New midi - I think I'm improving!

[Paper Carnival]

I think I'm really improving when it comes to composing music.

This is my latest work, it's a song that's meant to go for a competition (yeah I'm aware it doesn't have a chorus part). I'm not sure what style it is, it has a a little bit of Nightwish, some tiny bit Tourniquet (the band) and some pop-rock elements even at the end. This is the first piece I write that I'm more than 90% satisfied with .

It's still midi though, I tried making a high-quality mp3 but I failed miserably. If anyone knows a good (free) way to simulate the electric guitar on the computer please tell me and I'll be really. really grateful. I tried a lot of soundfonts and none of them sounds good enough.

http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/_untitled31_.mid

Right Click the link and then Save Target As. It sounds a lot better if you don't let your browser play it.

So, any suggestions, comments, critisism?

Edit: Here's a version with an alternate ending: http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/_untitled32_.mid
It's the same, except that the guitar is more rhythmic at the outro and the pans/volumes and a few minor changes. Which one do you think is better?

[ManicMatt]

I like it, for a midi!

But being a midi it does sound like old computer music, actually this track would work well on a metal slug game.

Can't you afford a non-midi music program? Imagine how good this song would sound remade on say, fruity loops, and then added vocals!

[Gregjazz]

Comments:

Sustain the notes in the broken-chord piano playing.

When the groove comes in it would be more effective to have more dynamic changes within the phrases (i.e. the accented notes should be a lot louder in comparison to the non-accented notes).

[Damien]

This is a midi and you should keep that in mind when giving critics for it. Also, I beileve Guybrush wanted advice about the music he wrote, not about medium he used to present it to us.


Anyway. Great sounding tune Guybrush, you have improved. Here's some advice:

The intro sounds pretty good, but try making strings so they fade in softly. You could also pan them to the left channel since the synth fade-ins are panned to the right. Also, you could try to make the strings sliding between chords in some places to gain some more variation.

The 1st solo (starting at 1:23) sounds a bit generic - vibrato on a note, up a scale, down a scale, repeat. There are some good breaks in it, though.

I like the 2nd solo much better. IMO, it sounds far more emotive than the first one. You could add some faster played notes here to break it up a bit, but only a few.

Also, I like the 1st version more so that's the one I gave critics for.

[EldKatt]

On the technical side of things, I would suggest avoiding using modulation for vibrato to any extent. Nothing in real life actually sounds like that. Although it's more tedious, using the pitch wheel (not in realtime, unless you're Superman) can be much more convincing.

Regarding electric guitar simulation, I recall hearing awesome things coming from XG cards (this was many years ago, though, and there might be better things). I used to have some sort of software XG thing (I think it came with the PC version of Final Fantasy VII), but it's probably hard to find and incompatible with modern computers.

If you want to go for ManicMatt's suggestion and buy something, I for one would discourage getting Fruity Loops. Something like Cubase (though more expensive) is far more versatile and powerful than any of those supposedly all-in-one things that try so hard to look user-friendly with colourful menus and plugins that look like toys (and have matching names). This is, of course, just my opinion, though. (If you want to continue on this topic, I'd be interested in hearing what software you're using now.)

[Nikolas]

I would agree with Eldkatt towards buying Cubase. Actually Cubase SE is only 250 GBP (around 400 euros?). It's not that bad...

Right now I have my eye on Reaktor 5.1!!!!! This will rule!!!!! (once and if I get it...).

But about the midi.

I like it... It has consistency... You have really improved... But of course I find midi to be somewhat poor quality for music...  But orchestratio nwise and composition wise it is just fine as it is, for the style you're after...

well done.

[Paper Carnival]

Thanks everyone for the feedback!

Geoffkhan: That's something I tried to do, but I decided to be bothered by it after I finished the whole thing (in audio form)

Damien: I tried to make the strings slide to the next note, but it didn't really sound good. I haven't tried making it a bit more complex, though. Good suggestion, I'll give it a shot . As for fading in, I think it's better this way.

The first solo is generic because I did it on the midi program. The second solo was the first time I wrote whatever I thought sounded good (I was playing the guitar along to find a good solo), all other solos I made so far are done the same way I do my Math homework :p.

Eldkatt: For the vibrato, I just used Guitar Pro's vibrato effect, and I think it's good this way.

I have a pirated, fully functional version of Fruity Loops and I agree that it doesn't satisfy me. I used to think it's the best music program a while ago, but the more I used it the less I liked it. I will check out cubase, though I don't think I'll buy anything that expensive. I spent a lot of money buying other things (music cds, new speakers, guitar equipment, etc) and I need to buy a new soundcard because I'm using a motherboard built-in one.

I also have a very old version of Cakewalk (from year 1993) and an RSE-less version of GP5.

ManicMatt: See above, and below.

Nicolas: If you spend a lot of time working with midis, you are going to like their sound anyway . I used to dislike them too, but now I even enjoy them. Thanks for your comments . I'll check out Reaktor too, if they have a demo.


http://www.geocities.com/crosshead777/_untitled33_.mid a small update with bass at the intro.

http://rapidshare.de/files/13127519/untitled2_7.mp3.html a bad mix done in FL, don't bother downloading if you have a slow connection.

The main thing that sounds bad is the guitar, and I can't record it because my timing is awful and my equipment is not good for recording.