Its called What?!?

O.k., so I was planning on using a different channel name. Turns out that the one I wanted is already taken (sort of). So this blog will remain, as will the Performance Emulation name. It is a decent name but I will be looking for something more general as I branch out and make non-music related videos. Something nonspecific like "Squashed Frog T. V." or "Square Circle" or something silly like that. I started a new channel on youtube. I found a website called Museopen.org that offers recordings in the public domain. I can't believe that it took me so long to find this site. The significance of this site can not be overstated and I expect it to grow quite a bit over the years. My new channel focuses on using music from Musopen. I have three main goals for creating these videos. First I want to finish projects fast. I have the tendency to agonize over details and get bogged down on projects. You might notice this if you check out the release dates on my videos. I want to force myself to be efficient and learn better time management and workflow skills. Along these lines my goal is to upload one video a day. I have met this goal with the exception of one weekend when I was out of town. A good deal of the videos are "under review" however. Second I want to have fun and see what results I can get with Plane9 and some other types of non-midi generated visualizations. Third I want to promote Musopen.org because it is pretty much the coolest thing ever (after Air conditioning). Many of the recordings are pretty low quality. I use some eq and other tools to clean them up as best as I can. However I am not an expert in audio restoration so the results are not exactly stunning all of the time. However there are some great performances available from Musopen as well as some nice amateur ones. So far it has been a fun and challenging project. Overall the videos are lower quality when compared to my main channel, but I am learning a lot about working fast.

Bach BWV 846 series

This series of videos uses two different styles. One uses the traditional harpsichord while the other uses a synthesizer. There are a total of six videos: prelude x2, fugue x2, and prelude + fugue x2. This one brings back some memories: the Fugue is one of the first pieces I ever sequenced when learning MIDI. I used Digital Performer 3.

I first had the idea of making an alternate version with the Mozart piano sonata (I still need to finish the other two movements of that one). I like the traditional sounds of pianos and other instruments, but at the same time I am fascinated by the endless possibilities offered by digital synthesizers. So why not make two versions? I was planning a third version for the Mozart sonata, but I decided that the time would be better spent making versions of different pieces rather than focusing on a single work. This strategy of alternate versions has the advantage that one or two of them will get by the automatic detection system that youtube uses. So far only a single video has made it past.

While this system is frustrating, its not really youtube's fault. Blame your representative in congress (and throw in the lawyers as well!! LOL)

In any case, I will be winding down this blog and replacing it with another that covers all of the activities of my channel and not just the music visualizations. This will include migrating the posts here, but also updating them. I have come to the conclusion that they are too technical in nature. I think anyone reading this is more interesting in why I chose a piece than what the LKFS level is for a video (for example).

Mozart Sonata K V 545 1st Movement Alternate Version

The idea for this video was to get a performance that sounded as if it were played by a computer. I took out all tempo changes but left in the phrasing (I can't stand all these unphrased midi performances, they hurt my ears!)

One of my favorite film composers is Wendy Carlos. I was going for the feel rather than explicit recreation of her work. I am thinking more of Switched on Bach than Tron here.

The instrument I used was provided by Arturia. They gave away the Minimoog V Original free for a single day. This is an excellent synth to be giving away for free. It does have some bugs. Gift horse and all that. The one topic that is discussed constantly is how close to the original instrument does it sound? Is it a 100% accurate recreation? I am not so concerned with the percentage. Is it 70? 95%? Who cares? It sounds like a moog, and it sounds freaking awesome. And it was free. A win win really.

I want to do a third version of this piece. I was thinking of using a FM synth for the next one. Who knows?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvM1bjw-L0M&feature=youtu.be

Mozart Sonata K V 545 1st Movement

I really enjoyed making this video. It was challenging in some ways. This has to do with the way the piece was composed. After spending some time with it, I am convinced that 'facile' refers more to compositional technique than to difficulty in playing. I don't mean that it is a simple piece; rather I mean that it is very simple in its construction. The whole thing is pretty much constructed from scales and arpeggios. This offers some difficulty in interpretation: how to phrase a bunch of scales and arpeggios and not make them sound boring? Well, I did my best!

