What MIDI instrument combinations sound good?

[MakeAMusic]

When you make MIDI music, do you ever have two or more instruments playing the same note? I think it could be a good way to make MIDI songs that sound different and unique, breaking away from the limitations of the same old instruments.

There's about 128 instruments in the default MIDI soundfont on Windows, 128 times 128 times 128 equals 2,097,152, so it could be a way to add some variety without using a different soundfont.

Do you think you would like to experiment with combining different instruments, and share them here? One important tip is that I thnk you should have one instrument have the biggest volume setting, and other instruments having a lower volume, because I remember that I found the instruments don't blend in as well otherwise.

Edit: I'm interested in making MIDI files offline, and a program I suggest for making MIDI files that way is MIDI Editor. http://midieditor.sourceforge.net/ But, you can talk about the instruments on Online Sequencer if you want.

[LucentTear]

A lot of people often combine different instruments in the same note and it's good if you want to post suggestions of combinations here.

However, even if there are 128 Windows soundfonts, there are only less than 17 that Online Sequencer actually translates to a MIDI export.

To keep the thread as relevant as possible, I recommend that you talk about instrument combinations with the instruments already on OS.
(Note that I say recommend, if you really want to talk about Windows soundfonts, sure, but not a whole lot of people will be using them.)


Some of my personal combinations I use are:

Electric Piano + Smooth Synth + Violin for stuff I want to make orchestral but too lazy to make separate parts.

Grand Piano + Smooth Synth for more ominous sequences.


Smooth Synth is toned down for both because it's there to make background noise.

[act55555]

Synth Pluck + Smooth Synth to add some 'edge' to the note.

But I think most non-wind instruments work well with Smooth Synth. Also, the new features delay and reverb add new combinations to the repertoire.

[NotAnAesthete]

Grand piano and electric piano overlapped create a sound similar to the Honky Tonk in the C4 octave range.

[Stuffy McStuffins]

Electric guitar and bass make for a pretty nice sound, likewise electric guitar and scifi

[Cupheadmixer]

Trombone and french horn

[Firebolt391d]

After some personal research, I have come to see a few different main ideas:

1.) The usage of multiple instruments depends on the song and situation that is required. Some combinations of OS  instruments may sound good in one song, but bad in another;
2.) The octave number/height on the "register" also plays a key role in many instrument combinations. For some instruments, if the key is too high, it does not seem to work well;
3.) Mainly, from my own research notes, it seems that more prominent and bold-sounding instruments (such as Smooth Synth, Scifi, and Bass) seem to go with other instruments better.

Here are some common instrument combinations (2 instruments only) that I found to be interesting...
-Acoustic Guitar/Electric Piano
-Smooth Synth/Electric Piano
-Smooth Synth/Electric Guitar
-Smooth Synth/Violin
-Smooth Synth/Cello
-Smooth Synth/Scifi
-Scifi/Electric Piano
-Scifi/Acoustic Guitar
-Scifi/Electric Guitar
-Scifi/Cello
-Synth Pluck/Epiano
-Smooth Synth/Acoustic Guitar
-Bass/Acoustic Guitar
-Bass/Electric Guitar
-Cello/Acoustic Guitar

-Trombone/FrenchHorn
-Violin/Cello

-8bit_Sine/8bit Sawtooth
-8bit Triangle/Acoustic Guitar
-8bit Triangle/Electric Guitar
-8bit SawTooth/Trombone
-8bit Triangle/8bit Sawtooth

A few of these, such as the Violin/Cello, created what almost sounded like a completely new sound altogether.
The rest of them mainly sounded just like the two sounds playing together, both of them mutually strengthening one another. Synth Pluck and Smooth Synth sounds oftentimes blend in such a way as to make an echo effect that continues even after it's companion's note has already died out.

I would encourage you to try around on your own though!
This list were some of my favorites - after combining  of all of the instruments and listening to each dual pair of instruments, these were my *personal* favorites!

This list also only includes 2 instruments paired together. I would also encourage you to test around with more than 2 instrument voices!
Good luck, and I hope this helps!

[Lopyt]

Try

Mbox + Ssynth

Slap Bass + Jguitar

Slap bass in high octaves

Jguitar + Mguitar

Triangle with an octave and a perfect fifth.

Really low Koto with Dguitar

Low Sitar.





That's all for now!

[Lopyt]

Try

Mbox + Ssynth

Slap Bass + Jguitar

Slap bass in high octaves

Jguitar + Mguitar

Triangle with an octave and a perfect fifth.

Really low Koto with Dguitar

Low Sitar.





That's all for now!

Also, ##937984 might inspire some...

[Frank]

"Combinatorial Explosion is the essence of creativity."
-Frank