MIDI backing tracks

[blackmorian]

Hi all, new to the forum although have used DP4 and 5 for projects. I'm thinking or a new live performance solo. I'd like to purchase some MIDI tracks to drag in to P and then tweak to my liking. example, I can play and sing Statesboro Blues to a t but I want the backing right, without going through the pain of creating it all myself. Any ideas???

[bkshepard]

<ghostly voice>Luke, use the Google</ghostly voice>

Really, do a Google search for MIDI files (try MIDI, .mid, and SMF). There are plenty from which to choose in every style imaginable--and a few that are unimaginable as well

[cpeiv]

I used to make a living performing live with MIDI tracks. Try Trycho Music and Tran Tracks. Have fun

[mhschmieder]

Diligence pays off. For a lot of stupid (and not-so-stupid) reasons, MIDI files get yanked almost as fast as they go up. The publishers consider them a copyright infringement, just as they did for several decades with The Real Book (jazz recording transcriptions unrelated to original songwriter's manuscripts). Live musicians have never been happy with the situation.

The usual advice is to go to commercial MIDI sites -- there are two or three that are professional. Unfortunately they charge on average $5 or more per son, and don't let you hear an audio rendering (however poor the source sounds might be) beforehand.

I often use MIDI grabbed from the web as a launching off point, but by the time I'm done, it's rare that even one note or track remains from the original. That's because most are poorly done, and focus on the core instruments like guitar, drums, and bass, which I could care less about since those will ALWAYS be live. They usually ignore all the important fills that you can't do live without an 18-piece band.

Nevertheless, using a web MIDI file, if it is even halfway decent, can speed up the structuring of a DP project, and give you some scratch tracks against which it is easier to add and audition your own. So they do have their use even if not useful as end targets for rendering. And on that latter point, this also has to do with poor dynamics and articulation, and the attack envelope. I've rarely come across a MIDI file even 1% as good as my own.

I keep a few bookmarks for MIDI pages that have succeeded in not getting shut down, but usually just start from scratch each time with Google. Sometimes I download a bunch pre-emptively. Many are copies of the same one, but modified slightly. Sometimes a song will have three or more distinct MIDI renditions on the web, and it can take awbhile to decide which one will serve as the best basis upon which to base your own brand-new MIDI and audio tracks.

BTW, the reason most MIDI files, including commercial ones, suck, as that over 99% of them are designed for use as karaoke backing, not live band fill-ins/pads/etc. Some are so bad that they have up to eight parallel tracks "hinting" the vocal melody line. But these files aren't used much anymore as karaoke has moved on to other techniques, many of which involve hiring good cover musicians or using audio extraction methodologies to remove vocals from original recordings.

At any rate, the predominance of karaoke as the usage scenario for MIDI, is the main reason the copyright lawyers keep shutting down the sites. And that it indeed a legitimate gripe, as that constitutes direct commercial gain (which is a lot more tenuous in the case of a band using a string ensemble backing track for a song or two, where everything else is live).

In the early days, MIDI was often used as a way of playing your favourite songs on the computer, before bandwidth and CPU/memlory increased to where MP3's took hold and were feasible for downloads and/or streaming. People didn't mind so much that they were missing the vocals, since some cheesy GM instrument like a very bad flute or trombone might be playing the melody anyway.

[kassonica]

<ghostly voice>Luke, use the Google</ghostly voice>

Really, do a Google search for MIDI files (try MIDI, .mid, and SMF). There are plenty from which to choose in every style imaginable--and a few that are unimaginable as well

Classic post ( in scary ghostly voice)

[dirty penguin]

Also try hit trax:

http://www.MIDI.com.au