Polyphonic Audio to Midi Transformers Guide for Songwriters

I mentioned in the article "Resources for Songwriters" that I would try out some polyphonic audio to midi transformers and share my findings. I have tried each of these personally. These are my findings.

WIDI Recognition System Professional WIDI Recognition System Professional is polyphonic. When you open up WIDI, the WIDI Wizard will open. I would use this every time. It will have a list of options including transcribe a prerecorded composition, record a composition then transcribe it, Real-Time Recognition, Show the Quick Start Guide, and Close the Wizard. Most bands and musicians would probably want to select real-time recognition. I tried the real-time recognition, and it didn't record me. I also tried recording a composition then transcribing it, and it didn't record me then either. This may be because I'm using the trial version.

Next select an audio file. Then select a recognition preset. This is important! Click on the little arrow and select "rich harmony" if the audio file plays more than one note at a time. It will give you a set of keys to choose from. Click on one of the keys. Select it. Then close the box using the close button.

You will see a grey box with a blue square in the middle with a keyboard next to it. Beneath that is the score. At the top, there will be a line that says file, edit, tool, selection, play, and more. Click play. Click play all on the drop down menu to find out if the midi is accurate.

I was surprised at how accurate that the midi on this program actually was. This program does not discern among different instruments, but it does a good job of recognizing the pitches of the notes of the different instruments. I used three different sources with vocals ranging from deep bass to tenor to soprano. All of which had very complex professional harmonies. The score (midi) was quite accurate. It was also pretty easy to figure out and use. The retail price is $229. I give this program an B.
http://www.widisoft.com/english/products.htmlhttp://www.widisoft.com/english/download.html

WIDI Recognition System Standard WIDI Recognition System Standard is also polyphonic. The wizard works the same way that pro does, however, you don't have the notes and score as a result of converting it into a midi. You would have to have another program to do that. The conversion was pretty accurate, however, so when you load the midi into another program to create a score, the score would be pretty accurate because the midi was pretty accurate. A good program to use it with would be Anvil Studios or Melody Assistant. The retail price of the software is $99. I give this program a B-. http://www.widisoft.com/english/products.htmlhttp://www.widisoft.com/english/download.html

Intelliscore Ensemble I downloaded the trial version of Intelliscore Ensemble. The trial version will only record 15 seconds, but the full version does full audio. It does polyphonic live recognition, which means that you can sing into a mic and it automatically turns it into a midi file. However, the midi file was not really accurate. You would have to do a lot of editing, and you would have to figure out what the notes were supposed to be. I would only give this program a C-.
http://www.intelliscore.net/

Tall Stick Sound Project TS Audio to Midi Converter is fairly accurate and polyphonic. It recognized most of the notes, with a couple exceptions. The ones that it did not recognize were not in the midi version. They were omitted. There were only a few notes that were omitted, and the ones that were recognized were pitched accurately. There is no score creator in the Converter itself, but Tall Stick has a notation editor that works with this program. I couldn't try it out because the trial version will not save as a midi.

It will do everything else, however, and it does record a wave file that you can convert to midi. It also records to midi in real time.

It is not easy to figure out. It took me a little while.

Here are some tips in case you want to use it.

The little black box with the green and yellow waves in the top left hand corner is where you click to open a wave file.

The red dot that is just below and to the right of the black box is where you click to record a wave file. This button does not record a midi in real time, but if you want a wave file, it would be a good place to start recording. In other words, if you want to be able to put the song onto a cd, this is where you would want to start.

Once you have a wav file, you will see several options.

One is a disc looking black box. That will save a wav file.

The second is an arrow pointing right. That will play a wav file.

The two arrows play both the wav and midi files together. This helps to compare the midi file's accuracy against the wav file.

Next, there is a round circle with a blue border. Click that circle to convert a wav file to a midi.

There are two rectangular boxes stacked on top of each other. One says "Wave In" and the other says "Midi Out". Then there is an arrow pointing right above the words "Auto Tune". Click on that arrow for "Wave In". In the black box, a bunch of lines will appear that make the shape of a wave. The arrow will turn green and be surrounded by a black box.

When the arrow turns green, two red dots will appear at the bottom inside a rectangle. One is for record and the other is auto record. These will record a midi in real time.

When you sing or play into the mic, you will hear a piano note for each note you sing and play. Very subtle differences will be detected, but it doesn't make it sound like you are off key unless you are really off key. If it is an inflection in your voice, it will sound like the piano is doing a tremolo. The effect actually sounds really nice.

Also be careful about moving your microphone. Noises that are not near your mic will not be picked up, but noises caused by your mic will be picked up easily.

The black arrow pointing right inside the rectangle at the bottom is for playing the midi.

The two black arrows rewind the midi, but they are slow. You can also rewind the midi by pulling back on the house shaped button at the right bottom. It is inside a rectangle with a bunch of lines kind of like a ruler would have.

There are four lines with a grey box in between them. One says threshold. One says noise gate. One says selectivity, and the other one says sharpness. The default settings for sharpness and selectivity seemed just right. However, pulling the button on the "threshold" downward until it was just barely above as low as it could go gave a much better sound and detected a lot more notes.

I also found that using the acoustic grand piano as the instrument gave it more accuracy regardless of the song range. Still, I recommend that if you use this program, you play around with the threshold and the midi instruments to see what works best for your music.

Even though this program does not have a built in notation editor, I had a good time playing around with it. Once I got it figured out, I found the quality of the midi's to be good. The cost of this program is extremely reasonable at just $34.99. I give this program a definite A-.
http://audioto.com/

7 Canaries is another polyphonic converter from Tall Stick. I tried it out. The standard version has excellent accuracy both during real-time recognition and while converting an audio file to a midi. It does not have a notation editor, but if you have Anvil Studios, Melody Assistant, or something like that, you shouldn't need one. It is easy to figure out. I figured it out in a matter of minutes without reading the directions. It is only $25.00 to purchase the full version. I give this program an A+.
http://www.audioto.com/eng/7canaries.htm
http://www.audioto.com/eng/download.htm

7 Canaries professional version has a note editor in the form of a piano roll. It does not show the staff and notes. If you feel that you need the editor, this is a great program. However, you would still need to have Anvil Studios, Melody Assistant, or something like that to create the sheet music. Personally, the full standard version would be good enough for me. The cost of 7 Canaries Professional is $44.99. I give this program an A-.
http://www.audioto.com/eng/register.htm

T-Rox Studio is a definite no from me. I downloaded the software onto my computer for a trial. You have to register for a trial, but that's okay. The problem comes when you are trying to go through the manual, which is a definite must. The link to the manual was not valid, so I would have to hunt down the manual just to figure out basic functions.

The one that I will probably use myself will be 7 Canaries Standard. That is also the one that I recommend for anyone, whether they are a band, individual songwriter, or whatever, because of it's versatility, accuracy, and price. I recommend that you download the trials and play around with them first.

Here are the links to Anvil Studios and Melody Assistant as well.

Melody Assistant
http://www.myriad-online.com/en/products/melody.htm

Anvil Studios
http://www.anvilstudio.com/