5 ms·

VirtualMIDISynth

45 points by rocky1138 7y ago

PascLeRasc 7y ago
A really good version of this for Mac is: http://notahat.com/simplesynth/ http://notahat.com/simplesynth/ And if anyone's interested in diving into MIDI, I took this class at CMU and it was incredible, all the slides and material are available online here: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~music/cmsip/resources.html https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~music/cmsip/resources.html
- gww 7y ago
  That course is exactly what I have been looking for. It's too bad they don't have video lectures available.
  - PascLeRasc 7y ago
    They definitely filmed at least some of the lectures, and they’re worth watching since the prof is fantastic (he made Audacity). Unfortunately I don’t have my CMU email anymore so I don’t think I can access them.
trasz 7y ago
On a Mac it’s probably easier to just use GarageBand. Same for iPhones.
- capableweb 7y ago
  Isn't GarageBand a sort of DAW for creating music? That would be way overkill to just be able to play a .midi file, no? Also, I'm sure if you just want to remap some midi devices, you would prefer a 1.2 MB tool that does that, rather than an entire creation suite of tools... Unless you have a need for the rest of it!
  - trasz 7y ago
    It is, but it’s very easy to use and comes preinstalled. Besides, a softsynth won’t sound good without a bit of reverb, and if you want to play, at some point you’ll want to record it.
  - lostgame 7y ago
    Yes, but GarageBand actually has a host of synth sounds that don’t sound like hot garbage - (in fact, they’re bloody impressive) - I think this was a bit of the author’s point. Another point, however, is the software synth’s filesize - and indeed, GarageBand or Logic’s full instrument library can range from 5-90GB. (Yes, you read that range right - depending on your choice of installation optionals, including loops and the recently-included ‘Alchemy’ library, you could be looking at 80GB).
    - 8bitsrule 7y ago
      Garageband benefitted from many features of Apple's professional 'Logic' DAW. In/around 2005-6 they released a series of sample disks called 'Garageband Jam Paks'. Each included GBs of samples, 'Apple loops' and dozens of software instruments (several excellent). There are 2 disks for Symphonic inst's alone. Few if any soundfonts could compete. And that was 15 years ago (!) On the negative side, GB didn't support MIDI-out. It was hobbled, like the budget version of Logic. But, then, there's always Logic (now at 1/5 of the price).
    - redis_mlc 7y ago
      The backing track to one of Lady Gaga's hits was a sample track from Garageband. There's a video of her sitting on the floor in a million-dollar studio - using just Garageband on her Mac.
      - lostgame 7y ago
        I did the same thing on my upcoming mixtape, except I'm using Logic. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ They're royalty-free for a reason.

45 points by rocky1138 7y ago

A really good version of this for Mac is: http://notahat.com/simplesynth/ http://notahat.com/simplesynth/ And if anyone's interested in diving into MIDI, I took this class at CMU and it was incredible, all the slides and material are available online here: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~music/cmsip/resources.html https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~music/cmsip/resources.html

gww 7y ago
That course is exactly what I have been looking for. It's too bad they don't have video lectures available.
- PascLeRasc 7y ago
  They definitely filmed at least some of the lectures, and they’re worth watching since the prof is fantastic (he made Audacity). Unfortunately I don’t have my CMU email anymore so I don’t think I can access them.

trasz 7y ago

On a Mac it’s probably easier to just use GarageBand. Same for iPhones.

capableweb 7y ago
Isn't GarageBand a sort of DAW for creating music? That would be way overkill to just be able to play a .midi file, no? Also, I'm sure if you just want to remap some midi devices, you would prefer a 1.2 MB tool that does that, rather than an entire creation suite of tools... Unless you have a need for the rest of it!
- trasz 7y ago
  It is, but it’s very easy to use and comes preinstalled. Besides, a softsynth won’t sound good without a bit of reverb, and if you want to play, at some point you’ll want to record it.
- lostgame 7y ago
  Yes, but GarageBand actually has a host of synth sounds that don’t sound like hot garbage - (in fact, they’re bloody impressive) - I think this was a bit of the author’s point. Another point, however, is the software synth’s filesize - and indeed, GarageBand or Logic’s full instrument library can range from 5-90GB. (Yes, you read that range right - depending on your choice of installation optionals, including loops and the recently-included ‘Alchemy’ library, you could be looking at 80GB).
  - 8bitsrule 7y ago
    Garageband benefitted from many features of Apple's professional 'Logic' DAW. In/around 2005-6 they released a series of sample disks called 'Garageband Jam Paks'. Each included GBs of samples, 'Apple loops' and dozens of software instruments (several excellent). There are 2 disks for Symphonic inst's alone. Few if any soundfonts could compete. And that was 15 years ago (!) On the negative side, GB didn't support MIDI-out. It was hobbled, like the budget version of Logic. But, then, there's always Logic (now at 1/5 of the price).
  - redis_mlc 7y ago
    The backing track to one of Lady Gaga's hits was a sample track from Garageband. There's a video of her sitting on the floor in a million-dollar studio - using just Garageband on her Mac.
    - lostgame 7y ago
      I did the same thing on my upcoming mixtape, except I'm using Logic. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ They're royalty-free for a reason.