I'm new to music creation, the only music making I do is MIDI music with Cakewalk Express '98, which I got for free a long time ago. I listen to the songs people post here and I can't understand how they're made. How do you create music in a digital sound format? The closest I've gotten was by using MIDIs that I created with Cakewalk Express and then using MIDInight express with the titanic soundfont to make RIFF .wav files. These files don't sound very good, heh. So how is it done? Is there some way to draw musical notes on the screen with a MIDI sequencer like program (is that what they're called, I don't know what terms such as notation, sequencer, tabulature, tracking, etc. mean) and then have magical pre-sampled output mold itself to the proper key, etc. so that it sounds at least plausibly real as opposed to the obviously synthetic general MIDI? My main problem is that I don't have any money. I can't afford programs like Reason (not that that would matter, I downloaded the Reason Demo and couldn't even figure out what it is supposed to do.) So are there any free or rather cheap (anything below 150 USD could be saved up for) programs suiting these needs? I will be grateful (and liberal in rating-uppery) to any replies.

I started out with cake walk, a cheap yamaha keyboard, and a computer.

I set cakewalk up to use the sounds built into the keyboard then from the keyboard I run it back into the computer from the keyboards L/R outputs into the 1/8" jack on the back of the soundcard. from there I used a wav program like sound editor or cooledit.

done =)

Now my setup is a tad bit larger.

If you don't have a keyboard you can buy samples or download free ones and using your mouse click where you want each note to be 1then have the samples play back the notes you just wrote.

I would try to find the manuel for cakewalk and read it.

MIDI devices are notoriously tricky to turn into an mp3/wav, simply because of the way they work. If you're using samples, then it's usually much easier. Though, having said this, most soundcards today will allow you to take the output as the input, and therefore record your finished masterpiece as a single audio file.

Don't know if your program allows you to record audio files?

As for a program recommendation, it really depends on what music you're looking at making. There are loop based programs such as Pro DJ (about GBP £5 from Amazon), any of the EJay ones (about £20), or Fruity Loops (about £90), which are easy to use and offer a range of pre-made loops (Fruity Loops lets you use audio recordings as well - not sure about the others). Or, if you are looking for something more versatile, there are several different flavours of Cubase and Logic and Sonar, all mainstream sequencers that vary in price and functionality.

But, I'm guessing that your main issue is with the actual midi sounds you've got. In which case, you're either going to look at getting better midi synth sounds, or go more towards sampling. I would personally head towards sampling, but it's a personal choice, and I'm sure there are musicians out there who would much rather play with synths than use a sampler any day of the week. For instance, Kompakt is a very good, and fairly inexpensive sampler (about £120) which comes with loads of samples already. Or there are free samplers out there, but they don't necessarily come with any samples.

To beef up midi, you're looking at either a funky soudcard, or an outboard synth (simply a box which you connect to your pc). I'm afraid I don't know much about this area, as synths aren't my thing. Anyone else?

Anyway, I've been going on for far longer than I intended. Hope it's helped! :)

I happen to be rather fond of FL Studio. Composing in it is like writing MIDI on a piano roll, but it's not actually MIDI. It provides lots of instruments and synths that you can play with to get various sounds, and they will generate sounds for any note you want. Your next best friend is the VST. A VST is like...well if you play electric guitar, like a distortion pedal. The sound goes in, stuff happens to it, and the sound comes out again. You can chain effects. VSTs allow you to really have a lot of flexibility in the sounds you're generating. I like KVR Audio for getting lots of VSTs, as well as useful misc. applications.

@Jeffie:
Yeah, that's sort of what I've been doing. Good to know I'm not the only one :)
I didn't use a wave-editor though, I don't really know what I'm doing :)

@BazTheHat:
Thank you very much for your information!
I am interested in Kompakt, but I can't find a demo, and the site isn't exactly a fountain of information :) I'm not really looking for loop programs as my music is not very 'techno-ee', the way I prefer to edit is by using the staff. I know Sonar can do this, and I use Cakewalk Express so I probably know the interface somewhat, that might be what I use. Thank you! I'll look at the others too.

@Promit: So VST's allow you to mess with a digital sound and make it sound different? That would be useful.

@All: I like the idea of using a sampler, but I can't use a piano roll. It's too unintuitive for me :( Is there any program that allows you to sample with a staff?
I'm sure the more expensive programs like Cubase allow you to do something like this, but I wonder if there's a cheaper way.

Thanks for all the help so far.

[Edited by - Drakkcon on July 17, 2005 3:15:42 PM]

This has probably already been said, but the reason a lot of songs posted here sound good is because they use quality instrument samples rather than relying on General MIDI.

My setup is this: I use Sonar 3 as my sequencer. In other words, it's the master program where I do all my composing, sequencing, mixing, mastering, etc. For sounds, I use SampleTank 2 and Garritan Personal Orchestral. Both are sample libraries full of high-quality sounds, so rather than using crappy General MIDI patches, my compositions sound realistic (relatively speaking, or course. :P). The sample libraries are controlled via Sonar, and "applied" to all of my MIDI track. If I'm recording live guitar for a song I'll do that also, and mix the track with all the MIDI tracks. Lastly I mix all the tracks down to a single stereo .wav track, master it, and convert it to an mp3.

If you want, you can make digital music for free. There's a free sequencing program out there called Audacity, and it supports VST's. There are plenty of places online that offer free soundfonts (hammersound.net is one of the largest). You can use a free soundfont player like sfz (rgc:audio), and use Audacity as your master program.

Or if you're unhappy with free soundfonts, you could always purchase an inexpensive sample library. Try OmniSynth by Sonic Reality, or Plugsound vol. 6: Global.

No idea if this rambling was helpful, but hopefully it was.

Also, concerning your dislike of the piano roll, programs like Sibelius and Finale allow you to use regular notation, though they're quite expensive. I'm sure there are cheaper alternatives though.

Thank you very much for these recommendations, I will look at all of these.
You said you use Sonar 3 right? Sonar allows the use of a staff, doesn't it?

I have been using timidity++ to convert .midi files to .wav files. I'm sure if I find a good soundfont I can make good music. Thank you very much for that website!

Actually, yeah, Sonar allows you to do notation, but I prefer the piano roll, so I don't know how comprehensive the notation system in Sonar is. Also, Sonar 4 is quite expensive.

Sonar from cakewalk.com is like $480 for the normal ver and $800 for the pro ver (has extra stuff you wont need)
However, if you find it elsewhere you can get it for around $250 or better yet find a place that has Sonar 3 for cheap buy that and do the upgrade. the upgrade is $99.99 thru cakewalk.com