What do you use for playing Midi Files??

[SeeU 22]

Hi Guys,

I am new here and fairly new to midi as well. I am a guitar player and I thought the idea of plugging a midi cable into my footcontroller was complicated. I guess us guitarists can be classified as midiots.

I recently took the plunge and purchased Sonar 2.0XL and Gigastudio. One of the main uses I want to get out of this rig is to record percussion/keyboard backing tracks to play with my keyboardless band. It really adds another dimension to a lot of songs. I record the songs and then burn them onto a mini disc and the place a click in the right out and the sequence on the left out.

When I was pissing around with the Edirol VSC that comes with Sonar XL I was very impress with the sounds it contained. After using Sonar for a couplw of weeks I installed giga Studio and Giga piano. After playing with the sounds in giga studio for a while the sounds in the VSC didn't sound all that hot anymore.

What are you guys using for similar purposes?

Are there any really good GM soft synths out there?

Do you guys just route the different tracks different synths, say one for piano, one for drums, etc.

Neil

[davph30]

I use Cubase and play my midi through a Roland jv1010 and use Battery for drums, sounds good to me

[lostdave]

i route my drums to my roland spd-20 and everything else to varying sound modules and soft synths...until i get the right sounds...

Dave

[midiaxe]

I'm a guitar player too! I play with a band using backing tracks. I create backing tracks using Sonar through Roland XP-50 keyboard. Then I record the output of the keyboard to another computer using Soundforge adding click track on the right channel (for stage monitor). I then convert it to mp3 and use a laptop to play the mp3 on the stage (using winamp) for live performance. Hope this helps...

[The Keeper]

I use cubase to create the midi, then take it to the gig and play it from a laptop into a sd35 sound module. I also use minidisc for backup, and if I need any backup vocals for a particular song to make it sound right, eg 'all the small things' - blink 182

[Ralph'e']

wow.. this is all pretty hightec :p

[jezjan]

i use roland SC-88 pro sound module and singer song writer in creating my midis. have not ventured into midi disk yet and you guys have given me some ideas how to do it. So grateful for boards like this in midibuddy. hope to see more pointers from professional users. jmf

[JTAN]

I use a demo copy of SONAR (I'm going to buy it soon). This works great (and its free). You can mute tracks you don't want and make a lot of cool edits.

[letsmix]

Roland XP-60. Definitely the low-tech king for playback, especially of .mid files. It will take them straight from your PC on a floppy and play them, only with better GM sounds than 99% of the computers out there. You can turn the local off and fake playing the keyboard, if you're into the Milli Vanilli thing.

For audio with midi, mp3 players rule. Not only can the cheapest one play almost four sets worth of material, but unlike the MiniDisk, they are truly shock proof, with no moving parts to wear out. The MiniDisk does sound better, but for most live performances, you'll be fine with mP3. People who bring their laptop to a gig just to play back mp3s are true thrillseekers, in my opinion.

I compile the tracks on Pro Tools TDM, or DP3 (Macs rule, too, as everyone should know by now), then create an SD2 or AIFF file with click on the left, audio on the right, monitored (VERY important) through a stage-type main or monitor speaker during mixdown. I then use one of several mp3 utilities to create the mp3s at fairly high quality and voila--instant portable, gigable backing tracks.

[rupe]

I just use the WMA player. I am new to MIDI so is there something better I should use?
I have a guillemot input into the computer.
Any suggestions would be good. Sometimes I hate the actual sounds it plays.

[burtrum]

I use a Roland SC-D70 for mid and audio, it's a usb device and I can record directly to the hard drive, no analog nothing!

[kwells7444]

FL Studio is the BEST!

[alant]

I use a Roland VA5 for live play and Cakewalk for editing certain instruments. That said, I am now considering purchasing Cubase. Is this product easy to use like Cakewalk? I have noticed a number of members referring to it!

[kuerbo]

Just plain old windows media player. It works fine.

[Bladez26]

SonarXL, Edirol Hypercanvas and mastered thru an Extigy onto minidisk. I have a great JVC 3xCD/Minidisc player that's great. I sing and play guitar over the top.

