I'm a musician that downloads midis from paid sites (midi king, midi hits). I put them on my dell lap top. Clean them up a little and use when I play out live. I do not do any recording.


I have posted a question concerning sound card and the MS GS Wavetable Synth. I wanted to get a better sound . Althought I was in the wrong forum Dave was kind enough to give me some help. Here is what he said:

The current version of Sonar is 5.2 so you're 2 levels
back.

I'll keep it simple: Instead of using the MS GS Wavetable Synth: do the
following:
Go to Options-Audio-Advanced and change the driver mode to WDM

Then don't select a MIDI device... you're going to use softsynths (other than
the MS GS Wavetable, which isn't very good). Home Studio comes with the Edirol
Virtual Sound Canvas and Dreamstation and there are others you can get on the
web. Take the tutorial on Using Softsynths or load Tutorial1.cwp and follow
these instructions:

1) View-Synth Rack
2) Click the Insert DXi button (looks like an asterisk)
3) Click on Edirol VSC - Check First Synth Output and Synth Property Page
checkboxes
4) Edit Select All (to select all tracks)
5) Track-Property-Output
6) Select Edirol VSC from the MIDI Outputs pulldown (that makes the Edirol VSC
the output for all MIDI tracks)
7) Hit play

If you're using the Edirol VSC, put the MIDI track on Channel 10 and you're get
drum kit sounds.

I followed this instructions . Now what comes out sounds like mush. As if the format is not compatabile. Does this have to do with the midi format that I download them in. Can someone give me an idea of where I am going wrong. I've gone through the tutorials and through the manual. I'm starting to loose it.

Can anyone help.

John

BiG NUF

You might need to do some tweaking of the instruments, channels and banks, etc. The midi files you downloaded might be GM or GS or XG (different formats). You'll need to match up the instrumentation. they are in different banks and in those banks are presets of all the instruments. Each bank holds 128 instruments. If you open up the Edirol VSC (double click on its name) you can see everything thats in there and assign channels. I've spent many hours just poking around for different sounds, "mapping" different instruments other than than ones intended, etc. I just recently discovered the Cakewalk TTS-1 which i think has the same Roland sounds. It's easier to use and the manual covers it well. It's my "go to" if i want to do some quick midi tracks. Theyre are a lot of other soft synths out there with much better sounds. Included in Sonar is Velocity, which I do like for drums. You'll probably have to do some mapping, which is also covered in the manual. As a separate purchase is Dimension which I've recently acquired and has great sounds and looking to be my main instrument these days.
HTH,
Rob

Mush is hard to envision, but those are good suggestions you've been givin, I would just reiterate what's been said, and add that the Edirol VSC, will sound much better than the MS GS Wavetable, there is no comparison in sound quality between the two, and dreamstation is great for lush sounds.
I hope you resolve this, there is better, at your disposal.
Regards,

Mush?? Please explain......

Does the Edirol display which instruments were chosen?? are all channels playing back?? does it sound like the wrong scale?? down an Octave??

What exactly is mush??

Sorry - Sounds like it is down at least 1 octave

well then, your first step would be to try transposing. Either in the track view at the left of under process/transpose. Select the clip(s) first. 12 steps = 1 octave. But not the drums!! They still might need to be mapped.

Everything sounds like a blend of **** and you cannot have any clarity in the mix
any effect i put in effects the whole sound instead of just the track!!
I have cakewalk product from the beginning Now I am seeing it turn to ****!
Sad all the money I spent and cannot even talk to a support person!!!

Well done for dragging up a 10 year old thread.
 
If you have issues I suggest you start your own thread, describe the problem(s), what you've tried to do to rectify it and PLEASE lit your full system spec, including Interface, driver etc.