I'd like to hear from anyone with experience with MIDI songs. At an open mic playing my T2 recently, a local pro singer asked if I wanted to team and do cover tunes at local bars and restaurants with dance floors. I think this could be an opportunity to mix in some of my own songs, but I sure don't want to have to learn a couple hundred oldies (haven't done that since the 70's). I'm thinking about setting up four or five sets with MIDI songs with lyrics (XF or something like that) and running the video out to a laptop hooked onto a mic stand so the girl singer gets a little help with lyrice. Maybe I could turn off some channels and comp with my right hand. Then I could use the arranger for my own stuff. Would this really work? I'm not too concerned over the whole "who's a real musician" issue. Glad to hear from anyone with some MIDI experience. Thanks DerfM

I along with most folks here have done this for many years and that combination works very well. Currently I play over both midi and wav files. Rendering midi to wav lets me use my own sound banks (Dimension Pro, Ultimate Sounbank, Hypersonic and more) to find the best sound for that song. For this I use a programme called Onstage Performer http://www.playwareinnovations.com/
and it lets you add lyrics and songparts in a heartbeat, and it is just a wonderful peace of software for the performing musician.
For pure midifiles (XG)I use the Tyros still.

[This message has been edited by royandreno (edited 12-20-2005).]

While the arguments (friendly debates??? ) on this board regarding this topic are LEGENDARY, the simple answer to your question is "Yes, it CAN work." ... Just be aware of, and ready to accept, the fact that there are some limitations such as the midi file being of a certain length, unless your kb allows you to 'mark' the bridge, or what ever to provide some flexibility ... And before you go and purchase a ton of midi files, do some searching for freebies on the net ... some can sound good with a little tweaking ... AND you will have the opportunity to see if the concept works for you ...
As Dnj says ... It's all the tools of the entertainment trade ... use them, put your heart into it, and make people happy ...
Best of luck ...
t.

DerfM, not only will it work...it will work great...If you are only going to use 200 SMF's, set markers [your Tyros will allow this]..You can place markers at a bridge or chorus,and at the touch of a button extend a sequence when you have late dancers..I have thousands of sequences I use, and I would love to have the markers in place..The Only board I have available to do this is the Roland DisCover5...I am holding out to edit the sequences with a G70..

DerfM,

I can only echo what fran and others have said--midi files are just tools of the trade. And, if used properly, you can pack the dancefloors with lots of happy patrons. Keep in mind, however, that above all you must still be an entertainer in order to make this work.

Good Luck,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

Me + my buddy play as a duo. We both attempt singing; I'm keyboards; he's drums. Most of our pop-covers "dance" spot is done with us playing over, around and with midi files.

Works fine if you can live with the technical constraints already mentioned (such as fixed length [unless you get good with A-B looping], pre-progammed "feel").

The other negative point when starting from zero is that in trawling the web for midi-files you will discover that you normally get what you pay for; the free ones that are available are free because no-one would pay the money for the &&&& that is being offered. There are exceptions but not very often.

I sometimes use web-sourced midi files as startpoints but there is almost always a lot of re-writing and remixing required - sometimes I wonder whether the original transcriber was using a different song! Sometimes this is requied to the extent that it would probably have been better and quicker to do the entire thing from scratch!

In comparison the commercial offerings out there (Tune 1000 for example) are usually usable after very little twiddling; my major tweak is to run them through Michael Bedesem's (sorry if the spelling is wrong!) "MidiPlayer" program which does a fine job of adjustimg voices and volumes to suit my PSR3000.

By the way, you can put lyrics into "normal" midi files; you don't need to use the XF enhancements to accomplish this and so far I've found support for the XF extras to be very limited.

Hope this helps

John

And indeed, it's being an entertainer that is really important!

Agreed, as long as one doesn't go too far . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milli_Vanilli

--Barry

Thanks for all the input. I'm thinking maybe the best approach for me would be to use some MIDI stuff in the beginning of sets and then make a transition to playing songs with styles where I can control the length of them for dancing, etc. I'm not so great anymore at playing off of chord charts, so a little MIDI support sounds good while I learn new tunes. I'm going to check out that program for organizing sets. Right now I think the easiest thing would be to set up registrations with a combo of MIDI songs and styles. Glad to hear about any other ways of doing it. Thanks again, DerfM

There are lots of very good free midi files available. If you ask nice, I'm sure someone here will send you anything you want!!
DonM

I'm asking nice. Thanks, DerfM

I'd forgotten about milli vanilli. Given the nature of a lot of current pop music, I suspect their only big failure was getting caught.

It's a serious point, though. If you use too much of the "assistance" then who knows whether its you doing the singing or the machine.

I try hard to ensure that when we are playing alongside midi files that it is quite clear that this is the case but equally clear that we are doing all the singing and quite a lot af playing as well.

You have mail!
DonM

Yes, it does work. Although I find I get most of what I need on my arranger (PA1x Pro) I still use some MIDI files so I don't have to worry much about chord changes and doing fills, etc. It also breaks up some of the styles I use for some variations. Most of what I do is praise and worship sionce I do ministry. I am basically the one man band who does ministry, but I did use a copuple of MIDI files for a Christmas Open House gig at a local bank last week. I didn't have to use any of my gear though, because I have a good relationship with the local music store. They set up a Clavinova CVP-307 free of charge as advertisement. A very nice instrument with real usable styles and great sounds.

"Sing"cerly,
Jeff

DonM. . .
I got an early Xmas present. Played my first MIDI songs on the T2, and I think I've now have a whole new set of options for doing a little performing out in the real world. A couple of basic questions. . .do you commonly turn off certain tracks so the melody doesn't conflict with singing? Also, do you save individual MIDI songs to registrations to build sets that way? Thanks again. Very Cool and Happy Holidays. DerfM

But unlike playing along with MIDI files they weren't actually performing. If they HAD been singing over recordings of themselves singing other vocal parts there never would have been the controversy. It was more that they weren't singing at all that was the problem there.

I very seldom use midi files, so I'm not the one to be giving much advice. On the ones I use, I do mute the melody track, and sometimes another, so I have something left to play myself. I don't save them to registrations, because I may only use one or two a night.
Have a great Christmas!
DonM

I use MIDI files about 50% of the time.These are always professionally done and I always mute the melody tack. Sometimes I will sing over it,sometimes play the second verse and come in again at the bridge.
Many of them are too busy to be believable. In those cases I mute or lower other tracks and play left hand accompaniment as well.

I think they have a place in today's music as long as you are honest,and play or sing a substantial part.

Bernie