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Well, there are some cheap alternatives. In fact, the stuff I use is very minimal. I love free software.

Here's how you can do it free: (or much less expensive)

Soundfonts: Use Megafont, a free program that runs soundfonts. Either that or Synthedit, another free program that has the ability to run soundfonts and VST instruments and all sorts of cool stuff.

Sequencer: Freeware sequencer. There are many decent free sequencers available. I just can't think of any off the top of my head. I think Cubase VST is free, though personally I hate Cubase.

Synthesizer: Well, there's really not too many free synthesizers out there. Go by a $20 casio (ugh) synthesizer with midi in and out ports. You will not be using it for the sounds anyways, just the keyboard.


If you are ever looking for a good keyboard with awesome sounds and realistic keyboard feel, get the FP-3!

EDIT: By the way, this is a song I just made that I would've entered in this contest if Mods hadn't outlawed pianos. http://www.sonic.net/~schlae/herculeaneffort/realsolo.mp3. It's sorta a demo of the soundfonts I made that I will put on my upcoming soundfont site. Enjoy the song and please give me comments on the soundfonts.

Oh, soundfonts, soundfonts, soundfonts...

[Software:]

Well, Mods, this is what I use:

Software:

- Cakewalk Pro Audio 9
- Sound Forge 4.5

Hardware:

- Sound Blaster Audigy Soundcard
- Roland FP-3, 88-key fully weighted keyboard
- Alesis QS6 synthesizer with a few QCards (I rarely use this synthesizer in my music, though)


It really just depends on the kind of song I'm making whether I play the instrument parts through the keyboard or enter it in note by note. Most of the time I enter the rhythm section in note by note and then the melodies and solos and all the prominent parts I play in through the keyboard.

I use Cakewalk rather than a notational sequencer because I like to have fine control over the placements of the notes. For example, I put the cymbals back a few ticks to make it sound more realistic. Little tricks like that which enhance the realism of songs.

I also have quite a soundfont collection and dozens which I have created myself. If you're interested in obtaining some of my original soundfonts, PM me.

Ben, you are a big cheater. I make all my drum loops from scratch. In fact, I made the drum set soundfont I used in my entry.

Evil, the reason I didn't enter it in the last contest is because that was my turn leading the contest.

And here's my entry: http://www.sonic.net/~schlae/herculeaneffort/solo_entry.mp3

Sounds sort of like that Bollywood stuff. It's too bad I didn't have too much time to make it, though. Enjoy!

Play a C7 chord on the piano with your left hand, and improvise over a C# melodic minor scale with your right hand.

That's a bit of jazz for ya.

Sounds like my kind of song! Count me in.

Great rules. Do we get extra credit if we have more than one solo?

In half-dimished sevens, you can use a melodic minor scale a minor third up. All related, eh? In dominant sevens, you use the melodic minor scale a half-step up.

Why I chose Mods was because of that brass section. If it had not been there, Trapezoid, you would've won.

What I mean by the "skipping an eighth note in the intro" was because the fourth bar of your song is in 7/8 time -- leading into the A section.

I will download the improved song. I have been thinking of trying to sequence it myself. I'll even dust off my bass guitar. Then you'll be able to hear the real fret noises and stuff!

I was working on a Soundfont called "Gig Bass", and I sampled every other fret with my index, middle finger, vibrato, and hammer on. I also sampled the release noises. It took two days to sample the first two strings, and already it takes up like 84 megs! You can guess why I stopped working on that project.

Maybe sometime when someone is willing to host my soundfont site (hint, hint), I'll make realistic soundfonts of my bass and stuff.

It's too bad Bjorn Lynne took his soundfonts off his site. He had some great bass fret noises.

Sorry about that. When we say "melodic minor", we usually mean descending melodic minor. Forgive my jazz terminology. That's the way we've always done it.

If you hear the song "Soul Eyes", by 'Trane, you'd recognise that the song is purely in melodic minor. Why? Because melodic minor is so much cooler. It has two dominant seven chords and two half-diminished seven chords. Dig it!

You might enjoy reading that jazz theory book by Mark Levine. It covers all those melodic minor key signatures. Pretty wacky stuff.

[Mods]

Quite right, Mods. It's already the 5th!

