Converting Audio to MIDI?

[catfishmusic]

I thought I remembered reading in the manual that you can convert an audio file to MIDI pitch data? Or am I dreaming? I've looked in the manual and can't find it...and can't seem to find a menu anywhere? Can anyone can help me out? (fyi-I'm still using the rock solid 5.13)

[billf]

Look at pitch correction functions section. I don't have the DP5 manual in front of me right now so I can't refer to you to specific pages.

[Frodo]

DP5, p.850?

[catfishmusic]

You rock Frodo. Thanks! ps-was that just by memory???

[FMiguelez]

You rock Frodo. Thanks! ps-was that just by memory???

Nah! It's because of all that Ocktober-Fest beer

[catfishmusic]

[Frodo]

Definitely not by memory!!

You know, there are a number of features like that which are not indexed. There's nothing listed on "converting audio pitch to MIDI data", which is the specific header in the manual. There's nothing under "audio to MIDI". Even if you knew that the feature was part of the Pitch tool, you wouldn't find it under Pitch, either.

[catfishmusic]

yeah that would've been a little scary if you knew that page by memory. Thanks for finding it...I checked the index, and all those other spots you mentioned and couldn't find it...then I began to wonder if it was wishful thinking...but I KNEW I saw it somewhere...The funny thing was, I was basically feeling too lazy to play the part (which was easy) into MIDI, but my quest to convert it took 100x more effort than just hitting the record button....oh well at least I know how to do it now!

[zed]

Thanks for finding it...I checked the index, and all those other spots you mentioned and couldn't find it...then I began to wonder if it was wishful thinking...but I KNEW I saw it somewhere...

I saw it somewhere recently, and was reminded of how easy it is to do. Where did I see it... oh yeah... it's on the Pitch Automation page in the MOTU overview of DP7:

http://www.motu.com/products/software/d ... -auto.html

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the animation. I haven't tried this since it didn't seem to work so well on my system when it first came out... but I have noticed a bunch of things which are now working much better in DP 6.02 on Snow Leopard (and on an Intel Mac), so I will have to give this feature another whirl.

[donreynolds]

Melodyne...

[pnberg64]

pg 851 manual



1) Quantize pitch (Audio menu - Audio Pitch Correction - Quantize Pitch)
2) Select the pitch segments with the Lasso Cursor (arrow tool)
3) Choose Copy from the Edit menu
4) WHILE the pitch segments are selected choose Set to Selection Bounds from the Selection Pane menu in the Control panel
5) Click the name of the MIDI track you wish to paste into
6) Choose Paste from the Edit Menu


I left some of the verbiage out, but if you are versed in where the menus are and have done it before, this short list of steps should do it...

-p

[David Polich]

One note of caution when converting audio to MIDI - whether it's
via DP's pitch correction or Melodyne, the conversion is simply
pitch only, there is no expression, modulation, or
amplitude variation. All the MIDI data will be the same velocity
and have no modulation.

When you play a MIDI part via a keyboard, you play according to
the velocity response of the sound you're triggering (such as
a piano). When you convert audio to MIDI data, you get none of
that. Just the pitches.

When I first did a conversion of audio to MIDI, I was very
disappointed - the result was a lifeless and robotic MIDI
part.

[mhschmieder]

Dave, thanks for the heads-up. I didn't realise Melodyne doesn't try to capture expression etc. I guess that's why someone challenged me last month when I said I thought it could do audio to MIDI vs. being primarily focused on editing audio without artefacts, in as much detail as one normally can feel confident editing MIDI.

I haven't had time to use it yet due to deadlines, but have no regrets over buying it. It will prove a useful tool in many ways, whether or not I can use it to "capture" the essence of some jazz performances I did a few years back before I was MIDI-savvy, as direct out audio-only tracks using atrocious sound sources. It's really not my highest priority anyway.

Very useful information overall. Saves me a lot of time in identifying the right tools for the task, in quite a few categories of potential audio to MIDI conversion (one of which might be drum replacement, but for that I will eventually get Drumagog).

It is nice to know though, that many people are getting good use out of DP's built-in audio-to-MIDI feature. I might have used it once as an experiment years ago (or whenever it was introduced), but had sort of assumed that it was thrown in to improve the stats at on-line purchase pages and that it wasn't meant to be a pro-level feature (in quality).

I'll have to give it a try again sometime, when the need arises.

[ramadev]

Has anyone tried Widisoft for audio-to-MIDI capture? The "vel" in the graphic on this page implies that it can capture velocity information from an audio file:

http://www.widisoft.com/english/widi-au ... di-au.html