Now i have OPENMPT what next?

The Ace · January 11, 2008, 18:33:24

I've been checking out softwares used for music production until i met OpenMpt music tracker and i'll say i love it. but what next? when i make these beats/instrumentals how can i miz it with the voicing? how do i go about adding voice to my beats? urgent suggestions please

Relabsoluness · January 11, 2008, 21:15:27

I'm not sure what you mean by "adding voice to my beats", but in any case using a 'voice sample' sounds like a solution.

LPChip · January 11, 2008, 22:10:14

There are several ways to archieve this.

You can add it inside your song or add it in a later stage using other software.

If you're going for the first one, you need to record your vocals to one or more wav files. You can then load them in the song as samples, and enter a C-4 or C-5 to play that vocal in your track.

To have the best programability, use short clips aka chop your vocals in alot of pieces. That way you can use fancy effects with more precision. (like retrigger, loop points to hold voice, etc)

bvanoudtshoorn · January 12, 2008, 01:39:51

For the later stage, you can write your track, export it to a wave file, and then, using something like Audacity, CoolEdit, or whatever, put your vocal track on top of it. But as LPChip says, using samples inside the track is best.

The Ace · January 12, 2008, 08:06:24

Quote from: "LPChip"There are several ways to archieve this.

You can add it inside your song or add it in a later stage using other software.

If you're going for the first one, you need to record your vocals to one or more wav files. You can then load them in the song as samples, and enter a C-4 or C-5 to play that vocal in your track.

To have the best programability, use short clips aka chop your vocals in alot of pieces. That way you can use fancy effects with more precision. (like retrigger, loop points to hold voice, etc)

wow thanks for the prompt reply. is there a manual for me to learn this practically?

The Ace · January 12, 2008, 08:19:24

@LpChip
and another thing, my system requirements are 795 MHz,224mb of RAM VIA Samuel 2,40 gig Hard drive. whats upgrades applies to my p.c so i can be able to record voice,mix and use Open MPT effectively?

maleek · January 12, 2008, 11:21:09

Your setup is a little old by todays standards, but is fine depending on how you plan on using OMPT. More channels, samples, and virtual instruments and effects you use (vst:s and vsti:s) on your track the more it is going to demand from your computer. But I would say that more RAM is always a good investment. A good sound card and a good microphone might also be a good buy.

Sam_Zen · January 13, 2008, 03:07:34

2 The Ace
I still run a system on 650 MHz with 256 MB RAM. It's a matter of realizing the restrictions.
If I try to run a car in 2nd gear at 100 km/hour for 15 minutes, I shouldn't be surprised that the engine breaks down.
So make the compo as tight as possible. No 16 channels, while only 11 are used. Optimize the memory-buffer size in the options.
Cut the maximum number of parallel channels to be mixed in the winblows soundcard setting.
As an experiment, I once used a complete song in WAV-format of 3:20 and imported it as a single sample. No problem.
But I have to admit, as maleek states, VST plugins are a problem. Due to the demands on CPU-power.

LPChip · January 13, 2008, 10:58:40

There is a manual: http://openmpt.xwiki.com/xwiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome

But it doesn't cover how to record wav files, because thats not a functionality of OpenMPT. It only tells you how to load a sample.

Basically you record your wav file using another program. Once recorded you save it for backup purpose. Then you trim the sample to a small fragment. (it will take some experimentation to know how small, so make one section, save it, and skip to loading them in OpenMPT to see if its okay).

You then save the trimmed sample to a .wav file.

Then you reload your backupped long wav file, and trim the next section, etc, till the entire wav file has been trimmed in several sections and you have the small wav files. (example: singing1.wav singing2.wav...)

Loading them in OpenMPT
In your song, add a new sample. If it asks to create an associate instrument, say yes. Open one of the wave files you've made earlier. You can now play it using C-5 and it should sound right. Depending if you also have an instrument you can either use the sample or instrument's number to place a note in the pattern editor.

Example: if you have sample 41 and instrument 16, then you place a C-5 16 in your pattern. If you only have samples, then C-5 41.

Play your pattern to see if it fits, and if you can work with the sample.

You could theoretical work with only one sample that has the entire vocals in it, but the chance that you'll get timing issues gets bigger and trust me, that is a real pain in the neck you'd rather avoid.

Really Weird Person · February 10, 2008, 00:03:59

So, you would like to add voices to Modplug Tracker, eh? That is interesting because that is just what I did with some of my songs (and no, LPChip, they were not Daisy's, though I have thought of doing that)!

Louigi Verona · February 13, 2008, 11:28:14

Quote from: "bvanoudtshoorn"For the later stage, you can write your track, export it to a wave file, and then, using something like Audacity, CoolEdit, or whatever, put your vocal track on top of it. But as LPChip says, using samples inside the track is best.

Using vocal samples inside a tracker is probably one of the worst song recording solutions ever created by mankind. It was the only way to go in the tracking scene, but nowadays just render your tune to a wav and use a sound editor to just sing over and mix.

Sam_Zen · February 14, 2008, 00:27:07

I see your point, Louigi, but isn't that more due to the very cliché-like use of vocal samples in general?

LPChip is right, a complete vocal track can be imported as an instrument too with indeed tricky speed-consequences.
But it's possible, and the first thing is how to get the track synced at the start with the rest of the song.
This can be achieved with a wav-editor.

Save the instrumental tracker as a dummy-wav, probably mono, and open it in the editor.
Sing the vocal part with it and save the vocals in a seperate wav-file.
If it's done correctly, this file will have in bytes the exact length of the tune.
Import this file as a new instrument in OMPT. After that, it's not possible anymore to change the playback speed of the tune.

If a vocal sample is shorter, for example one line of text, tracking offers options to play with that.
(A complete song text is something else, but I consider a vocal sample not as different from any other instrument)
First of all, the line can be cut off with a silence at a certain point, so a line with six words can be stopped after the third.
The same can be done with the starting point. There are codes to set an 'offset' where the sample should start.
So one can also skip the first 3 words and start the sound with the fourth. I admit that this demands some trying out tuning.

bvanoudtshoorn · February 14, 2008, 01:56:05

When I do tracks with vocals in them in OpenMPT, I tend to break up the vocals into single-line samples, and then use an external sampler to play them. There are a couple of reasons for this:

With an external sampler, I can change the playback speed, and the sample speed will change appropriately (without altering pitch. Needless to say, this can only really be used in small amounts, or it becomes too noticeable.
By splitting the vocals into single lines, they generally fit into one pattern blocks, meaning that I can play with how the vocals and instruments interact in that pattern, without having to listen to everything preceding it.