Using Musescore as a virtual band
I found lately that while learning theory and note writing better. That when I write a song, I can often use some or all of the play back for what I need in a song. Usually, I would either play everything myself, or get someone from Fiverr to play drums, bass, or piano that I couldn't do. But I noticed, when I wrote a song, that the instruments sounded real.
And especially after isolating the part when exporting, I could tweak it even more in the recording program to make it sound even more real.
I mainly play guitar, and funnily enough, the only thing that does not sound real in musescore, is any of the guitar sounds. The closest at all is the classical guitar.
But I play that for real anyway.
Some of the instruments, I didn't at first think I could write something that actually sounded musical or any sense, because I can't play those instruments well. Like Piano or drums. I am into fusion, so I am not trying to write simple arrangements. The first instrument I was unsure I could write for, and it would sound like someone playing the piano, in a style and ability I like, was the piano. But then I did it. And I am still not sure how I exactly did it. But when I listen to it, it sounds like a real player, playing something, I like and sounds like fusion. I would move notes around instinctively to what I wanted, without even being able to hear what I wanted in my head. That is the part, when I don't know how I did it, but I realized I could improvise in writing the same way I could when playing.
The last one I tried was drums. That really intimidated me. I thought it won't sound real, I won't be able to transcribe a real, interesting drum track in a complex fusion style. But then I did it. And I listened back, thinking how did I do that?
The last 3 songs I did, the two of them were real drummers, but the latest song was what I wrote in musescore. And I actually was compelled to do it, because I couldn't afford to pay a drummer.
And none of the drum tracks I had worked for the constant tempo changes and dynamics of the song.
I am totally against using a "drum machine" over a real drummer, if I have access to one. I still don't forgive Steve Perry of Journey for firing Steve Smith, because he wanted to use a drum machine instead.
But I know now I can write anything I want and virtually play it myself, if I can't get someone to do it.
I even tested it on other musicians. I entered a song challenge, and had Acoustic bass, Contrabass and some other things in the song, and they thought I just had a lot of instruments.
But the guitars still sound bad. The electric guitar sounds like a clavinet.
Comments
The guitars are a weak link in the MS soundfonts so you could try some alternates from these 2 sites.
https://www.hedsound.com/2019/07/flamestudios-guitar-soundfonts-in-sf2…
https://sites.google.com/site/soundfonts4u/
In reply to The guitars are a weak link… by yonah_ag
Or use Audacity to combine MuseScore and your own guitar playing.
In reply to Or use Audacity to combine… by bobjp
How do you make good enough samples for this?
In reply to Or use Audacity to combine… by bobjp
Yeah, that's what I do. I found after I lost my paid recording program, when my computer motherboard died, that Audacity is at least as good.
In reply to Yeah, that's what I do. I… by nanapunuhakin
So, do you make samples with Audacity and then assemble them into a soundfont?
In reply to So, do you make samples with… by yonah_ag
No, I just write out parts for a song in musescore. Then separate and save them in musescore individually. And export them and import them into audacity. Which I do, because then I can mix them, and add effects on each track.
I don't really do samples. I mean, in the sense of having a catalog of samples I can mix into a kind of song.
Since I play instruments, my head is more geared to seeing musescore as another kind of instrument to write and play tracks for a song.
In reply to No, I just write out parts… by nanapunuhakin
I get it now. I thought you were playing and recording individual guitar notes and using Audacity to prep them for use in a soundfont.
In reply to The guitars are a weak link… by yonah_ag
Here's MS's Nylon string and 5 other guitars from other soundfonts.
(Thanks to scorster for the base score)
https://musescore.com/user/28842914/scores/7277753/s/y-s8gC
I found that with the classical nylon string guitar. using the general one, and one from Hedsound called classical guitar. It makes a full sound that is pretty close to a real nylon string guitar. If you use either one by itself, they each have lacking issues. The guitar sounds from Hedsound are generally better than the general musescore ones. But if you combine both of them, it really fills out the sound. The Hedsound one has a very muted bass sound, which when combined with the bright general nylon string guitar soundfont, gives it the bass that it needs. But since I play, I usually only use the guitar soundfonts to write something, then I learn to play it for real. If I write something in musescore for guitar. I don't need to write something that I can just easily write on guitar. I prefer to write something that can help develop my playing.
In reply to I found that with the… by nanapunuhakin
Hello. How did you install the Hawaiian Guitar sound font. i can't see it on musescore?
In reply to Hello. How did you install… by mpvick
It's not from Musescore, it's from a custom font, either from one of the sites listed above or from Windows. I've compiled my own favourites into a single soundfont but I didn't think to make a note of all the original sources.
In reply to Hello. How did you install… by mpvick
That one is from the Hedsound collection of guitar sounds.
Which you can download for free. And then you just have to know how to install it in musescore.
In reply to Hello. How did you install… by mpvick
I've checked (and labelled) all the samples in my soundfont and I can now tell you that the Hawaiian sound is from Microsoft Windows 10, and it has its origins in a 1996 collaboration with Roland.
References:
https://musical-artifacts.com/artifacts/713
https://news.microsoft.com/1996/10/22/microsoft-licenses-sound-canvas-s…
.