I ran into a problem while making the visualization for this video. I could not get the audio to line up to the MAM player output. I eventually came to the conclusion that the MAM player does not like tempo ramps. I treats the ramp like a step, thus the misalignment problem. I think this is what my problem was a while back with the Für Elise video. In any case it was a great excuse to use the Zgame visualizer again. Can you tell which preset I like? Yeah, that one.

I have a confession to make. I am a hoarder. A hoarder of vsti's. I have bought a fair number of them, and I have found more freeware instruments than anyone should have. Synth1 (freeware) has over 8,000 presets for example. And that is just one of them.

So I need to use all of these for something. It also turns out that I am deeply interested in interpreting timeless masterpieces using new instruments. I can only imagine what Mozart would have done, had he had access to something like NI's Reaktor. Well, we can only guess. However we can hear his music using these instruments.

I will combine my psychotic urge to download every free vsti (even the bad ones) and my interest in using them on classic masterpieces. There will be another version or two of this movement using some as yet to be determined synthesizers. I can't wait!

http://youtu.be/Xdviq2UYbR0

Chorale 77 J. S. Bach

It seems like a long time since I posted any music visualizations.  I didn't realize that I missed making them until I produced this video.

My original concept for this was an image of a computer playing by itself in a cathedral.  Usually I take a digital instrument of some kind and sequence a performance as if I were playing an analogue instrument of some kind.  However with this video I achieved a computerized sound by not having any dynamics or tempo changes.  Its true that the volume changes a bit throughout.  However this is due to the constructive interference of the overtone series of the four voices rather than any velocity changes or volume automation.   I kept the fermatas in the score which may sound like tempo changes or rubato of some sort.

I used the excellent MAM player and Fubar2000 to provide the visualization for this video.  The license for Fubar seems to restrict giving credit (?) which is why I did not give credit in the video or on Youtube.

I used Hollow Sun's Vermona for this video: http://www.hollowsun.com/HS2/products/vermona/index.htm  I was absolutely shocked at the quality of this instrument.  I bought it on sale for a really good price and was expecting a mediocre instrument.  I got a top notch instrument.  It is my opinion that with proper marketing Hollow Sun could get at least twice what they are currently asking for their instruments (but don't tell them that, I only bought this one so far!)  The samples sound great, but what sets this one apart from most other Kontakt instruments is its implementation.  Notes sound even across the keyboard (which unfortunately can not be said for all Kontakt instruments, especially bundled ones).  It comes with presets that are a great starting point.  But most importantly it has knobs, sliders, and a GUI that mimics the original hardware in such a way that you no longer feel that you are playing with a sample set, but an actual synthesizer.  Top notch!  I can't wait until I can scrape up some budget for more H. S. instruments.  And by the way you don't have to wait for sale prices because the normal prices are far below what you would expect to pay for instruments of this quality (unless maybe H. S. reads this blog!)

I have implemented a big change starting with this video.  I spent a good deal of time researching the new(ish) loudness standards for broadcast that have been suggested and adopted for the USA, Europe, and other parts of the world.  I noticed upon review that my videos varied wildly in volume.  This could cause discomfort, or at the very least an inconvenient listening experience for the viewer.  Youtube does not have any loudness standards, nor is it likely to ever have them.  However it is my hope that viewers will enjoy a comfortable listening level between my videos.  I apologize for any inconvenience that may be caused by levels in previous videos, but I think that it is imperative to not revise too much.  I am a perfectionist by nature and if I allow myself to revise then I will never move forward.  Its true what they say: projects are never completed, only abandoned.  There is not a single video on my channel that in my opinion does not need revision.  This video was mastered at -18 LKFS (+/-1) using standard 1770-2, with a maximum peak of -3Db (actual peak about -4.5) before encoding.  This seems to be a level that offers an excellent trade off between dynamic contrast and loudness.  I can't promise to always use these particular levels, but unless I find problems or get complaints from viewers I plan to use this in all of my future videos.

