Converting MIDI

[musicteacher]

I'm having trouble converting MIDI to audio in Sonar Home studio 6. My laptop runs Vista, so it seems the only way I can convert is to insert a soft synth and then convert that to MIDI. I can't seem to make anything work. Please Help.

[MatsonMusicBox]

What are you trying to do? To get to audio from midi, you will have to use a soft synth and bounce, or control a real external keyboard or module and record it? Let me know what you want to do exactly and I can help.

[musicteacher]

I have recording songs from my Clavinova onto sonar in MIDI format. I can't seem to convert those files into audio files so I can burn them to a CD. I've tried to work the soft sythn based on the help directions but I can't make it work.

[MatsonMusicBox]

OK .... so let me make sure I undersand what you've done and are trying to do. Please correct me if any of this is wrong:

1. You played your Clavinova and recorded that as MIDI in SONAR -
2. So now you have a nice midi track inside of SONAR - you can see the notes, etc. Correct?
3. You want to "convert" that to audio - right?

Questions:

1. Do you want the MIDI file to play a soft synth and record that to audio, or do you want it to play back the sounds on the Clavinova and record that to audio?
2. If the former, Do you currently have that MIDI track "playing" back a soft synth you have inserted? That is - can you hear anything as it plays back?

Will look for you response and then guide you through the rest.

[musicteacher]

You're correct. I would prefer to record the sounds of the Clavinova, but the way it says to in the book that came with the software won't work since I'm running Vista on my laptop. It says to open the recorder from my volume control but I don't have that option on my volume control. So I tried to run the MIDI file through a soft sythn and do a bounce to track or something like that but I couldn't hear anything from the computer when I tried to play it back. So I'm not sure what to do next.

[fmw]

To some degree it depends on the digital piano. I'm assuming you have a higher end Clavinova than I have. Mine won't write midi out to the memory cards. Mine is in the family room. I keep a separate Yamaha digital stage piano in the studio to use as a midi controller.

Nevertheless, I think the solution for you is to hook up a soft synth and pick a suitable sample from that. The Yamaha samples are very good - particularly the pianos, organs and reeds - but there are lots of good samples available in the marketplace. Some of the Yamaha samples such as the strings and brass are pretty easy to beat.

[musicteacher]

The problem is that I can't seem to make the soft synth work. I tried to do something with Cakewalk TTS-1 but I just couldn't get it to work. I followed the directions carefully but nothing happen when I tried to play it back.

[MatsonMusicBox]

OK - let's back up a second .... if you want to record the sound from the Clavinova, it is a very different process than wanting to record a soft synth.

Since you said you would "prefer the sounds of the Clavinova", here is what you need to do.

First - remember the MIDI file IS NOT AUDIO - in any shape or form and CAN NOT be converted directly to audio. Think of it as a "piano roll" like in an old player piano. It has to "play" something to make sound. It takes the place of your fingers.

Now - in your case - you want it to play the Clavinova. So first step is to set the MIDI out on the MIDI track (in SONAR) to your MIDI interface setting that goes to the Clavinovas "MIDI in"

When you do this, and play the track in SONAR - you should hear the clavinova through whatever speakers it is going through. I guess at this point, I need to know something about your audio (not midi) interface to your computer. Do you have an exteranl interface, a high end card, or just the basic card that came with the computer?

The gist of it is to simply connect the audio outs of the Clavinova to the inputs of your audio interface and record that to a track in SONAR - just as if you were not using MIDI at all. The specific routings and monitoring will depend on the interface you have, so can you tell me that?

If this does not seem like what you want to do, and you'd rather go the soft synth route, let me know.

[musicteacher]

I have just the card that came with the computer. I can play the track through my Clavinova with out problem. I'm just trying to figure out how to burn the track to a CD, so I guess I need to run it through a soft synth in order to do that.

[MatsonMusicBox]

Originally Posted by musicteacher

I have just the card that came with the computer. I can play the track through my Clavinova with out problem. I'm just trying to figure out how to burn the track to a CD, so I guess I need to run it through a soft synth in order to do that.

Yep - if it's a cheapy card, likely wouldn't sound good anyway to record from the Clavinova .... so .....

You need to do the following. I'm assuming you have 1 MIDI track in SONAR that has what you played on it ... let's call this "Track 1" .... and no other tracks at the moment ..... now:

In SONAR ...

1. Insert an AUDIO track - it would be track 2
2. In the effects bin of that track, insert the Soft Synth you want - TTS is fine.
3. on the MIDI track, choose TTS as the OUTPUT - you can then also select the TTS channel, sound, etc. you want.
4. Hit "Play" in SONAR, and you should hear you're part playing whatever sound you picked in TTS.
5. Once you get what you want - double-click on Track one (right on the number "1" ) - this should highlight both tracks and the whole time ruler for the length of your song.
6. Go to File-Audio-Export and choose to export as a Broadcast Wave at 16/44.1. If you shoose "What You Hear" as the preset - that should do it I think.
7. Export - that should create a wav of your song that you can then burn to a CD with any commercial CD software.
8. NOTE-I think (not sure) SONAR can burn the CD itself - I don't ever do it, so I'm not sure on that.

Let me know if this works for you.