The latest and greatest in audio to MIDI?

[lmv]

A friend sent me 2 minutes of acoustic guitar. I like it, but the sound is very raw. Not good. He also sent me very simplified tabs. For example:

Code: Select all

A..................D#°
Bm................. E7	 
A...................F#m
.........B7.........E7

None of that is strummed. It's all single note picking. But I struggle to read it. I can't really play the guitar.

Is there anything good nowadays that can "listen" to the wav recording and convert it to MIDI? I've tried Amazing MIDI, Anthem Score and Spotify's Basic Pitch. The output is always unusable. They don't deliver accurate notes, they deliver a hail of notes all over the place. Can someone please recommend something better?

TIA

[Thymos]

Neuralnote is for free. Note grabber isn't but it is also able to detect notes and export them as midi.

[mjolnir]

DodoMIDI (free) is pretty decent.
https://dodobirdmusic.com/dodo-midi/

[lmv]

I'm beginning to suspect this is impossible. This is my own attempt by ear, just a few seconds:



And this is Neuralnote's best output I can get after a lot of adjustments and about 10 attempts:



Yikes.

[eLawnMust]

How about oldest & greatest?... Everybody forget Melodyne?

[lmv]

Well, I don't have Melodyne and I can't afford it. I am not a pro. I'm just trying to do a little project for fun with a friend.

[lmv]

DodoMIDI (free) is pretty decent.
https://dodobirdmusic.com/dodo-midi/

Have you used it? I can't understand how to use it. I have followed instructions and managed to make it work on Waveform. I can see clear signs that it is "working." The part I don't understand is how to obtain/extract/save the MIDI data. Can you please explain?

[bermudagold]

have we gotten any further in 20 yrs?

viewtopic.php?p=972959&hilit=audio+to+midi#p972959
viewtopic.php?p=2602386&hilit=audio+to+midi#p2602386

[Clearscreen]

Real time conversion to midi - https://www.jamorigin.com/beta/
Works pretty well too

[mjolnir]

i haven't had much experience with DodoMIDI because I realised that I don't know what to do with the results or what else to use it for.
I'm kind of a dork, but I did try it. It seemed like I'd need to edit the MIDI after use, and I'd rather just play it in via MIDI keyboard than humm a riff and transcribe and edit it.

I may try to learn how better to use it though in a few days or weeks. It's been on my mind.
Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

[Clearscreen]

Not sure if you use ableton live but it does audio to harmony, melody or drums if you right click on a piece of audio.

[BertKoor]

I'm beginning to suspect this is impossible. This is my own attempt by ear, just a few seconds:

And how long did that take you? Why didn't you finish it? From here on it's just copy&paste, drag up&down.

Here's a bit of my attempt. Spot the differences:

Screenshot 2024-10-23 at 14.04.23.png

I'm going for 58 BPM on that one.

How did you determine that? I ask because I have a tempo track set along your mp3 at 62 bpm and that aligns quite well. First bar is a tad slower (60 bpm) and bars 20 & 21 are faster (63 bpm.)

Code: Select all

A.........................D#°
Bm.............. E7	 
A...............F#m
................B7.......E7 

Your friend wrote that down? Tbh I don't think that's what he's playing, at least it doesn't match to the first bars of the recording.

Will continue after lunch...

[BertKoor]

This is my transcription of the chords:

Code: Select all

| A     | A/E   | D     | E     | E7/B  |
| A     | Cº/Eb | E7/B  | E7/B  |
| A     | Cº/Eb | Bm    | E7    |
| A     | F#m   | B7    | E7    |
| A     | Cº/Eb | Bm    | Dm    |
| A     | F#m   | B7    | E7    |
| A     | Cº/Eb | Bm    | E7    |
| F#    | Bm    | Cº/F# | E7    |
| A     | Cº/Eb | Bm    | Dm    |
| A     | F#m   | B7    | E7    |
| A     | D     | E     | E7    |
| A     | Cº/Eb | E7/B  | E7/B  | A     |

I've chosen to notate it in 2/4 and the diminished C chord could be a Eb (not D# for reasons) or F# or even A as well.

Maybe I'll post a .mid tomorrow. It's ready, but giving a fish or teaching how to fish, that's the question.

The thing is, if you consider yourself a (aspiring) musician, then being able to jot down the notes you hear in your head is a skill that comes handy. Skill comes with practice, doing it often makes it easier. Having the audio already is a big bonus.

So I loaded your mp3 in a DAW (panned slightly left) and put my midi transcription below it (panned slightly right)
Playing the audio while reading the piano roll makes it easier to spot flaws in the transcription.

[lmv]

Not sure if you use ableton live but it does audio to harmony, melody or drums if you right click on a piece of audio.

No, I only have Waveform.

And how long did that take you? Why didn't you finish it?

That cost me about three days. Not whole days of course. But some three or four hours total. I have done twice as much as that by now. On my own, I should be able to finish it by Christmas. Not that it is a Christmas song.

I'm going for 58 BPM on that one.

How did you determine that? I ask because I have a tempo track set along your mp3 at 62 bpm and that aligns quite well. First bar is a tad slower (60 bpm) and bars 20 & 21 are faster (63 bpm.)

I'm tasked with arranging the song including singing or something reasonably close to singing. I suck, but my friend is even worse and he knows it. So I'm aiming for something a wee bit slower than his original idea. I wish I could change a lot more. I didn't even want to do it with a guitar. But he whines. He wants the guitar and he wants his chords. Whatever. We're all gonna die one day.

Your friend wrote that down? Tbh I don't think that's what he's playing, at least it doesn't match to the first bars of the recording.

Yes, he did. And I would never know it if you didn't tell me.

This is my transcription of the chords:

Thanks. Maybe I will confer with my friend, but he is no expert either.

I've chosen to notate it in 2/4 and the diminished C chord could be a Eb (not D# for reasons) or F# or even A as well.

That is all Greek to me. Actually, worse. If it were Greek, I would have Google translate it and then I would understand it.

The thing is, if you consider yourself a (aspiring) musician, then being able to jot down the notes you hear in your head is a skill that comes handy. Skill comes with practice, doing it often makes it easier. Having the audio already is a big bonus.

I've tried, but I don't have a lot of time. I had plenty of time when I was young and didn't have to pay bills. That was a long time ago and life is very different now, of course. I prefer to spend the little free time I have on something I already know. I can make arrangements without the guitar. I can even use chords on a piano. I cheat with chord assistance software, but it works. I made a beautiful arrangement for another song by that one same friend. No modesty here, it was beautiful. He didn't like it. He only has a hammer, I mean, a guitar, so he is all about the guitar all the time. That's just the way it is.

So I loaded your mp3 in a DAW (panned slightly left) and put my midi transcription below it (panned slightly right)
Playing the audio while reading the piano roll makes it easier to spot flaws in the transcription.

I'm sure it's some DAW I don't have and can't afford, but what DAW is it?

[BertKoor]

I used GarageBand, pre-installed on the mac book my employer lets me use for work.
Will try copy-paste into Tracktion Waveform, should work fine.