Midi files, synth sounds and laptop

[foolsfortune]

Hello new forum friends. I've looked all over for the answer to this question that is likely going ot be very simple to you guys so thi smust be the place!

Our drummer has bought a laptop, downloaded a truckload of midi files and is shopping for a midi controller (he can actually play keys as well) and has asked me how to get up and running with using the midi files live with our band.

He wants to mute or delete all the tracks we don't need (drums, guitar, melody etc) and just use it for playing the filler tracks (keys, synths, bass since we're between bass players) and I'm not sure what to recommend.

I have a Roland JV-880 synth module, a Midiman 4x4, and a Roland TD-8 V-drums module so my idea was to feed a click to the TD-8 which just the drummer would hear and then send the other stuff to the JV-880 which would then go to the p.a. I also have Livesynth Pro and a few soundfonts.

With todays technology, I know there are likely better souding options out there. He and I played around with the synths that come packaged with Sonar and the "free" ones I got in Computer Music magazine, but they're not really what we need as this is a rock band rather than hip-hop or whatever.

Can you guys set me straight on some things to check out? We're playing rock as I said with a mix of old and new (Hinder, Audioslave, Velvet Revolver, Shinedown, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Warrant, Slaughter, Poison, Godsmack etc)

Please shoot me an email at foolsfortune at hotmail.com

Thanks
Mike

[foolsfortune]

Ok, so if nobody here knows the answer to my questions can someone point me in the direction where I might find these answers?

I tried Gearslutz with no luck. I need a site/forum with folks knowledgeable in midi and softsynths.

Thanks
Mike

[damoh]

You are playing rock music. Nothing you get in the way of sound modules is going to sound like a real band.

You can use cubase, logic, cakewalk or any sequencer for playing midi files with total control over individual tracks and route the midi to any external sound module.
All the above programs have audio capabilities as well. Try doing a search for midi sequencer and you may find something cheaper.

Forget soundfonts, they are for soundblaster cards which are cheap and amateur.

There are many software samplers which you can buy high quality samples for.

I would be very wary of running your whole live rig through a computer. If it crashes it won?t look good.

The stage is not a nice place for a laptop. Heat from lights, danger of spilt liquids, knocked about by drummers...

If you have a rack of external sound modules as opposed to soft synths you can actually buy a midi file player, stick that in the rack and leave the pc at home.

Could be a bit more reliable whilst on the road.

You may get some better advice from a live sound website rather than ones devoted to recording.

Hope that helps.

[foolsfortune]

Hey Damoah, thanks for the reply!

I have a real rock band so I'm not really looking for a full backing band. The drummers laptop is recent and had lots ram etc. and has Sonar 6 installed.

I have a Roland JV-880 synth module that I can use at home but he has nothing for sound modules.

I'm just trying to find him a solution that has bass guitar and synth sounds.

We're not too worried about drinks on the laptop or lights etc. We've all been at this a while and have become pretty good at defending the stage area from drunken goofs.

So what apps are good for electric bass sounds? Lets start there.....

[brandondrury]

I'm not sure I would use midi for this. If you want to use backing tracks, you could certainly run prerecorded midi through a sampler / synth to handle your bass need, but I think I would simplify things a tad.

I would just render that midi bass track beforehand to a .wav file. The playback of wav files is much more stable than midi, samplers, and synths.

If you keep going with this logic, then why do we need to use a synth or sample at all? You could just record the bass part. You'll save the cash from buying bass samples.

Brandon