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Converting Audio To Midi In Cakewalk


Starise

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I know most veterans here already know this. I made a  video for a violin forum to show them how to convert a recorded track. I am posting this here for newbs.

You don't really need to make a separate midi track. I mainly do this so I have a spare midi always on hand to work with. As you will hear, the track is pretty badly recorded

and the conversion still picked up over 95% of the notes accurately. The rest could be edited in midi for correction. For anyone who needs to convert to notation, this is WAY easier than  typing in entire scores to a notation program if you can play fairly accurately.

If you know of alternate ways to do this or shortcuts to the process please chime in. Thanks.

 

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Nice tutorial Tim! I have sometimes used this method to adlib instrument solos. I kind of sing an improvised melody just with "la" or something, then use Melodyne to make the MIDI for the virtual instrument. As you say - a little bit of tidying to do, but I've found this makes really fluid solos for parts like trumpets or sax.

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Thanks! 

I am always open to any new ideas on how to best utilize this. The ability to do this is an amazing thing!  Humming would work just as well. I like that I can take my very bad sounding violin signal and make it presentable with a few minor tweaks. The sky is the limit on what can be done really. I didn't add any additional expression into this or tweak any of the VSTi . TBH I'm probably not the best person for that subject. Maybe a subject you could cover in a later video?  I usually stop at velocity and the mod wheel. Most of the time it sounds fairly realistic without any additional added tweaking.

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@Starise, Thanks for creating and sharing the video.  For one I didn't realize how easy it is to convert from monophonic audio to midi using Melodyne.  I know ARA 2 lets Melodyne integrate with Cakewalk but that's the first video where what that means really sinks in.

Another user informed me the Assistant, Editor and editions of Melodyne can transform a monophonic audio track to midi.  Cakewalk by BandLab offers the demo edition of Melodyne through the add on Cakewalk app button in BandLab Assistant.

PG Music's Band-in-a-Box program includes a feature that can convert a monophonic audio track to an audio track but the method is MUCH more complex than the method you demonstrated.  Some people may not be aware but all Band-in-a-Box for Windows packages include the identical Band-in-a-Box program.  So all have midi from monophonic audio capability.

Edited by Jim Fogle
Edited to remove Melodyne editions question @starise answers below.
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Hi Jim,

Thanks for bringing this up. I would not want to mislead anyone.

Unfortunately it looks like Audio to MIDI begins with the Assistant version according to this MELODYNE VERSIONS

I recently updated my Melodyne and the upgrade was only 49.95. I'm not making any promises here, but if you add your email to their mailing list 

you could possibly get a sweeter deal or can at least be on the list for promotions. I use the Editor edition that I bought on sale originally awhile back.

I think the studio version of the program will allow multiple tracks. I would love to have it but the asking price is a little steep for me right now.

FYI- If you right click on a stereo recorded audio track in Cakewalk there is a "convert to mono" choice.

I always had an interest to try out Band in A Box. I hear it's a great program to work in. Just been too busy to look at it :)

Edited by Starise
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  • 9 months later...
On 11/26/2020 at 2:17 PM, sjoens said:

With CbB 2020.11 and Melodyne Editor 4.2.4 all I get is flat lined midi notes. Every note is A4.

Oh, this is what Cakewalk built in for the Melodyne5-Integration: "Selection of the algorithm".

If you get all the same note the used algorithm is "percussion". You should use "melodic" instead, I guess...

 

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  • 1 month later...
On 11/30/2020 at 2:37 AM, sjoens said:

If I simply drag an audio clip to a MIDI track, like demonstrated by the OP, it flat lines all the notes.

Seems I have to create a Melodyne Region FX clip first. Then it works. I don't see where the OP did that.

 

 If Melodyne settings are not set to percussion you should be able to drag and drop the track if in mono. Are you using a recent version of Cakewalk and Melodyne?

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  • 5 weeks later...
On 2/4/2020 at 2:15 PM, Starise said:

Unfortunately it looks like Audio to MIDI begins with the Assistant version according to this MELODYNE VERSIONS 

That version comparison may be inaccurate.  I know for sure I was able to convert audio to MIDI in Mixcraft 9 Pro Studio once I upgraded the included Melodyne Essential to version 5.  I have since upgraded to Editor version 5 - Editor and Studio should both be able to convert polyphonic audio to MIDI.

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I’ve been converting real bass tracks to midi for a long time now. You could even do this with Home Studio. So it’s been built in to the core program I think since X3 

The process seems to work much better in the last few years for me and now with M5 it asks you which algorithm you want to use before proceeding.  
There’s always some editing to do but much faster way to create a realistic midi track than standard keyboard entry if you’re not an ace keyboard player. 
 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Somewhere on this forum there is a post by one of the Cakewalk folks that mentions the Melodyne trial downloaded through the BandLab Assistant link differs from the Melodyne trial download available through Celemony.

