Female solo vocalist/guitarist/harp player with IPAD midi set up questions

[ChrisBell]

First of all, count me in as one of those people that, if asked a couple of years ago about using midi backing tracks, I would told you I'd rather have sharp pencils inserted in my ears.

 

 

 

However, the reality of the music business today is such that as much fun and entertaining it is playing with a tight 5 piece rock band, it is also fun to do acoustic solo or duo material and it dramatically opens up gigging opportunities both in my immediate market and considerably further afield. So....one has to be pragmatic after 35+ years of gigging and learn to sleep with the enemy.

 

 

 

A very important factor is ensuring that technology / simplicity stays in balance as well as portability and overall ease of set up. I have done some residency gigs at various resorts in North America and in sun destinations where gear is set up and torn down daily so portability and robustness is very important. The gear needs to travel well and

 

be compact and light for baggage allowances.

 

 

 

If I wanted to spend my entire life figuring out the technologically perfect way of accomplishing this, I suppose I could, but who has the time? I'd rather keep it simple, and as importantly, bulletproof, even if it means the resulting set up offers up maybe 80 or 90% of what today's latest and greatest technology could potentially achieve.

 

 

 

There is enough stuff going on, on-stage with lyrics / guitars / pedals / solo harps / overall sound coming out of the board, often with no monitors so that adding another layer of complexity is simply a non-starter. I already incorporate a 2 IPAD set up on my mic stand, one feeding me lyrics / chords, the other exclusively for midis, which I work into about 25% of my sets.

 

 

 

i have searched this forum for information but haven't found a good thread that answers a fairly simple question:

 

 

 

What IPAD midi player, perhaps combined with small additional hardware, is considered to produce the best / most realistic sound?

 

 

 

I have been using Sweet midi in live shows that is pretty good, assuming the source midis are good quality, but is there an IPAD based hardware/software combination, again, perhaps with some additional hardware attachments, that would result in materially improved midi sound / performance?

 

 

 

Any hardware / software suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

Thx!

[daddymack]

Welcome, Chris...things are a bit slow here...but eventually one of our MIDI gurus will wander in.

[Shaster]

I've been sequencing and using midi for twenty years or so - time flies! I've got just over 302 midi files in high rotation.

 

I have found that how well the midi is sequenced and mixed is perhaps more important than the sounds used. I used to use external devices way back when - two Roland JV880's an Alesis D4 and a sampler for my midi tracks. Then I switched to a small Boss DR drum machine, and now I just use the "stock" sounds in my netbook. However, I've gone over my midi files with a fine tooth comb and made sure that they aren't too busy, or laden with horns and strings, that the hi-hats and percussion aren't blasting away, and so on.

 

Try Anvil Studio for a good midi editor (assuming it's available for Mac). http://www.anvilstudio.com/

 

I also use WinAmp for my midi playback, although it was sold a few years ago and is hard to find now.

 

Are you having issues with your midi sounds or with your midi tracks? If so, you can get better sounds for your midi tracks but if the sequence isn't great, then it's like polishing a turd IMHO.

[Bob Dey]

I leave my MIDI gear at home now days since I've been converting MIDI songs into MP3s. The quality of one's synthesizer always made a big difference, but there are much better samples built into computers now days. Still, rarely good enough for my standards .

 

But I agree with Shaster, the sequences have to by edited (or recorded) to get the best sound. I've also been cutting down tracks to bass, drums and maybe a keyboard or strings. I want my guitar to be the focus, not 12 unnecessary tracks.

 

I would never use a midi track or even a BIAB track without editing it to sound the way I want it to. As a result, I've spent a lot of time doing that when I could have been working on my singing and guitar playing! But the end result is worth it to me.

 

In a nutshell quality boils down to a synth that has quality samples, and the sequences have be done well too.

[ChrisBell]

Thanks for the input! Clearly, editing tracks is important.

 

 

 

I'm often changing the percussion and bass sound as well as guitar sounds, in the case of guitars, burying them much deeper in the mix.

 

 

 

i also get rid of strange and often jarring instruments that are distracting.

 

 

 

I can see how MP3 backing tracks might be more realistic, but the down side is the inability to edit and minimize the mix. At what point does it become karaoke...and after 35 years, I'm not going there.

 

 

 

From the discussion thus far, it would appear it's the midis, not the player, that makes the difference.

 

 

 

I use Airfont 340 as my dis/sf2 source for Sweet Midi on my IPad. Can anyone suggest an upgrade to this, if indeed there is one? Frankly, on the better midis, the sound is pretty good already, but there's no harm in seeing if it could be improved.

 

 

 

Thx!

[Notes_Norton]

I've been doing MIDI tracks since 1985.

 

At one time I carted a 10 space rack full of hardware synths and samplers plus a PA.

 

Now I mix everything at home to high quality MP3 (192kbps) with CDex and take two ThinkPad computers. The ThinkPads are built like tanks, and since 2002, I've had 3 occasions to go to the spare (second) computer. And I do one-nighters for a living.

 

Shaster says "I have found that how well the midi is sequenced and mixed is perhaps more important than the sounds used." and I can't agree more.

 

I do each MIDI Sequence to the very best of my ability. I start them from scratch instead of using purchased ones, because I want them the way I want them, not the way someone else does. They should be in our key, our arrangement, and if I sequence them myself, I know the music, the chords used and everything else about them.

 

We have about 575 tunes now, and I've been asked so many times about how I do it, I put up a web page on one of my websites:

http://www.nortonmusic.com/backing_tracks.html

It not only explains how I make them, but how I use them on stage so that I can go from song to song seamlessly (zero dead air) when I need to.

 

Although I'm a multi-instrumentalist, my first love is sax. (I also play flute, wind synth, keyboard synth, guitar, bass, and drums - plus I sing). I've played in 100% live bands since the 1960s, but by the 1980s I saw the writing on the way. Duos were making as much money as my 5 piece band with only two people to split the money with.

 

I do the duo with my wife (when I met here we were in different bands) and I'll never go back to a 'real band' again. No personnel problems, we both have intense work ethics, and we really enjoy each other. Sure, I miss the input of other band members - since I do the sequencing, there is nothing that surprises me -- but we are really independent and that more than makes up for it. http://www.s-cats.com

 

When I started using the tracks, some of my fellow musicians said I was putting musicians out of work with the computers. I replied I was putting a musician to work - me. Besides, we don't play any huge rooms that used to hire huge bands anyway. Now many of they buy my aftermarket user-styles for Band-in-a-Box at http://www.nortonmusic.com

 

I think if my first instrument and the one I was best at was piano or guitar, I might do a bring one axe to the gig thing, but I can't even think of leaving my sax home - so I need the tracks.

 

Whatever you end up with -- good luck.

 

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