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Topic: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic? (Read 45422 times) previous topic - next topic

How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

For some time now I've been using NWC to make CDs for my wife to use to accompany the congregational singing at a small ladies' fellowship group she runs.  The music is often hymns and nearly always an SATB arrangement.

I enter the notes in NWC 2.1 (I've recently upgraded from version 1.75) using the Acoustic Grand Piano as the instrument.  I export the file as midi before using "Direct MIDI to MP3 Converter" by Pistonsoft to convert the midi file to an mp3 file.  Finally I open the mp3s in MS Windows Media Player & burn them to an audio CD.

The problem I'm having is that the music sounds rather "clunky" & I'm wanting to produce something that sounds less mechanical & more hand played.  I've experimented with a few things as can be seen in the attached file.

1  Raw SATB  - copied straight from the hymn book
2  Slurs - this is a waste of time as they have no effect on the midi (or mp3) file
3  Extended (tied) Hamony & Bass Notes - this gives some improvement
4  Additional Long Bass - this gives a slight improvement
5  Sustain Pedal - this gives a slight improvement
6  Harmony Notes Offset & Extended Bass - this is the best I've come up with to date
7  "Legato" Performance Style - this gives a slight improvement

I'm hoping that someone can make some other helpful suggestions.  I really don't want to have to sit down & write new arrangements from scratch.  

Once I get this "clunky" issue I'll add dynamics which I'm sure will also improve the sound of the final "product".

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #1 –
G'day Mark,
I'd take a slightly different approach...

Rather than exporting a MIDI which will tend to lose some important information, I'd play back using NWC and record the output using Audacity.  Export from Audacity to a .wav file and burn that to CD.

One really important thing to note:  The quality of your MIDI synth will affect the result.  For example, if you are using the standard Windows GS Wavetable synth then you WILL get some very clunky sounds.  It is a Roland synth licenced by m$ for Windows 3(?) and it has never been upgraded.

Try to obtain a better synth, or a sound card/VSThost setup that can use soundfonts.  Sound cards that use soundfonts are pretty much limited to most (but not all) Creative sound cards.  Otherwise, if you don't mind a little experimenting I've written a very basic intro to VST with a working example that you might be interested in.

Available from the Scripto:
http://nwc-scriptorium.org/helpful.html#Explanations
Direct link:
http://nwc-scriptorium.org/helpful/vstfdum.pdf

For most hymns, a legato style does seem to give a more acceptable result.  The sustain pedal implementation doesn't hurt either, and playing with the orchestration a little and adding long bass tones are, as you have found, beneficial too, at least in most cases.
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #2 –
PMFJI (as I don't post here too often, but lurk a lot <grin>);

If you decide to go the soundfont route, my own custom soundfont has an extremely respectable grand piano included with it (the samples for the grand piano make up 8 megabytes of the entire soundfont).

Anyhow, here's a message thread that I started here in the forums last year with more info about the soundfont:

my.noteworthysoftware.com/?topic=7563.0

...and here is the grand piano included in the soundfont in action (a little composition of mine from eons ago; mostly improvised, at the time):

jasonwilliams400com[dot]startlogic[dot]com/snor/weeds/Weeds_Music/Aspen's_Song_Album/Track_13_Ramblings_of_a_Non-Pianist_(Opus_2).mp3


(P.S. Sorry about the "[dot]"s, I couldn't post the link)


If all else fails, simply Google for "weeds general midi soundfont v3.0"... you'll find it all over the Internet, as well as folks discussing it. In any case, the piano preset is suberb IMHO :)

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #3 –
Others have suggested things that should help, so all I can add is that you can insert dynamic changes here and there to liven up the performances.  

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #4 –
Lawrie,

I've tried to follow your intro to VST but I must be a bigger dummy than you anticipated!

Having downloaded MIDIYolk, VSTHost, VSTSynthFont & S.Christian Collins SoundFont I proceede to follow your instructions.

