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Post by drumsound on Feb 3, 2024 11:06:48 GMT -6
Here's the thing, the only MIDI related thing I ever do is plug a controller into an old Vintage Keys module to get Mellotron sounds. But I have a client coming in who wants to use his MIDI tracks for us to playing along to as we're getting basics.
I work in Pro Tools. I was able to import some test MIDI files and import them into Pro Tools, buy I get no sound, so I assumeI need some sort of sample pack (which I thought PT had, but I guess not). I tried importing as MIDI and then the output selector says "Unavailable" or some such thing. When I import as Instrument I can assign output, but I'm still not clear how to deal with sounds.
I have the free Kontact Player that I use with Shimmer Shake Smack. I believe there are some free libraries for Kontact, is that what I need?
TL:DR SanFilippo doesn't know how to make MIDI make sounds.
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Post by the other mark williams on Feb 3, 2024 11:24:12 GMT -6
Here's the thing, the only MIDI related thing I ever do is plug a controller into an old Vintage Keys module to get Mellotron sounds. But I have a client coming in who wants to use his MIDI tracks for us to playing along to as we're getting basics. I work in Pro Tools. I was able to import some test MIDI files and import them into Pro Tools, buy I get no sound, so I assumeI need some sort of sample pack (which I thought PT had, but I guess not). I tried importing as MIDI and then the output selector says "Unavailable" or some such thing. When I import as Instrument I can assign output, but I'm still not clear how to deal with sounds. I have the free Kontact Player that I use with Shimmer Shake Smack. I believe there are some free libraries for Kontact, is that what I need? TL:DR SanFilippo doesn't know how to make MIDI make sounds. Because this is actually a Pro Tools situation, I'm unable to help you, Tony - Being a Logic person, I don't know how PT handles MIDI. But I just wanted to say that your subject title on this thread is amazing. That's all I got.  |
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Post by kcatthedog on Feb 3, 2024 11:29:15 GMT -6
The section 12 minutes should help?
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Post by lee on Feb 3, 2024 11:50:56 GMT -6
Import client’s midi tracks and put them each on INSTRUMENT tracks. Then instanciate kontakt on each instrument track (or whatever is available) to give yourself something to listen to. You shouldn’t need to output midi, it’ll play through Kontakt, but just output the instrument tracks like any audio track. You may need the NI install utility thing to download free libraries.
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Post by notneeson on Feb 3, 2024 12:01:58 GMT -6
Here's the thing, the only MIDI related thing I ever do is plug a controller into an old Vintage Keys module to get Mellotron sounds. But I have a client coming in who wants to use his MIDI tracks for us to playing along to as we're getting basics. I work in Pro Tools. I was able to import some test MIDI files and import them into Pro Tools, buy I get no sound, so I assumeI need some sort of sample pack (which I thought PT had, but I guess not). I tried importing as MIDI and then the output selector says "Unavailable" or some such thing. When I import as Instrument I can assign output, but I'm still not clear how to deal with sounds. I have the free Kontact Player that I use with Shimmer Shake Smack. I believe there are some free libraries for Kontact, is that what I need? TL:DR SanFilippo doesn't know how to make MIDI make sounds. It’s not super hard, you just need to insert virtual Instruments on the midi tracks. Might have mapping issues for drums, but probably not. The thing is, this is a silly way to work, in my professional opinion. The client should just print stems. You will waste a bunch of time getting sounds and since you’re not a midi guy you probably haven’t invested in virtual instruments and sound libraries. And the quality thereof is everything. If they’re coming to you to get better sounds via midi then they need to print the sounds so you can sweeten them up. If the midi tracks are scratch they should still print them because it’s easy and will save a bunch of studio time. |
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Post by lee on Feb 3, 2024 12:03:54 GMT -6
I forgot to mention! When you import MIDI in Pro Tools, you have to make sure it starts in the right place. Drag the SONG START MARKER (the red diamond in the Tempo lane of the timeline) to wherever your 1|1|000 is in case it doesn't automatically.
