The struggle of Gps learning music and sheetmusic

Anything that doesn't fit into other topics goes here!
516 posts
I just did another test, used the notes from tutorial. Sounds fine by me. :)

Now I need to make an intro and outro, and variations.
Time for an update.

Its fun, I am still making progress and it has a lot to do with my ears, distinguish things in music.


Also me slowly starting to understand drum patterns.


A nice example, was me listening to Ice Cube- Gangster rap made me do it.
I remembered making a instrumental version. I listened to my file in LMMS, and noticed something was missing.

Some percussion sound. After a 20 min or so, I had something that made me happy.

I remember not being able to do this before, I had tried.
Gps wrote:
Fri Apr 03, 2020 8:26 pm
Time for an update.

Its fun, I am still making progress and it has a lot to do with my ears, distinguish things in music.


Also me slowly starting to understand drum patterns.


A nice example, was me listening to Ice Cube- Gangster rap made me do it.
I remembered making a instrumental version. I listened to my file in LMMS, and noticed something was missing.

Some percussion sound. After a 20 min or so, I had something that made me happy.

I remember not being able to do this before, I had tried.
Yes i know what you mean. Working with music and listening to music with 'producer-ears' may eventually one day actually make me into a 'producer' -or not :p
While listening to James Last - Biscaya and my cover of this track, I noticed the lack of wide stereo in my track.

Calf stereo tools to the rescue. :)


There is some thing else bothering me though about my cover. Some of the bassline line and other instruments sound slightly off beat.

Already found one track were the notes are at a suspicious place, especially when I compared it to another track.
I need to be careful because this piece is played with feeling, so which notes are at the right position?

I learned so much though since I made this track, so I am optimistic I can improve it.
And maybe do a full synth version, instead of the accordion sound of the original.

This is fun for me, because it reminds me of how much I have learned. ( and still a long way to go)


Edit:

Already fixed something. Its hard to tell if all notes of the Xylophone are now in the right spot, but it already sounds better.
Because I looked at an accordion part, I found some notes that definitely were not in the right spot.

Tip for people starting with LMMS, if you need the 1/192 Q setting, there is probably something not right If the piece is 4/4...
I had to use that Q setting though, to get the notes on the grid. :lol:
7 months later and you finally resurrect your topic. Cool. :)
This topic started with the A forest - the cure and Biscaya James Last.

Funny how I am ones again working on Biscaya right now.


I saw a live version, and noticed a trumpet. :o

That is what I was hearing. So its 2 accordion, a bandoneon and a trumpet.
(And some more because its an orchestra)

Although a vst will never sound the same as a real accordion, something has been bugging me about my version.
With better mixing I already fix one part, but now struggling to find something I can use, to layer with the accordion.

DSK brazz, sounds horrible, at least in the mix in my track.

No much wrong with that vst by itself though.


I think I will have to do some frequency cutting. Both vst struggle, with the notes used in this piece.

I have noticed this before with some vst. They sound good in a certain note range. Biscaya goes beyond that range.

Also tried zynaddsubfx for layering, but that also failed horrible.

Downloaded another trumpet vst, and maybe I can get this one to work, with the accordion.

Biscaya live: Because I have been working already so long on this, I did notice the the trumpet playing the same melody, but in LMMS that is two different accordion tracks. lol

It might be him switching from playing along with the bandleon, to the accordions.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK-EAySeiE0

bandoneon the white instrument on the left, accordion on the right. I believe its called a chromatic accordion or something, because of the key placement.

So for the trumpet I need to copy from two tracks.

In LMMS I have two tracks one is the bandeleon, the other one the accordeon. I use the same accordion vst for both those tracks though.

To be continued.
An accordion sound font might be better to use, if the vst accordion sound is sounding a bit meh. The only problem, is finding a good accordion soundfont, that is free too. :P
I am gonna try that, look for a sound font.

After already improving the mixing a bit, and making the stereo much wider, I am starting to notice the problem.

It's s the free Arcodeon VST which is pretty good but for this track, shows its weakness.


The problem is the melody that has notes that are far apart.
Around c5 and such its a pretty good accordion vst, but above c 6 its starts to sound less like a real accordion.

I have noticed this with more vst, they have often a small range in were they really sound good.

Trumpet VST, piano VST and such, I am not talking about VST like synth1 or ZybAddSubFx.

Just for a test I replaced the vst on one track to ZADSFX, and the issue about sounding different at C6 was gone.
Gps wrote:
Wed Dec 09, 2020 1:57 am

It's s the free Arcodeon VST which is pretty good but for this track, shows its weakness.


The problem is the melody that has notes that are far apart.
Around c5 and such its a pretty good accordion vst, but above c 6 its starts to sound less like a real accordion.

I have noticed this with more vst, they have often a small range in were they really sound good.
Yeah. On a few occassions, I noticed that too with a handful of vsts, moreso with some piano and instrument vsts. It bugged me sometimes. Interestingly enough, it happens with some soundfonts, moreso choir soundfonts. Getting a free choir soundfont, that covers an entire range of keys can be tough.
While listening to Deep Purple - Child in Time, I ones again noticed how much my hearing has improved over the last years.

This track used to be a wall of sound to me, but I am starting to pick out more and details.

Did you guys know, this track has a bass-line ? :lol:

I swear this was about he first time I noticed / heard it.
Even to the extent, I almost can see the pattern in LMMS. :o

I often think of somebody who is not with us anymore, he said on this boards, Welcome to your never ending journey in music.
Because I did not fully understood back then what he exactly mend, I still remember this.

He was so right, it is an never ending journey.

It all started with me being totally confused, about my track being out of tune.
I remember thinking, It's made on a pc, how can it be out of tune?

Slowly, I am starting to develop a relative pitch, all though there is a lot of room for improvement there still.

For over two years now hunting the answer, to a big question for me.
Why do my tracks not sound as good as the music in the charts?

To keep it short, stereo width and 50 types of echo (reverb and such), saturation, sub base lines, and panning.

Thank god for being stubborn.
Many times people told me to use a better DAW then LMMS.

Me using Cubase instead of LMMS would not make my tracks sound better.
Maybe one day, and then Cubase is because of sentimental value, a candidate, I might need a better daw.
But I am an optimist, by then LMMS will have groove quantization, and humanization, so I wont need Cubase anymore.
Until then I will be manipulating notes in the piano roll. Especially with some percussion, putting them slightly off time.
The question is how much, but after seeing a load of videos, 1/32 seems a good place to start at.
Swing feature on a 808 does something like moving notes in the piano roll, I have figured out that much.
516 posts