MUSC 1331 Lab 3 (Northwest) Using Software Instruments Creating Markers Creating an Audio CD of Multiple Sources

MUSC 1331 Lab 3 (Northwest) Using Software Instruments Creating Markers Creating an Audio CD of Multiple Sources Objectives: 1. Learn to use Markers to identify sections of a sequence/song/recording. 2. Learn to use Software Synths as well as external instruments. 3. Creating an Audio CD from a finished sequence. NOTE: In this lab you will learn to use software-based instruments. The MIDI industry is moving away from external gear and harnessing the power the modern personal computer to create sounds and allowing us to have a in a desktop what years ago took a room full of rack gear. The MIDI techniques are the same regardless of the end destination of the sound. Since there is quite a large quantity of external gear and many workstations are still being produced, we need the skills to be able to make a song that uses both methods, and combine them into one audio CD we can give to someone else. For this lab we will continue to use a sequence that we have already worked on this semester. You will recognize it as the finished product from Lab 2. Initial Steps Initial External Keyboard 1. Initialize the External Keyboard. (Check the settings. They should be the same as the settings discussed in Lab 1.) 2. Create a folder titled Last Name Lab 3 Folder the Documents folder. Keep all your work for this lab in that folder. If you need to stop with the lab partially completed, simply copy this Folder to your USB drive, and when you return replace the file on the computer s hard drive with the one stored on the USB drive. Launch Performer Open and Save the file 3. Launch Digital Performer. From the Open screen, navigate and open the file titled Lab 3 You will need to get this file either from the instructor or from the Learning Web page for your class. (If you downloaded from the Learning Web, you will need to unzip the file before opening it in Digital Performer). You may get an error message saying this file is locked and cannot be modified. 4. Choose Save as (NOT Save) from the file menu. Title the file Last Name Lab 3 and that it is placed in the folder you created in Step 3. 5. Verify the audio setup for Digital Performer is correct. Review Lab 2. And make sure the audio settings are 44.1 khz and 16 bit. MUSC 1331 Lab 3 1

Putting Tempo and Time Signature Information into the Conductor Track NOTE: Using the conductor track is a good way to allow us to change information in a track in the middle of the sequence. While many songs have only one tempo and time signature throughout, some songs do change in the middle. The only way to accommodate this is by using the conductor track. The methodology for changing the setup is different in DP5 and DP7. 1. DP 7: In the Control Window, the tempo control is already visible. Just to the left of the current BPM setting is a drop down menu. Select Conductor Track. It should look like this: Once we have the tempo set to follow the conductor track, we can now put in the tempo. 2. Inserting a Tempo is the same process that was used for inserting a patch change or controller. Open up the event list for the conductor track. (Click on Conductor and use shortcut Shift-E). 3. Set the tempo to be 144 BPM. Make sure you are putting this into the Zero Measure. (Note: if you have not told the control panel to follow the conductor track, you will not be able to hear the tempo change). MUSC 1331 Lab 3 2

4. Repeat this process, but this time put in a time signature by selecting Meter Change. Choose 4/4. The Conductor Event List should look similar to this when finished: Using Markers NOTE: It is convenient to know what part of a song or sequence we are looking at on the screen. Unless you know the song extremely well or have the sheet music in front of us, we often have to waste time by playing the song to hear it. Using Markers gives us an immediate idea of what is happening in a particular section. Listen to song Decide where to put the markers 1. Listen to the sequence. If you remember from Lab 2, we had the following sections: introduction with the Bass fading in, the main four bar section, and three additional repetitions (for a total of the main theme being played four times). The third time we changed it by muting the triangle and transposing the bass and piano. 5. To add a marker, simply click on the marker icon in the tracks window, and drag it to where you want to add it. Add a Marker at Measure 1. 6. Rename it Intro. To rename, simply option-click on the marker s name and retype in the new name. MUSC 1331 Lab 3 3

7. Add the markers to the following measures with the corresponding names: 9, Chorus (1st) 13, Chorus (2nd) 17, Chorus-Transposed 21, Last Chorus 25, Song End If you ever want to see all your markers as a list, select Markers from the Project menu. MUSC 1331 Lab 3 4

