I only use MIDI tracks.

I do some songs with the signature licks and some songs completely my own arrangement, and others somewhere in between. However, I can ALWAYS produce a better MIDI product than those RTs.

MIDI is not cheesy, MIDI has no sound at all, most post-MIDI pop music you hear on the radio is made with some (and in some cases possibly all) MIDI instruments, only the sound card in your computer and cheap synthesizers are cheesy.

Some of those RT parts sound like a lame Holiday Inn band to me, others sound pretty good, but they are all pretty much non-editable. With MIDI I can
  • Put a real ending on them and if I want, a held chord with a sfz and swell before fading out
  • Put a real introduction on the song
  • Put song specific licks or put a non-song specific lick on the song that might be able to enhance the song
  • Put rhythmic kicks that greatly enhance the exprssiveness of the music and keep it from sounding like boring blah
  • For specific songs I can manipulate the volumes of individual drum sounds - for example, pump up the snare, tone down the cymbals, etc. etc.
  • Change the drum sound, for example on a Latin Rock tune I might want to substitute cowbell for ride cymbal, for a hard rock song I might want to use a different snare, or even eliminate a drum instrument
  • I might want to exaggerate the groove by putting the 2 and 4 beats (in 4/4 time) ahead of behind the beat
  • Change the instument, change that acou piano into a Rhodes or guitar, thange the guitar into a clav, change the sax section to an organ, with MIDI the choices are endless
  • Expressive devices impossible to do in BiaB correctly: crescendo
  • Expressive devices impossible to do in BiaB correctly: diminuendo
  • Expressive devices impossible to do in BiaB correctly: accelerando
  • Expressive devices impossible to do in BiaB correctly: ridardando
  • Expressive devices impossible to do in BiaB correctly: fermata
  • Expressive devices impossible to do in BiaB correctly: sforzando
  • I can re-arrange, add, or eliminate the drum rolls with a few mouse moves
You can't do these things with Audio Loops

All in all I can get a MUCH more expressive arrangement out of MIDI than I can with the RTs (perhaps this is the reason why most professional musicians I know prefer MIDI to loops).

Granted the tone of the RTs might be slightly better than a pro-quality sound module, but for the listening public, expression is MUCH more important than tone. That's why singers with poor voices can sell so many records (think Dr. John, Stevie Nicks, Rod Stewart, John Lennon, Blossom Dearie and so on).

And what's good tone anyway? Take guitars. Ask 100 different listeners and you might get 90 different answers, including Slash, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Gale, Jim Hall, Carlos Montoya, Duane Allman, Joe Pass, Kenny Burrell, Joe Walsh, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Eddie VanHalen, Johnny A, Ritchie Blackmore, Steve Howe, Dimebag, Esteban, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Don Felder, Carlos Santana, Chet Atkins, Adrian Belew, Chuck Berry, Wyclef Jean, Brad Paisley, Randy Bachman, Martin Barre, Larry Carlton, Dick Dale, Carl Wilson, Tom DeLonge, Peter Green, Rick Derringer, Emily Remler, Duane Eddy, Robert Fripp, Billy Gibbons, Jay Graydon, Kirk Hammett, Stanley Jordan, Tony Iommi, Elmore James, and I could go on and on, you get the idea.

And don't get me started on saxophonists. Play John Coltrane and Stan Getz to a causal listener and most people will think they are playing different instruments.

As long as the tone is in the ball-park for the kind of music you are playing, it's OK as long as the expression is there - if the tone is perfect and the expression isn't there, the music will reek.
CONCLUSION:

Since the ability to edit MIDI tracks can produce a MUCH more expressive song than audio loops, as long as you have a decent synthesizer, MIDI is better.


Insights and incites by Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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