Please give constructive criticism to my music

[TheViciousFish]

Hi guys. I have been composing for a while now and have finally gotten to a point where I am happy with the quality of my ideas. However, I am not so happy with the way I present these ideas. I use Midi like many others and am having trouble with it sounding robotic. I want my music to sound as good as possible and any suggestions on how to get better are appreciated. Thanks ^^ https://soundcloud.com/aki_miso

[Lukedoc321]

What you're doing sounds great even with the handicap of having to use midi! (I've only recently started as well, so I'm not really in any place to offer criticism) You do a very nice job with not sounding repetitive, just make sure that they have a nice way to loop.

[TheViciousFish]

Thank you, I will definitely take that point into consideration. ^^

[Noyemi K]

I'm not sure what you mean by "MIDI", since it's actually just a musical score description technology for driving instruments that accept MIDI data, not a style or quality of sound as is commonly believed.

One of the information types represented by MIDI data is note velocity. I notice you don't actually vary note velocity at all—this is the first and quickest way to start breathing life into your virtual scores. It's not as important for synths (though it can be mapped to synthesizer automation data; check your VST manuals for details) but it's paramount to getting "acoustic"-style stuff sounding less robotic.

[TheViciousFish]

I meant that I am using VST instruments and using MIDI with that.
It may not sound like I am using much changing with velocities, but there is actually quite a bit, but it still does not have a human sound. This is my main problem. If it helps, I can send a screencap.
Maybe the actual timing might be more of a problem. I have a MIDI keyboard but it is missing 2 keys around middle C so it is a bit annoying to use. I also think that recording some live guitar might make all of the other instruments more forgivable.

[TheViciousFish]

This is an example of the velocities that I have changed. Am I doing something wrong?

[Yolo400]

Hi there!

My name is Yolo400 and I think I know what your music is lacking to sound more natural and emotive.

While you do change note velocity, you don't seem to change the volume of the playing sound or humanize notes. While velocity can affect your volume, it mostly just comes down to how hard a note is pressed down, let's say on a keyboard. So it's true that you might hear a quieter and more dynamic note, but when going for dynamics in midi, the road is long and arduous!

I'm using logic for this example, and zippyshare for the upload site (allows downloads, image previews and music previews so yeah, it's pretty boss for quickly sharing music and screenshots, though beware all the download buttons that aren't big and orange, unless you have adblock.):

1) So, we paint a midi (I used the one you provided as a starting point then just kinda hijacked it! Sorry! )
http://www60.zippyshare.com/v/cl7dkYGx/file.html

2) Then we add a little reverb for our own enjoyment, I find reverb makes it sound more 'finished' even though it isn't, still no velocity changes.
http://www60.zippyshare.com/v/XXNepNms/file.html

3) Then we change the velocity to make it more natural sounding
http://www60.zippyshare.com/v/Hba8E4BW/file.html

4) The player is still playing 'perfectly' even though it's (in this case) fairly expressive music, so we need to sound less like a robot and more like a player. Slowing it down helps adding the 'expressive notes'
http://www60.zippyshare.com/v/8FXmguC9/file.html

5) So we're stuck with that, a few of the notes sound off, so we'll do a little humanising of the individual notes. This is shifting them slightly so they sound more like a person is playing them, we don't want to mess around with tempo too much, as logic has a tempo automation function, however if you do NOT have a way to automate tempo, then you will be doing that in here and trying to make these notes vary in length to try to capture this. I will also change the velocities as I see fit to try and bring them together more.
http://www60.zippyshare.com/v/cRQAsPEe/file.html

6) So the piece has become slightly more expressive. Now tempo changes
http://www60.zippyshare.com/v/cLQYfDeV/file.html

7) Now some kind of 'finale out' to fit the expressive as a long chord going BAM BAM sounds 'ok' but we can probably make that sound better.
http://www60.zippyshare.com/v/lSkangF4/file.html

midis
http://www89.zippyshare.com/v/XeCDhqPN/file.html

Well, it's far from perfect, I'll be the first to admit that, but for demonstration purposes for humanizing it does just fine.

When I talked about automating volume earlier, I meant some instruments, especially strings as midi require the sometimes lengthy process of automation to make their sound much more real.

Here is an example from a melody line of a track I did not make for the sake of having an easy to use melody for the midi cello.
http://www4.zippyshare.com/v/Q629jqMg/file.html
Here is an example of the same sound being played but with automation
http://www4.zippyshare.com/v/Iplfu08V/file.html
Note, even though the automation is rushed (nothing's quite like the real deal tbh) it sounds a lot better than it did and will have more dynamic and life in the mix, even if it sounds fake. Here is a link to the changes used.
http://www57.zippyshare.com/v/1LF6H2Tl/file.html

I think a key mistake I made with this file was automating the initial cellos way too low in volume, so it sounds like they are sidechained instead of someone stroking a string to play them. Yolo, I guess.

I hope I haven't been too confusing,

Take care.

[TheViciousFish]

I apologize for not checking this thread since before you replied Yolo400. Thank you very much for taking the time to write such a comprehensive and lengthy reply. I will try to take your advice to heart.

[Yolo400]

I apologize for not checking this thread since before you replied Yolo400. Thank you very much for taking the time to write such a comprehensive and lengthy reply. I will try to take your advice to heart.

It's more than OK, sir, LemmaSoft isn't exactly a go-to place for musical advice and people.

I hope I have (in some way) helped you or at the very least given you some ideas.