When I get up to playing a file in NWC, voila - NO SOUND!  Instead I get a dialoge box headed "MIDI LoopBack" telling me, "MIDI Feedback detected! - Disabling Port: 1"

Do you have any idea what I've done wrong?

Although I've been using NWC for, (crumbs!) - must be getting close to 20 years now, I really don't know much about MIDI and hadn't even heard of VST before today. 

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #5 –
G'day Mark,
Somewhere in your configuration you have MIDIYoke port 1 set as both an input AND and output device.

In NWC, it should be the OUTPUT device.  In VSTHost it should be an INPUT device ONLY.  If it is listed as an active OUTPUT device that will create a feedback loop and this is where the problem is most likely to be.  Check the output devices in VSTHost and make sure there are NO MIDIYoke ports listed.

Unfortunately I don't have VSTHost installed on this machine so I can't do a quick check of the dialogues and guide you through them...  If you can't get anywhere let me know and I'll install it on this box and work my way through to see if I can be of more help.
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #6 –
Hello Mark,

Since Noteworthy Composer serves two goals (generating visually attractive scores and creating accoustically attractive sound) some commands serve only the former while other commands serve only the latter. Most of the options serve even both goals. As you already found out a slur doesn't change the accoustics and therefor it is just a visual tool. Ties on the contrary have a visual and an accoustic effect. Multipoint Controllers (one of the more complex tools in Noteworthy Composer) only have accoustic effects and are therefor only used by users that strive for a specific sound.

I think your choice for piano is the reason for your disappointment. The sound characteristics for a Piano, as defined by the Attack-Sustain-Decay-Release parameters, have only a short Sustain time and as a consequence the notes disappear quite fast. That's why your example 6, where you repeat your notes, gives you so much satisfaction. Sustain Pedal and Performance style (legato) can slightly improve the quality as you already found out, since your notes resound somewhat longer, but the improvement is rather poor. Chosing other instruments like Organs, Reed instruments, Flutes, Violins or even the "Ensemble instruments" sustain until the end of the note and are even more adequate .

In combination with dynamic changes that David suggested, you will sure get an acceptable result.
As Lawrie and Mark explained, you can achieve even better - almost perfect - results with VSThosts and Soundfonts, but as you already experienced, it is not an easy implementation and in fact you will then enter the fascinating world of professional music studios.

Bart

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #7 –
Bart, slurs do change the sound. They produce legato playing - the same effect as if you insert a legato playing style into the score.

And I don't think Mark's choice of piano is necessarily the problem. I think Microsoft's choice of piano is the problem. They should long ago have licensed one of the better GM soundfont sets.

Mark, I don't see from your posts what operating system you're using. If it's Vista or Windows 7, that could be your problem with the VST, as MIDIYoke doesn't reliably work with the newer Windows operating systems. I suggest two things. First, replace MIDIYoke with LoopBe1, which works fine with all systems from Win2K on. Second, Replace VSTHost and VSTSynthfont with SyFonOne (from the same people who produce VSTSynthFont). This is a combination host/synth that works very well, again with all systems from Win2K on. It's quite easy to configure - much easier than trying to get a host and a synth to work together. In fact, if you install it after installing LoopBe1, you may not have to configure it at all, as if LoopBe1 is properly installed, SyFonOne will find it and configure itself to it during its own installation process.

Two further thoughts:

-With any VST setup, you are likely to have latency problems on any but the fastest machines. These show up, not as notes playing too slowly, but as stuttering sound. The best cure for that is an ASIO speaker driver. There is a free one, called ASIO4ALL, that works very well and is quite easy to install and configure.

- I haven't tried the sound font you suggest, but if you're not satisfied with it I suggest that you try Merlin_Audigy - which is a free download, and which happens, among other things, to have a very good piano.

HTH -

Bill

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #8 –
If you've already installed MIDIYoke; something that may be a bit simplier than using VSTHost and VSTSynthFont is Cakewalk's free "SFZ Player", and Herman Seib's (same author for the VSTHost utility) "SAVIHost".

