humanizing midi tracks

[John Balich]

can someone steer me to a tutorial on humanizing midi tracks?

 

[John Vere]

There are humanizing midi tools but all they do is move the notes out of time. So ya, humanized like someone who is a bad player!  

Just because the midi notes are perfect doesn’t make them inhuman. Some keyboard players and drummers can actually play like that.
The secret is to learn how to edit the midi to sound the way you want it no matter how the midi was created. Expecting AI to accomplish this task is wishful thinking. 
Google the question results in many videos this one I like 

 

Edited June 27, 2023 by JohnnyV

[Promidi]

I use CAL scripts for this.

[bitflipper]

Short tutorial: don't do it!

Best way to humanize a MIDI performance is to actually perform it by hand. Even if you don't have keyboard skills you can still subsequently fix the timing on obvious mistakes where necessary.

But avoid any tool labeled "Humanize", as it is a scam. Yes, it's true that live players' timing isn't perfect, but neither is it random.

[mettelus]

Manual adjustment is going to yield the best results. Both variations to timing and velocity are going to be present in a human performance, so working in the PRV with snap-to-grid OFF you can either nudge or manually move notes to taste for timing. Velocity can also be adjusted in the PRV or with an automation lane. CAL scripts aren't terrible, but you often will need to adjust any "humanize" function after the fact anyway. What you do not want is massive variations either, although it is very common for a piece to have pretty obvious shifts in velocities based on sections (verse, chorus, etc.). Keep that dynamic in mind as well.

[Promidi]

Well, to be fair, I really use a Studioware panel with two knobs, each with a CAL script attached.  One for note time position, the other for velocity.

The more I turn the respective knob clock-wise, the more the selected notes parameter can randomly deviate from its original value.

That way I can dial in a subtle change, or a broad change in timing or velocity.

Studioware Panels and CAL scripts are quite powerful.  I only wish the Bakers would bring back the creation of them directly from within CbB. 

You can load them, but not create them in CbB. 

[Variorum]

I think random humanization can be useful in some cases, but changes in timing must be kept very small in most cases... almost undetectable.  It's ok to have larger changes in velocity (volume) just because our ears aren't terribly sensitive to differences in loudness.

1 hour ago, Promidi said:

Roland UM-ONE mk2 USB MIDI Interface driving an external SW1000XG card

Are we the only two people on earth still doing this? I love my SW1000XG ?

[OutrageProductions]

Humanize Plus is a decent CAL script for both velo & timing but I never dial in more than about 12 units +/- for either one.

[Variorum]

6 minutes ago, OutrageProductions said:

Humanize Plus is a decent CAL script for both velo & timing but I never dial in more than about 12 units +/- for either one.

Yeah... if I want the waveforms to start at slightly different positions, I'll auto-humanize, but if I want an obvious difference in the notes, I'll do it by hand.

[Byron Dickens]

I'm in agreement with some of the others on this: the most realistic way to humanize a MIDI track is to have a human play it.  You can slow the tempo way down if you have to. I have even gone so far as to record one chord change at a time.

Even if you are a terrible keyboard player, I think you get better results if you go the opposite way of trying to "humanize" a part. Instead, play it in  the best you can and then use the tools at your disposal to tighten the performance up. But don't lock everything strictly to the grid.

If you are working with an already existing MIDI file, then you are in for a long slog of manual editing. when doing this, you need to be cognizant of how a real musician plays. Probably the most important thing is to put in accents where a player would do that. That all depends on the field and the rhythmic pulse of the material.

For example, there is a very famous drummer who has a definite habit of playing the second of every pair of eighth notes on his hi-hat softer.

Also, where the musician places his notes in relation to the grid is much of what determines the feel of a part. Playing slightly behind the beat gives a kind of relaxed groove while playing slightly ahead of the beat drives things forward.

Understand that "ahead of" and "behind" the beat do not mean out of time. We're talking milliseconds. It is not really heard so much as felt.

Stuff like this gets much better results than any so-called "humanize" feature.

Edited June 26, 2023 by Byron Dickens

[mettelus]

I always have to reset myself and reread the OP for threads like this. He specifically asked for tutorials, but I do not know of any offhand. CAL scripts are so old school that new users aren't even going to know what they are.

6 hours ago, Promidi said:

Studioware Panels and CAL scripts are quite powerful.  I only wish the Bakers would bring back the creation of them directly from within CbB. 

Being "legacy" products, I am not sure if there are tutorials on them that a new user could follow/use?

[Promidi]

6 minutes ago, mettelus said:

Being "legacy" products, I am not sure if there are tutorials on them that a new user could follow/use?

I have never found any tutorials specific for CALS and Studioware Panels

All the ones I have written have been trial and error.

For CAL scripts, there is a PDF document detailing each command.

https://discuss.cakewalk.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=10371

Be careful with some commands.  Some will categorically crash CbB.  I know editSlide does.  Save often.

Also, some commands work differently in CbB than with old versions.

Also, your CbB project clock needs to be set to 960 ppqn for any  CALs that utilise time values to work correctly - ppqn can change if you import older MIDI files.

For Studioware Panels.....?  You’re pretty much on your own.

[mettelus]

Yeah, that was my concern

 

[John Vere]

I googled the question and there are dozens of videos on the topic.  I posted one in my original post on the off chance the OP actually returns. 
The way I see it we have 2 options the midi effects and Groove Quantize.
I don’t think Cal script ever was very successful format, certainly never worked for me. But Groove Quantize is pretty straight forward.  
 

Im totally against just randomly moving notes off time. I think what Byron said is how I feel.  It more about the sound each instrument makes and the attack of the note after it is triggered.  
Put up your hand if you ever found yourself moving a synth pad back a bit until it sounds right in the mix.  Some of those old analog sounds are very slow to develop.  

So it really depends o the instrument. Drums and bass need to be locked up tight so if you move a kick 3 ms early you better do the same to the bass!  Otherwise you will begin to create mush.  
The options for creating with midi are huge and the authenticity of the results are totally in the hands and skills of the creator. The computer DAW cannot automatically make midi sound real but it does have most of the tools built in. 

A huge part of this realism is still due to the initial input of midi data.  Making a step sequencer sound human is a lot more work than playing the part on a keyboard or digital drum kit.  And then the sensitivity of the keyboard or drum kit also makes a huge difference and of course who is playing it.  
If you’ve ever played a $5,000 Roland drum kit you would understand what I’m saying.  
Expecting a $300 keyboard controller to produce a Concert Grand Piano is a joke.  
So taking a boring Piano midi clip that is perfectly in time and every note is 100 velocity with no CC events and expecting an AI to make it sound like a Real person played it?? Ha! 
 

The day a computer totally replaces real musicians will be sad day indeed. 

Edited June 27, 2023 by JohnnyV

[Byron Dickens]

On 6/26/2023 at 12:10 AM, mettelus said:

He specifically asked for tutorials, but I do not know of any offhand.

There probably aren't any. What bitflipper & I said is probably the closest thing.