How do you convert a midi file to a guitar sound?

Question

I have made some guitar transcriptions that I would like to sell online. Guitar Pro 5 allows me to export the score to MIDI. I would just like to know what a good way is to get a guitar sound from that MIDI file?

Basically, a synth but instead of turning the midi japanese and making robot sounds just a reasonable guitar tone.

It does not need to be concert quality. Just a reasonable demonstration of how the score sounds.

If you have audio samples of your scores then it helps with the sales.

Musescore allows you to export the score to a decent piano sound. I just want to do it for guitar.

I know this is not going to be as good as someone playing it. Im just interested in a reasonable facsimile of the score.

I know this isn't what you want, so I'm just posting it as a comment: The best way to get a guitar sound from your transcription is to record a guitarist playing from your transcription. — Theodore, Mar 07 '23 at 15:34
A midi part from a score will just never sound like a guitarist. It takes at least as much skill to put down a good midi guitar part as it does to transcribe one. You don't get a free ride in either direction, sorry ;) — Tetsujin, Mar 07 '23 at 15:55
Please clarify. Is this a question about the process of getting from .midi to .wav, or do you not like the current output and want to improve the "sound"? — Andy Bonner, Mar 07 '23 at 16:32
If it's the "how to", then: MIDI is like sheet music, in a way: it's a set of instructions. You need these to be "played" by a virtual instrument. There are as many of these as there are real ones. You'll probably want to involve a DAW. — Andy Bonner, Mar 07 '23 at 16:34
Virtual instrument is that what I should be googling. I just basically want a synth that converts midi to a guitar tone. Im fine with it not being concert quality. It is just suppose to illustrate how a score sounds on a sheet music shop. — Neil Meyer, Mar 07 '23 at 17:16
Perhaps related: https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/126341/daw-sounds-and-sound-quality/126344#126344 — user1079505, Mar 07 '23 at 17:33
Does this answer your question? Can software render music as well as a skilled human with a physical instrument and a microphone? — user1079505, Mar 07 '23 at 18:04

Biscuit Taylor · Accepted Answer · 2023-03-07T18:14:47.637

You can Change Instrument to guitar in your MuseScore file. (You can choose from Electric, Acoustic, or Classical.) Then playback will use the guitar sound, and if you export to .mp3 (or whatever) your exported sound file will also use MuseScore's guitar sound. It may not be the greatest guitar sound, but at least it won't be piano.

Or, if you export to a MIDI file, that MIDI file will now use the default patch number for the guitar that you selected. MuseScore uses patch #31 ("Distortion Guitar", in General Midi) for Electric Guitar. If you then play back the MIDI file on a MIDI instrument (optionally changing the patch # to your guitar sound of choice), you can record the output of that as your sound file.

I assume that Guitar Pro will also declare the proper MIDI patch for a track's selected "Sounds" when you export MIDI from there.

Exactly. Just for the OP, you still may need to adjust some MIDI notes. MIDI is a standard data format, but interpretation is flexible. — MS-SPO, Mar 08 '23 at 06:46

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 07 '23 at 20:53

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You can attain a sound closer to the real instruments by using VSTs, and some basic knowledge of DAW you use. There are various VST plugins available, free and paid, that offer realistic guitar tones and techniques. From the top of my head, there's a Lite version of Ample guitar vst. It takes midi input and depending on the plugin library, it can emulate different techniques, even play different nuances based on the sheet music markings.

However, as close as they can get, vsts can never sound like the real deal. But you can use them as mockups.

answered Mar 07 '23 at 20:53

Shapetable

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My favourite guitar VST so far is the one in EastWest's Gypsy library (part of Composer Cloud Subscription or standalone purchase). Example 1, Example 2, both with my having very very little skill in midi editing & customization — just recorded from a keyboard with that sound active and exported. Probably more than good enough for OP's purposes. – Luke Sawczak Mar 08 '23 at 00:21

How do you convert a midi file to a guitar sound?

2 Answers2