Composing in midi

With my very first compositions (sounds weird to use such a noble term haha), both metal and folk(ish) stuff in 2006 I think, I did use Guitar Pro to keep track of structures and so forth. Nowadays when I get ideas I just record them straight away and have abandoned all midi / note softwares.

I used to use MIDI exclusively in Cakewalk (pre Sonar), because the PC I used back then wasn't powerful enough to handle audio streams, and also because I was reading for a degree in music, and conventional notation was my preferred compositional method.

All my music is written in Guitar Pro 6 and "recorded" using midi.

For "metal" GP6 isn't too great (it's tough getting a real-sounding distortion) but for a lot of what I wright I'm able to pull it off.

I don't believe it does, no. It has some cool pedals/amps, it's just hard to get them to sound "authentic."

Stooge wrote: I don't do a ton of composing, but when I do I use Guitar Pro 4.

I`m better at coming up with idea`s playing them live, so only I go for MIDI composition exclusively for classical arraignments.

However, that being said, I do know that if your looking for a good way to apply realistic touch to a GP composition, there`s a VST called "Shreddage x". Which is pretty good when you import it into virtual amp`s like Guitar Rig and Amplitube. It can sound very real if you mess around with it for long enough.

bartosso wrote: Guitar Pro 5 is pretty good. It processes sounds with a gizmo called Realistic Sound Engine and it sounds much better than midi. I used to use it quite a lot.

You are very correct, my friend Guitar Pro`s RSE 2 indeed sounds a lot better than MIDI.
Though if your into that, I highly recommend you try using "Shreddage X" or "Electri6ty" for the final rendering process, via virtual amplifiers (stuff like "Guitar Rig", "Amplitube", "RMX bundle" etc).
I`m not an expert on sound synthesis, but I do know that as far as MIDI compositions go, combining between programs usually produces the best results. And its not as complicated and time consuming, as it may sound.

For example:
here`s a quick way on how to achieve an even more realistic sound than GP, while working with programs such as "Shreddage" (Which is particularly good for metal. Hence the name)

Here are the basic steps on how to achieve realistic sound for guitars, via MIDI:
1) A good and fast way to do this is to compose the guitars themselves in in Guitar Pro.
2) When your done doing that, your work is already more than half done.
3) After you are finished with the composition itself, you opened it up in as a MIDI format in your DAW program.
4) After which, you load "Shreddage" as a virtual instrument (Make sure its on your existing MIDI track).
5) Open multiple MIDI channels (a channel for each guitar part), and arrange the various parts.
6) Select in "Shreddage" what method of playing you want (hand orientating, open chords, tremolo , etc)
     for each part. Its is of course best to separate between rhythm and lead guitar, to achieve maximum result.
7) Once you've done doing that, you are ready to export your MIDI into wave files. For here on its very easy.
8) Every composting you do render through "Shreddage" will be without any distortion. The only EQ
    that you should do is cut off some "air" in the middle, and apply minimal reverb (if any).
9) Once that's done, you open a new project (and if you have an existing one in mind, possibly with drums & bass,    
     than you should use that).
10) Load a virtual amplifier into your imported guitar parts. Select which effects and distortion you want, and, presto!
      your done.

And, no, I personally do not use "Shreddage" or Guitar Pro.
But I am familiar with Kontakt instruments ("Shreddage" is a Kontakt instrument).
So I know that, logically, what I have described should get you a better result than GP,
being as GP`s amps do not compare to more dedicated virtual amplifiers.
And in case your wondering, yes, you can also compose in "Shreddage".
But I don`t recommend that being as "Shreddage" is good for simulating touch, in specific.
Or, at least that`s what it sounds like. You can google it.


Edited by VX - 07 Feb 2013 at 1:04pm

bartosso wrote: Thanks for the tutorial! I think you've mentioned this Shreddage before, I've already told my friend about it, he's really into VSTi based composing yet not really that good at playing guitar so it may come in handy for him.  I started recording my stuff with real instruments so hopefully there'll be no need to use that kind of software. I love GuitarRig though.

Anytime if your friend needs help, you are welcome to refer him to this short tutorial! my English isnt so good, but being as you mentioned that he is infact familiar with working with VST`s, than I am sure that he will make sense of this in no time. Its alot easier than it sounds.


Edited by VX - 08 Feb 2013 at 10:57am

bartosso wrote: You really don't have to excuse yourself every time you post, your English is not bad at all I'm by no means an authority in the field though - I'm Polish and I study french translation and literature so my English isn't perfect either. Besides there are Americans who make worse mistakes than any of us Not on this forum though, OUR Americans don't make mistakes and when they do it's always on purpose. As for VST, I'm really overwhelmed with the abundance of options this stuff offers. Amazing. I'll translate your tutorial into french and send to the guy, if you don't mind, obviously. He seemed really excited about it.

I`m glad to hear that you find my English to be satisfactory, and your word as a future linguistic expert means more. Not to mention that I am sure that your English is better than mine and, yes, I am aware that there are many Americans which do not put my effort into such grammatical aspects. Truth be told, one of the reasons as to why I try to phrase my correctly is to avoid any possible misunderstandings. You know how it goes on the internet, everyone has something to say, so in my opinion trying to keep things on at least a basic level of understanding, will go along way.

And about VST, my friend you have no idea. Ive been researching what`s out there for my own music, and I have to tell you that there are some insane samplers out there. And for all genres.


Edited by VX - 11 Feb 2013 at 4:56am