VERY new to MIDI - help

alwayslearning

alwayslearning

Well-known member
Can someone steer me to a good discussion for a rank beginner in midi? I have a midi keyboard and a midi card in my 'puter. I have Sound Forge 7.0, Audition 1.5 on a PC. I have zero experience. I have read about midi and understand some principles, but I think that I need some software? Cubase? Cakewalk? Are there free trial versions of these programs? Do I need to have one of them to get started?
I am not, at this point, looking to compose actual songs, per se, but for now, simply to create "sounds" via chords, etc. for scenes in my video work. I want to get to a point over the next two years where I can have midi be a significant part of my studio set up. My purpose in this is largely to avoid copyright/royalty issues by making my own. Eventually, maybe, I'll be able to sell rights to use my stuff for some added income. That is not a goal at this point though.

Thanks,
Larry
 
Yes, you will need some kind of midi sequencing software. Cubase and Cakewalk Sonar are two really good choices.

Cakewalk has a demo version of Sonar 6 on their website. Don't know if Steinberg has a demo of Cubase though.

Midi editing in Cubase is a little more intuitive (I think) although Sonar 6 is very good for midi as well. I have Cubase SX and Sonar 6 and have almost stopped using Cubase completely.

Head to head Sonar 6 against Cubase 4, I think Sonar comes out on top. Oh yeah, plus Sonar is like half the price of Cubase too.

Just my thoughts. Hope that helps!

-Jon

P.S. What kind of midi controller/ soundcard are you using?
 
I have a Echo miamidi card. My keyboard is "general instruments" or something like that. It was only a hundred bucks but had midi i/o and will hopefully get me started.

I found Sonar 5.0.1 as a demo on http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/kb/kb2005298.asp

It is 54MB d/l. Is that what I need? I don't have a very fast internet connection.

Thanks for replying .....

Larry
 
Ok, I started it d/l in case that is what I need. It can do it in the background.

I'm wondering, once I get some sequencer software, if I play something on my keyboard (61 key), will the software just "see" what I am playing the same as if I was importing video into my premiere pro or audio into my audtion? What will midi data look like on a track? Will there be some sort of a waveform?

Larry
 
http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/kb/kb20061101.asp is the link to the sonar 6 demo. The demo contains only the PSYN II midi instrument, however the full version contains many more synths. You'll need to patch your midi device through a software synthesizer (PSYN II) for example. Once you record the data it will appear as a bunch of lines on a grid. The height of each note representing the pitch and the length representing the duration. Piano Roll view will give a keyboard off to the side to show the pitch in relation to keyboard keys. After you record the data you still will be able to edit it (fix timing, wrong note, duration imperfections). The help file should contain all the imformation you need to set up a midi recording. If I remember correctly it even has a walkthrough on setting up a midi device and track for recording. I forgot to mention in my earlier post that you'll probably want to get some additional softsynths in addition to the sequencer. Depending on what kind of sounds you want to record.

For orchestral check out East West Quantum Leap's Symphonic Orchestra. I have the silver edition and find it to be plenty.

For more ambient/electronic check out anything from Native Instruments. M-Audio I believe also has some good models of classic synths.

Lastly, a google search for "free soft synths" should yield a plethera of results for soft synths to get started with.

Hope that helps.

-Jon
 
This is exactly the type of help I was hoping for! Thanks much for your patience with a newbie.

The 54 MB thing I mentioned is nearly done d/l. Will that be what I want to try and then some?

As I start to get my feet wet in this, I will likely start to know what questions to ask. Right now I'm fumbling in the dark, so to speak.

Larry
 
Yep. You should be able to do what you want and more with that download. PM me if you need any more help or have any more questions.

Good luck with your midi setup!

-Jon
 
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