MIDI Talk

[TheInvisibleDan]

I thought about posting this in "Guitar Talk", but then, why not dedicate a thread to those who use MIDI to make music?

I'm in the process of upgrading my "midi gear". I just ordered an Evolution 49 key midi controller from Musicians Friend, in anticipation of some new musical adventures.

I'm looking forward to taking advantage of sound patches outside of my onboard synth chip on the old Soundblaster. It's quite exciting that one can play a virtual Mellotron, Farfisa, Hammond and even "conduct" a symphony orchestra through the magic of software synths and sound banks.

In any event, I've much to learn with MIDI programming. I have some limited experience messing around with MIDI over the years, through a notation program and a cheap MIDI keyboard.

I heard "Anvil" was a good program for composing in MIDI, and very easy to use. Does anyone here have experience with this prog, or any suggestions for decent, easy-to-use Midi progs - particularly ones which allows one to easily mixdown both audio and midi files?

Danny

Edited September 17, 2007 by TheInvisibleDan

[What The Hey]

I thought about posting this in "Guitar Talk", but then, why not dedicate a thread to those who use MIDI to make music?

I'm in the process of upgrading my "midi gear". I just ordered an Evolution 49 key midi controller from Musicians Friend, in anticipation of some new musical adventures.

I'm looking forward to taking advantage of sound patches outside of my onboard synth chip on the old Soundblaster. It's quite exciting that one can play a virtual Mellotron, Farfisa, Hammond and even "conduct" a symphony orchestra through the magic of software synths and sound banks.

In any event, I've much to learn with MIDI programming. I have some limited experience messing around with MIDI over the years, through a notation program and a cheap MIDI keyboard.

I heard "Anvil" was a good program for composing in MIDI, and very easy to use. Does anyone here have experience with this prog, or any suggestions for decent, easy-to-use Midi progs - particularly ones which allows one to easily mixdown both audio and midi files?

Danny

I've used both Cakewalk and Sonar. Sonar also records analog audio (wave files, .wav) as well as midi (.mid) files, so you can record vocals, guitar, or any other non-midi instrument and mix it along with your midi instrument recording(s).

[TheInvisibleDan]

What a difference a "velocity-sensitive" keyboard makes.

My sound card at the moment is an old SB Aew64 with the wavetable synth, but it's like hearing that for

the first time through this controller enabling more"hands-on" expression.

I've been hopping back and forth between Anvil and Cakewalk the past 2 nights.

Anvil is an excellent MIDI tutorial program, which in turn seems to make Cakewalk more

easier for me to work with.

Looking forward to learning more how to set up additional patch libraries so I can tap

away at my Mellotron samples.

Danny