automatic accompaniment plugins to simulate an orchestra accompanying the real-life soloist

• May 23, 2015 - 11:29

Suppose if I have a full score in Musescore format for a concerto with a solo instrument and orchestra, then are there any plugins available that will use a mic to DYNAMICALLY follow the soloist, and play out the orchestral accompaniment?


Comments

No, there are not any such plugins. I agree that this feature would be absolutely fantastic, but it would be incredibly difficult to implement in practice for a number of reasons. I don't know of any software that can do this, let alone MuseScore plugins.

However, there are some apps and electronic keyboards that are able to do this (not with MuseScore), but they rely on an electronic input rather than a microphone. It should be possible to write a plugin that would play along with you, providing you are playing a MIDI instrument. However, such a feature would probably not fall under MuseScore's stated goals, so it would be up to an individual developer to implement, probably via a plugin as you suggest.

In reply to by shoogle

In any case, all MuseScore has to do is to export the score into a midi file, with each instrument in its own channel, with the solo instrument marked as the solo channel. Then the third-party software will:

* read the orchestral channels, and the solo channel
* for each channel, read the required sound font
* listen to the soloist instrument's MIDI input, matches the solo channel of the MIDI file, and determine beat
* play the orchestral accompaniment according to the determined beats, and FOLLOW THE SOLOIST

Could you please name the plugins or software that are able to do this, in response to input from a MIDI instrument played by a real-life soloist?

In reply to by markfarnell

For intelligent MIDI accompaniment, TimeWarp Technologies has Home Concert Xtreme (a commercial program, not open source). Also, there is an app for iOS called Cadenza by Sonation that provides intelligent audio accompaniment for several orchestral instruments (violin, viola, cello, etc) but not keyboard instruments. Cadenza is not a MIDI app - it uses the device's microphone.

In reply to by markfarnell

The problem is that determining a beat is not a simple task for a computer. For humans it is very easy, and that is why if you do a Google search for "tempo counter" most will require you to manually tap beats by pressing the spacebar key or similar. I know of no software that can do this by itself, let alone MuseScore plugins, or I would have linked to it before.

Software using MIDI rather than microphone input simply waits for you to press the right note before continuing. This is not ideal because you can't miss any notes out to maintain tempo, but it is easy to implement. However, I know of no program/plugin that can do this with MuseScore.

I hope jensm's answers are of more use to you.

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