While editing audio is much more flexible than ever before, converting audio into MIDI can add another level to our ability to change a recording. Gary Hiebner shows how to do this in FL Studio. Being able to take audio files, decode the transients and pitch data, and then convert this data to MIDI. In this video, you'll learn some tips and tricks for working with Live 9's audio-to-MIDI conversion tools. Audio clips can be converted to MIDI by selecting the clip in the Session or Arrangement Views, or in Live's browser.
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(Be aware: the features talked about in this chapter are not really available in the Intro and Lite Versions.)
Although Live's bending allows for audio data files to be used significantly even more flexibly than in conventional audio software program, there are usually furthermore a quantity of ways to extract musical details from audio videos and place it into MIDI clips, for additional creative options.
When an audio cut is selected, four transformation commands are usually obtainable in the Create Menu or theright-click(PC) /CTRL-click(Macintosh) context menu for the cut.
11.1Slice to New MIDI Track
This command word divides the audio into pieces which are assigned to individual MIDI notes. Cutting differs from the Convert instructions below, in that it doesn't analyze themusicalcontext of your unique audio. Rather, it basically splits the primary audio into servings of period, regardless of the content. The Drum Rack (see 18.6) offers an ideal environment for functioning with sliced files, and most of the set up happens automatically after you create a several options:
When you select Slice to New MIDI track, you'll end up being displayed with a dialog container. This provides a listing of slicing divisions, simply because well as a chooser to select the Slicing Preset. The best chooser allows you to slice at a range of defeat promises or relating to the cut's transients or Warp Guns. Since a Rack can include a maximum of 128 chains, Live won't allow you proceed if your selection would result in more than 128 pieces. You can fix this by either setting a lower slice resolution or by choosing a smaller sized region of the cut to cut. If your audio file is definitely in REX format (find 9.3.7), the cutting will be based on the file's inner timing info and you received't notice this chooser.
The Slicing Preset chooser includes a few Ableton-supplied slicing templates, mainly because properly as any of your personal that you may have got positioned in your User Library't default presets folder (notice “Default Presets”).
With “Protect warped timing” allowed, the clip will end up being sliced up in like a way that time alterations as a result of warping are stored. With this option disabled, any adjustments that end result from warping will not be reflected in the sliced cut; the chopped up edition will rather tone like the primary, “raw” audio.
As soon as you've made your cutting choices and clicked OK, a number of things will happen:
- A new MIDI track will end up being created, filled with a MIDI cut. The cut will consist of one note for each cut, arranged in a chromatic sequence.
- A Drum Stand will end up being included to the newly created track, filled with one string per cut. Each string will be triggered by one of the records from the cut, and will include a Simpler with the related audio slice packed.
- The Drum Stand's Macro Controls will be pre-assigned to helpful guidelines for the Simplers, as determined by the configurations in the selected slicing preset. In the factory Slicing presets, these consist of basic envelope controls and variables to change the loop and crossfade properties of each slice. Adjusting one of these Macros will change the mapped parameter in each Simpler simultaneously.
Note: Live will get a several times to approach all of this information.
Enjoying the MIDI cut will activate each chain in the Drum Stand in purchase, relating to the time information that you selected or that was inserted in the audio. This opens up several new editing possibilities, including:
11.1.1Resequencing Slices
By default, your chopped up MIDI information will form a chromatically-ascending “staircase“ pattern in purchase to result in the correct stores in their original purchase. But you can produce new styles by basically editing the MIDI notes (notice 10.4). You can obtain a equivalent impact by hauling the Drum Stand's parts onto each additional to change their take note mappings.
11.1.2Making use of Effects on Slices
Because each slice resides in its own string in the Drum Rack, you can very easily process specific slices with their very own audio results. To process several pieces with the same set of results, multi-select their stores in the Drum Stand's chain checklist and pressCTRL-G(PC) /CMD-G(Mac pc) to team them to their personal nested Stand. Then put in the results after this brand-new sub-Rack.