Music Theory Basics Episode 2: The Bass Clef

Not too much to say about this one.  It is just another short video, this time explaining the notes of the bass clef.  I used screen in screen this time for clarity among some other more subtle video editing tricks that I picked up.

I have very little time for making videos unfortunately, but I will keep producing them when I can.

Beethoven: Für Elise 3d Removal

It is a sad day when the bully wins.  I made a (not very good) 3d version of this video, but unfortunately I had to remove it.  As is standard when posting any musical video on youtube, some miscellaneous entity claimed rights to my video.  This is absurd of course because I sequenced the music so I own the rights to this particular performance.  I initiated the dispute process (which I amd forced to do with 95% of my videos) but lost the dispute.  As a result, the company that disputed my ownership of the music rights was allowed to place advertising on my video.

I do not mind at all if the video does not generate revenue.  Not all of my videos are monetized, and even with the ones that are, as of this post I have not yet earned the $100 needed for adsense to mail me a check.  No big deal, if I wanted money I would spend my time flipping burgers.  It would pay a heck of a lot more.  However, I absolutely refuse to let someone else make money off of my work!

Strangely enough, the other (2d) video has been in dispute pretty much since I posted it.  This is the way the world under the DMCA works (and other landmark decisions and laws).  Rather than go into those, I will just say that although it is very frustrating to post these videos due to such violations of MY ownership of rights, I will continue to post them.  If we give in then the bullies win.  The change has already happened, but the record labels and other powers that be have not yet realized it.  The big corporations don't just want to protect their own rights, but also to shut down any competition.  Why would you buy a cd when there is so much great music being produced?  There are so many talented independent artists that one does not know where to begin.

I would re-up the 3d video and re-dispute it, but to be honest it wasn't very good (and thus not worth the trouble).  However I will continue to make music.  And every time someone watches one of my videos, I will feel happy inside that we still have the freedom to create and distribute our own art. 

They killed public domain and they will kill this new culture of independent art if we let them.

So lets make some more videos!

Beethoven: Für Elise re-up

I was not happy with the original version of this video.  The sound was not properly synced with the visuals.  At first I thought that this was a result of the software used to generate the visuals from the midi file, but upon extensive investigation I have found that for some reason there is a sync issue.  I generate the audio directly from the midi, so they should match.  However using miditrail, MAM player, and some others all yield the same result.  The visuals go a bit out of sync and then catch up whenever there is a tempo change.  This has never happened to me before while making a visualization.  I have no idea what the cause is.  In any case I decided to prevent the problem entirely by using the zgame editor visualizer which uses (in this case) only the audio to generate the visuals.  I may have gotten carried away but what the heck it was fun.

It just so happens that the ZGEV has a stereographic output, so if possible I will upload a 3d version of this video as well.  I have no idea if it will look any good.  However I am a fan of 3d so I feel compelled to take advantage of this feature (if I can figure out how to get it to work.) 

Big Tick Rhino: Oberheim patch bank review

This video took forever to make.  It was not that one thing made it difficult.  Many semi-related events such as the holidays, getting a new sound card (and all the shopping and research involved in that decision), choosing a new daw (Reaper or Presonus its killing me I can't decide!), and some other things all coincided to make this video take far longer than it should have.

I must thank some of the users at the KVR forums for their constructive criticism on my last two videos.  It is not easy to give criticism for most of us.  Their input was really helpful.  In my last patch bank review I was really excited about at least 30% of the presets and I wanted to include them all in the video.  The result was a demonstration of many great patches, but overall the video was really boring.  Not many people want to watch a static screen of Rhino (and cubase) while I noodle around with some presets.

I chose a more focused approach with this video.  Instead of trying to show a plethora of sounds, I narrowed it down to just a few and gave my overall impression of the sound bank.  This bank is really great.  However there are also some things I did not like, which I mention in the video.