[sebtellier]

Cant beat SB live with a cracking GM soundfont

[blue920]

i just use winamp and download plugins to help it out

[calsonik]

I use windows media player and record them to my Sony mini disc player. Very reliable.

[saxmidiman]

Use cakewalk with Yamaha MU90R Tone Generator for live. It allows me to drop instruments if I want to add a keyboard player or bass player in my duo. Otherwise I'd end up making up thousands of mp3 or CD's to play with.

It also allows my midi to change by guitar and vocal processors as the song goes. It also runs my light show. (Guitar uses midi channel 1, vocals use midi channel 16 and the light show uses midi channel 9).

For at home, I use a yamaha s-yxg soft synth to work out my songs.

[calsonik]

Running a light show with a midi channel is something new to me. Id love to know how that works and what is needed to accomplish this.

[saxmidiman]

All you need is a midi compatible controller. Most controllers use DMX lighting which is new to me. I use a lightronics controller with the appropriate dimmer packs. You can set up to 9 different lighting scenes, and 4 chase scenes. Controller 1 controls the fade rate from 1 scene to another, Controller 2 controls the speed of the chase scenes, Controller 50 controls which light scene is displayed, and Controller 60 controls the chase scene viewed. It's all pretty simple and cool. When I get to my laptop, I'll attach a midi file with the light scenes, vocal effects and guitar effects.

[gugius]

I use some nice GM Sound Fonts (20-100megs). They reproduce rather different overall sounding. So if you pick the right one, MIDI may sound no worse than the real thing! I also use SoftSynths Roland VSC-88 and Yamaha S-YXG50.

[kapilar]

in a two men group (*ggg*) we use to play midi backings with the miditemp mp-44. it comes with an incredible remote control and holds as much files as you like (depends on the hd you plug in) have a lok at their website www.miditemp.de ( http://www.miditemp.de/english/index.html ).

sounds are played from the 64-voice roland mgs-64. its in gs standard and comes in 19" 1 HE.

kapi

[samsational]

I use Cubase or Sonar with the Kontakt VST and use various sound banks, output a mix with click on the left and music on the right and load it on my laptop and play it through WM

[jckillen]

quicktime is about as high-tech as i get

[ramster]

Virtual SoundCanvas by Edirol. Just use it for playing midi's. It has a built in facility for assigning new patches as well as converting to Wav files. Bit pricey but excellent. You really need a meaty processor for it to work properly as well as a minimum of 256mb RAM, preferably 512.

[CyberCat]

Sonar is a great program that allows you to open/play midi files, but it also allows a huge amount of control over them, such as being able to mute tracks, and record new ones.

You can also do other neat thing like add effects, or record your voice.

[johnrowley]

I use Cubase for the sequencing output to a Roland JV880 module and/or use SampleTank within Cubase or Classic Keys by EMU for the Hammond B3 organ sound.

[pullmyfinga]

in a two men group (*ggg*) we use to play midi backings with the miditemp mp-44. it comes with an incredible remote control and holds as much files as you like (depends on the hd you plug in) have a lok at their website www.miditemp.de ( http://www.miditemp.de/english/index.html ).

sounds are played from the 64-voice roland mgs-64. its in gs standard and comes in 19" 1 HE.

kapi

I've just ordered a MIDITEMP Multistation MSX www.miditemp.com - hopefully this will cure all my MIDI/Audio stage needs ..

Cost a pretty penny ... but the specs looks good.

[music_2000]

I use van basco for basic midi and karaoke playback. I create kar. files with a program called karakan and I sequence midi files on a free midi sequencer called jazz++

[Nigel Mulvey]

Hey Pullmyfinga has the msx arrived yet. Let me know how you are getting on with it, I am thinking of getting one myself.

[pullmyfinga]

Mate .. it's awesome .. it's really helped our stageshow to be more streamlined.

I'm happy to answer any questions .. drop me and email - brett (-@-) spectrumproductions.com.au

Hi from Victoria, Australia.

[ckhughes5]

Use Midig for playback, Jazz++ to make changes to the file (lower vocals, tempo, etc)