Writing your own Midi's

Perhaps the best thing about midi, is that it opens up a fantastic world for the musically inclined.  You can:

	create virtually any composition with multiple instruments, without having to play any of them !!
	convert any of your favorite songs to midi - this is called "sequencing" and is all done in software
	download or create a midi of your favorite songs and then "mute" the vocal track and use it for karaoke
	if you play an instrument, you can mute any instrument track and play along
	download midi's and edit them to your liking
	create a midi, and convert it to Staff Musical Notation using "Midi Notate ($34.95)" and then play it

As usual, the main ingredient is the software.  The most popular is "Cakewalk" and "Cubase", although both are very tricky to use. 

DOP - Digital Orchestrator Pro - the most user-friendly, yet still powerful package is "Digital Orchestrator Pro".  Here are a couple of screenshots - the Track view shows each Midi Instrument in the current project, and the "Piano Roll" is the actula working window where you lay down the notes and apply events such as "pitch bends" - the newer apps allow you to draw the pitch bends, which saves 90% of the time they used to take where you had to insert mutiple events manually:

Track View

Piano Roll

Unfortunately, DOP has been discontinued by Voyetra - replaced by  Record Producer (you need either the Deluxe or Midi version to create or edit Midi's).

Since IMO the best is Digital Orchestrator Pro I will use it here for the examples.

Writing midi's takes about a day before you will feel comfortable.  Make extensive use of the Help file, and slowly go through it, step-by-step.

Learning Sequencing

It takes a lot of time and patience to sequence !!  But the results are well worth it.  Start out with simple songs like "Mary had a Little Lamb" and work your way up.

Two Windows - If you are sequencing a song you have in MP3 - keep both windows open (the MP3 Player and the Midi editor) and go back and forth.  Play small snippets, just a couple of bars at a time - then add the notes into your midi, and compare until you get it right.

Fast Solos  -  when you get to the point where you want to tackle a difficult, fast, guitar or other solo - in Cool Edit and some of the other quality packages - you can slow the music down without changing the pitch.  This is crucial !!!  I used this method for all of the fast solos that I have worked on, slowing down the MP3 by as much as 50%

You own Creations  -  some people can do this, some cannot.  It seems that creativity with music is a gift, that you either have or you don't.  So only you will know this.  But if you have the gift - this is the only way I know of to make use of it !!!  It is very exciting to be able to add any tune, with any set of instruments, and to know that the song is completely, 100%, your own !!

The Steps

Here are the basic steps in writing a midi :

1. set up the time signature - 2/4, 3/4,  4/4 etc. - whatever makes the best sense for that particular song

2. in the "Track View" window - add your instruments, one at a time, using the Midi Instrument table as a reference (you add them in using their "patch number" - drums are Instrument "10")
   NOTE:  once you create a song with many instruments that you like - delete all the notes and save it as a template Midi - then later you just open the Template, remove or add any instruments that you need to tailor it for your use, and save it as a new file-name and then start working on it

3. add a simple drum beat, one per quarter note, for several bars, select the bars and copy them many times over - this creates a "metronome" and a reference for your music

4. go to the Piano Roll window of the most melodic instrument, and lay down all the notes.  Make  sure to add in any pitch bends as you work - or you can do the pitch bends at the end

5. go to the Piano Roll window of the Bass, and lay down all the notes

6. delete all the drums "metronome" notes

7. go to the Piano Roll window of the drums, and replace your metronome notes with the full drums track

8. repeat for all instruments, using the Piano Roll window - until they are all added - test them as you add them repeatedly, ever several bars

9. add the pitch bends for all instruments, and any tempo changes

Copying segments within the Editor

This is a key process that will save you a ton of time.  You can drag the mouse across bars of music, then click on another empty area, and copy the same notes, repeatedly if need be.   This is important for drums and Bass, since they often play the same series over and over.  Also, it is not noticeable to the listener if the same drum or bass loop os repeated, since most listeners concentrate on the melody and the higher-pitch instruments.

The best way is to copy the same drum/bass loop repeatedly - then when the song is done - go back through and add special flairs to certain areas, to give it that extra effect.  There is no need to customize the entire track - just concentrate on editing the places where the music changes, and climactic portions of the song.

Caution: when you copy notes in the Piano Roll window, only note events are copied - the controller events are not.  So if you are doing copying - late in the process - where your controller events have already been added - DO NOT USE THE PIANO ROLL WINDOW !!!  If you need to copy the notes, and controller events such as pitch bends, tempo, volume, etc. - then make sure to do your copying in the Track View, or in the event editor !!  I use the Track View.  However, it is best to save your pitch bends and other controller events for last, and therefore when you are just laying down the initial notes - go ahead and copy within the Piano Roll window !!