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Post by lee on Feb 3, 2024 12:05:00 GMT -6
The thing is, this is a silly way to work, in my professional opinion. The client should just print stems. You will waste a bunch of time getting sounds and since you’re not a midi guy you probably haven’t invested in virtual instruments and sound libraries. And the quality thereof is everything. If they’re coming to you to get better sounds via midi then they need to print the sounds so you can sweeten them up. I couldn't agree more with this. The pro move is to print MIDI as "prelays". You'll never get it to sound the way it sounds to the client right now. |
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Post by drumsound on Feb 3, 2024 13:33:13 GMT -6
Here's the thing, the only MIDI related thing I ever do is plug a controller into an old Vintage Keys module to get Mellotron sounds. But I have a client coming in who wants to use his MIDI tracks for us to playing along to as we're getting basics. I work in Pro Tools. I was able to import some test MIDI files and import them into Pro Tools, buy I get no sound, so I assumeI need some sort of sample pack (which I thought PT had, but I guess not). I tried importing as MIDI and then the output selector says "Unavailable" or some such thing. When I import as Instrument I can assign output, but I'm still not clear how to deal with sounds. I have the free Kontact Player that I use with Shimmer Shake Smack. I believe there are some free libraries for Kontact, is that what I need? TL:DR SanFilippo doesn't know how to make MIDI make sounds. Because this is actually a Pro Tools situation, I'm unable to help you, Tony - Being a Logic person, I don't know how PT handles MIDI. But I just wanted to say that your subject title on this thread is amazing. That's all I got. *BOWS The section 12 minutes should help? I'll go watch this Import client’s midi tracks and put them each on INSTRUMENT tracks. Then instanciate kontakt on each instrument track (or whatever is available) to give yourself something to listen to. You shouldn’t need to output midi, it’ll play through Kontakt, but just output the instrument tracks like any audio track. You may need the NI install utility thing to download free libraries. Cool, this makes sense Here's the thing, the only MIDI related thing I ever do is plug a controller into an old Vintage Keys module to get Mellotron sounds. But I have a client coming in who wants to use his MIDI tracks for us to playing along to as we're getting basics. I work in Pro Tools. I was able to import some test MIDI files and import them into Pro Tools, buy I get no sound, so I assumeI need some sort of sample pack (which I thought PT had, but I guess not). I tried importing as MIDI and then the output selector says "Unavailable" or some such thing. When I import as Instrument I can assign output, but I'm still not clear how to deal with sounds. I have the free Kontact Player that I use with Shimmer Shake Smack. I believe there are some free libraries for Kontact, is that what I need? TL:DR SanFilippo doesn't know how to make MIDI make sounds. It’s not super hard, you just need to insert virtual Instruments on the midi tracks. Might have mapping issues for drums, but probably not. The thing is, this is a silly way to work, in my professional opinion. The client should just print stems. You will waste a bunch of time getting sounds and since you’re not a midi guy you probably haven’t invested in virtual instruments and sound libraries. And the quality thereof is everything. If they’re coming to you to get better sounds via midi then they need to print the sounds so you can sweeten them up. If the midi tracks are scratch they should still print them because it’s easy and will save a bunch of studio time. I'll chat with him about that. I forgot to mention! When you import MIDI in Pro Tools, you have to make sure it starts in the right place. Drag the SONG START MARKER (the red diamond in the Tempo lane of the timeline) to wherever your 1|1|000 is in case it doesn't automatically. The thing is, this is a silly way to work, in my professional opinion. The client should just print stems. You will waste a bunch of time getting sounds and since you’re not a midi guy you probably haven’t invested in virtual instruments and sound libraries. And the quality thereof is everything. If they’re coming to you to get better sounds via midi then they need to print the sounds so you can sweeten them up. I couldn't agree more with this. The pro move is to print MIDI as "prelays". You'll never get it to sound the way it sounds to the client right now. Great point! |
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Post by Blackdawg on Feb 3, 2024 16:18:26 GMT -6
Get stems to play along with. Otherwise you need to own ever virtual instrument that they have been using. Otherwise the midi programming likely won't match.
That said, midi is not audio. It's just data. That's why you have no sound.
To get sound the midi has to go into a VI. You can do this several ways in protools.
The simplest is to use the instrument track. Put the midi in the track and then load a VI on the track as well. From there there are midi routing options and audio.
Midi tracks need to be routed to something to play the VI. So old school way is midi data in a midi track and a VI on an aux. Then you have to midi routing to the vi.
The only good use case to use midi tracks a lone these days is to save processing. So you can have one instrument track with Kontact on it which it itself can load multiple instruments. So you could have a midi track for violins one for bass, and one for organ. All those get routed to the right midi channels in the kontact player but you only have to load one instance. Can save processing power in some situations vs just using instrument track on everything with VI in each track.
