Progressing from Anvil Studio

I've been using Anvil Studio for a couple of years for very simple midi editing. Recently, I finally managed to sit still in front of my PC and finish notating a composition using Anvil Studio, something I thought I could never had done :) Thereafter I wanted to add an audio (vocal) track to do a demo and that's where I stumbled and decided it's time to find out more..

Now that I've read a bit more, I would like to clarify some doubts. Pls do point out any terminological errors I might have :D My aim is to do a simple demo with vocal and arrangements. This is what I understand from my readings and in the free way cos' I'm not ready to commit to a purchase as yet..

1. Sequence a midi (with Anvil Studio)

2. Mute the vocal melody track (with Anvil Studio) and convert it to wav (with Synthfont)

3. Play the wav and record with vocal (with mike)

Would Step 2 make the sound more real. I don't need it to sound that fantastic at this point. I just need it to sound less synthesized.. Do I need to do more than Step 2?

Lastly, am I suppose to use a mike that reduces noise or one that pick up all the noise and remove them later??

Thanks for reading till this point :laugh:

I'm no expert at this, but I did a few demos of things in the past. Very low quality mind-you, but something at least usable.

To help the quality of Step 2, you must get some good soundfonts, and a few effects as well. While my recordings sound far from real with synthfont, they sound much better than the regular MIDI sounds we all know and love.

For soundfonts, I use these, all of which are free downloadables (though you may have to search for them!)

Florestan Woodwinds (Avoid the Flute and the Clarinet. Only use the Oboe (excellent for something free.) the Bassoon, and the piccolo.)

At the moment, I'm using Unison for Clarinet (AVOID IT'S FLUTE! It is horribly, horribly out of tune.)

For Flutes, I am using either sinfonia36 or Papelmedia's flute. Neither or which are great, but serviceable.

I have yet to find an English Horn (or a good English Horn, should I say.)

For Brass:

Florestan French Horns (You can also use Unisons French Horns, which sound like they already have reverb on them, but I suggest these because they sound more organic.)

JL_Trumpet for Trumpet. It might be a little jazzy sounding, but it still works well in a classical setting.

JL_Trombone for Trombone. Again, it's a little jazzy sounding, but it can work in classical music.

I haven't looked for a Flugelhorn, so I couldn't advise on that.

For Harp:

I suggest Clavinova Harp. With effects, it can sound great.

For Piano:

Most definitely NS_Piano. It is superb. It has a key release sound and everything, and you can also program into your midi pedal sounds. Very cool soundfont.

For Percussion:

Unison, hands down. There are so many styles of drum kits on it. However, if you want an orchestral bass drum, you'll have to do some searching.

For Strings:

Here's where nearly every type of sampler has problems. Good String patches are few in number, great virtually unheard of. Now, I may be biased because I spend so much of my time around a real orchestra, but there is no soundfont that I have ever found to emulate strings well. However, I can rank some in order of what I think are best.

1. Cuerdas ( A little biting attack. You may make one that doesn't bite so much.)

1.5 RolandViennaStrings (Some things are better suited for it, so I switch.)

2. Florestan Strings (Though 2 and 3 are pretty neck and neck to me.)

3. Kurz Strings (needs a lot of effects to work.)

4. Super DXS Orchestra (definitely not my favorite. It's really loud as a negative as well, though that's easily fixed, just an annoyance.

For solo strings... Good Luck. I have a few, but I wouldn't suggest them.

Now, most of these may not be worth much of anything without effects to give your "performance" that extra zing. Here's what I use:

DaSample's GlaceVerb. It's a reverb vst plugin. I use it in individual instrument families first (aviod wet reverb if you do this first. You can add a small bit in your final mix.) and create a final overall reverb. Think of it as the instruments natural reverb, then the halls reverb. If you need help with learning how to use these things in SynthFont, just ask me.

Aneostrophic Room Simulator (spelling is wrong, I know. I'll try to post it when I get back to my old computer.) This adds a nice little ring to your sound, and makes it sound like a room.

H20: Saturation. This is where I'm sure to be disagreed with, but it has at this point and time in my ears felt that if a small amount of saturation is placed upon the string sections, it makes it sound more like a string section. I feel this might be due to the various sounds of a string orchestra from individual players is not as cut and dried as some people that make string samples think.

I use a gater for Harp and sometimes Piano, but only when I feel it is necessary. Some things I feel don't need it while others do.

Now, onto Step 1. When sequencing your MIDI, be sure to use dynamics (and I mean to the teeth.) Since you can't control the dynamics in SynthFont, you are going to have to program your phrasing and whatnot into the MIDI before you put it in SynthFont. Otherwise, your final product may sound a bit like oatmeal, a little plain.

In Step 3, my recordings differed from yours, because since they were just demo recordings, I didn't find any need to use any effects, but I suggest you pick up Audacity. You can use alot of the same effects from SynthFont on your voice.

As for the microphone, again, I wasn't so worried about quality, so I merely had the sound low while I recorded. Another solution might be using headphones while listening to the track. Now, I believe that Audacity allows for you to record a track while another track is playing. I was using WavePad at the time (Which might have it as well, but I'm not sure.) and I decided to use the Line Out recording option to record the playing sound file and the sound from the microphone to the soundfile. Whatever you do, I don't suggest recording the voice without being able to sync it up with the music in real time. You may try to do it afterwards, but it's rare that you'll be able to get it just right.

