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hi everyone, does anybody knows of good bass plugin where i can load midi files? a friend of mine has the kontakt 4 bass i dont remenber which one it is...it sounds pretty good from what i heard but i asked him if it was possible to load midi( guitar pro midi) in to it and he said he had tried couple of time and he was never able to do it. i currently owned adobe audition 3 and want to get a good bass plugin for rock music, can you recommend me some of them where i could load my midi files?
and is it possible to load midi files in kontakt 4 and maybe he is missing something?
thanks

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Kapt.Krunch Sat, 12/03/2011 - 07:14

"...does anybody knows of good bass plug in where i can load midi files???"

"i currently owned adobe audition 3 and want to get a good bass plug in for rock music, can you recommend me some of them where i could load my midi files??"

It sounds like you're just slightly confused on what does what, but that's OK. It CAN be confusing.

The first question. You normally don't really load a MIDI file into an instrument (VSTi). You connect the VSTi to a MIDI track, so the MIDI information can trigger the instrument to respond. MIDI is not sound. MIDI is information that tells a device what instrument to choose, which note(s) to play on what channel, and can control all the performance data like volume, panning, effects (like chorus and reverb), amongst other thing. Of course, there may be some VST's that do sequence, as maybe even a standalone, but let me go through all this to explain the heirarchy of the software, and why you may...or may not...need or want to spend hundreds of dollars just yet.

A VST instrument (or soundcard, keyboard w/sound module or other sound-producing module) responds to those instructions.

One thing here, VST (Virtual Studio Technology): VST normally refers to effects to use on audio tracks, while adding the "i" (VSTi) normally indicates it is a triggered "instrument", subject to VST manipulation. You can have an instrument doing purely synthesized sound-generation, or you can have sample-based instruments that can respond to VST instructions to change their character. All "instruments" must have something telling them what notes to play...at a minimum. They do all fall under the generalization of VST, though.

A MIDI track is a sequence of MIDI data, or 'instructions'. The very beginning of the 'sequence' of a MIDI track normally contains device information to tell it what device to choose, what channel, how loud, what pan position, amongst other things. It sends it all relatively quickly. Then, note data is sent, 'sequentially', following the tempo data that the entire piece is set to. ANY of these things can change at any time one desires by inserting continuous controller (CC) data, or other 'change' data, like a change of instrument, etc.

Now, this is where we get into the various music programs, of which the top level to pull things together are generically known as "DAWs" (Digital Audio Workstations).

Your Adobe Audition is a "DAW". It, as well as many others, concentrate more on digital audio, than on MIDI. Digital audio is the actual reproduction of sound...just like you record it to tape. MIDI turns INTO digital audio through various means, including recording a soundcard/keyboard/outboard module into the inputs of a digital audio interface, or through a software 'rendering' process of the virtual instrument, etc., right inside the program.

Other "DAWs" have much more extensive MIDI creation and editing capabilities, and are geared more toward people (like me) to create backing tracks by sequencing the MIDI data to trigger the sounds. Sonar and Cubase both fall into that category. They have good digital audio recording capabilities PLUS extensive MIDI editing capabilities. If you're not interested in all that much MIDI functionality, and are only concerned with recording actual audio, these may not be the best choice...although they ARE both good at audio. It's just they have a lot of extraneous stuff you don't need.

The good news for you is that you CAN insert MIDI files into Audition, and have them trigger virtual instruments (or other devices). IF you are happy with the performance and structure of the tune. A good MIDI sequencer/editor makes it much easier to rearrange a tune, adding/deleting or shuffling around parts to construct the composition exactly how you want. In fact, it's essential when using MIDI tracks that they are arranged EXACTLY as you want (song structure, etc.) before you start recording real vocals/instruments. Your initial recording will generally follow that composition, and then you'll instruct the timing master to go to "Audio" where the MIDI will then follow the recorded audio. Once you have audio recorded to sync up a MIDI track, it is difficult to change any song-structure stuff in the MIDI track.

Anyway, the lowest level in the heirachy is the virtual instrument. The DAW is king, telling his knight (the MIDI file) what to force the peasant (the VSTi) to do. Luckily for you, your Adobe Audition can handle VST, triggered my MIDI.

So, what you mainly need is a decent Bass VSTi. You don't really NEED an entire package, unless you want one. If you do, and you have the cash, why not? More stuff, more control.

I went into all this because of your first statement. If you already have MIDI files, download some free VST instruments from KVR, or something, load the MIDI file into Audition, assign the instrument, hit play...and start tweaking things. Some of them may be halfway decent, some of them may be terrible, some of them may be just plain weird, and you may even find a decent one or two. (Just remember to be careful about viruses and other malware while downloading this kind of stuff. My anti-virus checks it before it downloads, as it downloads, and then I run the full scan on that particular file before I open it.)

Once you get the hang of how this all works together, you'll be better prepared for a possibly expensive purchase, should you decide. Heck, you may even be able to download a demo version of Kontakt, and some instruments, just so you can experiment with that. But, you'll likely want to run it IN Audition.

ONE other thing, if you are going to record audio with MIDI synced up, don't get too precious or time-consumed with the sounds of MIDI-triggered instruments before you record your audio, especially vocals. Do a basic thing, record the audio, and THEN start choosing instruments, and manipulating their EQ and other stuff. It can be much more destructive to mangle and tweak an audio track to make it sonically fit into the MIDI sounds, than it is to tweak the MIDI sounds to fit into the audio. Of course, there are exceptions. You may have everything perfect, except you want to add a guitar. EQ the guitar to fit in. No problem. It's basically an artistic juggling act.

As always, I may have gotten something wrong..so anyone correct me if you wish.

Good luck,

Kapt.Krunch