From imported audio to QuickScribe to Sibelius?

[RiccardoRuotolo]

Newbie question...(sorry)

My primary focus is arranging charts for a street band associated with a children's hospital. I use Sibelius 8.0 for most of what I do, so I'm just beginning to learn the complexities of DAWs.

My question is this:

I know I can import an mp3 into DP as a Soundbite...and I know I can then drag the SoundBite into a Sequence...but that's as far as I get. Is it possible (using DP) to create a QuickScribe score of the imported audio file (for subsequent exporting to Sibelius via MusicXML)?

I've wrestled with this for hours, attempting to route the imported stereo audio tracks to mono audio tracks, and then to MIDI tracks. But the more scratch at it, the more it's DAWning on me that it's not possible. (heh heh)

Am I correct in (now) realizing that I'm trying to go "backwards" up the chain; that DAWs are not designed to start with stereo audio, and magically convert to MIDI or MusicXML?

Please let me know if there's a way to convert imported stereo audio to QuickScribe (and then to MusicXML) using DP.

Thank you!

FWIW, PhotoScore Pro and AudioScore Pro are not viable options. They both product very low accuracy output, despite their hefty price tags.

[cuttime]

It is possible to use the pitch correction segments as MIDI notes, but it is a really tricky situation. The audio needs to be monophonic and pristine. Even then, I don't think you'll get the results you want. YMMV.

[RiccardoRuotolo]

It is possible to use the pitch correction segments as MIDI notes, but it is a really tricky situation. The audio needs to be monophonic and pristine. Even then, I don't think you'll get the results you want. YMMV.

Thanks. I'm coming to that conclusion, as well. This particular audio track is of a large group with around 20 independent parts. It's highly unlikely to be accurately transcribed, I'm afraid.

Nonetheless, thanks for your prompt response.

Riccardo

[williemyers]

Ricardo, unfortunately what you are hoping to accomplish is pretty much undoable, no matter what programs or DAW's you use. What you're trying to do is "audio -> MIDI" conversion....and you're trying to do it polyphonically. As cuttime mentioned, DP - and some other programs - can take a shot at it if it's a mono track, but polyphonically? Ain't gonna happen...

Think of this for a moment...suppose you were transcribing the music live - writing it out by hand. If you had just a single musician playing, and you were *really* fast/good, you might get most of their performance down on paper. But now, what if there were - waht did you say - 20 players? All at the same time? And just you, to get it all down?
Actually, the only way that you're likely to get it all, is to just play your track over and over, entering the parts in to Sibelius as you go.
Could take a long time!

Having said, I have actually done it a few times and, for what it's worth, here's the process I have used.....
I start with an empty DP sequence. I drop the stereo audio in, moving it to the head (far left) of the sequence. Then i create a click track that matches the audio as closely as possible. (this can take a *LONG* time!)
Now, with my original audio and my synced click, I begin to play in inividual parts in MIDI tracks, quantizing them and playing them back against the original. *Eventually* I will get a set of MIDI tracks that will play pretty perfectly against the original. Then, I save the whole thing as a MIDI file, which I can then open in Sibelius and start editing the notation.
Like I said, it cna take a *long* time, but it does work!
Good Luck with it!

[MIDI Life Crisis]

LOL

[mikehalloran]

Like I said, it cna take a *long* time, but it does work!
Good Luck with it!

Holy cow!

If the goal is sheet music, I think that, for most of us, listening and transcribing directly into notation would be faster.

[williemyers]

...for most of us, listening and transcribing directly into notation would be faster.

for most of you...it might be

[Shooshie]

What's the name of the software that can transcribe polyphonic tracks to some degree of success? Ordinarily, I'd remember it, but I don't use it, and I've been away for a few months, so it's kind of hiding in some recessed corner of my brain. You all know it. It used to do monophonic tracks, and about the time that DP started doing pitch to MIDI, monophonically, the guy had been working on it, and gotten it to do polyphony. I don't remember if it's a plugin for DP or a separate app, or both. But everyone here knows it, including me if my brain wasn't clogged up with useless info about Katy Perry and Lindsay Lohan. Farking internet!

Shoosh

[cuttime]

What's the name of the software that can transcribe polyphonic tracks to some degree of success?

Melodyne?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Transcription is great mind exercise. I suggest doing it by ear, just for the fun of it, and maybe the accuracy....

[Shooshie]

Melodyne?

Exactly. I think it would probably be more trouble — at least the first time —  than actually transcribing 20 voices, but who knows? It might be helpful.

Transcription is great mind exercise. I suggest doing it by ear, just for the fun of it, and maybe the accuracy....

Just be sure you can turn it off. When I'm listening to music in stores or restaurants, or even on the radio, half the time I'm transcribing it (poorly, most likely) in my head. Sometimes I think it would be nice just to listen to music and not be thinking about how it was put together. On the other hand, it's rewarding to realize just why some of the greats — of any genre — are great, and which of them really seem to possess that "something extra" of genius. I think it's more apparent when you're trying to reconstruct it from scratch.

Shoosh

[labman]

Shush said... "Just be sure you can turn it off. When I'm listening to music in stores or restaurants, or even on the radio, half the time I'm transcribing it (poorly, most likely) in my head. Sometimes I think it would be nice just to listen to music and not be thinking about how it was put together"

Glad to hear I am not alone.

I actually have post it notes that say... "Listen to some music to relax" LOL

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I never turn it off but can listen with both sides of my brain.

[labman]

I never turn it off but can listen with both sides of my brain.

What if i only have half a brain?

[Killahurts]

If the goal is sheet music, I think that, for most of us, listening and transcribing directly into notation would be faster.

I don't read or write music notation, but this would still be the fastest way, even for me.