For actually more creative possibilities, consider placing MIDI effects (see Section 23) before the Drum Stand. The Arpeggiator and Random gadgets can produce particularly interesting results.
Slicing is nearly all commonly used to drum loops, but there's no cause to quit there. Test with cutting audio from different sources, such as voices and ambient textures. The exact same types of resequencing and reprocessing functions can become used to anything you cut - occasionally with unforeseen outcomes.
11.2Transfer A harmonious relationship to New MIDI Monitor
This order identifies the pitches in a polyphonic audio recording and areas them into a clip on a brand-new MIDI monitor. The track comes preloaded with an Instrument Stand (observe Section 18) that performs a violin sound (which can, of course, be replaced by another instrument if you choose).
Note that this control, as with the some other Convert instructions, differs from cutting in that the generated MIDI cut does not play the initialaudio, but instead extracts thenotesand utilizes them to enjoy an entirely different audio.
The Transfer Harmony command word can function with songs from your selection, but you can also get excellent outcomes by producing MIDI from audio recordings of yourself enjoying harmonic musical instruments such as flute or violin.
11.3Convert Tune to New MIDI Track
This order recognizes the pitches in monophonic audio and places them into a clip on a brand-new MIDI monitor.
The track arrives preloaded with an Instrument Rack that performs a synthesizer sound. Using the Stand's “Synth to Piano” Macro, you can modify the timbre of this sound between an analog-style synth and an electrical keyboard. The instrument was made to be versatile good enough to supply a good preview, but can of course be changed with another device if you select.
The Switch Melody control can function with songs from your collection, but also enables you to record yourself performing, racing, or enjoying a solo instrument such as a acoustic guitar and make use of the recording to generate MIDI records.
11.4Convert Drums to New MIDI Track
This command word extracts the rhythms from unpitched, percussive audio and places them into a clip on a brand-new MIDI monitor. The order also attempts to determine kick, snare and hihat sounds and places them into the brand-new clip so that they perform the appropriate sounds in the preloaded Drum Rack. Any extra noises (such as cymbals, toms, or other percussion) will become retained but positioned on a noiseless note street for manual editing and enhancing.
As with the Switch Melody order, you can modify the transient markers in the audio cut prior to transformation to motivated where records will be positioned in the converted MIDI cut.
Change Drums works well with recorded breakbeats, but also with your very own recordings like as beatboxing or tapping on a surface area.
11.5Optimizing for Much better Conversion Quality
The Convert instructions can create interesting outcomes when utilized on pre-existing recordings from your selection, but also when used on your own recorded materials. For illustration, you can document yourself singing, playing harmonica, or also beatboxing and make use of the Convert instructions to create MIDI that you can make use of as a starting stage for brand-new songs.
For the nearly all accurate results, we suggest the using:
- Make use of songs that provides clear attacks. Notes that fade in or “swell” may not be discovered by the transformation procedure.
- Function with recordings of remote tools. The Convert Drums command word, for example, works very best with unaccompanied drum smashes; if additional instruments are existing, their information will become detected simply because properly.
- Use uncompressed, high-quality audio data files such as
.wav
or.aiff. Lossy data formats such as mp3 may effect in unpredictable conversion rates, unless the recordings are at high bitrates.
Live utilizes the transient markers (observe “Transients and Pseudo Warp Markers”) in the primary audio cut to figure out the categories between records in the changed MIDI cut. This indicates that you can “tune” the results of the transformation by adding, shifting, or removing transient guns in the audio cut before working any of the Convert instructions.
Although each of the commands has happen to be developed for a particular kind of musical material, you can sometimes get really interesting results by using the “mistaken” control. For instance, Convert Balance will generally produce chords. So operating it on a monophonic clip (like a vocal saving) will frequently generate records that weren't found in the initial audio. This can end up being a great method to spark your imagination.
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