Hello fellow lockdowners,
An exercise in trying to develop my understanding of MIDI and how to add expression to stuff. The title comes from a friend who has views about midi pap!
Steve.
Slightly remixed bass and drums.
A very nicely put together tune. Some of the accented notes sounded somewhat off and some midi note starts were a bit late. Liked especially the electric guitar and bass sounds but I guess these were the real thing and not midi. The guitar solo was very nice (especially the beginning of the solo was really catchy and groovy). Also liked the electric piano solo and sound.
The horn section and individual horns did not always sound that convincing (which I assume were midi).
I liked the guitar solo very much, in general I liked the melody, thanks for sharing!
Hi hko,
Thanks very much for giving this a listen and for your generous comments. Glad you liked the tune; it was an attempt to put together something using the keyboard rather than guitar. I agree with you about the horns, although some of the lapse timing was kind of deliberate on my part, to try to avoid a ‘slab of sound’ effect. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed messing about with midi horns, not only to try and make them sounds reasonable but also because of the fun in developing harmonies on the fly - being forced to think differently from using a guitar.
Thanks again, and I shall keep practising!
Steve.
Hi Antony,
Thanks very much for listening and thank you for your comments - glad you enjoy it!
Steve.
So happy to hear the rare and excellent postings from you Steve! Funny, I’ve just been playing around with Session Horns (not pro) for a tune. It’s amazing what you can do with libraries these days. But the best thing here is your guitar playing. I really admire what you can do on the guitar. Must be an LP? The bass sometimes sounds a little loose on the timing. The composition really makes sense. I’m trying to think who I’m reminded of, but I’d say a blend of a lot of great jazz-rock in its heyday (that I listen to constantly - Jeff Stern, John Scofield, Stanley Clarke, Billy Cobham ). It also sounds like you’re playing the Rhodes live, and that’s impressive. When the bass and the Rhodes are alone together, the bass sounds especially loose.
Hey Leon, thanks very much for the listen and your comments, much appreciated. You’re right about the bass, I should do it again, but there’s a possibility a bassist I know may do the bass. Funnily enough, the guitar is a Strat, not LP, played through my little Hughes&Kettner. I wish I could play a Rhodes solo live, but at the moment it’s just chords I can just about manage. The solo was midi guitar. I bought a Roland GR55 years ago and got it out again to try. I was really disappointed with the tracking. This tune became a learning exercise for me, both with the midi horns harmonies but also in diving into the midi editor to clear out loads of false triggers and ghost notes in the solo and generally tidy it up. I probably use about 3% of what Cubase can do and it’s exciting to find out some more of its capabilities.
Good to hear you’re looking at using Session Horns as well. Maybe debuted in Fire Pt 2?
Steve.
yes excellent guitar ,you can rip it up and play melodicly ,the tune was great .dont know if youve tried the app midi guitar https://www.jamorigin.com/
Thanks very much for the listen and the comments Polgara, much appreciated. That link looks fascinating; have you used midi guitar yourself? I’ve downloaded the demo and will give it a go tomorrow. Thanks again.
Steve.
Wow! I loved the sax and the guitar and then the E-piano, It took me back to my childhood playing Aladdin and Sonic on the Sega Genesis console. a pure joy ride. I’d say you’ve really got a lot of potential in this genre , keep them coming. Thanks for sharing
Yes! Had a good listen to this, that must have taken quite some time!
Love the guitar!
Thanks very much Masoomi for the listen and for your comments - I must listen to more games soundtracks! I remember decades ago enjoying Zool on the Amiga (that dates me).
Steve
Thanks a lot Chubs for listening and for your comments, much appreciated. It did take me quite a while, because I am not really familiar with the whole MIDI thing. Good fun to explore though!
Steve.
Impressive piece, not my genre at all but I very much enjoyed listening. Great feel to the track…certainly NOT MIDI PAP! 
Hi planarchist,
Thanks so much for listening and for your kind comments - glad you liked it! I’ll tell my friend that not everyone agrees with him about midi pap!
Steve.
Great job, getting midi to sound ‘real’ ish is not an easy feat, so many get it so wrong. Really enjoying the horns, awesome guitar work, nice feel. Commenting as I listen, the horns at 3:22 are amazing 
The outro guitar solo is Tops!
Hi Steve!
Superb piece. This piece sounds like a group of good musicians that was recorded live. Very good performance by all. At around 0:58 sec I hear the theme of an old jazz standard “Fly Me to the Moon”, even the pianist picks it up at the start of his improvisation. If it’s an interpretation of it, then it’s originally made! In any case, it’s very good!
Hi Steve,
First of all , as expected outstanding guitar work.
A jazz rock chord progression, it did surprise me!
But for me some real timing issues in bass and brass licks…
It’s a high level learning goal you took! I would go for the less is more principle. Simplify some parts mixing wise and a sparse use of chords with the E piano. It’s a really nice progression tho work with.
Good job anyway…to be continued.
Peter
Hey deangersmith, Rene_L and Peter, thanks so much for commenting.
This was a bit of playing around with arranging for virtual instruments (including stealing a bit of Fly Me to the Moon!). Shortly after I did it I was going to ask. a bass playing friend to collaborate with me and do a decent bass part but haven’t got round to that yet. The timing of the horns was meant to be a bit loose on purpose to avoid an obviously synthetic sound but maybe I overdid the looseness!
Thanks again for the comments - I will try to revisit this at some point and make it tidier. Cubase though - what a programme.
Steve.