Just Starting Out

I think one of the faster and easiest midi sequencers to use is FL Studio. I've used Pro Tools LE 7.3 to program midi tracks for composing and I find that simply having the ability to "right click" to delete midi notes, or being able to slide velocity settings on notes to give a track more human feel is well worth the price of FL Studio. It saves you a bunch of time programming feel into your midi. It's simply a great program and easy to use with sensible programming (your plug ins don't load until you use them vice Pro Tools LE that loads them ALL and sucks up valuable RAM). Another benefit to FL Studio is being able to duplicate patterns on the fly, which is very nice when you're composing a motive and need to add variation in a Virtual Instrument.

But I come from the school of thought that you should hear your ideas before you transcribe them. I rarely print out any scores for my stuff. I spend more time mixing/mastering the sounds and composing the piece. I suppose you could convert the midi into a good scoring program once the piece is completed.

Originally Posted by finrod

You don't need the latest and greatest computer to run a sequencer. But if you are using a sample library in a song with many tracks that use the samples, then it does help to have a fairly recent computer. What are the specs on yours?

Umm... all I know is that it has 128MB RAM and a 37.2GB hard drive.

Originally Posted by 920bpm

Umm... all I know is that it has 128MB RAM and a 37.2GB hard drive.

Hmmmm are you pulling my leg 920bpm?? I see you have uploaded music in the past including a Sibelius file. I really doubt the latest version of Sibelius can run on a computer with 128MB of RAM!! And with a name like "920bpm" you are probably a techno sequencer anyhow...

And if you're not pulling my leg, then I'm sorry.... And the answer to your question is that you probably need a computer with at least 256MB of memory to run most recent sequencers, although around 1 GB would be the average I'd say. Reaper though has minimum system requirements of 128MB of RAM - so maybe you could get away with it to begin with. Or there might be older shareware/freeware sequencers on the net somewhere - but they would have pretty low capabilities and probably lack the ability to load orchestral instruments.

Once you get into sample libraries it really helps to have a pretty decent computer - a sample library itself takes up several GB of hard drive space which would be a reasonable chunk of what you have. And it helps to have a lot of RAM too if you are playing/writing a piece with more than half a dozen parts/instruments.

Thanks guys. Yeah, i need to brush up on my theory before i tackle this Harmony book. In the mean time i really want to get acquainted with the software in tandem to brushing up my knowledge of theory.

I looked at Sonar, and it seemed very complicated, and i have heard good things about Cubase, i will have to look into it. So let me see if i got this correct. You get a sequencer, and i can get VST for it which will be of a specific instrument most likely. Then i use a piano-roll view to create the notes i want for it? Then use those recorded notes as samples, and off i go? Or is there something i am missing in the middle?

Originally Posted by Djaloza

Thanks guys. Yeah, i need to brush up on my theory before i tackle this Harmony book. In the mean time i really want to get acquainted with the software in tandem to brushing up my knowledge of theory.

I looked at Sonar, and it seemed very complicated, and i have heard good things about Cubase, i will have to look into it. So let me see if i got this correct. You get a sequencer, and i can get VST for it which will be of a specific instrument most likely. Then i use a piano-roll view to create the notes i want for it?

VSTis come in a variety of flavors - some are only one instrument, while others have hundreds. Most have at least some knobs or controllers which let you shape the output sound. So you load up the VSTi, set your knobs how you want, and choose an instrument patch (for multi instrument plugins). Most sample libraries come with some sort of VST plugin to play the samples too.

Once you have set up the VSTi, you can create the notes using one of:
- piano roll
- staff view (if the sequencer has one)
- record notes using a MIDI controller keyboard
- you can usually record audio tracks directly from your sound card inputs as well (eg - from a guitar or microphone).

Then use those recorded notes as samples, and off i go? Or is there something i am missing in the middle?

Ummm, not exactly. The sequencer should allow you to play back the notes you enter in real time (using the VSTi) through your soundcard. When you want to make a .wav or .mp3 file of what you have written you usually choose an "Export" option from the menus.

As for Sonar being complicated... yes, it has a lot of features. Some I use all the time - others never. I would recommend trying the tutorials in the help file. As far as I know Cubase is just as complicated, just with a slightly different interface.

If you get FL Studio, you can enter your midi as patterns, duplicate and vary them as necessary, and associate them into any number of VST channels.

Originally Posted by finrod

Hmmmm are you pulling my leg 920bpm?? I see you have uploaded music in the past including a Sibelius file. I really doubt the latest version of Sibelius can run on a computer with 128MB of RAM!! And with a name like "920bpm" you are probably a techno sequencer anyhow...

Not that amazing. I can run the almost fully-functional Finale 2008 Demo with SoftSynth on my computer which has 128MB RAM and serious virtual memory issues. I can run the latest Sibelius demo as well, they all work. They're slow and a pain, but they run fine.

All I know is that CPU is MUCH more important than RAM. You can have all the RAM you want but you'll be like waiting hours when you have only 1 Ghz of CPU in the rendering process.

Not to mention when you are playbacking your composition in your sequencer, you'll keep hearing glitches and stops and your computer can crash in a minute.

I tried it myself I upgraded my RAM but it was equally slow, you can load more instruments okay, but it keeps glitching.

Also very important, if you have a bad computer: Cubase works better than FLstudio. The working interface of Cubase is much better than FLstudio. But you have to get used to it first. FLstudio is easier to start with as a beginner.

Originally Posted by finrod

Hmmmm are you pulling my leg 920bpm?? I see you have uploaded music in the past including a Sibelius file. I really doubt the latest version of Sibelius can run on a computer with 128MB of RAM!! And with a name like "920bpm" you are probably a techno sequencer anyhow...

And if you're not pulling my leg, then I'm sorry.... And the answer to your question is that you probably need a computer with at least 256MB of memory to run most recent sequencers, although around 1 GB would be the average I'd say. Reaper though has minimum system requirements of 128MB of RAM - so maybe you could get away with it to begin with. Or there might be older shareware/freeware sequencers on the net somewhere - but they would have pretty low capabilities and probably lack the ability to load orchestral instruments.

Once you get into sample libraries it really helps to have a pretty decent computer - a sample library itself takes up several GB of hard drive space which would be a reasonable chunk of what you have. And it helps to have a lot of RAM too if you are playing/writing a piece with more than half a dozen parts/instruments.

My computer can actually run Sibelius 3 fine, though I guess I'll have to wait till a new computer before I start really getting into sequencing.

katchum, how many Ghz's should I go for to run sequencers and the like?

Originally Posted by 920bpm

My computer can actually run Sibelius 3 fine, though I guess I'll have to wait till a new computer before I start really getting into sequencing.

katchum, how many Ghz's should I go for to run sequencers and the like?

I don't think Ghz is so important these days, but dual cores really helps supposedly. So tryy to get at least a dual core CPU running at 2Ghz. And although Windows Vista has been around almost a year, not all sequencing software works smoothly with it yet, so check before you buy software.