Which DAW for recording alongside GuitarPro drum track?

[jpc]

Hello there,

I have a question for those of you who use DAWs frequently and know their (un)hidden features

With Covid-19 my band is not doing rehearsals at the moment but we want to write songs by exchanging instrument tracks. Our drummer puts all his tracks down in GuitarPro (.gp), which can be exported to Audio (.wav) and used in a DAW, where I record my bass track to it. Same with the guitar players. Because they use lots of weird time signatures I sometimes want to see the guitar track alongside the drum track, to see where the guitar is changing and if I'm on point. (It's good for practicing phrases as well.) But this is hard to tell for me from the audio tracks alone, so I'd like to see the guitar track as audio and the the drum track like in GuitarPro with timings, notes etc. (see attachment).

So my question is: Are there any DAWs for Windows 10 PC where I can import GuitarPro files (drum track) and play and record alongside?

Thank you for your time.

 

[jpc]

No replies...?

I tried Cubase Pro 10.5 and Pro Tools 12.5 but found no way to import GuitarPro files. A friend told me Logic could do it but that is no option for Windows.

Someone knows a DAW for PC?

 

[DirtDog]

No replies...?

I tried Cubase Pro 10.5 and Pro Tools 12.5 but found no way to import GuitarPro files. A friend told me Logic could do it but that is no option for Windows.

Someone knows a DAW for PC?

I'm thinking the .gp is a proprietary format that no DAW could import natively. Can confirm that Logic does not read .gp file natively (well, I tried a .gp3 file).

Can GP can export MIDI files (*.mid)?

If so, that's your best bet.

A MIDI file should be importable into any DAW with MIDI capabilities (not all DAWs are, but most are).

I know I could do that with Logic ... not sure what's out there for Windows that would have similar functionality. Just tested it on Ardour and Audacity (on Mac) and it works.

Reading the key/signature/tempo and displaying it as a score might be a challenge - depending on what DAW you the MIDI file import into.

 

[jpc]

I'm thinking the .gp is a proprietary format that no DAW could import natively. Can confirm that Logic does not read .gp file natively (well, I tried a .gp3 file).

Can GP can export MIDI files (*.mid)?

If so, that's your best bet.

A MIDI file should be importable into any DAW with MIDI capabilities (not all DAWs are, but most are).

I know I could do that with Logic ... not sure what's out there for Windows that would have similar functionality. Just tested it on Ardour and Audacity (on Mac) and it works.

Reading the key/signature/tempo and displaying it as a score might be a challenge - depending on what DAW you the MIDI file import into.

Thanks DirtDog for your input.

I wonder with todays massive market for plugins and add-ons that there should be no converter or similar tool to get the .gp files into a DAW. I can't be the only one trying to do this?

Funny enough the mentioned friend told me he could import it in Logic. I have to ask him if he is doing this via MIDI. Then I will probably try this in Cubase.

 

[DirtDog]

Thanks DirtDog for your input.

I wonder with todays massive market for plugins and add-ons that there should be no converter or similar tool to get the .gp files into a DAW. I can't be the only one trying to do this?

Funny enough the mentioned friend told me he could import it in Logic. I have to ask him if he is doing this via MIDI. Then I will probably try this in Cubase.

No problem. Not surprising that .gp* would be proprietary - these things are usually developed to the specs of the native app, not for translation. That’s where more universal “standards” like MIDI come in. It’s in the best interests of a developer to incorporate a third party format than it is to open their format to the world. Happens all over the place, which is why there’s all sorts of “exchange” formats.

I bet you dollars to donuts that your buddy is using MIDI or some other third party “standard” to pull this stuff into Logic. No capability to read/import .gp* files in Logic that I could see.

 

[ghorvers]

You can export tracks as midi from Guitar Pro and then import it into a daw.

 

[Low Commotion]

@DirtDog hit the nail on the head. Export your GuitarPro song to midi. I’ve done it and it works fine. If you have a multitrack GP song, you can even adjust the levels before you export. So whatever you have your levels set to in GP, is how the file gets exported to midi. Even how you pan the instrument.

 

[jpc]

No problem. Not surprising that .gp* would be proprietary - these things are usually developed to the specs of the native app, not for translation. That’s where more universal “standards” like MIDI come in. It’s in the best interests of a developer to incorporate a third party format than it is to open their format to the world. Happens all over the place, which is why there’s all sorts of “exchange” formats.

I bet you dollars to donuts that your buddy is using MIDI or some other third party “standard” to pull this stuff into Logic. No capability to read/import .gp* files in Logic that I could see.

Well, you were right. He imports the drums as Midi and then switches the view to see the notes. In the meantime I found something similar in Cubase and Studio One. I guess I will get to what I want there if I dig a little deeper
Thanks for all your input guys.

 

[seamonkey]

Maybe GuitarPro can export musicXML?

Studio One has some "Notion" builtin but you can also buy the full Notion version.
It supports musicXML.
You'd be able to see the notation and it will track along with the tracks.

 

[jpc]

Maybe GuitarPro can export musicXML?

Studio One has some "Notion" builtin but you can also buy the full Notion version.
It supports musicXML.
You'd be able to see the notation and it will track along with the tracks.

That sounds promising, thanks. I will look into this.

 

[jpc]

Maybe GuitarPro can export musicXML?

Studio One has some "Notion" builtin but you can also buy the full Notion version.
It supports musicXML.
You'd be able to see the notation and it will track along with the tracks.

It turned out, using MusicXML is better then plain MIDI. It preserves the notation way better. I tried Cubase 10.5. and Reaper and both can utilize the format. Studio One couldn't (or I couldn't find it) and with Notion I couldn't display it side by side with my bass guitar audio files. So now I have to decide if I'm going on to use Cubase or Reaper