The SFZ Player works fairly nice, is a small download, clean installation, and free from Cakealk.

Herman Seib's SAVIHost is a LOT less complicated than his fancier VSTHost, and can be run in "standalone" mode as well... simple rename the "savihost.exe" file to the filename of the VST DLL that you're using.

In the case of the SFZ Player (SFZ.dll), rename "savihost.exe" to "SFZ.exe" in the same installation directory on your hard drive, and it'll automatically load the SFZ Player VST (SFZ.dll).

Note that the SFZ Player comes with it's own launcher EXE, but you need ASIO drivers installed to use it... Seib's SAVIHost is a lot easier (and worked better on my PC as well, than the ASIO4ALL driver that I downloaded and installed).

Anyhow, then it's simply a matter of setting up SAVIHost to accept MIDI input from the "In to MIDI Yoke 1", and NWC to output to "Out to MIDI Yoke 1".

Anyways, I found Seib's VSTHost to be rather complicated to set up and use... his SAVIHost is a LOT easier amd less complicated :)

P.S. Google for "SAVIHost" and "SFZ Player", top results in the searches.

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #9 –
Something rather interesting: BASSMIDI Soundfont Compatible MIDI Synthesiser Driver for Windows XP/Vista/7 :)

www[dot]hydrogenaudio[dot]org/forums/index[dot]php?showtopic=87639

Directly from the above "Hydrogen Audio" forums announcement and discussion message thread:

Quote
This is a new SoundFont-based usermode MIDI system driver for Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7. It uses the BASSMIDI library by Ian Luck, as the synthesiser.

Features:

* Dynamic sample caching
* Unlimited polyphony
* SoundFont chaining/stacking
* Works on Windows Vista and Windows 7, including 64-bit versions.
* Support for the following controllers & events:

MIDI note events.
MIDI program events.
Channel pressure.
Pitch wheel.
Bank change MSB. (CC#0)
Modulation. (CC#1)
Portamento. (CC#65 / CC#84 / CC#5)
Volume. (CC#7)
Panning. (CC#10)
Expression. (CC#11)
Sustain pedal. (CC#64)
Soft pedal. (CC#67)
Low-pass filter resonance. (CC#71 or NRPN 121h)
Release time. (CC#72 or NRPN 166h)
Attack time. (CC#73 or NRPN 163h)
Low-pass filter cut-off. (CC#74 or NRPN 120h)
Reverb send level. (CC#91)
Chorus send level. (CC#93)
Stop all sounds. (CC#120)
Reset all controllers. (CC#121)
Release all keys. (CC#123)
Mono/poly mode. (CC#126 and CC#127, respectively.)
Pitch wheel range. (RPN 0)
Fine tuning. (RPN 1)
Coarse tuning. (RPN 2)

And presumably if GS/GM2 mode is activated:
Drum key low-pass filter cut-off. (NRPN 14knh)
Drum key low-pass filter resonance. (NRPN 15knh)
Drum key coarse tune. (NRPN 18knh)
Drum key fine tune. (NRPN 19knh)
Drum key volume level. (NRPN 1Aknh)
Drum key panning. (NRPN 1Cknh)
Drum key reverb send level. (NRPN 1Dknh)
Drum key chorus send level. (NRPN 1Eknh)

It also supports GM, GS, and XG reset System Exclusive messages, and the drum channel enabling features of GS and XG when switched into those modes. It also supports GS and possibly XG reverb preset control messages for adjusting reverb time, delay, low-pass cut-off, high-pass cut-off, and level. And chrorus delay, depth, rate, feedback, level, and chorus to reverb send level. It also supports the master volume level message.

Kode54 should be thanked for making this possible. I wrote the installer and configuration app.


This looks EXTREMELY interesting... been saying to/nagging Ian Luck (the author of XMPlay, the XMPlay soundfont compatible MIDI Plugin, and the BASS audio libraries) for quite sometime that he should create a 'global' WinDoze MIDI driver of sorts using the MIDI plugin for XMPlay (the BASSMIDI Synth is essentially that) :)

I installed the BASSMIDI MIDI Synthesiser... and it works GREAT!

