still are loops and for all practical purposes, un-editable. I am very glad that PG gives us the choice so that the RT people can be happy and the MIDI people can also be happy.

Like most professional musicians that I know, I'm a MIDI guy and my opinions come from that point of view. I stress that there is more than one way to make music, and whether you agree with me or not doesn't make you wrong or right, just different, and different is OK as long as the music comes out.

The RTs have great tone. But what is great tone? Take guitar. Who has the best guitar tone? Hendrix? Slash? Page? Kenny Burrell? Les Paul? Jeff Beck? Wes Montgomery? Duane Eddy? Dick Dale? Joe Satriani? Emily Remler? Randy Bachman? Carlos Montoya? Eddie Van Halen? Eric Gale? Nokie Edwards? Billy Gibbons? Chet Atkins? Carlos Santana? Joe Pass? John Scofield? Eric Clapton? Brad Paisley? Kirk Hammett? Axl Rose? ________? (add whoever you want). And on which guitar/amp/FX setting or what point in their career?

With so many variables, your favorite tone might only be considered the best tone by 1% of the audience. How many people like Page better than Hendrix or Clapton or any of the others? Ask ten people and you will get at least 9 responses. So as far as I'm concerned, as long as your tone is "in the ball park" for the genre of music you are playing, it's going to please the same percentage of the audience as any other tone that is also in the ball park. Tone is more important to the musician than the audience.

When it comes down to it, it's more about expression. After all, how many famous and well loved singers do not have a universally acclaimed perfect voice? Rod Stewart, Stevie Nicks, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Dr. John, and scores of other huge stars have voices that are not considered great voices. But they are great stars because their expressiveness.

So how does the MIDI track give my music more expressive potential than it would with RTs?

By allowing me to do quite a few things that I wouldn't be able to do with RTs, and for the ones that can be done, I'd need a recording studio with similar FX/EQ and other tools, similar microphones, similar instruments, and players who could mimic the style of the player on the RT.

Here are just a few:

  • Extend the intro or ending or create a new one for that particular song (or copy and paste one from one of my intro/ending disks [self-serving plug])

  • Insert "song specific" licks, motifs, or figures. So many songs need them, from "Beethoven's 5th" to "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" to "So What" to "Don't Be Cruel" to "Day Tripper" to "Sunshine Of Your Love" to so many songs right up to the present day - they simply wouldn't be the same song without the musical signature figures - it's an important part of music.

  • Change instruments (that piano part might sound better on a Clav for the song I'm working on)

  • Change individual drum sounds (that ride cymbal would sound better on a cowbell for the song I'm working on)

  • Crescendo (A directive to a performer to smoothly increase the volume of a particular phrase or passage)

  • Diminuendo (A directive to a performer to smoothly decrease the volume of the specific passage of a composition)

  • Accelerando (Gradually accelerating or getting faster)

  • Ritardando (Gradually getting slower)

  • Fermata (notation marking directing the performer or ensemble to sustain the note of a composition affecting all parts and lasting as long as the artistic interpretation of the conductor or performer allows)

  • Manipulate drum rolls, perhaps this roll on bar 8 is too busy, and the roll on bar 32 would be better there

  • Fix awkward notes - they may be musically correct, but they might sound better an octave lower in this particular context

  • and so on and so on.....


Again, there is nothing wrong with RTs, but in my opinion, I can make the music sound better by using MIDI styles and spending a bit of time improving them. And after all, I got into music to play music, and improving them is playing with them. If I wanted to only play recordings, my iPod does that nicely.

Plus it fits in a 700MB and backs up on a flash drive. I don't need a 2TB hard drive to install the program and another 2TB hard drive to make a back up.

It's my way of doing things, and of course, there is more than one way to do it, and YMMV.

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
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