Replacing the Midi Soundcard

[Coren]

I've been making midi songs in Finale Notepad, but the midi soundcard sounds pretty bad, so how do I replace those instruments with better mp3 versions so that the song as a whole sounds better? Thanks!

[redcat]

I've been making midi songs in Finale Notepad, but the midi soundcard sounds pretty bad, so how do I replace those instruments with better mp3 versions so that the song as a whole sounds better? Thanks!

How about using soundfont instead of general midi?

[Coren]

Soundfont sounds pretty bad too. /: I'm currently looking for midi-to-mp3 conversion software for my music that can replace those noisy midi soundcard notes with better quality instruments, but solmire.com doesn't seem to be doing the trick... What do you guys use?

[redcat]

Soundfont sounds pretty bad too. /: I'm currently looking for midi-to-mp3 conversion software for my music that can replace those noisy midi soundcard notes with better quality instruments, but solmire.com doesn't seem to be doing the trick... What do you guys use?

I wonder what kind of 'noisy' sound that you're talking about. Do you have any sample of your music?

To convert from midi to mp3 or wav, you need soundfont (or vst plugin) in the converter software. If the sound is still terrible, you might need to change the soundfont to a better one - or a better editing software like fruity loops which has a lot of bell and whistles (but it's expensive)

[Coren]

Soundfont sounds pretty bad too. /: I'm currently looking for midi-to-mp3 conversion software for my music that can replace those noisy midi soundcard notes with better quality instruments, but solmire.com doesn't seem to be doing the trick... What do you guys use?

I wonder what kind of 'noisy' sound that you're talking about. Do you have any sample of your music?

To convert from midi to mp3 or wav, you need soundfont (or vst plugin) in the converter software. If the sound is still terrible, you might need to change the soundfont to a better one - or a better editing software like fruity loops which has a lot of bell and whistles (but it's expensive)

Do you have any suggestions of a midi to mp3 converter software and a good soundfont to go along with it? O: I've been using Solmire for a while now and I'd rather have a proper downloadable midi to mp3 converted on my desktop.

[ShippoK]

Don't know if this would be of help but I use and recommend Hootech's Midi to MP3 Converter.

Hope that can solve the problem.

[Coren]

I'm mainly looking for a midi to mp3 converter that has a good soundfont, like said Fluid R3, not a midi to mp3 converter itself, though.

[canyouseeitnow]

You need to make music in a more flexible HOST. In order to get good sounds, you need quality PLUGINs.

Finale Notepad is a host. It allows you to compose music via it's scoring sequencer. However, Finale notepad is not a very capable host of using different plugins (instruments).

You need to get a Host program that allows you to load good sounding instrument. Here are some good commercial ones:

Reason (you cannot load 3rd parties, but what it comes with sounds very good. good for beginners).
Cubase
Sonar
FL Studio (Very user friendly. This is what I recommend).


I recommend you get FL Studio "Fruity Edition." It allows you to sequence and load plugins. It's the plugins that you want, not a converter. But you need a Host program to run plugins. It's $100 but it's definitely something you need.

There are some free ones, but they are more complex to navigate.
http://ardour.org/
http://lmms.sourceforge.net/home.php
Garageband (if you have a mac)

So unless you move out of finale notepad, it's impossible to get good sounds. By moving to a flexible host, you can start downloading soundfonts you find lying around on the internet and being able to load them freely. You can also find free VST Plugins that sound much better that whatever you're using now.