Using Software Instruments With the progression of computers, the amount of audio they can process in real time has increased significantly. As a result, we can now do many of the things in software that used to be only possible with dedicated hardware. Software offers several advantages. It is tied to the computer, which means if we have a laptop, we can have a full studio at our fingertips that is portable and ready to go. Software also has great flexibility and can be upgraded when necessary. The downside to software is the lack of tactile control. As we have found in previous labs, mixing with a mouse can be tedious and clumsy. Hardware synths offer tactile controls that many users find more satisfying. Digital sound methods often do not measure up to analog circuits in sound quality for synths. We will use a combination of external hardware and internal software for the rest of the semester to create our sounds. Load an Instrument Track 8. To use a soft synth, a new track is needed. Add a Track for the Model-12. Rename this track Internal Drums. In order for this instrument to work properly, we need to make sure that its Audio Output is properly assigned. Remember you can set the output in either the tracks window or the mix window. This has been discussed in class. Note: if the Audio Output of the track with the soft synth is in italics, its output is not assigned and it will not function. See how Built-in Output 1-2 is in italics. This means that the audio output is not properly routed. MUSC 1331 Lab 3 5

9. The default for this instrument has all twelve nodes assigned to a cowbell. Let s change this. From the Presets menu of the instrument window, select Acoustic Kit 1. Notice how the instruments now have different samples than just the cowbell and different note assignments. 10. We can now take the Kick/Snare and Hats Tracks and reassign them to the Model-12. Since we renamed the Model-12, its new track name shows up the MIDI output list. 11. If we tried to reassign the triangle, we would not hear it anymore. This is because the notes the triangle is assigned to are not in this particular preset. Also, if you read the sample names, notice none of them say triangle. There are ways to change this, but for the purposes of this lab, let s say we like the external instrument s triangle sound better. 12. If you have not been saving as you have progressed, now would be a good time. (Command-S). MUSC 1331 Lab 3 6

Using Instrument Track NOTE: Let s now add something different to our mix that neither the external instruments we have available to us nor the Model-12 can give us. We are going to use a bass sound that is created using FM and subtractive synthesis. 13. Add another instrument track. This time, chose the Modulo. Rename this track Synth Bass VI. (VI for this Lab will stand for Virtual Instrument, another term for a soft synth). 14. Reassign the output of the Bass MIDI track to the Synth Bass VI. 15. Since we changed the instrument, we need to go in and modify the Patch Change. Open the Event List for the Bass track. Adjust the Patch Change from #34 to Basses > 5-2 Bass 2. *** Note: This ability broke between DP 5 and DP7, but seems to have been fixed in the 7.24 update. If you are using DP7, you may need to change the patch in the instrument window to get the proper patch. *** Listen to the Sequence, and see how this is a drastically different sound than what we had before. Your Event List for the Bass track will now look similar to this: MUSC 1331 Lab 3 7 At this stage, we can customize the patch. Remember that if you make any changes to the sound and don t embed them into the tracks in some manner, you will lose your changes, even if you do save. The computer doesn t know how to save settings. There are numerous solutions. One is the snapshot. Another is to draw in the data in the Sequence window.

Recording the External Module(s) NOTE: The soft synths have their sound already in the computer, but we need all the sound to be in the computer. This means we need to record the external sound module or modules. At this stage, there are many different ways to proceed. You could record each MIDI track individually. Or you could record all the MIDI sounds at one time. As with most choices, there are benefits and drawbacks. Recording each instrument to its own audio track takes more time, as you need to record each pass separately, but you have more flexibility in your mix-down if you need to address balance issues. Conversely, recording all the tracks at the same time takes much less time, but sacrifices the ability to adjust individual sounds without rerecording. In the interest of time, we will record all external MIDI tracks at one time. This process is almost identical to the one you used in a previous lab to record the mix when it was made with only the external instrument. In fact, for this step, the only difference is what is being recorded: the triangle and the piano. As always, be careful with your mixer settings so you avoid getting feedback when you record. 1. Add a stereo Audio Track. Set its inputs to be the same as those discussed in class for Lab 2. Name this track External Recording. 2. Open your Audio Monitor window (found in the Studio menu). Verify that when you press play, you are getting levels into the track you are recording on. 3. Record. If you want to be sure you are only getting the Triangle and Piano tracks, you can solo these tracks in the mixer. You should also solo the External Instruments Recording track, since this is what you are monitoring the recording through. Be sure to un-solo them when you are done recording. While soloing is not necessary, it can be a useful tool to make sure you are recording only what you want to record. MUSC 1331 Lab 3 8