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Post by notneeson on Feb 3, 2024 16:23:50 GMT -6
Get stems to play along with. Otherwise you need to own ever virtual instrument that they have been using. Otherwise the midi programming likely won't match. That said, midi is not audio. It's just data. That's why you have no sound. To get sound the midi has to go into a VI. You can do this several ways in protools. The simplest is to use the instrument track. Put the midi in the track and then load a VI on the track as well. From there there are midi routing options and audio. Midi tracks need to be routed to something to play the VI. So old school way is midi data in a midi track and a VI on an aux. Then you have to midi routing to the vi. The only good use case to use midi tracks a lone these days is to save processing. So you can have one instrument track with Kontact on it which it itself can load multiple instruments. So you could have a midi track for violins one for bass, and one for organ. All those get routed to the right midi channels in the kontact player but you only have to load one instance. Can save processing power in some situations vs just using instrument track on everything with VI in each track. Good point of differentiation: personally I never use Midi tracks in PT, always Instrument tracks for my workflow. |
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Post by the other mark williams on Feb 3, 2024 16:59:09 GMT -6
Man, it's been so long since I used Pro Tools that I'm pretty sure there was no such thing as an instrument track back then. This would've been like 2002? 2003?? It was one of the things that made so much more sense to me about Logic at that time when I started learning it...
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Post by lee on Feb 3, 2024 21:18:30 GMT -6
Man, it's been so long since I used Pro Tools that I'm pretty sure there was no such thing as an instrument track back then. This would've been like 2002? 2003?? It was one of the things that made so much more sense to me about Logic at that time when I started learning it... A great deal has changed for the better since that time! |
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Post by chessparov on Feb 4, 2024 1:40:12 GMT -6
From "Midiot" to "Midician" by the first page. Yep. "Midiot". Brilliant!  Chris |
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Post by doubledog on Feb 7, 2024 8:59:34 GMT -6
As already said, it will be much easier to have them print audio tracks... but if it ever comes up again, yes, Pro Tools does come with some sounds... But you may need to go to your Avid account and download them. I will sometimes use XPand!2 for some basic sounds. it has some OK sounds for a basic electric bass, pianos, organs, electric piano, etc. if you were really going to use a MIDI track in a recording you'd probably want something better, but if you just need to hear a sound, then it might work for you. I've had people send me MIDI tracks before where I had to then assign some kind of sound just to understand what that track was (and usually you can figure out pretty quickly, oh this is hihat, or kick, or it's a lead track and supposed to have a saxophone sound, etc.).
anyway besides Xpand!2, you get Boom (which is an ok drum machine once you figure it out), AIR Mini Grand is a decent piano (and sometimes I will use this one to just figure out what a track is), Vacuum has some cool but basic synth sounds (and you can tweak it), and DB-33 is a pretty cool B3 organ (and you can actually use the Leslie on an audio track if you turn off the organ part in the plugin - it's an advanced setting). those are all installed by default I think. I've even used some of these on actual released songs...
if you have time, you can Google and download a free midi file (there are tons out thee - some good and some terrible) and just assign sounds to learn what those plugins can do for you
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Post by drumsound on Feb 7, 2024 17:52:53 GMT -6
As already said, it will be much easier to have them print audio tracks... but if it ever comes up again, yes, Pro Tools does come with some sounds... But you may need to go to your Avid account and download them. I will sometimes use XPand!2 for some basic sounds. it has some OK sounds for a basic electric bass, pianos, organs, electric piano, etc. if you were really going to use a MIDI track in a recording you'd probably want something better, but if you just need to hear a sound, then it might work for you. I've had people send me MIDI tracks before where I had to then assign some kind of sound just to understand what that track was (and usually you can figure out pretty quickly, oh this is hihat, or kick, or it's a lead track and supposed to have a saxophone sound, etc.). anyway besides Xpand!2, you get Boom (which is an ok drum machine once you figure it out), AIR Mini Grand is a decent piano (and sometimes I will use this one to just figure out what a track is), Vacuum has some cool but basic synth sounds (and you can tweak it), and DB-33 is a pretty cool B3 organ (and you can actually use the Leslie on an audio track if you turn off the organ part in the plugin - it's an advanced setting). those are all installed by default I think. I've even used some of these on actual released songs... if you have time, you can Google and download a free midi file (there are tons out thee - some good and some terrible) and just assign sounds to learn what those plugins can do for you Cool. I'll log into my AVID account and see what I can find. |
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