Re: Composing

--- Sally Caves <scaves@...> wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Terrence Donnelly" <teresh_2000@...>
>
> > I use the free Audacity program.
>
> Tell me more about Audacity, Terry.  Is it a program
> that requires your
> moving your computer to your musical instrument (or
> vice versa), or does it
> come with a synthesizer?  Can you synthesize sounds
> the way Teoh does, and
> if so, how many voices does it have?  Or is it
> simply a digital recorder
> with tracks?  (I'd have to get a laptop to take it
> down to the piano).  Or
> is it both?  That would be ideal, but I can't
> imagine that such a thing
> would be freeware.  I'd like to be able to have
> control, note by note, over
> the instrumental tracks I lay down, so that I don't
> have to exhaust myself
> playing a piece over and over until it's perfect.
> Then I would like to be
> able to sing over it.  I'd also like to be able to
> add "cool" effects, like
> CoolEdit's "echo," and that sort of thing.  What
> kind of software program
> would do all that, and run on a PC?  I've heard of
> some lovely MAC programs,
> but those won't help me.
>
>
No, audacity doesn't have any synthesizer
capabilities. It's strictly a sound recorder and a
track editor. It does have lots of effects that you
can apply to the separate tracks. I think you'd
need a midi recorder to play an instrument and then
do note by note manipulation of it.

> These are AUDACIOUS, Terry!   The Elvis, I think, is
> my favorite.
> Obviously, you can sing on audacity.  How did you do
> the instrumental parts?
> [Can I use this for my talk? :-)]
Sure.

>
The instrumentals for the Elvis and Troggs cuts I got
from some midi sites. I removed the "vocal" track
from Wild Thing before I used it, but I didn't
have the midi editor yet when I did the Elvis one,
so you can still hear the "vocal" track. I think
I'm going to re-record that one. I did the
instrumentals for "In the Jungle" (a book, a pair of
drumsticks, a tin whistle and a kazoo) myself and just
recorded each track.

> > If you wanted to import music from a CD into
> Audacity,
> > you'd either have to use the patch cord method I
> > mentioned above, or, if your sound card supports
> it,
> > change the input device for the sound recorder to
> the
> > CD player (my son can do this on his computer, but
> I
> > can't on mine, hence the need for the patch cord).
>
> Can you then sing over it?
>
You can import the recorded CD into audacity as a
separate track, and then play any or all existing
tracks as you record a new one (use good headphones
or you will be able to hear the old tracks faintly on
the new one!)

> What would suit me best is a program where I lay
> down the notes myself on
> the computer, and have the freedom to record over it
> vocally.
I think we're talking midi recorder for the former.
You might be able to find a midi recorder that will
use a computer keyboard for input. After all, all
you need is the raw pitch/duration data; you can add
all the frills of voice and harmonics later, but
I don't have any experience with that.  Audacity would
do the latter, once you have the instrumental in your
computer as a wav or mp3.

>In a perfect
> world, I would like to be able to make an .MP3 file
> AND burn it to a CD.
>
My son tells me that you can burn mp3 files to an
audio CD and any audio CD player should be able to
play them.  I haven't tried this yet, but I do know
that my CD burner software has separate options for
data or music tracks, so there is probably some way
to make CDs out of your mp3s.


> Sally Caves
-- Terry Donnelly

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