Midis by Morke

[morke]

here is a midi that i am expanding to form background music, and hopefuly i can get this and others up to parr for OB and MW explore music. i would appreciate comments on whats good and whats bad: especialy instruments and volume levels.

[Macar]

Come on, I already told you they were good- you dont need a poll, because I'm the expert

When I get back from spring break- I will see what these sound like with some better instruments.

[wogya]

I guess the expert will be quite exhausted after his wild spring break, so I decided to help him out a bit. Added some samples to the midi file, hope it's okay:

http://media.putfile.com/Morkes-Midi

I didn't even try to make a final mix, just added some better instruments. I didn't change any of the notes, only divided the stringbackground on the different parts of the string section and doubled some of them on the horn. Also added a flute octave doubling parts of the melody (sorry for that, just felt like I had to... ). Don't have any decent harp samples so I had to substitute that with a guitar from my Roland.

Morke, I like the feel of the music, could work well as explore music. Some thougths on how you could improve your writing: First of all it could be a little more organized. It feels like all of the parts were improvised and it gets a bit messy at some points. I think it would help a lot if you separated the melody from the accompaniment more clearly. As it is now the top voice of the string background sort of follows the melody, but not quite, so does the harp. I think it would be better if the different parts were more clearly defined.

The strings look a lot like they're played on a keyboard, using a sound called "strings". In terms of making the music sound like real orchestral music, this is bad. When you play the "strings" on a keyboard it's just lots of vertical chords in succession. In an orchestra the string section is usually four or five horizontal lines, all with slightly different timbre. I had some problems dividing your string chords on the different string instruments, some of the lines became quite unnatural. I also had to stretch some notes not to leave awkward gaps in there. You should learn to think of it all like a lot of horizontal lines, that's what orchestral music is all about.

Just some friendly advice, don't let this discourage you! It's a nice piece and I think you should definitely finish it.

[morke]

thank you very much for taking the time to go through my tracks. my midi effects are VERY limited, so i try to make up for multiple instruments with large chords (at times).
I do, however experiment alot with stuff like what your talking about: but i have only 6 string effects to use.

synthstrings 1
synthstrings 2(drawn out)
contrabass
cello
violin
viola

(they sound terrible mixed together XD)

this particular track is really messy because i cloned tracks (then changed insturment) in an effort to give the music more "size". The instruments 'you' put used sound SO much better, but since they are so clear: they bring out all the off-beat and overlapping notes i have.
I've deleted all the cloned tracks: and im gong to use the 'flute' notes as a template to allign the 'harp' notes so they aren't creating all those little nasty chords.

they next problem i've run into is a little ironic for me (as a guitar player). the next part of the song begins with (this is the best way i can describe it XD) Sweeping arpeggios that when they octave, the highest note draws out and a chord is struck on the lower notes.
its kinduv like fully sweeping an ascending and decending arpeggio then hitting an open power chord. (except im only ascending)
MY PROBLEM IS I CAN'T FIND THE RIGH NOTE TO BEGIN THE ARPEGGIO ON!!!! hahaha i cant get the sweep to work mathematicaly.

Q: what would be the best way to set my midi tracks up once i've fixed the "tune"? i.e. should i split each chord into 4 single notes? should i write harmonies instead? (I REALLY APPRECIATE THE FEEDBACK! this is very inspiring )

edit: spelling

[wogya]

Some off-beat notes you hear can very well come from my sample orchestra. My strings have a very slow attack and if I play them quantized with wind instruments they always sound late. For this I just moved all string attacks slightly backwards to compensate, for a final mix I would have to do it a lot more thoroughly.

I perfectly understand your problem with the strings, strings on most synthesizers are useless for anything else than stringpad backgrounds in 80s heavy ballads. You can very well use the sound that you like the most, but it's good to keep in mind that it's actually a mix of several melodic lines, instead of a bunch of chords. Normally there's four voices (the lowest often doubled in octaves on cello and contrabass), but of course there can be more. The sections can be split up and violins can play chords as well. You don't neccessarily have to split up the string tracks, in cubase it's quite easy to separate the voices, I guess it depends on how much control you want. If I have to do a lot of rearranging, then it just might be that some own ideas slip in there as well...

As for the arpeggio starting note, I'm afraid I can't help you there. Just keep counting! If there's anything else I can help you with, let me know.

btw. Are you really sure about all those cymbals?

[Macar]

I like this peice and I hope you can find time in between models to continue composing. Just one note- I think the trills are sound really artificial, you might want to consider removing them.

Here's one of the pieces you sent me before break and I did it before break. I didnt do a great job with it- but I thought I'd post it anyway http://media.putfile.com/morke9

[morke]

thankyou both for the feedback and editing. im inspired to UPGRADE my midi software now. i may have something else to contribute in the future. but for now i will be a ghost in the forums.

thankyou
-M