The key difference is the Cakewalk by BandLab Melodyne application continues to offer monophonic audio to midi conversion once the trial period is over.

In the same thread I believe someone discovered that when Melodyne moved from version 4 to version 5 the Cakewalk by BandLab Melodyne application also changed versions and the custom to Cakewalk audio to midi conversion was lost.

I believe the folks at Cakewalk was not aware the functionality was lost until the subject was mentioned in the discussion.

Perhaps someone from Cakewalk could confirm how the Cakewalk provided Melodyne application works once the trial period is over.

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  • 3 months later...
On 2/20/2021 at 8:01 AM, Jim Fogle said:

Somewhere on this forum there is a post by one of the Cakewalk folks that mentions the Melodyne trial downloaded through the BandLab Assistant link differs from the Melodyne trial download available through Celemony.

The key difference is the Cakewalk by BandLab Melodyne application continues to offer monophonic audio to midi conversion once the trial period is over.

In the same thread I believe someone discovered that when Melodyne moved from version 4 to version 5 the Cakewalk by BandLab Melodyne application also changed versions and the custom to Cakewalk audio to midi conversion was lost.

I believe the folks at Cakewalk was not aware the functionality was lost until the subject was mentioned in the discussion.

Perhaps someone from Cakewalk could confirm how the Cakewalk provided Melodyne application works once the trial period is over.

I can confirm this. Hi, I am new to Cakewalk, started about 8 months ago, and I heard about the Cakewalk audio to midi conversion feature and tried to do it, but every time I drag the audio clip onto a midi track, it shows that audio is processing for a few seconds and then nothing happens, no new midi clip appears.

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On 2/10/2021 at 6:55 PM, pbognar said:

That version comparison may be inaccurate.  I know for sure I was able to convert audio to MIDI in Mixcraft 9 Pro Studio once I upgraded the included Melodyne Essential to version 5. 

On 2/11/2021 at 12:13 AM, John Vere said:

I’ve been converting real bass tracks to midi for a long time now. You could even do this with Home Studio. So it’s been built in to the core program I think since X3 

I occasionally used audio to midi conversion within SONAR, too.  I was later led to believe by things I read that what seemed to me to be SONAR conversion actually used Melodyne (which used to be bundled with SONAR).  I know I used to be able to do polyphonic conversions without any clue that it involved Melodyne.  But a year or so ago, the polyphonic conversion disappeared. Not sure if that was because I updated from Essentials 2 (or whatever version came bundled with SONAR) to whatever version of Essential I now have.

I suppose if there are no satisfactory alternatives and polyphonic conversion is a must-have feature, the cost of Melodyne Editor would be worth the expense.

@pbognar Was/Is the conversion in Mixcraft 9 Pro Studio with Essential 5 polyphonic?

  

 

 

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@In A Week, @User 905133

Not sure why some people are having a problem with this. As I said the Melodyne audio to midi has been built in to Cakewalk for a long time now and is part of the Cakewalk ARA VST system. You don't need a Melodyne license to run this. 

To verify I opened a project on my Laptop which is my 3rd DAW set up.  I don't have anything but CbB on it. No Sonar or it's goodies.  I did this so I could verify what a new user  would have to work with. It does not have anything unless it was free for the taking from Cakewalk and 3rd party vendors. So therefore no Melodyne license. 

It is running the latest version of Cakewalk as I just updated it for the test. 

Had no problem dragging an Audio bass track to a midi track. What I first noticed was I did not get a dialog box asking for any algorithm. This makes sense because I don't have Melodyne 5 on this machine. But it works just fine and I now have a midi clone of my bass track just like I have done a zillion times before. 

I then opened a vocal clip as a regional effect and the screen shot shows I haven't even activated the demo license and it seems the version is 4. This also makes sense because I originally installed CbB last Summer and 4 would have been the demo. If I click on activate it wants me to create a Melodyne account etc. Even so if I had run the demo into the ground the audio to midi would still work. 

The monophonic conversion to midi works via ARA and it doesn't matter which version of Melodyne you own or don't own.  @Noel Borthwick  and @scook have mentioned this in a few threads. I've tagged them here just to confirm my understanding is correct. 

One thing to check if your having issues, is make sure there is no active regional effects or even automation on the track. It has to be a clean audio track.  I noticed I had audio snap on the bass track and I had to disable that first. 

2006317587_Screenshot(36).thumb.png.596bd17cab3c930af722c7837917c23a.png

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