From what I could tell, ZERO latency, and it sounds just like XMPlay's MIDI plugin :) Running on a P4 2.666Ghz CPU with 768MB RAM, output was smooth with no glitches or stutters.

One problem though, it seems to completely knock out/disable Jamie O'Connell's "MIDI Yoke" patch driver ("Out To MIDI Yoke: #", "In From MIDI Yoke: #", etc...). I use that driver for various things when composing MIDI music. Note though that you won't require any sort of MIDI "patch cable" driver when using the BASSMIDI Synth driver with NWC :)

Anyhow, I posted a message over at Hydrogen Audio forums, and the author said that he would see if he could fix the MIDI Yoke problem with the driver :)


P.S. Of course, like the XMPlay MIDI Plugin, it sounds GREAT using my "¥Weeds¥ General MIDI SoundFont v3.0" :)

P.P.S. Oh, and of course this MIDI driver can be used with NWC as well :)

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #10 –
Quote from: Rich Nagel –
Anyhow, I posted a message over at Hydrogen Audio forums, and the author said that he would see if he could fix the MIDI Yoke problem with the driver :)

Problem fixed!

Download the new version here (*Note: Uninstall the old version before installing this newer one) -> www[dot]hydrogenaudio[dot]org/forums/index[dot]php?showtopic=87639 , from the "Binary (mirror)" link in that message thread.

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #11 –
Wow!
Maybe that's the time I switch to a SW synth (versus the HW E-mu of kX Driver that seems almost abandoned with all its bugs).

Thank you, Rich!

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #12 –
Rich,

Could you talk me (us) through how you would set this up to be used from NWC?  TIA.

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #13 –
Quote from: Flurmy –
Wow! Maybe that's the time I switch to a SW synth (versus the HW E-mu of kX Driver that seems almost abandoned with all its bugs). Thank you, Rich!

Yer welcome! :) I myself have an SBLive running under Windows XP Pro SP3 with the latest Creative Labs drivers for the card and WXP, so's I really don't need a software alternative... but I'm always 'looking out' for others who do :)


Quote from: PhilHolmes –
Could you talk me (us) through how you would set this up to be used from NWC?

Sure 'nuff :)

1) First, you'll need to download a decent SoundFont file to use with the driver. Hehe (shameless plug follows <grin>), my own custom SoundFont sounds great with the driver... scroll up to my first post in this thread :)

2) Download the latest version (he's already made two updates to the driver in the past day <grin>) from http[COLON]//mudlord[DOT]emuxhaven[DOT]net/crap/bassmididrv.exe .

3) If you've previously installed an older version of the driver, uninstall it first (look in your Windows start menu for "BASSMIDI System Synth/Uninstall").

4) Reboot your computer (prolly not required, but always a good idea when installing/uninstalling drivers and such).

5) Install the new version that you downloaded (run "bassmididrv.exe").

6) Again, reboot your computer (as above... prolly not required, but always a good idea when installing/uninstalling drivers and such).

7) Run the BASSMIDI driver configuration utility (look in your Windows start menu for "BASSMIDI System Synth/Configure Driver").

8) Click "Add", select the SoundFont file that you downloaded, and then click the "Apply" button.

9) Select the "BASSMIDI Driver" from the "Default MIDI Synth" dropdown box, and then click "Apply" (*).

10) After closing the BASSMIDI driver configuration utility, start NoteWorthy Composer.

11) Click "Tools/Options" and then the "MIDI" tab.

12) Select the "BASSMIDI Driver" from the "Available Play Devices" dialog box, and then click the "--->" button to add the driver to the "Devices Used By Playback" dialog box (note that you'll prolly want to remove any other devices listed within the "Devices Used By Playback" dialog box when using the BASSMIDI Driver).

