Expression in Instrumental Midi

[Chado6580]

Hello. I'm new to composing, but it is something I have developed interest in.

It seems all/most of the sequencer programs allow me to easily record a melody & harmonies through my electronic keyboard.

I use Soundfonts to play the melody I've recorded with the instrument I select. (I love the song of strings, horns, & solo wind instruments). However, many times these musical lines end up sounding expressionless and computer generated (well, duh, cause they are, right?)

But then I hear incredibly powerful, surging songs produced from Yanni. And melodic flow by Scott Peeples. And cool syncopation by Enya. And solo instruments that convey so much emotion...
And I wonder how...

Sure, instruments that I can select can have a computer generated vibrato, but how do I do with the music, what I can hear in my head?

I want to be able to easily add emphasis to a note. I want vibrato that actually fades when a note is held. I want to be able to hit the note powerfully, then instantly back down, then surge back up, maybe sliding to the next note in the melody during this crescendo. The abilty to slide to notes! This adds so much more to the music. I can hear what I want in my head, and half the time I can sing it, so how do I write it?. Programs have so many advanced effects now a days! What about the simple ones! Like accent, staccato, and glissando? In non-music terms, I want to produce music where the melody I input can soar and slide. And without having to tweak with 1,000 advanced numeric parameters before I get the desired sound and that I want!!! With today's technology, is this so hard to find?

If you have any suggestions for me, please let me know.
Your help is much appreciated!

Thanks!

[ZelRiptha]

I don't know of an easy way to do what you're describing. But many of those effects can be achieved through MIDI, depending on the instructions available to your sound module.


Accent is a combination of note volume, note length, and instrument intonation (which is sound module dependent).
Vibrato can possibly be controlled through modulation (cc01) and sound module parameters (yes, "having to tweak with 1,000 advanced numeric parameters", sorry.)
Dynamics can be controlled using expression (cc11) for some of what you describe. Volume (cc07) could also be used, but I prefer to reserve that for balancing the mix.
Glissando and melodic effects are possible using the pitch wheel, but of course must be manually entered and edited.


I'm afraid unless there are some sophisticated pieces of software that I'm unaware of that the "having to tweak with 1,000 advanced numeric parameters" approach is still the best one available to a digital composer.

Perhaps someone will post something to dispute that. I hope I'm wrong. :)

[fidelio]

Guitar Pro can do the following to midi notes (it's a matter of pressing couple of buttons):

- Bend and twist any way you want it
- Slide from above, from below
- Legato slide
- Vibrato & Thrill
- Accentuate
- Make separate strings resonate with different lengths of time, for example, strings 5, ,6 can be made to resonate longer than the other strings.