KVR Audio

braj · Post by **braj** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 5:34 am

I am looking for hopefully free or very cheap Midi 'guitar' loops, basically rhythm playing in a variety of styles, but nothing that is too specific or flashy. I want them to aide in songwriting, so the clearer they are labeled the better, making it easy to sketch out a chord progression quickly. I am having a hard time using loops since I have horrible hearing and it is hard to detect the keys and nuances of WAV files. Thanks in advance!

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 12:19 pm

You want band in a box.
And has not really anything to do with theory.

braj · Post by **braj** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 2:33 pm

I have Band in a Box 9 or 10, I don't recall, somewhere in a box but it is lost basically after moving until the archeologists discover it in the distant future. I can't afford to buy the new version right now. But it wasn't really what i liked/needed, a bit rough in many areas, overkill in others, and another application to have to learn. I am neurologically disabled and so it is hard to play the parts i want in songs, especially rhythm parts. Some simple midi loops with basic comping styles would be perfect, or something like Band in a Box but maybe simplified. I don't need full accompanyment just some starting point for my own compositions. On my android phone I have an app ChordBot which is similar in some ways to what I'd want on the desktop. I can always use this and export to Midi and send to Windows but that is a little cumbersome. It looks like loopwise twiddly bits is my best option.

And sorry for posting in this forum, I wasn't sure what was the appropriate forum and I figured since it has something to do with songwriting it might be most appropriate.

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 5:19 pm

'what software to buy' may not be music theory, but 'theory' is suggested from the post so it's sort of a music theory topic to me.

I don't know for sure if you mean you're hard of hearing or that you just can't distinguish one chord or another by ear. If it's the latter, you would want something interactive to learn from, so you'll know yourself by ear what the relationships are, if you want to learn to 'write' a song. BIAB might be a good thing.

rtkeeling · Post by **rtkeeling** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 5:54 pm

It sounds like braj knows music okay, but can't physically play the rhythm parts he'd like to on guitar.

I had a bunch of guitar snippets that I recorded of myself from back in the 90's. Over the last couple years, I used Power Tab Editor to transcribe some of them to tablature. Then I exported that to MIDI and loaded it in my DAW. That might be something to look at, braj. Power Tab Editor is free, and you can get it here:

http://www.power-tab.net/guitar.php

Plus, there are loads of songs in tab out there that you can get ideas for rhythm styles from.

Roy

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 6:07 pm

well I may have a bad assumption, but requiring a midi part to be labeled as per chord didn't sound like someone that has the theory sufficiently. a disability that could affect your hearing might make getting it from audio such an obstacle. impossible to know from the OP.

braj · Post by **braj** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 7:31 pm

I have tinnitus very badly, makes hearing hard in general including listening for what chord something is in, and I have a pain disorder that makes playing anything with my hands hard. I do nearly everything in one take since two hurts a lot and then try to piece together something ok from that, I am only doing it as a hobby so it is ok if it is equivalent to finger painting, it is therapy. I can definitely use music theory lessons but that wasn't why i wanted the midi files, it is so I can get what is in my heart and head past my hands and into the sequencer. I also have massive short term memory issues so that makes dealing with complicated software difficult. I'm wanting to get Scarbee jazz Guitarist soon, but that probably can't be used in all musical styles.

braj · Post by **braj** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 7:37 pm

Bottom line is I don't like working with audio loops so much, I would rather have everything in Midi so i can adjust and understand everything that is being played, add or remove notes from the phrases, and hopefully learn something in the process.

braj · Post by **braj** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 9:31 pm

I think I'm going to invest more time in Chordbot, you can easily email midi files from it, and I can work on progressions anywhere, and see how they sound in different styles similarly to Band in a Box. maybe I had the right tool all along. It is also on iphone in case anyone is interested. It is doing a little more calculations to make the progressions work than straight midi files would I guess.

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 10:12 pm

I'm sorry you have so much trouble.

I get why you want MIDI and i think that would be more rewarding, I just didn't know why you were wanting things so easy. Now I do.

my right arm is badly damaged so I rely on MIDI and play it in 'live' far less than I'd prefer, fortunately I got a handle on all the mechanice long before my injuries.

braj · Post by **braj** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 11:11 pm

It is no trouble, just I have to make adjustments, you happily have a better theory background than i do. I was never a great guitarist especially with rhythm so i need all the help I can get

I have been playing with Chordbot today, and then importing to reason on my old laptop, rearranging and re-voicing the tracks, and it is a very satisfying process actually. I can then easily get the Reason song on my main computer to edit and add audio in Reaper. I think I am satisfied with this, and it won't cost me anything. In the past I have bought loops and not gotten much use out of them, besides drum loops I think everything else should be midi so i can re-voice and adjust, and even for drums I replaced loops with NI's Studio Drummer recently. Oh, Chordbot makes a simple bassline that compliments the chord progressions, so you also get a start on your basslines.

braj · Post by **braj** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 11:13 pm

http://chordbot.com/screenshots.php

This is a pretty cool app really.

Midi guitar loops?