Well I hope that this one turned out better than the last as far as watchability goes!

Music Theory Basics: The Treble Clef

I wanted to make a series of videos covering music theory.  My idea was to make them as short as possible so that one could pick and choose which bits to watch.  For example, what if you already read the bass clef, and only want to brush up on the notes of the treble clef? 

This is the first of many videos on music theory.  However, it is a busy time so I expect that the next one will take some weeks until I can upload it.

Digital Synth Collection

This is a demonstration of various patches from the Digital Synth Collection for Big Tick's Rhino.  It was fun noodling around with these presets.  This bank is huge with 256 presets.  It was difficult to choose which ones to put in the video, so I show somewhere in teh ballpark of 50 patches. 

The visuals are not that exciting.  After uploading and reviewing this video, I decided that in the future I will make visualizations for a demo such as this in stead of just recording the synth.

I figure that no one will actually sit through the whole video.  However I imagine that they might skip around and check out the various sounds.

Review of Big Tick Rhino

I have no idea what possesed me to make a review of this synth.  I guess I thought it would be fun, or maybe I watch too much AVGN or something.  In any case it was a very enjoyable project.  I got kind of silly with the sound effects.  I was going for something that was more fun than your average software review.

I gained a new found appreciation for talented voice actors while making this video.  Most of us do not realize how difficult it is to sound good for more than a few words.  I never knew how much I stuttered, mispronounced words, and made disgusting mouth noise until editing the VO for this review.  Green apples and herbal tea only helped so much.  I hope you enjoy the review!

J. S. Bach Chorale 43

I made this video to go along with my review of Big Tick Rhino, and to demonstrate that instrument.  I used very little processing so that the raw sound of the synthesizer could be heard.  I only used reverb.  This was also a quick job.  I usually spend more time on the velocity levels, phrasing, etc.  However with this video I was in a bit of a hurry so that I could have it out at the same time as the review.  I will be posting the review shortly.

The title of this one is "Liebster Gott, wann werd ich sterben," which translates to: "dearest god, when shall I die."

The visualization was created using the zgame editor visualizer.

Sequenced in Cubase 5.5.3 as usual.

J. S. Bach: Chorale 27

I made this one because I wanted to do another video with midivis, but I did not have much free time for a longer piece.  I really like the chorales so it was an easy choice.

I used the stock brass from Kontakt 4 which is from VSL, although I believe there are fewer velocity layers and articulations compared to the full retail version of this same library.  Overall the brass sounds great despite the lack of depth one might expect from VSL.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j6Ri3qzDZs

Project Notes: Für Elise

link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFh_-Krt3Ck

I found the visualizer for this video almost by accident.  It is called 3dMIDI.  It never made it to a 1.0 release as far as I could find, and the website for the software provided in the documentation is no longer available.  The main feature that caught my attention was the ability to render right from the program which would eliminate the need for screen capture software such as FRAPS.  While FRAPS does an excellent job, the quality is seriously limited.  My eventual goal is to make videos with decent quality, and to do this I will most likely need to learn software such as Blender.

That being said the results of this video were decent but definitely not stunning.  The render option would not work properly so I was forced to use FRAPS for this video.  3dMIDI definitely feels like an alpha release.  Random crashes, settings anomalies, you name it.  However I really like the look of it so I decided to use it in spite of its raw feel.  The graphics look dated but I am a sucker for all things vintage.  The only problem with the video is that 3dMIDI does not sync with tempo changes very well.  If you pay attention you will see that at certain times the balls do not hit the keys exactly in time.  This is not an alignment problem but rather the software not adjusting to the midi input correctly.  My guess is that some decimal rounding error is involved.

