Espozo wrote:
93143 wrote:
MP3 files are even easier to make
I should have said compose, because I have no idea how you'd actually make a song with an MP3.
Okay, perhaps I misspoke there.
An MP3 (or any other audio format with PCM output) is just a recording. You can use microphones, or hardware or software synthesizers of any description, or samples recorded by someone else. You can arrange things manually in an audio editor or a DAW software, or you can trigger and shape things with MIDI, or you can use proprietary automation and sequencing features in the software you're using. Or you can use an old-school mixing desk and magnetic tape, and just digitize the master. You can add hardware or software effects to individual components, or bunches of components, or the whole mix. Or do the whole thing live through a stereo mic and don't even bother processing it. It doesn't matter how you do it, as long as the result sounds the way you want it to. If you really want to, you can just record the Windows synth playing a MIDI file and compress it as an MP3 - I'm not at all sure nobody has done this, and I do know for a fact that at least one version of TIE Fighter had some CD audio that was just the original MIDI soundtrack recorded through an AWE card.
With MIDI, you can generally just record it with a keyboard, but sometimes it requires extra editing to get the performance you want (the advantage is that you
can easily just tweak stuff, fix wrong notes, adjust timing, etc.). Or perhaps one might use an instrument other than a keyboard to get the required data without an inordinate amount of messing around; for instance, MIDI guitars are a thing. Software exists that allows you to notate music and have the computer play it via MIDI, or export a MIDI file. Basically the problem with using MIDI for distribution is that it's limited to the real-time synthesis capability of the target platform, which is often uninspiring...
...
I was really into computer-generated music a while back (actually I kinda still am, but I'm too busy most of the time). Not being a composer, I tended to take other people's MIDI files as my starting point. For example, I found
this (NB: playing this file can change the media player's output level in the Windows mixer, so other stuff plays super quiet for no good reason) on the net and liked it, so I used a bunch of samples and effects and custom programming to turn it into
this (some bits are inspired by
the original). I'd say it turned out pretty well considering it was my first, and so far only, serious attempt at metal; there are a few things I'd change but I overwrote the Cubase file...
In 2005 I recorded a piano sample set from an old, unmaintained upright in the basement I was renting with my sister. The sample preparation took forever and the programming is still not done, but I have a working prototype that's sort of playable. I've tested it by running MIDI scans of old piano rolls through it.
This is what Punchinello sounds like on a real player piano.
This is what it sounds like on the alpha prototype of the Nearly Upright.