Does anybody have any of their own compositions in MIDI to share?

[mcneilis]

Hi,

Sorry if this has been discussed recently. I couldn't find any posts on what is a newbie question.

I'm waiting on my order of Gold and Gold XP later this week and I don't have too much experience creating specific edits for certain articulations/phrasing in my sequencer (Nuendo) with my MIDI files. I'm looking for anyone who would be kind enough to share maybe an old MIDI file they created with EWQLSO so I can have a look at the basics such as modulation, portamento and just anything else you'd edit in a sequencer.

I've just bought "A Guide to MIDI Orchestration" by Paul Gilreath and I know that will help a lot too but, as I say, I'm interested in examples of MIDI files also.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks,

Michael.

[tyronehowe]

Hello All,

I agree with Michael, a few MIDI files showing how musicians use the various aspects of EWQLSO would be very helpful - and for EWQLSC as well!

[Jayk]

Hey guys. I'm a newbie myself. Check out this post below. It addresses a lot of the things you are looking for (I think).

http://www.soundsonline-forums.com/showthread.php?t=3147

You can also check out this thread although it's a little bit of topic.

http://www.soundsonline-forums.com/showthread.php?t=3606

Let us know if these help and good luck!

Jay

[tyronehowe]

Thanks Jayk

Those threads were interesting and I will definitely be trying the same as you with regards to the Superman stuff!

[Jayk]

I read your other thread with great interest. While I agree about the composer's right to maintain the "coke" formula for their music I absolutely, wholeheartedly agree that EW would do well to provide some form of tutorial/sample files that new folks could use.

Garritan publishes tutorials right on their website and I believe it does more to show the accessibility and capabilities of their program to new and experienced users alike. I'm sure they have increased their market share via sales to "non-expert's" from these efforts.

I've brought this topic up many times in the past (as have many others) and I believe that the general concensus is that EW's effort is better spent on creating great sounds, improved products and updating existing products. Hiring too many staff to write tutorials, etc would start to increase the cost of the programs to everyone. Not a bad business decision.

I only wonder if there is a 3rd party out there that could see a market for tutorials and samples like you are seeking. Maybe if someone is considering it, Doug or Nick can endorse it and have a poll on this site to see how many people would be interested and at what price point? (hint, hint).;)

In the meantime, try the items in those posts - they were, and continue to be, extremely helpful. Good luck and keep us posted!

Jay

[nikolas]

Hi all!

I actually have no problem sharing a couple of my tracks, in midi, but I wish to understand a couple of things first.

Getting a midi file (with up to 16 tracks?) is not much use to you, the way I use it, as I use different midid tracks for every articulation, which results in 80 midi tracks in the end... So this is a no go...

I'm currently in the middle of writing the score to a track I did, so you can have the score if you want, and the articulations for everything used, in notes if you feel that this is what you want.
But I honestly believe that the best way to go, is to just get Gold in your hands, install it and then start playing. Just because I use 18 Vlv butter legato, doesn't mean it's the right thing. And in order to hear it you just have to load them... so it's easier this way... And much more beneficial.

Still if you would like a midi/score file with notes I will do it (no promises though as I am pretty busy at the moment...)

Anyway, do explain and keep on posting, in case I misunderstood something.

Nikolas

[awpmusic]

I agree with Michael, a few MIDI files showing how musicians use the various aspects of EWQLSO would be very helpful - and for EWQLSC as well!

Midi files will not tell you what you want to know! Midi files do not contain information about which articulation files are used.

[nikolas]

Midi files will not tell you what you want to know! Midi files do not contain information about which articulation files are used.
You're right, Andrew, but as I said in my last post, maybe with the help of a page of notes (something like : EH: bars 1-4 New legato 5 staccato and so on), could help.

Of course I don't think that any of us here , was taught with looking at other peoples midi files, nore that it is that difficult to do. All you need is a weekend full of experimenting and good ears.

[tyronehowe]

To awpmusic: You don't even need a page of notes - the MIDI file standard contains a textual part. So it would be easy to add text to say something like this:

First 4 MIDI channels use the patch Strings/10 Cellos/1 Long/F VCS LYR
Next 5 MIDI channels use the patch Brass/2 Trumpets/1 Long/F 2TP SUS
... and so on

Then the file can be completely self-contained. This certainly works in both Cakewalk and Cubase SX3 - no surprise really; it IS part of the MIDI file standard after all. In Cakewalk look at File-Information; in Cubase look at the MIDI info track and choose list edit.