The winner is... Mods!

I will give details on the songs:

Ghormak: It sounds pretty realistic, but the percussion instruments are far to repetitive. Live players vary their beats more.

Mods: That's an awesome brass section you got there. Very realistically done with the brass swells. I realize that this is soundtrack music, but it would be cooler if you developed the beat more. You could bring in heavier techno kicks and mix an acoustic kit with the synthesized one.

Trapezoid: Let me tell you, you were SO close to winning the contest. I love how you skip an eighth note in the intro. I think you were on the right track with that bassline. You should add more fret noises and stuff like that. Sometimes you just have to play the real instruments to understand how all their imperfections sound. I suggest a trip to your local music store/guitar center.

Ben: What a snare roll! I am still in shock. You have a nice theme going there,  but that's not what this contest is about.

Loominous: Well, it sounds fine, but it sounds like you just used plain instruments. Not enough emotion.

I hope you all weren't overly offended by my criticisms.

Heheh, actually it isn't as bad looking as some of the descending melodic minor key signatures. They have many flats and sharps all in the same key signature.

This'll really fry your brain -- what's the key signature for B sharp melodic minor? Heheh...

Should I wait another day before declaring a winner? Do you think you will have your entry done by then, EldKatt?

Yeah -- I did that "sliding GUI" thing in Apprentice. Check it out. All you have to do it use the SetGUIPosition function.

...not that you'd ever need to know the diatonic chord scale for B sharp.

Does anybody have music theory questions? If so, I could set up the thread.

Don't worry, I'll give you a little extra time if needed.

Well, you see, diatonic chord scales are pretty easy, but B sharp is an interesting key. It is the same as C, but you have to think of it in terms of B sharp. The diatonic chord scales go something like this:

I: B sharp major 7
II: C double-sharp minor 7
III: D double-sharp minor 7
IV: E sharp major 7
V: F double-sharp dominant 7
VI: G double-sharp minor 7
VII: A double-sharp half diminished 7

Now try playing a song in B sharp -- thinking of it in terms of B sharp, mind you!

That ought to put you in the mental hospital for a few years!

A soundfont basically is a file that contains samples of instruments that can be used in a sequencer (like Cakewalk).

You can use soundfonts without buying additional software or soundcards, etc., by using MegaFont, a free soundfont controller.

Soundfonts are like "virtual instruments" that are stored on your computer's harddrive.

[||: F (#11) | % | Amin9 | % :||]

Nice job, Trapezoid. I was boogie-ing all through the song.

[A]

||: Am  |  D7  |  G  |  Emin7 :||



||: F (#11) |  %  |  Amin9  |   %   :||

I'm not sure you understand me... You can sample instruments and stuff, you just can't record anything live. For instance, you can't whip out your trusty 6-string acoustic guitar and jam out a few chords into the microphone, add some drums, save it as an MP3, and submit it into the contest.

What you can do is use synthesizers, soundfonts, gigafonts, or whatever, and recreate what would seem to be live players performing.

Ben: It has to be sampled from one-shot samples. (I.E. You can't have use a soundfont called "Sick Guitar Riffs in Eb maj")

You can use acoustic instruments (I.E. violin), or electric instruments (I.E. electric guitar). You probably don't want to use any analog synthesizer sounds.

You know what, I don't want to limit it to midi. As Trapezoid says, it could sound pretty unrealistic on other people's soundcards. Use anything you want. I'm not looking for high-quality, either. I find that you can have amazing samples and still sound unrealistic. It takes skill to make it sound real.

I want to be able to close my eyes and see that drummer nodding his head with a smile on his face, tapping those drums. I want to see the string bass player walking up the strings with his fingers, slapping them with his other hand. I want to see the pianist with a look of determination, hammering out jazzy voicings with his left hand, while ripping on a killer solo. It's alive.

By the way, I won't be prejudiced against certain genres. I won't give you any more points for making a jazz tune than a polka tune.

The one thing I ask everybody is to keep their entries under or around 1-2 megs. I don't have time to download a ten-minute song. I won't judge on the length of your song, either. (I won't say, "Your song was great, but it was too short")

I'll have you know that I have very little equipment, and most of the stuff I use is free. I don't find that that limits my ability to create realistic music.

Just have fun!