Where are the digital, musical notes?

August 19, 2009 11:36 AM

Where can I find clear, accurate, small sound files of different musical notes. I don't mind if they're on a piano or a guitar or anything else. But I need a separate recording of each note through one octave, around about middle-C would be ideal but not necessary. (i.e. 12 files, each with a different note on them: A natural, A sharp, B natural etc.)

Just for completeness sake: I don't mind paying a fee for these files if necessary.

posted by HopStopDon'tShop to media & arts (12 comments total)

I'm assuming you don't have an instrument with which to record these yourself...so I suggest just using garage band and the little on-screen keyboard dealy. I also bet some simple google searching will give you lots of options, especially if you look for some early childhood music education type resources.
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:47 AM on August 19

Sample libraries are exactly this. usually, they include additional metadata, but many of them include plain wavs, very carefully recorded, of an instrument through its range at different volumes. people use them to load up their samplers and imitate instruments. this is the kind of thing I'm talking about, but I bet if you google around you can find a decent free one, especially if you all care about is AIFF/WAV format
posted by jeb at 11:56 AM on August 19

I have an instrument but no way to record it properly so it's nice and clean and clear and accurate (in terms of pitch).

And I don't have Garage Band either I'm afraid. Nor has Google yielded what I'm looking for (lots of songs etc and even some harmonies, but no individual notes); I'm sure it's partially due to my lack of googling skills which is why I've ended up here.
posted by HopStopDon'tShop at 11:57 AM on August 19

Did you try the piano zip on this page?
posted by jeb at 12:00 PM on August 19

Or the original source website looks right up your alley.
posted by jeb at 12:02 PM on August 19 [1 favorite]

Here's the entire piano sound library for free.
posted by bach at 12:03 PM on August 19

Jeb beat me to it by one minute. :(
posted by bach at 12:04 PM on August 19

Seventh String's Tuning Fork is very useful - just click on the keyboard. It's flash-based, but you can probably pull the live audio somehow into whatever audio-capturing software you use. (I use Audacity on a PC, which has an option to record whatever sound is coming out of your computer. Audacity on a Mac doesn't seem to be able to do this though.)
posted by not_on_display at 12:15 PM on August 19

Jeb, Bach: thanks so much for your help, you found exactly what I was looking for. And now I know the term sample library too!
posted by HopStopDon'tShop at 12:17 PM on August 19

If you have accesss to a Mac you can always purloin the sounds in /Library/Application Support/GarageBand/Instrument Library/Sampler/Sampler Files. . .
posted by @troy at 4:28 PM on August 19

thanks @troy - I don't have a Mac but that's helpful, clear advice, much appreciated.
posted by HopStopDon'tShop at 11:24 AM on August 20

Try this:

http://theremin.music.uiowa.edu/MIS.html

Chromatic samples of woodwinds, brass, strings, and piano. Really high-quality recordings, too.
posted by rubadub at 10:57 AM on August 21