Music producer guide

• Create music for Musician
  • General MIDI support
  • Limitations
  • Use Musician's instruments in music software
  • Play MIDI on Windows using Musician's instruments
• Play live
• Available instruments
  • Melodic instruments
  • Percussions

Create music for Musician

You can compose your own music for Musician using any MIDI software / hardware able to produce a standard MIDI file.

General MIDI support

• All notes from C0 (12) to C8 (108) will play (others are just ignored).
• General MIDI instruments that are not implemented in the add-on (see the list below) will be substituted by another one. For example, the lute substitutes to guitars etc. Check Musician.MidiMapping.lua to learn more.
• Tracks with program (instrument) change events will be splitted into one separate track per instrument.
• The sustain pedal control change is supported.

Limitations

There are some limitations to take into account :

• Max note duration is approx 5 seconds. Longer notes will repeat.
• All notes play at the same volume level, regardless to the velocity, panning and channel volume information.
• The polyphony is very limited, avoid playing more than 12 notes simultaneously.
• No pitch bend. Pitch control changes will be converted into slided "autotuned" notes by the add-on.

Use Musician's instruments in music software

All Musician instruments consist in OGG files, with one file per note. Each instrument has a soundfont version in SFZ format, located under Musician's soundfonts folder that you can use in your music production software.

SFZ soundfonts can be played using the free Sforzando VST plugin. Just drag and drop the .sfz file of the instrument you want to play into Sforzando and you're ready to go.

Don't move or copy the .sfz files out of the add-on's soundfonts folder because they directly point to the .ogg files located in the instruments folder.

Play MIDI on Windows using Musician's instruments

VirtualMIDISynth is a software MIDI synthesizer implemented as a Windows multimedia user driver, accessible as a standard MIDI Out device. It can be used by any MIDI software such as Windows Media Player and MidiEditor in place of the standard Windows MIDI Mapper.

1. Install VirtualMIDISynth. Make sure you have at least version 2.10.2.
2. Launch VirtualMIDISynth.
3. Under the Soundfonts tab, click the Import soundfonts list from file button then select the Musician_GM_soundfonts.vmssf file located inside the soundfonts folder of the add-on.
   
4. Click Apply (saving will take some time).
5. Under the MIDI Mapper tab, you can now change the Default MIDI Out device and Windows Media Player default device to VirtualMIDISynth #1.

You may also need to explicitly select VirtualMIDISynth #1 as MIDI Out device in your MIDI software.

If you have installed a plugin to provide additional instruments such as MusicianExtended and wish to use them in VirtualMIDISynth, you will have to use the .vmssf file included in the add-on's soundfonts folder.

Don't copy/move the .sfz/.ogg files out of the add-on folders. Always use the original files within the add-on since those can have updates in the future.

Keep in mind that even if your music sounds very close to as it would do in-game, some of the limitations do not apply with VirtualMIDISynth and should be taken in consideration while composing your MIDI sequence.

Play live

You can play live using your computer keyboard like a piano. However, it's not the most convenient way to play.

If you own a MIDI keyboard, you can use it to play live. Check out the Musician MIDI add-on to learn how to achieve this.

Available instruments

In this document, MIDI programs are indexed from 0 to 127.

Melodic instruments

• Lute (24 Acoustic nylon guitar) - Renaissance lute. Plays nice for medieval songs but also for classical guitar pieces.
• Recorder (74 Recorder) - Set of 4 renaissance recorders: bass, tenor, alto and soprano.
• Celtic harp (46 Orchestral Harp)
• Piano (0 Grand Piano)
• Hammered dulcimer (15 Dulcimer) - Ancestor of the piano.
• Bagpipe (109 Bagpipe)
• Accordion (21 Accordion)
• Fiddle (110 Fiddle) - Cheap 19^th century violin bought in the street. Sounds closer to a street musician / tavern instrument than a concert one.
• Viola da gamba (42 Cello) - The Viola da gamba is an ancient cello from the Renaissance era. The sound is more resonant but lacks vibrato due to the presence of frets on the neck of the instrument.
• Female voice (53 Voice Oohs) - Very soft and breathy voice. Great for traditional and pop songs.
• Male voice (52 Choir Aahs) - Medieval tenor voice, made for Gregorian chant and opera but suits for pop songs as well. High-pitched notes sound like a kid's voice while the low-pitched ones would suit well for a large creature such as an orc or a tauren.
• Trumpet (56 Trumpet)
• Sackbut (57 Trombone) - Ancient trombone from the Renaissance era.
• War horn (60 French horn) - The actual instrument is a shofar, an ancient middle-eastern instrument typically made of a ram's horn.
• Clarinet (71 Clarinet)
• Bassoon (70 Bassoon)
• Metal guitar (29 Overdriven Guitar)
• Clean Guitar (27 Electric Guitar Clean)
• Bass guitar (33 Electric Fingered Bass)

Percussions

• Traditional "bardcore" percussion set (0 Standard kit / Acoustic Grand Piano on MIDI channel 10) - Collection of traditional percussions including frame drums (bodhrán), tambourines (riq), shakers, djembe etc. Check the key mapping here.
• Standard drum set (16 Power kit / Drawbar Organ on MIDI channel 10) - The typical General MIDI standard drum kit. Suitable for pop and heavy metal songs.
• War drums (47 Timpani) - Single octave frame drum (bodhrán). Notes are repeated among octaves.
• Woodblock (115 Woodblock)
• Tambourine shake (119 Reverse Cymbal)