Audio to midi

Bug reports & end-user support for Akai's MPC Software 'controllers' including the new MPC Studio 2, the MPC Touch, MPC Renaissance & original MPC Studio and MPC StudioB lack.
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Audio to midi

By Jnmmorgan79 Wed Apr 03, 2013 11:01 pm
Is there a way to convert audio to midi? If not I would think this to be a must have. And if so how do ya do it ?
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Re: Audio to midi

By Metatron72 Wed Apr 03, 2013 11:13 pm
Jnmmorgan79 wrote:Is there a way to convert audio to midi? If not I would think this to be a must have. And if so how do ya do it ?


Celemony Melodyne, or Ableton Live 9. It's heavy tech to do that and those two apps are two of the first to explore it on a more useful level. It takes some heavy coding to make a software that makes sound guesses at the proper pitches of polyphonic audio and then make a MIDI note assignments that correlate.

I have Melodyne, and it's not 100% (you have to manually move some notes and sometimes erase others that just don't fit right) but it's still useful and pretty amazing we've come that far with technology.

When you do get a decent MIDI file from the apps it's cool because then it's an interpolation when made to trigger a new instrument. And if you ever have to pay for clearances an interpolation is way cheaper than a sample of the same thing. Also you can re-arrange the MIDI notes the apps render from the audio and easily make a new thing or study the chords and scales in the original sample.
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Re: Audio to midi

By 83dude Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:53 am
Also, Logic already supports that feature since version 8 (Express & Pro). It's quite a messy business to configure it and it IS quite crappy, but at least it can give you some really valuable nudge if you couldn't figure out how a melody etc. is played.

Re: Audio to midi

By Jnmmorgan79 Thu Apr 04, 2013 11:09 am
The reason I asked is I upgraded to Abelton 9. And it has this feature and it is perfect. I haven't had any problems with it. So easy to do, the only reason I purchased it. I wish the Ren had this it would be the greatest ever if it did.

So shout out to Akai hook up with your buddy's at Abelton. And get some info.

Re: Audio to midi

By Jnmmorgan79 Thu Apr 04, 2013 11:28 am
Also what about acting as a master and a slave?
I know I can open as a plugin and select daw. But what about the other way around?
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Re: Audio to midi

By konc3pt Thu Apr 04, 2013 11:48 am
Jnmmorgan79 wrote:Also what about acting as a master and a slave?


At this point ren can only be master, ableton can take ren to school

Re: Audio to midi

By son of man Thu Apr 04, 2013 8:27 pm
Metatron72 wrote:
Jnmmorgan79 wrote:Is there a way to convert audio to midi? If not I would think this to be a must have. And if so how do ya do it ?


Celemony Melodyne, or Ableton Live 9. It's heavy tech to do that and those two apps are two of the first to explore it on a more useful level. It takes some heavy coding to make a software that makes sound guesses at the proper pitches of polyphonic audio and then make a MIDI note assignments that correlate.

I have Melodyne, and it's not 100% (you have to manually move some notes and sometimes erase others that just don't fit right) but it's still useful and pretty amazing we've come that far with technology.

When you do get a decent MIDI file from the apps it's cool because then it's an interpolation when made to trigger a new instrument. And if you ever have to pay for clearances an interpolation is way cheaper than a sample of the same thing. Also you can re-arrange the MIDI notes the apps render from the audio and easily make a new thing or study the chords and scales in the original sample.
i didn't even know this was possible... can you only use audio from 1 instument at a time or can you use a whole band?
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Re: Audio to midi

By IMAKEMADBEATS Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:02 pm
Jnmmorgan79 wrote:The reason I asked is I upgraded to Abelton 9. And it has this feature and it is perfect. I haven't had any problems with it. So easy to do, the only reason I purchased it. I wish the Ren had this it would be the greatest ever if it did.

So shout out to Akai hook up with your buddy's at Abelton. And get some info.


I've seen that. That sh*t is crazy.
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Re: Audio to midi

By Ill-Green Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:23 pm
The Ren will need audio tracks to even see that feature.

I managed to accomplish this on the MV in a crude way though. I took an audio of a drum break and wrote down the BPM. I then sliced it into 16 pads and I assigned those bits to a MIDI track. It took me awhile to get it sound like the original even with its imperfections but the break MIDI'd up perfectly. Tedious though.
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Re: Audio to midi

By peeping tom Fri Apr 05, 2013 12:13 am
celemony sounds like this business.

Re: Audio to midi

By Jnmmorgan79 Fri Apr 05, 2013 12:13 am
Yea Fo sho it is super slick on Abelton. You can convert drums and it picks em up real good. And it separates the kick high hat and snare. Then assighn whatever you want. You can also pick harmony Wich will seperate diferent notes. then you got melody wich is single notes. I know that if this was on the Ren I would never touch much else, except my plugins. I don't want this to be an advertisement for Abelton. I just would love it on the Ren. Cause MPC work flow is the smothest ever. It is what learned on MPC 2000xl

Re: Audio to midi

By moyphee Fri Apr 05, 2013 1:21 am
I've seen that. That sh*t is crazy.


It's also pretty damn ancient. Roland did it back in 1987 (and in real-time) with a unit called the VP-70 and again with a table unit called the CP-40. You could do other things like run a mic through it and then modulate the pitch with a midi keyboard. It's not a vocoder as some think it is.

Like a lot of odd gear, peeps didn't realize what it was until it was long gone. You can also do it by running a mic into guitar to midi converter. The sounds from your voice simply have to start with a hard consonants or plosive to separate the notes. Cheap converters don't track bending very well.
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Re: Audio to midi

By JAH Fri Apr 05, 2013 1:44 am
moyphee wrote: It's also pretty damn ancient. Roland did it back in 1987 (and in real-time) with a unit called the VP-70 and again with a table unit called the CP-40. You could do other things like run a mic through it and then modulate the pitch with a midi keyboard. It's not a vocoder as some think it is.

On a related topic......A lot of old gear with new technology were expensive and they didn't work as advertised or what people expected from their investment.

Roland? :lol: Market products like the VP-9000 which costs over $2000 when it was released. It was very limited and not user friendly at all. People were buying them and then quickly selling them for huge losses. In no time at all they were being sold for a few hundre bucks. This product is practically given away out here in Japan.
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Re: Audio to midi

By IMAKEMADBEATS Fri Apr 05, 2013 2:35 am
When this technology was made available is irrelevant.

Everything in the latest beat machines could be done before these beat machines. That's not the point.
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Re: Audio to midi

By JAH Fri Apr 05, 2013 2:45 am
Some Technology was not up to speed when it was released. That is relevant.
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