5 Tips You NEED to Make MIDI Strings Sound Realistic (Beginner’s Guide)

[@SaraSimmsMusic]

Thanks for this video, I learned a lot!

[@HaylieSings]

You explained this in a way I actually understood. Which is saying a lot because I can barely operate logic which might right now feels like a complicated spaceship.

[@MrAndrewHume]

haha you'll get it !!

[@MusicalWizardryMarcoIannello]

A couple of remarks: - Sustain and Legato are very different articulations, specifically the latter is made by recording the transitions between notes, which does not happen with sustained notes - There in nothing wrong with quantising to the beat, the reason being each separate sub-section consists of multiple players, and they certainly did not get recorded starting their playing at exactly the same time, no matter how hard they tried. Bonus tip: if one's DAW supports that, it is very efficient to the use "track delay" functionality on a MIDI track. Setting a negative value there makes possible to have notes aligned to the beat. Unfortunately, different orchestral sample libraries use different values for the negative track delay, some actually make a mention of what that value is, others do not

[@mkirbymusic]

Shh Marco, don't make it more complicated for us lay folk😅 But yes, I meant to say "longs', not legato, so thank you for pointing that out. I am going to look into track delay because that is something I'm not familiar with. The reason that I don't quantize for sustains is because I find that when recording it on keyboard, you tend to compensate for the initial silence when using the mod wheel.

[@MusicalWizardryMarcoIannello]

@@mkirbymusic it is not like I am knowledgeable 😁 Yes, I see where you are coming from, and that still works even when quantising really 🙂

[@NaAmirA78]

So useful, thanks ❤🌱♾️

[@nickvieru8969]

Love your explanations man! Really straighforward and applicable!

[@mkirbymusic]

Thank you! Let me know if there is anything you’d like to see me cover in future videos.

[@Verysickbeats]

Dope vid sir!

[@mkirbymusic]

Appreciate it!

[@teacherofteachers1239]

Old enough to have had the Ensoniq EPS 16+. Even as just a hobbyist, I did notice early on the problem of making sampled instruments sound "real." It helps to learn, or even just notice for oneself, what happens "in real life." If I have enough tracks (easier now than when I was on a four-track machine!), rather than play a sample of a group of violins, I would rather play every violin independently. Not challenging, just time-consuming, but the imperfections can make the difference and are worth it to me (if one does not have access to the real thing). Orchestration is not that much more complex than initial harmonization.

[@mkirbymusic]

Thanks for sharing that! And your last statement intrigues because I guess I’ve always thought of proper orchestration as something that is difficult to learn.

[@teacherofteachers1239]

@@mkirbymusic Hey there! There's a particularly recent presentation here on KZbin, on this very point, that you might get something out of. It's so clear, even a non-musician might be able to follow it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXy6ipWjrLKrjc0

[@SoniqSounds]

What brass stab library were you using? it sounds great!?

[@mkirbymusic]

I'm guessing that you are talking about the ones at the end? Those are from Heavyocity's Symphonic Destruction. In the "Traditionals" section you get some patches that are great to layer with cleaner sounding libraries.

[@SoniqSounds]

@@mkirbymusic thanks. I loved the sound it made when layered. So crisp!

[@aaronstepanik9365]

Hello, I don't own a midi keyboard/controller; however, I own a keyboard that is capable of midi. Can I use the pitch wheel and mod wheel on my keyboard to add dynamics and expression to my midi strings? Or will I need a midi keyboard to accomplish this? Thanks for your help and for your video!

[@mkirbymusic]

Hi Aaron, can you tell me what the model of your keyboard is? I don't want to assume but it sounds like you have a standalone keyboard that happens to have MIDI out and not USB?

[@aaronstepanik9365]

@@mkirbymusic I have a Yamaha YPG 635 and a Korg X50 synth.

[@mkirbymusic]

I did a quick read into it. It looks like they should both work like that, even the pedals should send the MIDI data as well.

[@aaronstepanik9365]

@@mkirbymusic thanks again!

[@RodrigoOliveira81]

Avoid making chords with only one instrument. Use one note (maximum 2) for each instrument for creating a chord.

[@mkirbymusic]

That's a great tip. Thanks! So, when using an ensemble patch with different instruments mapped out across the keyboard, we must play two notes per range max.