Well here, you have it, my little guide to makeshift recordings. Tell me if there's something you don't understand, or something you think would work better. I'm still learning this stuff as well.

Good Luck with your recordings!

Hi Calehay,

Thanks for taking time and effort to reply and I really appreciate it :happy:

To help the quality of Step 2, you must get some good soundfonts, and a few effects as well. While my recordings sound far from real with synthfont, they sound much better than the regular MIDI sounds we all know and love.[/b]

I used to love midi till the day I added an audio (vocal) track.. They just sounded like they were from different spaces.. I haven't actually installed Synthfont and I don't really comprehend how soundfonts work. Are they installed on the PC and accessible to all softwares that utilise them? And do I need a compatible sound card?

I have only tried arranging 2 compositions. Not that I truely knew what I was doing.. The first was off pitch and the second had poor chord progression. But I guess I would probably die without drum kits and piano because I do mainly pop composition. I would surely love to try wind instruments though I'm not good at adding them as harmony.. But no strings? Aw..

Now, most of these may not be worth much of anything without effects to give your "performance" that extra zing.

Thanks for pointing that out! I haven't read about that yet.

In Step 3, my recordings differed from yours, because since they were just demo recordings, I didn't find any need to use any effects, but I suggest you pick up Audacity. You can use alot of the same effects from SynthFont on your voice.

Yes I will give it a try once I upgrade my PC RAM. Do you know what is the function that lowers my pitch? I think I would find that useful and faster than begging my guy friends :shifty:

As for the microphone, again, I wasn't so worried about quality, so I merely had the sound low while I recorded. Another solution might be using headphones while listening to the track. Now, I believe that Audacity allows for you to record a track while another track is playing. I was using WavePad at the time (Which might have it as well, but I'm not sure.) and I decided to use the Line Out recording option to record the playing sound file and the sound from the microphone to the soundfile. Whatever you do, I don't suggest recording the voice without being able to sync it up with the music in real time. You may try to do it afterwards, but it's rare that you'll be able to get it just right.

Do you mean sync as in the timing or that the audio and instrumental tracks should sound like they are "merged" together? I think recording software will not be a problem. I had used Creative Wave Studio 9 years back to "record" parts of songs from CD (for innocent preview :) )

Soundfonts are a type of audio file created by the people who make sound blaster cards. It is originally meant for use only through those cards. And with it, you can use a soundfont to replace the standard MIDI files completely. Here's a few more details about it: http://soundblaster.com/soundfont/

Now, SynthFont is an emulator which allows any sound card to play soundfonts. It also has some cool features that you otherwuse wouldn't be able to access within normal use like VST effects and whatnot. It also comes with Viena (which is not Vienna) which is an emulator for the soundblaster program for modifying Soundfonts.

SynthFont comes with one soundfont file, which is pretty bad. You'll have to find most of them on the web. Try www.sf2midi.com and HammerSound to find some good ones. Sadly, most of the time it's trial and error (and some of these files are huge. It's not fun when you're a dialup user.) It will usually come as a packed .sfark file. You will need a program like sfpack to unpack them. The unpacked soundfont will have the extension .sf2

Since you haven't used SynthFont yet, it might (definitely) seem a little odd when you first open it up. I suggest playing around with some MIDIs first. After a while, it will become pretty intuitive. Just remember where you install your effects, and it should be pretty easy.

By sync, I do mean the timing. I just think it's easier to layer if at all possible so that you do have to move tracks to get one or the other at the right time.

As for lowering the voice, I don't think you will be able to successfully lower yourself an octave without some odd sounds. There will definitely be a function for changing pitch (it's pretty much a standard in all audio software it seems.) but to keep the same speed, the program has to do some adjusting to the sound. Audacity may be good at it though, you should give it a shot.

Now, SynthFont is an emulator which allows any sound card to play soundfonts. It also has some cool features that you otherwuse wouldn't be able to access within normal use like VST effects and whatnot. It also comes with Viena (which is not Vienna) which is an emulator for the soundblaster program for modifying Soundfonts.[/b]

I have Vienna for 9 years. It came with a sound blaster bundle. I just didn't know I'll need it one day ;)

By sync, I do mean the timing. I just think it's easier to layer if at all possible so that you do have to move tracks to get one or the other at the right time.

As for lowering the voice, I don't think you will be able to successfully lower yourself an octave without some odd sounds. There will definitely be a function for changing pitch (it's pretty much a standard in all audio software it seems.) but to keep the same speed, the program has to do some adjusting to the sound. Audacity may be good at it though, you should give it a shot.

Btw, is it possible to change tempo within a midi track?

You'll have to do it with Anvil Studio. SynthFont allows for the speed of the entire midi to be changed, but not certain sections.

I couldn't figure out how. I tried to selecting a portion to change the tempo but I didn't hear any difference

I just downloaded Anvil Studio... It seems that you have to buy some stupid add on just to change the tempo in song. I suggest that you pick up NoteWorthy Composer (avoid its sequel) It will allow you to do tempo changes in the midis you've already created.

I see.. I'll work on my budget then. Thanks :P

Like I've been saying on other bits of the board - I'd keep an eye on REAPER - there isn't much in the way of MIDI editing at the moment (you can add any number of VSTis (of which there many are soundfont players) but you can record, edit, change tempo, all sorts. All for free. There's a new version every day, too, pretty much so I'd keep looking. Staff view might not be there for a while. though.