I’m curious as to how you use a MIDI to create sheet music. This is a concept of which I have never heard before you mentioned it.
2 Likes
Hi @Vik ! Hope all is well!
I still stand by this, also.
Transcribe stuff! Any stuff! All stuff!
If you can’t hear into the specifics of bass lines yet, just do melodies - do simple bass lines - simplify bass lines. Whatever.
TV themes.
Nursery rhymes.
Folk songs.
What. Ever.
It’s like exercising. There’s not a way around it, and if you want to get your ears and musicianship in shape, you just have to start and not stop.
5 Likes
I find learning to transcribe similar to actually learning to play a song.
Start slow and work up to speed.
Some may ridicule transcribing simple things like nursery rhymes to start with but I’ll bet these are the same people that are still struggling with finding notes on the fretboard or knowing basic music theory 
I am glad to hear I am following the correct route according to the sensei @Gio
4 Likes
Basicly the same as using your pc keyboard and/or mouse, as a input device.
Most noatation software also have a software piano-keyboard to be used with your mouse or pc keyboard.
3 Likes
The Midi controller DOES NOT create the sheet music. It just enables you to more easily enter the notes into the software you are using.
Of course the Midi controller has other useful functions when it comes to editing in a DAW and adding virtual instruments. I have not gotten into recording yet but will in the upcoming months and have no idea, yet, how the Midi controller will work within the DAW.
But, small steps first so initially I will be using it with the notation software to enter the notes and create sheet music.
3 Likes
Lol, the most time consuming part of transcribing is IDENTIFYING the tone. The easy part is dragging and dropping the note onto the stave.
I must be missing something here, because I can’t see how a MIDI device could be helpful.
3 Likes
Just keep on learning, that’s what I do. 
2 Likes
Using Midi comes after you have identified the note, while transcribing, and just simplifies entering the note into the notation software. That’s all - no more, no less.
I did not buy the midi controller for just that purpose though, and can see that it may be a great advantage inside a DAW but that is down the road a few months. I am not sure what advantages it may have inside the DAW at this point, and maybe it will just be another boondoggle but the worse that can happen if it does not work out is I will only be out $100.
I am surprised you do not already have a midi controller.
2 Likes
Thanks for the encouragement, I appreciate it.
3 Likes
I was surprised when i was listening to one of Scott’s SBL videos on YT where he was talking about learning songs by ear and he said something about how you can transcribe songs without having to write them down… but that’s exactly what Transcribe means; Trans - across and Scribe - to write. It can also mean arranging music for a different instrument so you could transcribe a piece from piano to guitar or voice to piano.
I like Guitar Pro for transcribing, i can listen to it as i go to make sure that what i have written sounds like what i want and i can also export it from there to midi to import into Reaper/plugins.
3 Likes
Ya it also means learning by ear. Makes no sense
2 Likes
Because the MIDI controller is how you play the software synthesizer you are using to help identify the notes and intervals.
At least that’s how I would use it. Faster and easier to visualize than on a stringed instrument, anyway.
MIDI controllers are how you play virtual instruments. Virtual instruments are one of the most interesting reasons to own a DAW at all. And they are useful for stuff like this - having a piano around at any time, it turns out, is pretty useful 
3 Likes
I was actually questioning the purpose of using a MIDI to enter the notes into the composition software, when it’s just as easy to drag and drop the notes onto the stave.
Anyway, I just use the piano for identifying the tones. The desk and computer that I use for transcribing is nowhere near where my DAI is anyway, even if I wanted to use a MIDI.
I’m good with the piano for transcribing; it’s worked for me thus far and I see no need to change it up. But I realize how much you like MIDI, so I can understand your preference for that.
4 Likes
Not everyone has a physical piano. With the MIDI controller and software synths, I have several dozen pianos 
3 Likes
I don’t have a physical piano either, but I have a virtual one on my pc and it does the trick All I use it for is transcribing, so I don’t need anything fancy.
3 Likes
Ahh, cool. So what the MIDI controller would give you is physical keys to play the software piano with.
1 Like
I have my computer keyboard 
Are you talking about a physical piano keyboard that plugs into the PC? If so, I wouldn’t mind having one of those.
@PamPurrs … back to the music store!
2 Likes
LOL I thought you were talking about one of those plugins that you talk about all the time. I don’t even have a MIDI port on any of my laptops, so I don’t even know if I could use that. I was thinking there might be one with a USB connection (shrug).
I still don’t know how you would use this to automatically enter a note into the composition software. That’s really how this whole conversation started.