Transposing midi

[tradman]

Hi there,

Looking for advice on good software for transposing midi files to different keys.

Thanks in advance

Tradman

[levi2]

Hi tradman
theres a few progs out there all depends if you just wanna transpose on playback or do a transpose and save the changes also there are progs that will do a global transpose ie all tracks except the drum track in one go naturally u dont transpose drum tracks then there are progs that you gotta transpose each track seperatley if ya hang about here youll gets some replies as to what people use

[tradman]

Thanks levi2

Its the second option, I'm looking to transpose the entire song except drums and save permenantly.

Incidently when transposing, is it just the drums you should look out to exclude ?

Tradman

[simmo123]

Hi Tradman,simmo from downunder, i cant believe i may actually be giving advice on a subject i had been struggling with for ages thats until got the invaluable assistance of the members of MMart. I know that you will get a heap of answers to your problem so i'm gonna get in first.Re transpose,i am using cakewalk Sonar Le & to transpose its a simple function,1.highlight all tracks except the drum track. 2.click process on the toolbar 3.click transpose & a box opens giving you the number of semitones up or down that you require, next click ok.you will find that if you make another make another transpose change straight away you will need to put the amount displayed back to zero otherwise you won't get the correct key required. There are heaps of programmes out there & a lot of them free but i thought i would put my own experience in just in case somebody else may be having all of the problems i encountered,i am learning all the time & you certainly have come to the right place,they are indeed a great mob as we say down here,regards simmo ;D ;D

[JazzCat]

Hi Tradman,
Any sequencing software will transpose tracks for you.
The reason you do not transpose a drum track is because each 'note' in drums is assigned to a different drum instrument. Transpose the drums and you are not transposing pitch, you are changing the instrumentation.


You will find that everyone here will have an opinion as to which software is 'best'. It is really a matter of preference and what one is used to using. Some software I consider 'crippleware' because it just won't do certain things, or it may make certain functions very difficult to do.

My preferred software is Voyetra Record Producer Deluxe.
Cat >^..^<

[levi2]

you can try this possibly might be a demo version its done by a company called ronin

www.softplatz.com/Soft/Audio-Multimedia/Music-Composers/Sweet-MIDI-Player-for-Windows.html

[tradman]

Thanks to you all for your sound advice. (scuse the pun). A lot of the software suggested look good but have limited demo versions. I came across MidiNotate Composer which did the business and I've used the previous version before, but its outdated. The new composer version looks impressive, however it comes at an expensive price tag of $175. Is this excessive in your views. ? I don't imagine I'll be using most of the features with it but I do like the transpose, transcribe and conversions features with it. I have a gem wk2 HD sequencer and use this to playback my midis.
Thanks in advance

Tradman

[JohnG]

Hey Tradman,
Take a look at the voyetra software that JazzCat recommends. You can download a demo version I believe. Don't get the cheapest version though, buy at least the MIDI version although I know JazzCat recommends the full version, and that's still not expensive. It really depends what you want from a sequencer and that's often a very personal thing. But I reckon the Record Producer s/w is pretty good for a reasonable price.

The bonus? You can ask JazzCat how to do things with it and you'll get some 1st class answers from a very helpful lady.
JohnG.

[JazzCat]

If someone chooses to only use notation editing then Voyetra sequencing software is not the one for them. I am a piano roll user, and a controllers pane user. I practically live in those windows. I use the event list only if I must, and that is seldom.
I would hate using any notation view for editing, as in any I've looked at it seems to take far too many steps to accomplish what I can in voyetra's piano roll very quickly.

Also, when you are writing a file in a notation view, you are concentrating on making pretty sheet music. That makes for mechanical playback sound as notes onsets and endings fall in perfect time.
A decent sequencer, who is sequencing for listening purposes takes into consideration that some instruments are anticipators of the beat and some are hesitators. He ( or she) also takes into consideration that a human playing an instrument simply will not be perfectly on time. Viewing a file, sequenced from scratch by me, should look absolutely horrible in a notation view. You will see oddball things like 32nd dotted rests and 64th rests and notes barred or tied over to the next bar in odd ways, all over the place! Unless the viewing program has a 'grid relative' feature for viewing that can correct for at least some of that mess you sure wouldn't want to use my files for creating sheet music LOL!

BTW, I always suggest Record Producer Deluxe version even though I seldom ever use the audio portion of it. The reason is there are a couple MIDI features the dirty, no good SOB's choose to leave out of the MIDI version, and now I've forgotten what they are. LOL!

Never, ever get the Standard version. It is cripple ware!

[JohnG]

Hey JazzCat, sound stuff!

The only thing I'd add is that it's horses for courses. If you have a reasonable playing technique and can enter the notes with moderate accuracy, the human feel that is generated is absolutely terrific and IMHO this is probably the best way of producing popular music in almost any of its genres. i.e. Jazz, rock, pop, ballads and so on.

When entering classical music, which is what I do mostly,which means I tend therefore to start from a score, I find notation programs to be quite useful. I use Mozart, it generates me a MIDI file which I can then go on to edit. Moving the start of notes around, detuning instruments slightly, stretching or compressing note durations, altering tempos, note loudness and so on. I find it just too difficult when you have a score with dozens of instruments, to try to enter the data in a more "natural" way.

But I do concede that your way IS more natural and usually produces excellent results.

Yesterday I rendered the whole of an Aria from Don Giovanni (piano and vocal melody) to notation, then the result to MIDI, edited the MIDI file (instruments, dynamics, tempi etc.) and rendered it in several versions with and without the melody line etc. to CD. The performer (my partner) will practise with it today and sing with it tonight. I could never do that entering it via the keyboard.

But then this sort of music does tend to stay much closer to a strict tempo marking anyway and the classical performer will be much more rigid in their observations of note lengths, starts etc. There's no right and wrong to this it's just what music you're dealing with.

If you've never tried it try pulling the occasional note off tune very slightly. A few cents either way. Especially effective when you have several notes sounding simultaneously.

Again just my 2d worth.
JohnG.

[charlie]

Hey Tradman,

I'm always plugging my software "Showplay". This software can instantly transpose keys up or down, increase or decrease tempo, make patch changes ...all on the fly while the sequence is playing. It's set up perfectly for live performance use....if that's what you're doing. I have been using "Showplay" now for over four years...never any crashes...runs on Win98...although now Showplay has been upgraded to run on Windows XP and Vista. Mine is an earlier version....does karoake lyrics...multiple screens...too many features to list here. Yes, it's pricy....a little over $200...but I can assure you it's top of the line....has never failed me yet. Very user friendly. Check out their website: www.pride-corp.com I believe this software is the cat's meow for live performance.

[tradman]

Thanks Charlie ... will give that a bash.