I know that MIDI files are not perfect for this kind of thing, I only said MIDI in the first place because it is a common file format. Native sequencer files would always be preferable.

To Jay: Thank you for your support Jay – appreciated. I must say I am very disheartened about the replies I’ve received on the other thread, especially the ones that prove my original post hadn’t even been read properly and so (some) people have completely misunderstood what I was asking for. I will reply on that thread tomorrow when I have more time.

To nikolas – thank you for your offer, I would like to take you up on that. And of course I realise you have many other commitments before helping newbies on an EW forum! I can wait!

I am really NOT trying to find a learning shortcut by looking at other people’s MIDI files. All I actually asked for was information (and hopefully MIDI files or, even better, Cubase files!) of the demonstration pieces. I am not asking for anyone outside of EW to spend any time on this.

I have listened to the demonstration pieces over and over again, probably 100 times or more. I am still going to learn by playing through the sounds and using my ears and making notes of what I like best. All I thought was that looking at how a “professional” uses Gold would be of great help.

Look at any school, college or University in the land – very few subjects are taught SOLELY by saying “just go and try it” – most are taught by a mixture of worked examples and by saying “NOW go and try it”

If I am in the minority in thinking this then so be it.

As always, many thanks for your replies

All the best,

[awpmusic]

Just for the record - I'm not against helping newbies - I regularly offer what help I can here on the forum - although I would not class myself as an expert by any means. However, I'm less inclined to offer help if I feel people are not making the effort to help themselves.

Look at any school, college or University in the land – very few subjects are taught SOLELY by saying “just go and try it” – most are taught by a mixture of worked examples and by saying “NOW go and try it”

Agreed - but this is a forum and none of the above!

[tyronehowe]

awpmusic said:

However, I'm less inclined to offer help if I feel people are not making the effort to help themselves.

Why do you feel that I am not helping myself? I am spending as much time as I can reading and re-reading the manual - as I do for any new product / device. It is essential!

But as you must know, there’s only so much that can be learnt from a manual; hence my posts on this forum.

On other forums, particular Steinberg, I have been actively answering newbie questions as often as I can. I have not got to that level of offering help on this forum because I only bought the EWQL Gold 3 days ago!

And again, you have misunderstood what I meant. I did NOT mean that this forum is supposed to act like a school, college or University. I was simply pointing out the normal learning process (as offered in schools, colleges and Universities) involves using worked examples as well as self learning. Hence I was just trying to obtain some worked examples from this forum for learning purposes.

After all, if ALL learning were to follow the advice I’m being given here, there would be no need for schools, colleges and Universities; we’d all just sit at home reading the manual! ;)

All the best

[awpmusic]

we’d all just sit at home reading the manual!

As useful as the manual is - there's no substitute for 'hands on' - these products are easy to work with - great sounds come straight out of the box! Just keep loading different articulations till you find one that sounds right for what you are doing - and work away. It took me more than three days to play all the patches - but I was making music straight away. Have a go!!

[nikolas]

Just a note, that in the Disussions forum there is a new thread (with no replies :() entitled "Cubase project and midi files" (or somethig very vlose to that). It is what you wanted I hope. :)

[KevinKauai]

At the risk of seeming to be tooting my own Horn (in 6 or 7 articulartions, even), I would point out that if you are one of those lucky folks who also has Kontakt 2, there is an alternative to KeySwitch instruments (and all those "out of range" notes that I, personally, find confusing). They are called "Instrument Banks" and while I don't think they are the 100% solution [you have to look inside the "MIDI list editor" of your sequencer to see where they are, unlike KeySwitches which appear as the aforementioned "out of range" notes] for me they are far superior to cluttering up my sequencer with the equivalent number of separate MIDI tracks for each separate articulation -- especially if you need to produced a "finished" score.

The tutorial can be found HERE (http://kevintweedy.net/K2T/K2_InstrumentBanks.htm) and is provided completely non-commercially as my way of "sharing" with our community. (There's also a link there to forward you comments, corrections and suggestions.)

:) KevinKauai

[doug hazelrigg]

Kevin

Using Cubase SX3, you can re-assign MIDI channel (and thus, articulation) by selecting the note(s) in question, and open the List Editor and change the channel # (doing it for one note changes it for all the selected notes). The only stipulation is the channel must eb set to "Any". From what I hear, it's even easier in Logic to do this.