I wanted to do a visualization of Für Elise for a while now.  I chose the visualization before I began work on the sequence.  Right away I knew that I had to use something besides piano samples for this piece.  The look of it called out for a good bell-like synth patch.  I tried using several instruments in my arsenal before deciding on FM8 which had the best sound for this project.  I adjusted phrasing and velocity levels to give the piece more expression.  Many of the synth pieces I see on Youtube have a single velocity and no phrasing which tends to give them a dull and lifeless feel.  That is actually a good thing in some cases but I felt this piece needed some expression.

Project notes: Zwei Praeludien op 39 by Beethoven

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q7kA_U_XCY

This video was a long project mostly because of demands on my time such as the birth of a new infant.  I kept working at it even when I only had a few minutes to spare.

This piece was challenging to sequence because it is Beethoven's version of counterpoint.  This basically means that instead of worrying about one melody, I had to shape several melodies that happened simultaneously, bringing each one out.

Some may be surprised by the liberties I have taken with this performance.   The phrasing and tempo changes that I used are a little unusual.  However one goal that I always have is to create a new interpretation of a work.  Why make a pale imitation of what a pianist recorded?  There are so many talented musicians that there is little point to attempt an emulation of a past performance.  One on my main influences along these lines is Glen Gould.  Quite often his performances would be less than good (I am thinking of recordings such as Rondo alla Turca).  however he usually tried something different to make the performance his own, and when he was on it was amazing.  Some of my favorite (and least favorite) performances were recorded by Gould.  Of course the risk I take is that many will not like my own interpretation.  However I prefer that to a bland performance. 

The visualizer used for this video is the Music Animation Machine, which can be found here: http://www.musanim.com/player/

I sequenced this using Cubase and Kontakt.

Project Notes:Chopin Prelude No. 4

I was working on a Beethoven video when I stumbled upon the Zgame Editor Visualizer (say that three times fast).  This is a plugin that produces a video based on audio output, midi, or both.  It is still very new and has the feel of a beta program.  However it has quite a lot of potential.  As of now there are no presets to interpret Midi data that come with the program.  Also according to the Zgame people it does not have Midi look ahead, so you will not see a scrolling score like the MAM.  Basically this is like the visualizer that comes with WMP or itunes but much more powerful.  You can make your own preset, but that requires programming skills (of which I have none).  I found this particular preset on the Fl forums.  It was created by user StephenM, so many thanks to him.  I saw a video of this preset and immediately thought Chopin for some reason.  The best thing about ZGEV is that it renders video, so I don't have to resort to a third party desktop recorder.  This means much higher quality videos in theory.  Also you can use this plugin by downloading the demo version of FL studio to try it out.  You cannot save projects, but you can output files.

What needs to be said about this particular prelude?  It is one of the most beautiful pieces ever written for piano. 

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzrzSWkKE0I

Project Notes: J. S. Bach chorale 86

The title of this chorale Wie schön leuchtet der Morgernstern translates to "How brightly shines the morning star."

This one was a simple test to see if I could get good results with the MAM player using the new settings I found.  The results were promising, although I still got some wiggle with the bars.  I will try to further tweak this for better results using different output quality and frame rates.

I used the choir from the stock Kontakt library for this piece.  While it sounds very nice, this particular instrument is better suited for a mix rather than a stand alone performance.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl0_OaWy18Y

Project Notes: Euphonic Sounds by Scott Joplin

This is a great piece by Joplin.  It differs from stock ragtime in several ways.  The most notable difference is perhaps the bass part which deviates from the typical oom-pah.

I used a new (to me) midi visualizer again for this video.  The program is called Miditrail.  It has three different views: 2d 3d and raindrop.  The program is actually quite powerful in some ways and can be highly customized.  Unfortunately it takes a little bit of computer knowledge to adjust.  For example to change the colors of the notes one must open a file and edit the color data.  I think the data is in hexadecimal notation, but I am not 100% sure about that.  I could not figure out how to get rid of the file name and data readout at the top and bottom of the screen.  This is why I have the black borders in case you were wondering.  There are some pretty good videos on youtube using this visualizer.

I sequenced this one with Cubase 5.5.3 as usual.  I will upgrade some day when they fix the windows nightmare and correctly implement group tracks.  Or when Protools comes out with a 64 bit version. I will just get that instead.

