re: re: voice guided MIDI

[tynor%pyr@gatech.edu (Steve Tynor)]

In article <8905160440.AA14085@uunet.UU.NET> Love-Hounds@GAFFA.MIT.EDU writes:
>Really-From: Ken Howard <munnari!chook.ua.oz.au!khoward@uunet.UU.NET>
> >much stuff deleted<
> > use it as a synth controller. (its kind of like adding a 'random
> > vibrato' (in semitones) to everything you do.  Ugh. Oh well. I returned
> > mine after a week of frustration.
>	 I have heard this from other sources and am not surprised
>	 since even the 'steadiest' note is remarkably hard to track.
>	 What needs to be done is to get a good estimate of the MIDI 
>	 note number as quickly as possible and then use PITCH BEND messages
>	 to track it. This avoids any nasty semitone chromatic jumps!

Actually, it can do this (reasonably well in fact...), but I'm not so much
interested in "singing a horn" in real time as I am in transcribing my
noodlings (e.g. a walking bass line) into a score program on my sun.  I
suppose I could write a postprocessor to turn the note+bend info back
into just notes - but I can't see how this could be done any better
than the Vocalizer in non-bend mode.

>	 I have heard a demo of, but not used, the Fairlight Voicetracker
>	 (I think thats what its called ?) --- VERY impressive on 
>	 vocal material and horns.
>
>	 In my own setup I use a Roland GM70 guitar-to-MIDI box (I got it 
>	 very cheap!) with a modified front-end. This works very well on
>	 horns, flute etc and quite passably with GOOD vocals.
>	 The only limitation is the range of each of the 6 inputs is not 
>	 much more than that of the corresponding guitar string (as you 
>	 would probably expect!). This is less of a problem than it may sound.

Am I just expecting too much? would the Voicetracker (or Pitchrider, or
GM70, or...) do any better for my purposes? (and how cheap is "very
cheap"?)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
No problem is so formidable that you can't just walk away from it.
                     
    Steve Tynor
    Georgia Tech Research Institute
    tynor@gitpyr.gatech.edu