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A Sound Problem

Hello:
I'm starting to get proficient, and this is the first time on this forum.  Glad you are here.
I need to make accompaniment CDs.  The sound I get out of my computer speakers isn't good.  The bass can't be heard and the rest is somewhat muddled.
I have amps here and an old midi keyboard.  But I have no idea how to hook Noteworthy up to an amp, recorder or keyboard.  I have wavepad, roxio and plenty of other software.
So I have a sound problem.  I need better sounds for my orchestrations.  Better clarinet.  Better, more realistic keyboards.  And better sounding (or perhaps more human-sounding) instruments.
Any help or guidance would be very much appreciated.  If anyone is around that uses Noteworthy for the purpose of recording scores, please help!
klakster

Re: A Sound Problem

Reply #1 –
I would reccomend getting Synthfont, a program that can take midi files and make them into into audio files like MP3's and also make them sound realistic too. The realisticness comes from soundfonts. There are many free sf2's online.
joshers2005

Re: A Sound Problem

Reply #3 –
G'day klakster,
if you do a search of the forum for things like "soundfont" and "softsynth" you will find a lot of information relating to just this issue:  Better, more realistic sound from MIDI's.

The essence of the problem is that the sounds produced by you sound card from a MIDI source are generated by a synthesiser.  The synth uses samples to generate the sounds from.  The better the sample set the better the sound.

Cheap sound cards usually have poor sample sets.

Josh's suggestion re: Synthfont is a good one, especially as this product is supposed to be able to be "connected" to your MIDI software with "soft cables" like MIDI Yoke.  My own experience with this is that the current version is broken.  It will play MIDIs fine, just the MIDI through feature is not working at the moment.  I believe it used to so something has broken in an update.

Another option is to use a sound card that uses sound fonts.  The current Creative range is a good example.  The SoundBlaster Live is a relatively cheap product that does this fairly well.  All the Audigy range is also good.

You could also seek out a Softsynth.  I have an Audigy II that uses soundfonts and I even have some good ones, but my synth of choice is the Yamaha S-YXG50 softsynth - It is quite excellent IMHO.

Of course, to get really good, professional quality sounds it is almost essential to post process an exported MIDI with a MIDI sequencer that can give you more direct control over the MIDI commands than NWC can, but this is gettin' quite serious by now.

For myself, the occasional mp3 I need to create comes direct from NWC via the Yamaha and into Audacity to be saved appropriately.  I don't bother with any post processing at all.  Rather I try to get it as good as I can in NWC first.

I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: A Sound Problem

Reply #4 –
A little over my head though I appreciate your advice and will follow up.  I have a nice HP with Legacy Audio Drivers and SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio.  Is this OK?  I have a laptop so it would be difficult to get another audio card in there.
How do I make the connection from the coputer to the MIDI interfaces on the keyboard?
Thanks again.

Re: A Sound Problem

Reply #6 –
With synthfont, you really don't need another, if your card doesn't support those soundfonts, just use synthfont, to make it sound like......woooow.
joshers2005

Re: A Sound Problem

Reply #7 –
G'day klakster,

Quote from: klakster –
A little over my head though I appreciate your advice and will follow up.  I have a nice HP with Legacy Audio Drivers and SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio.  Is this OK?  I have a laptop so it would be difficult to get another audio card in there.
How do I make the connection from the coputer to the MIDI interfaces on the keyboard?
Thanks again.

SoundMAX is OK, but IIRC does not support soundfonts.  As a result, either a new sound card OR a softsynth is the answer for PC based sound.

Do the search on this forum that I suggested previously.  You will definitely benefit...  Particularly in regard to softsynth availability.

Josh's suggestion re Synthfont is really only beneficial if you export to MIDI first (for the reasons I gave above).  I personally find this a "step too many" for simple playback from NWC.

As far as connecting your PC and/or notebook to your MIDI keyboard:  there are also several informative threads on this forum on this topic.  However to make a short synopsis, you need a MIDI interface on your PC.  Couple of ways to get this:
  • Many sound cards allow you to use the game port for MIDI data transfer - you need a special cable to make this work AND your sound card must support it - functional but perhaps not the best answer these days.
  • It is now possible to buy USB to MIDI converters - the drivers for these devices will give you a MIDI port to connect to and the cable will connect to your MIDI keyboard.

You also asked about connecting your amp and speakers up.
  • You need a cable with 3.5mm stereo phono plug to plug into the "line out" of your sound card
  • The other end of the cable needs to have (a) connector(s) appropriate to your amp - commonly a pair of RCA connectors 1 for the left channel and 1 for the right channel
  • Connect your speakers to the amp as usual.
  • If you want to get really fancy, you might like to connect a decent EQ and/or perhaps some other signal processors in between but that's up to you

I say again though, do search this forum.
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.
 

Re: A Sound Problem

Reply #8 –
Just to add to Lawrie's reply, you may find that your amplifier has alternative inputs on the back. like Tape In or Aux or Phono. Some of these work better than others, but Aux is usually a safe bet for connecting to your PC

Tony