I used samples from the stock Kontakt 4 library.  The instrument is called 'concert grand.'  It sounds really good compared to some other piano sample instruments that I have used.  However it lacks the realism needed to pull off a solo piano performance.  It sounds like there are 2 velocity layers for the instrument.  When you go from loud to soft the sound is really disturbing.  It sounds sort of like the microphone is being moved farther away from the piano instead of the pianist playing more quietly.  I used this as a challenge to improve my skills.  I bounced the track to an audio file and then edited the volume automation to create dynamic contrast instead of using velocity.  I can't say that this was totally successful, but on the other hand it was better than using velocity to control dynamics.  This instrument also plays from the pianists perspective, or the low notes to the left and high to the right.  This always sounds quite strange to me.  Under normal conditions the audience does not hear a piano performance from left to right like this.  I would not use this sort of panning instrument for most applications, but for a midi visualization it actually worked quite well.

I found two interesting pieces of information while making this video.  First the manual for the MAM player has been updated to reflect settings for win7, and second there may be a Pro version of the MAM coming out at some point.  I won't hold my breath for the pro version, but I will definitely try out the win 7 settings for my next video.  I want to try out the choir that came with Kontakt on a Bach chorale.  Hopefully I can get a better quality video with the new settings.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD9Th1Q96NI

J. S. Bach Chorale # 251 Ich bin ja, Herr, in deiner Macht

Translation: I am indeed, Lord, in thy power.

When I began making these videos I only knew about the MAM player.  I was quite impressed with its possibilities.  However after making a few videos I became frustrated with the difficulties of obtaining good quality video from the MAM.  I spend my free time over several days and found a few interesting visualizers.  Most of them, while amazingly beautiful, were too abstract for what I wanted.  Morphyre is my favorite from the abstract bunch, although there are many good ones.

Other programs I found require some programming skills.  There are some videos using the processing language on youtube for example that are really good.  After seeing these I am motivated to learn that language.  I know nothing about these things, so I expect it will take a year or two before I can use processing to make videos. 

The program I used for this video is called simply Midivis.  It can be found here: http://www.horningabout.com/midivis/
There is no license that I could find, so I assume it is freeware.  I will be emailing the creator with a thanks and a link to my video after it is up.

This visualizer is similar to the MAM player, but has a 3d- rotational view.  Also it is more stable.  I was able to get a much better quality video out of this thing compared to the MAM player.  At this point it is a matter of fudging with frame rates and other technical details to get better quality.  Since I know almost nothing about such things, it is a process of trail and error.

I chose this chorale simply because I liked it.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I sight read through one or two of these every day.  While they are not all zingers, the best of them are quite beautiful.  This one in particular had a nice baroque feel to it.  I also wanted something fairly short to try out this new (to me) visualizer.  I saw no point in do a project that required 20 hours of work if the end result was not good.

Along the lines of trying out new things, I chose the monologue synth that came with Cubase 5.  I have so many instruments available to me that it is hard to choose one.  Between cubase stock and komplete 6, I have acess to literally thousands of sounds.  That is more than I will every likely use.  Monologue was prommising at first, but ended up being a big dud.  Nonetheless I pressed forward with it.  If I never use these things for projects, I will never know what I have at my disposal.  Also, I now know that if I want a particular sound, I should look elsewhere.

The main problem with monologue is instability.  Starting notes or notes after a pause were particularly bad but there were plenty of other annoyances.  The instrument first came with cubase sx2 according to sound on sound. It feels like it has been updated with the digital version of duct tape, whatever that is.  It barely limps along.  There are better quality mono synths that can be had for free, although they do not look as nice as this one.  The only reason I stuck with monologue was the sheer challenge of it.  Could I get a good sound from a bad instrument?  I think I got an o.k. sound but not great.  How will I ever learn anything if I only use great instruments like absynth?

video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOUrElPZ2hU