13) Click "OK", and that's it! :)


(*) - If you have any problems with selecting the BASSMIDI Driver as the Windows MIDI plaback device, I posted this over at another forum on the Internet:

I noticed (at least on my PC, Windows XP Pro SP3) that I had to change the active MIDI device from within the Sounds and Audio Devices control panel (Start/Control Panel/Sounds and Audio Devices/Audio/MIDI Music Playback Device) in order for it to "stick". Didn't seem to wanna stay "set" if I set the MIDI device from within the BASSMIDI driver configuration utilitiy itself.

The problem that I had with picking the MIDI device in Windows XP, I figured was due to the way that BASSMIDI selected the device (which I assumed was prolly done like that as a workaround for that issue with W7).

If you're having problems selecting the BASSMIDI Driver when running under Windows Vista or Windows 7, this utility should do the trick -> http[COLON]//software[DOT]bootblock[DOT]co[DOT]uk/?id=vistamidipicker :)


Anyhow, although all of this may seem complicated (or like a daunting task at first), it's by far easier than setting up other alternatives; such as Timidity+++, or the various other VSTi options that are available; and sounds better to boot :)

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #14 –
Just a little linkage update, it appears that there's more "official" discussion about the BASSMIDI driver over at the VGMusic forums here -> http[COLON]//www[DOT]vgmusic[DOT]com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=13967 .

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #15 –
Rich,
I reckon it'd be a good idea to develop these instructions a little, perhaps with some screen shots, and submit to the Scripto.  You'd get a wider audience too.
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #16 –
Thanks, Rich.  Looks like I might actually try this later.

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #17 –
Quote from: Lawrie Pardy –
I reckon it'd be a good idea to develop these instructions a little, perhaps with some screen shots, and submit to the Scripto.  You'd get a wider audience too.

Yeah, I could do that :)

I think it may be best to wait a bit for the new versions to "settle down" a bit though... he's been releasing updates almost on a daily basis that may (or may not) fix some of the little buglets that folks have been having with the driver.

BTW, what format would you want it in? Easiest thing for me would be simple HTML, and then if you (or someone else) wanted to PDF-ify it to upload to the Scripto, that would be fine :)

In actuality, I've been thinking of adding a web page over at my web site with a blurb about the BASSMIDI driver... sort of similar to my "advertisement"/plug for the freeware "XMPlay" and it's MIDI Plugin (which is basically the same thing as the BASSMIDI driver, although not an actual driver) -> http[COLON]//jasonwilliams400com[DOT]startlogic[DOT]com/snor/weeds/SoundFonts/XMPlay/XMPlay[DOT]htm :)


Quote from: PhilHolmes –
Thanks, Rich.  Looks like I might actually try this later.

Yer welcome :)

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #18 –
G'day Rich,
format would be up to Richard Woodroffe.  The couple of things I've submitted I sent in as PDFs.  There is an installable device driver called PDFCreator that is free and has worked well for me.  Acts as a printer device.  Otherwise, I've also used OpenOffice which will output directly to PDF.

Strikes me that this would be easier than going to the effort of a html page...
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #19 –
Quote from: Lawrie Pardy –
G'day Rich,
format would be up to Richard Woodroffe.  The couple of things I've submitted I sent in as PDFs.  There is an installable device driver called PDFCreator that is free and has worked well for me.  Acts as a printer device.  Otherwise, I've also used OpenOffice which will output directly to PDF.

Strikes me that this would be easier than going to the effort of a html page...

A-OK :) I'll wait till there's more of a "final" version of the driver, and then create a PDF file with instructions :)

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #20 –
Hi Rich,

As Lawrie says, PDF would be best probably.

Both Open Office and Word output to PDF as well as a number of free progs available on the net.  Other than that - just send some form of text version and I'll sort it out.

Cheers.

Rich.
Rich.

