Record music with a microfone and convert to notes

• Dec 16, 2019 - 17:31

How ca n i record music with a microfone and convert it to notes on a music paper


Comments

The weak link is the microphone. It picks up (records) soundwaves.
Imagine recording a 15 piece band including drums (i.e., cymbals, high hat, bass drum, snare, wood block, etc.) and vocals (i.e., lyrics). The combined waveforms which the microphone (electronically) records can only be reproduced electronically - like playing back through loudspeakers - which will re-create those additive (all jumbled up) soundwaves.
Percussion instruments (e.g., a drumset), unlike musical instruments, produce no identifiable "pitch" (a periodic frequency) like "middle C" for instance. Plus, people singing lyrics (words) escalates the complexity, especially if you want the lyrics to display in the music score.

OK, so what about a single instrument, and without lyrics?
A single instrument which produces a pure tone - like a flute - might be able to have its "pitches" identified via soundwave analysis of what the microphone "hears", but then there remains the task of determining note names, durations, meter, time signature, key signature and all the other "stuff" that is normally shown on music paper.
However...
There is some work being done.
See:
http://www.pluto.dti.ne.jp/~araki/amazingmidi/
https://www.lunaverus.com/compare#sheet_music

To bypass the microphone problem, some instruments (electronic keyboards especially) have MIDI capability. This allows the played "pitches" to be readily identified by music software -- so no need to "mike" the instrument.

In reply to by Jm6stringer

Melodyne exports a MIDI file, which you can import into a program like MuseScore to convert it into sheet music.

I've used it myself, but as I mentioned earlier, the conversion isn't perfect. And the last step (converting it into presentable sheet music) involves manual editing as well.

Programs like Melodyne definitely aren't one-button solutions, but they can serve as a good starting point.

Here's a video example (posted by Celemony, the company that makes Melodyne, so almost certainly presented in the best possible light): https://youtu.be/-ojHdfhl_iw

In reply to by Spire42

You wrote:
Melodyne exports a MIDI file, which you can import into a program like MuseScore to convert it into sheet music.

Yes... From the lunaveris.com comparison (the link I posted above):

Melodyne.png

MIDI conversion to notation still leaves a lot to be desired. This is the ending from an actual guitar score:

MIDI_conversion.png

Have a listen to the above image: MIDI_conversion.mscz

In reply to by Jm6stringer

Sorry, I hadn't seen your other comment. That's a very useful comparison page.

I've found that massaging the audio before passing it through Melodyne can help with the accuracy. It's also easier to edit the data inside Melodyne before exporting it to MIDI rather than waiting until it's inside a DAW.

I agree with your conclusion that this technology still leaves a lot to be desired. But it's already useful in some cases, and it's great that it's being worked on and improved. I suspect that the next big advance will come with an AI (neural-net) approach.

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