Originally Posted By: Notes Norton
I have extracted MIDI from sheet music, and wasn't happy with the results.

It scanned with minimal errors, but the music was stiff, quantized with every note at exactly the same velocity. It was like step-entering a song.

If that is all you want, scanning is for you. If you want the computer to play the music you scanned, you may be in for a disappointment.

In most forms of music, we don't play the notes exactly where they appear in the notation. We rush some, drag some, in order to get a groove. In the melody, we may rush the beginning of a phrase and drag the end for expressive purposes, or vice-versa.

We don't play every note at the same volume, either. Imagine talking to someone, making sure each syllable of each word is exactly as loud (or soft) as all the others. It'll sound like a 1970s speech robot.

For me, I find it better to play the notes into a sequencer. That way I get the groove and volume (velocity) right. If I hit a clunker of a bad note, I just keep on going. Fixing a wrong note in MIDI is easier than injecting life over a quantized, scanned or step-entered piece of music.

I'm not trying to discourage you, just making you aware of a possible pitfall.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫



Great advice!

However, in a DAW like Cakewalk or Cubase that has extensive MIDI editing capabilities, one can achieve passable results. It is still a lot of work. Far from a magic "push this button" solution, but doable.

Byron Dickens

BIAB. CbB. Mixbus 32C 8 HP Envy. Intel core i7. 16GB RAM W10. Focusrite Scarlett 18i 20. Various instruments played with varying degrees of proficiency.

https://soundcloud.com/athanorsoundlabs