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #21 –
A-OK, thanks, Rich :)

In actuality, I have an older version CD of Adobe Distiller... used to use it for all sorts of things in years past, prolly time to install it on my current PC :)

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #22 –
If you want to install the old program, that's your choice, but PDFCreator.exe is a quick free download from Sourceforge.net http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/files/, and takes but a moment to instal, if I recall correctly.

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #23 –
Quote from: David Palmquist –
If you want to install the old program, that's your choice, but PDFCreator.exe is a quick free download from Sourceforge.net

Thanks for the heads-up :) That's what I'll prolly be doing (no telling what incompatibilities that I'd run into running my old version of Distiller under Windows XP Pro SP3).

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #24 –
Quote from: Rich Nagel –
Thanks for the heads-up :)

I was surprised when you said you used the distiller.  Not many individuals do. It's usually a company thing, and, as I remember, not without its little foibles.
Rich.

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #25 –
Quote from: Richard Woodroffe –
I was surprised when you said you used the distiller.  Not many individuals do. It's usually a company thing, and, as I remember, not without its little foibles.

I bought Distiller eons ago, I can't even remember originally why. The only thing I DO remember is that is was when I had more spare $$... I remember it being extremely expensive back in the day.

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #26 –
It was probably before all these "free" versions were around.
I remember years ago wanting to produce a pdf and having to take the document to work to produce it.
Rich.

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #27 –
Quote from: Richard Woodroffe –
It was probably before all these "free" versions were around. I remember years ago wanting to produce a pdf and having to take the document to work to produce it.

I seem to be having a bit of a flashback: IIRC I was working on a customers business web page; this WELL before the Internet was as we know it now <grin>; and he wanted a product brochure in PDF format that his customers could download from his web site.

I had several requests from some of my customers for similar things (wanting PDF format documents), so I decided to splurge for Distiller.

Heh, I seem to remember not recapping my expenses for Distiller; due to the very few customers that I had created PDFs for <grin>.

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #28 –
Just added some stuff to my XMPlay "advertisement/plug" page mentioning the BASSMIDI Driver... also has some helpful pics and such (which some will probably be used for the NWC/BASSMIDI tutorial PDF) -> http[COLON]//jasonwilliams400com[DOT]startlogic[DOT]com/snor/weeds/SoundFonts/XMPlay/XMPlay[DOT]htm#bassmididriver :)

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #29 –
@Richard,

Just sent the zipped PDF your way to Scripto email :) HTML-ized version is here -> http[COLON]//jasonwilliams400com[DOT]startlogic[DOT]com/snor/weeds/SoundFonts/XMPlay/BASSMIDI_Driver_Installation_and_Configuration[DOT]htm .

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #30 –
Thanks Rich,

It will be published on Friday.

Rich.

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #31 –
This looks like a good alternative to the (until now) standard VST practice of downloading a host and a synth and trying to get them to work together. Another good alternative is SyFonOne. I've been test-driving a description of SyFonOne in the virtuoso's forum and will be moving it here to the general forum as soon as I can find time to incorporate the various suggestions I've received. Stay tuned.

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #33 –
Quote
http://mudlord.emuxhaven.net/crap/audio/bassmididrv.exe

????

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #34 –
Quote from: Flurmy –
????

You know, like "stuff" <grin> :) Hehe, if you'll look at the main root of his web site, you'll see he's not really into the 'make myself a fancy web site' sort of thing LOL.

Hehe, anyone remember "backpack girl" <grin>? :)

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #35 –
FYI, Mudlord just released a new version of the BASSMIDI Driver (now officially "version 1.06"). The driver itself has been updated as well as the configuration utility (adding a master volume slider).

Version history and driver changelist is here -> http[COLON]//mudlord[DOT]emuxhaven[DOT]net/crap/audio/bassmidi_changes.txt , download URL is the same as before -> http[COLON]//mudlord[DOT]emuxhaven[DOT]net/crap/audio/bassmididrv.exe (of course, uninstall the old version before installing the newer version).

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #36 –
Just a heads-up: Mudlord has uploaded a new version of the BASSMIDI Driver (currently version 2.0).