Recording the Virtual Instruments NOTE: Despite the fact that we can hear the virtual instrument tracks, as of version 5, Digital Performer requires these tracks to be converted into Audio tracks. This process is not difficult, but requires precise actions to successfully complete. We will be using internal busses. Bussing gives us the ability to reroute audio within the computer Set up the Audio Track Create Busses 1. Add in a new Stereo Audio track from the Project menu. Rename the track to VI Audio. Set its Output to be Digidesign Mbox2 1-2. 2. Click on the Input for the Track. Select New Stereo Bundle. From the nested menu, select bus 1-2. 3. On the Virtual Instrument tracks, change their outputs to bus 1-2. If you press play now, you will not be able to hear the Kick/Snare, Hats, or Bass. We will address that momentarily. At this point, your tracks window should look similar to this: Reassign Virtual Tracks 4. To hear bus 1-2, we need to have a pass though. This is easy to do in either the tracks window or the mix window. In the tracks window, click on the speaker icon in the Mon (short for monitor) column. (Note: in some configurations, this column is not shown in the track list. While this can be customized, in this case, it is best to use the Mix Window.). In the Mixer window, click on the Input button just below the Rec button on the Audio track. MUSC 1331 Lab 3 9

5. Press Play. You should now hear all the elements of your mix. 6. Now it is time to record your virtual instruments. Just as we did for the external instruments, we will record all the virtual instruments to the same track. Record Arm ONLY the Virtual Instrument Audio track. Press record. Press stop when you hit the end of the song, but allow any ringing cymbals or reverb to fully trail off. At this point, your lab should look similar to this: Bounce to Disc At this point, audio is in Digital Performer. We must make this into a form that the computer can understand for burning Red Book CDs. We ve set up our mix how we want it, and now we need to combine all the sound into a single file. A common method for doing this is a process called Bounce to Disk. Even though it can involve more steps, we will use Bounce to Disk, since it is the most common way to create the file we need, and is useful if you have many audio tracks recorded. 1. Turn off ALL records. 2. From Edit, choose Select All (command-a). 3. Go to the Audio menu, and choose Bounce to Disk. MUSC 1331 Lab 3 10

4. At this point, you will be given choices where to save and the type of file to save as. There are several settings that are very important. For the CHANNELS, set this to CoreAudio Export: AIFF. For the name of your bounce, type in LastName_Lab3_Bounce. Resolution should be 16 bit, to comply with Red Book CD. On Import, select Do not import. For the Source, it will not be like the picture (we will discuss the proper source settings in class). Set the File Name of your bounce to Last Name Lab 2 DP mix. Also, you will need to set your destination folder. Click Choose and make sure the bounce is going into the folder that you created for this lab. Click OK. 5. You will get another pop-up window for CoreAudio Export Options. Make sure Bit Depth is set to 16 bit and sample rate is set to Same as Source. We could use the setting 44100, but since we know that the recording is 44.1kHz/16 bit, this is unnecessary. 6. SAVE your File and Quit Digital Performer. MUSC 1331 Lab 3 11

At this point, we move into Toast. We used Toast in Lab 2 to make CDs. We will use the same process, the only difference being the name of the audio file we burn. For Review: 1. Open Toast from the Dock. 2. Click on Audio CD from the left side menu. 3. Find the files you bounced. Unless you changed certain parameters, it should be in the Audio Files folder in your Lab 3 folder. 4. Click on the name of the track. Choose from the DISC menu Normalize Track. We have already discussed Normalization, its advantages and pitfalls. 5. Click Record and follow the prompts. This will burn the CD. Copy ALL the files to the Labs folder on your USB Disk. Burn a Data CD of all the Files on your USB Disk. Make sure this disk is properly renamed in Toast before you burn. As with all labs and projects, prepare it to be turned in. Make sure the automation is turned on as described in this lab, your records (both track and automation) are turned off, and the metronome is also turned off. For this lab, you will be turning in TWO CDs: one DATA and one AUDIO. Be sure your name is on both, and you indicate which CD is which. END OF LAB MUSC 1331 Lab 3 12