Unarguably one of the most important technologies in the history of digital music production, the venerable MIDI protocol is as creatively empowering and essential today as it was when it launched almost 40 years ago. Here are some pointers to get you on the right track to programming – as opposed to recording, which we’ll get into in a future post – better MIDI parts in your DAW.
Stack Synths, Samplers And Drum Machines Using Multiple MIDI Clips
One of the many beauties of MIDI is that you can easily use copies of the same note sequence to play multiple instruments, which opens up a whole world of doubling and layering possibilities. Modern drum design, for example, often involves blending numerous stacked components to composite each sound (kick drum sub, click and body layers; snare transient, body and ‘wires’, etc), and the ability to copy the relevant MIDI part between instrument tracks makes this supremely easy. Similarly, layering synths and samplers is standard practise for building huge, epic pads, strings and other dense sounds.
But why would you bother making copies when many DAWs let you rack up any number of instruments for grouped triggering with a single MIDI clip? Well, copying said clip between discrete tracks instead of sharing a single instance of it gives you the power to tweak each one to taste – removing the low notes from one synth, thinning out the high notes in another, knocking the hi-hats out of a drum machine from which you only want the snare, and so on.
Look Beyond The Piano Roll (And Its Counterparts)
When you’re looking for the ultimate in MIDI programming precision and control, nothing will ever beat the piano roll editor (or possibly, for those of a certain age and/or inclination, the event list – see below). However, being essentially a blank canvas and a set of completely ‘manual’ tools with which to do what you musically will, it’s not exactly an inspiring platform in its own right. For a more overtly creative approach to MIDI pattern generation, fire up a step sequencer or arpeggiator, and let its positional constraints and more parameter-based approach guide your artistic hand. And by ‘arpeggiator’, we don’t mean the simple ‘up/down/as-played’ systems found in classic synths – today’s software arps offer so much in the way of editing potential that they’re often hybridised with step sequencing in their host interfaces.
Your DAW may well have both step sequencing and arpeggiation onboard for general MIDI programming purposes, and many synths have fully developed examples built in, but there are also a few excellent sequencing/arpeggiation plugins to investigate, including Kirnu Cream and Xfer Records Cthulhu.
Try A Compositional Plugin
Following on from that, one relatively recent development in MIDI processing is the ‘compositional assistant’, which is simply a plugin that generates chords, melodies, riffs or beats based on minimal user input. There aren’t a huge number of them around yet, but those worth checking out include Mixed In Key Captain Plugins, Plugin Boutique Scaler 2, and various AudioModern offerings. Each one comes at the concept from a different angle, whether that’s Captain Plugins’ bringing together of chords, melody and bass via three connected setups, Scaler 2’s austere but crazy powerful ‘palette’-based starting point, or AudioModern’s groovy randomisation; but all of them are great ways to expand your MIDI programming horizons beyond the limits of your learnt vocabulary. Read all about them in our round-up.
Get To Know Your DAW’s MIDI Tools
Once upon a time, when Cubase and Logic were pretty much the only serious MIDI sequencing games in town, a preference for the former’s Logical Editor or the latter’s MIDI Transform editor was, for many, a vital consideration in choosing which to plump for. Enabling filtering and adjustment of MIDI notes and CCs, ‘humanising’, randomising and more, these were wildly powerful creative armaments for the pioneering electronic musicians of the day. Indeed, both DAWs still house those very same systems, and others have followed suit, be it through the inclusion of MIDI plugins or integrated processing. Studio One, for example, provides plenty of options via its Musical Functions submenu, while Ableton Live’s roster of MIDI Effects serve up a wealth of intuitive plugins for data manipulation. Whatever DAW you’re using, if you want to maximise your corrective and creative MIDI workflows, make it a priority to learn these fundamental tools inside out.
Don’t Overlook The Event List And Score Editor
If you’re more comfortable with musical notation than the more ‘literal’ piano roll representation of MIDI notes on a timeline, you’ll definitely want to give the score editor in your DAW a try, if it has one. This facilitates the same MIDI programming as the piano roll editor, but presents your parts as traditionally notated notes, rests, ties, ornamentation, etc, on staves, the end result being a properly scored version of the same data – indeed, you can switch between the two views as required. Nice.
At the other end of the compositional – ahem – scale, when you need to get truly surgical with the numbers behind the notes, the event list or event editor (again, if your DAW has one) is the place to be. A hang-over from the earliest days of MIDI sequencing, the event list is exactly what it sounds like: a list of every MIDI event in the selected part, each one broken down into its component numerical parameters – pitch, velocity, start point, end point, MIDI channel, MIDI CC number, etc. Parameter values are typed directly into the numerical fields in each event row, which makes setting them to the exact values you need much, much quicker and easier than dragging their graphical counterparts around with the mouse. Yes, it’s the very epitome of the old ‘making music in a spreadsheet’ cliche, but once you’ve discovered the elemental power and geeky joy of the event list, you might just find yourself keeping it permanently open alongside the piano roll.
Turn Audio To MIDI
The extraction of MIDI data from an analysed audio stream used to be the stuff of dreams, but now most DAWs – including Pro Tools, Cubase, Logic Pro, Studio One (via Melodyne), Live and FL Studio – let you pull off this quasi-magical feat effortlessly on monophonic, polyphonic and/or drum kit parts, depending on the DAW in question. While the accuracy of the results you’ll get – particularly in terms of polyphonic pitching – are determined by the complexity of the source audio material and the tendencies of the algorithm being applied, the usefulness of audio-to-MIDI conversion can’t be understated. Got a guitar recording you’d like to double up with a synth line, or a live drum track that you’ve decided would sound awesome triggering an 808? Want to extract an inspiring chord sequence from an existing track for adaptation within your own work? Or perhaps you just need to replace a single dodgy drum within a full kit recording with a sample. Audio-to-MIDI makes it all possible, enabling any recording or sample to be turned into a MIDI clip for use as is, or as a jumping off point for further programming.
Don’t Program Everything!
Having suggested a number of things you can do to improve your MIDI programming life, we’re compelled to conclude with an overarching rule that we would strongly recommend every producer applies to their compositional workflow: always be looking to add some sort of real-time performance contribution to any MIDI part that you would consider in any sense central to the track being produced.
Let’s say you have a searing lead synth line, for which you’ve found the perfect patch and manually programmed the mother of all riffs. Instead of drawing in that filter cutoff rise throughout its eight bars of existence, why not record it live using a CC-assigned MIDI controller? Or better yet, having programmed (ie, written) the part, what’s stopping you from then playing it in live instead, imbuing it with the subtle and beneficial timing and dynamic nuances that only a human performance can bring? Even the most rigid of electronic music is improved with the injection of a bit of off-grid soul, and getting hands-on with a MIDI controller is a great way to do that.
What MIDI programming techniques do you use to get your compositions sounding their best? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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