New web site for the BASSMIDI Driver is here -> https[COLON]//github.com/mudlord/bassmididrv

Download is here -> https[COLON]//github.com/downloads/mudlord/bassmididrv/bassmididrv2.0.exe

Version History/ChangeLog is here -> https[COLON]//github.com/mudlord/bassmididrv/raw/master/CHANGES.txt

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #37 –
P.S. A little note about the new version 2.0 of the BASSMIDI Driver:

Mudlord and Kode54 apparently recoded the core driver, and it now uses (interfaces) with DirectX's DirectMusic. From my experimentation; due to DirectMusic, there is currently a little bit of latency with the driver (approx. 0.105 seconds), so's it might not be too useful for real-time performance or real-time MIDI sequencing.

Anyhow, if you plan on any doing real-time stuff, you might want to stick with the older version of the driver (version 1.06, which has less than 0.05 seconds of latency) -> http[COLON]//jasonwilliams400com[DOT]startlogic[DOT]com/snor/weeds/SoundFonts/BASSMIDI_Driver/BASSMIDI_Driver_v1.06_Setup.exe .

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #39 –
Quote from: Rich Nagel –

If all else fails, simply Google for "weeds general midi soundfont v3.0"... you'll find it all over the Internet, as well as folks discussing it. In any case, the piano preset is suberb IMHO :)


that soundfont is awesome :D, it's great for making videogame music.  But if you're just doing piano stuff, almost anything font will do
 

Re: How do I make CDs of piano SATB arrangements sound more realistic?

Reply #40 –
Quote from: kokocipher –
that soundfont is awesome :D, it's great for making videogame music. But if you're just doing piano stuff, almost anything font will do

I beg to differ <grin>. Just the Grand Piano patch/portion of my SoundFont by itself weighs in at 8MB (with NO "bloat"), and is velocity layered to boot :)


Anyhow @All,

Hiya Folks,

Long time, no type. Just a few heads-ups:

MudLord finally created a PERMANENT home for the BASSMIDI Driver at http[COLON]//www[DOT]mudlord[DOT]info/bassmididrv .

FYI, the driver has went through quite a bit of changes, and the latest release version is 3.1. One of the MOST EXCELLENT features of this new version is the SUPER LOW LATENCY that could be seen in v1.06 of the driver (in other words, perfect for realtime performance and sequencing)! Also, this new version supports packed/compressed SoundFonts, and includes a SoundFont packer utility :)

Anyhow, surf here: http[COLON]//www[DOT]mudlord[DOT]info/bassmididrv

...and the direct download is here:

http[COLON]//www[DOT]mudlord[DOT]info/bassmididrv/bassmididrv.exe


P.S. Directly from the BASSMIDI Driver readme:

Quote
Installation
------------
First-Time Installation:

1) Download the latest released version of the BASSMIDI Driver from http[COLON]//www[DOT]mudlord[DOT]info/bassmididrv/bassmididrv.exe .

2) Run the installer (BASSMIDIDrv.exe). The installer will register the BASSMIDI Driver with the system.

3) Configure the desired SoundFont usage using the included BASSMIDI Driver Configuration Utility (BASSMIDIDrvcfg.exe).

Upgrade Installation:

1) Download the newly released version of the BASSMIDI Driver from http[COLON]//www[DOT]mudlord[DOT]info/bassmididrv/bassmididrv.exe .

2) Run the new installer (BASSMIDIDrv.exe). You will be prompted to uninstall the previous version of the BASSMIDI Driver.

3) Run the new installer again (BASSMIDIDrv.exe), and follow the instructions for the "First-Time Installation" section above.


P.P.S. More information about ¥Weeds¥ General MIDI SoundFont v3.0:

http[COLON]//www[DOT]simpilot[DOT]net/~richnagel/#soundfonts

...and the download link:

http[COLON]//www[DOT]un4seen[DOT]com/download.php?extra/WeedsGM3