Rudimentary Beginnings

[Etude7]

Hello, and pardon me for being so ignorant. I want to write a soundtrack for a short dance performance, perhaps about 15 minutes in length. I think I want to use East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Gold. I am trained as a classical pianist. Tell me, suppose I were to buy this software package and install it on my computer. Then what? What does one do with this software? How does it work? How do you compose with it? Are there any instruction books or DVD tutorials that explain how to use it? Is any other equpiment necessary? The most basic elemental starting points. Thank you for your patience.

Michael

[chest]

Putting together music on a computer can be: (a) about using the computer like a (multi-track) tape recorder; (b) about using a program that stores the "score" and "performance" details and which feeds these details into hardware or software that creates the sound (eg EWQL Gold); or (c) a combination of those two approaches - for instance, you might merge an orchestral sound from EWQL Gold with an audio recording of a singer. I suppose, in principle, you could also make live audio recordings using a "virtual instrument" like EWQL Gold, and overdub various instrumental sounds as audio recordings, but I think that would be rather unusual.

Fifteen+ years ago, when computers were "seven-stone weaklings" (like the Atari ST), the computer stored only the notes (ie A, B-flat, etc) and wasn't directly involved with the actual sounds: the latter were made by hardware devices, with a cable going from the computer to the devices, to say which notes to play. That can still be done, but mostly, the hardware devices are now replaced by software that makes the sounds, although the same separation - one entitiy for storing/editing note data, and another for making the sounds - is preserved (though sometimes the distinction might be blurred).

There are two options for the software that deals with storing/editing note data: one type that's based around writing conventional scores - eg Sibelius, Finale and Notion - and another type - eg Cubase, Logic and Reaper - that's more suitable for the recording of performances or for making "mock-ups" from the note data, by adding expression, varying the tempo, and "tweaking" to humanise the playback. Scoring software can play back scores but they're aimed more at outputting a good-looking score and instrumental parts, and, sometimes their playback can sound rather mechanical - which, of course, might not matter, if it's just for checking the score. Amongst the other type (variously called "sequencer" or "DAW" (Digital Audio Workstation)) some can deal with scores, but they're aimed more at getting a good playback of the music. My understanding is that the Notion scoring program is meant to lie somewhere comfortably in between the extremes of score-orientation and performance orientation.

Some composers work entirely in Sibelius. Some work entirely in a Cubase. Some compose in Sibelius and then either transfer the notes to Cubase for further work or start again in Cubase by playing (into Cubase) the instrumental lines worked out in Sibelius, because that can sound more like a performance.

Making a believable "mock-up" from a score, or even from overdubbed live playing, can take many hours -- probably far more than you would imagine.

I'd recommend downloading a demonstration version of a sequencer and/or score program - preferably only one at a time, so you can focus on one aspect at a time. They mostly come with virtual instruments - possibly not very good sounding, but good enough for getting familiar with the ways of working.

As a pianist, you can probably save youself a lot of time if you have available a keyboard that can be connected to a computer as a way of inputting notes (and "controller" data). That could be either a dedicated controller keyboard, or a keyboard instrument with inbuilt sounds (or an electronic piano), provided that it can output the note data via a cable (USB or MIDI) to the computer - if the keyboard output is MIDI and not USB, the computer will need a MIDI input - though there are very cheap MIDI-to-USB cables available that would get you going.

If you get into this way of working, you'll probably eventually want a good sound card in your computer. But be aware that you can also convert your sequencer/score files to audio and then burn CDs to play on an ordinary CD player.

You might find this website helpful: http://www.tweakheadz.com/ .

[reddiesel41264]

Lots to learn, I wouldn't start off with a 15 minute piece unless you have some prior composing experience.

As said above you will need a sequencer/daw and possibly some score writing software like Sibelius. You will also need a fairly powerful computer with an ASIO sound card and some good quality monitors (speakers).

Have a look on YouTube for tutorial videos, also I would recommend the book - The Guide To MIDI Orchestration - by Paul Gilreath.
Depending on your experience this might also be very useful to you - http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/...ration-On-line

And lastly, if you are interested, I offer private lessons

[jphilpit]

You may also want to download the PLAY 3 System Manual. Here's a link to it in PDF format:
http://www.soundsonline-forums.com/d...tem-Manual.pdf

That's the manual for the overall system, but not for a specific library, such as Symphonic Orchestra Gold. Search for that by going to www.soundsonline.com and click on support. By searching the site, you may find other information that will be helpful.

Any order to do any project with more than one or two instruments, you will need to get a sequencer that's compatible with the PLAY System. Most of the major ones are, but be sure to check the list of which ones you can use on that same website.

All the best in your endeavor,
John

[jpenner]

What everyone said about the other programs you need to look into are all good. I also would recommend doing some very basic reading on "midi sequencing" and "computer based music production" ...this will most likely take you on an informative trip eventually leading back to ewql. Also, if your not keen on picking up computer stuff intuitively i would plan on having an initial learning curve

[jeffrey]

How fun! Your going to love learning about all this. Chest has got it all right. It took me literally years to get Eastwest's stuff to play nice with me. I think the cheapest route to go is to get Reaper and open PLAY(Symphonic Orchestra Gold) inside of reaper. You can also do this with Cubase. If you go with Pro Tools you should get Vienna Ensemble Pro to host PLAY. But to keep it simple just get reaper...its by far the cheapest and it can compete fairly well. However if you really get into this you will need Cubase or Pro Tools or Sonar or Logic. Reaper is not like garageband it is way more professional.

Cubase and Pro Tools have a Score editor so you can write notation for Violas for example and the viola will play the notes when you hit play. All DAW's that I mentioned(because that is what they are called) have a "midi editor" this is how most of us work. MIdi editors allow you to make a clarinet passage sound real, coupled with expression and volume of course.

Have fun!

[Jose7822]

Oh boy! I hope this project doesn't need to be finished any time soon, cause it'll take a while to get going if this is your first time dealing with these types of software (DAWs, softsynths, audio/MIDI plugins, etc). But please, don't be discourage by my comment cause the journey is fun (and sometimes frustrating), but very well worth it since you'll end up being able to do pretty much anything yourself. It's like you're ten people in one; a composer, arranger, audio engineer, producer, computer tech, MIDI programmer, sound designer, etc. That's why it takes years to master all of this and the reason why I'd suggest going to Youtube/Google and research everything that has been suggested here. There are many options to choose from, and pretty much all of them will get you professional results as long as you have the skills. The very basic stuff that you'll need to start with are:

1- A fast computer with lots of RAM (Intel Core2Duo w/4 GB of RAM minimum). Intel Core i7 with 8+ GB of RAM and 64 bit OS is optimal.
2- A DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). Cubase and Logic seem to be the most popular ones among composers.
3- An Audio Interface and speaker monitors (not to be confused with computer soundcard and speakers). Can't give an exact recommendation without knowing I/O needs.
4- An Orchestral softsynth, short for software synthesizer, with sample library (i.e. EWQLSO).
5- A Notation program (i.e. Sibelius, Finale) if you're used to composing this way. As someone said earlier, some people (myself included) can just compose inside the DAW without the need for a notation software.


You could get away with less, depending on how serious you are about this path (and how much cash you can spend, of course), but it will not be as effecient as what I have detailed above. Be ready to spend A LOT of time learning about each of these different softwares and how to troubleshoot computers, cause you will have to deal with that at some point in your career. You can certainly pay someone to repair your system, but then you'll have to rely on their availability and there are times when you can't afford that. Even if it's just basic stuff, it will help. BTW, the book and the website that David Healey recommended above are excellent reading materials. I would definitely start there.

Good luck!