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What keeps you from reviewing more works? This could apply to works reviewed on YCF, YT, discord, Soundcloud or other social media where music is shared. The poll is public. Respond to this topic for me to add more options to the list!

For me the main issue is time and effort. I also have another, the formatting of the sheets and the playback is often suboptimal, especially those using default sound bank. I tend to gravitate towards those with user-friendly sheets and live performances because those are the most effective ways for me to perceive the music works. edit: btw incorrect enhamonic accidentals are such a turn off

I chose "not enough time" and "other", and I meant to say sonething about "other" in this post. Something about how I mostly enjoy listening to music posted here, but I'm never clear as to what to say in a review. I don't want to be negative for stuff I do not like. I would like to be useful suggesting solutions that I think would sound better even in pieces I like. I would like to highlight what is really good so that people could see better why a piece of music is succesful. But in the end I listen to a piece and being constructive and positive is just... difficult. Not time-consuming, but just really difficult to articulate. I don't have the technical ability to be helpful offering advice. But I also don't really know how to explain why I like or dislike a posted piece. Then it dawned on me why that is. So I hit the back button and chose "not good at analyzing music" 🙂

I hope that if you make a pot of mashed potatoes you eat some and think, "gosh, that's a good mashed potato!" I hope if you clean the bathroom, you look around at the end of the task and think, "that's much better," and then enjoy your shower a little more and know that you have contributed to the comfort of your family or guests. I hope that when you have a project for work or school, you get to the end and look at it as a success. And I hope you can listen to your own music and feel proud of it. The heart of the problem is that we put the creative arts on too high a pedestal compared to our other tasks. That can create all sorts of problems that hinder our music-making. If writing a novel is the work of geniuses, then to attempt to write one as a mere human being is an act of narcissism. If painting is the reflection of the best of the human spirit, then as soon as we reach a certain level of self-awareness in childhood, we are no longer allowed to practice painting, because we aren't good yet, and without practice no one will ever get good enough to reach the standard that we hold artists up to. If we think composers are all inspired by some mysterious ineffable force, then we are not allowed to listen to our own work without complicated feelings of guilt if we think it went well, or shame for having the temerity to write and to share our work if we think it went poorly. None of this helps new art and music make their way into the world. On the other hand, we can look at music and other arts as things that all humans do. Our most ancient hominid ancestors made petroglyphs and cave paintings and pottery, toddlers sing little songs to themselves, college friends spontaneously decide what the choreography of dancing at a particular party looks like for their bodies, and you, writing a thank you note, may be pleased with the way that you choose the words to entertain and fully express your gratitude. Enjoy the process of creating and also the final product without getting wrapped up in yourself. Acknowledge that humans make things. All humans. You, and also everyone else you know. Cheer on your dad's photography projects. Eat the mashed potatoes. Play the piano piece you wrote. Know that none of these things mean anything at all about you or anyone else, other than that we are human, and humans are makers.

Other: I do drop the occasional review, but for the most part, I don't do a lot of reviewing. There are a few ostensibly different reasons, but I feel they're connected by a common thread. That being: I feel that my advice is better spent in discussing music and composition in a more general sense or regarding specific topics like perhaps harmony or melody writing as a concept rather than trying to tell someone how to "fix" or "improve" their piece; I would rather talk about that stuff and feel I'm better at "helping" with that sort of insight that way anyway. To be frank, I also always found those sort of posts more useful than what are often highly subjective grievances with a specific piece, from a specific person. Another is that I don't like to listen to music analytically most of the time. When I listen to users' music, I mostly just listen to enjoy it. If I do, I'll usually drop a like on their YouTube or whatever and if I don't, I usually just move on. I wouldn't enjoy music if I was always in this "critique mode" and as a person who has an obsessive personality, it would be very easy for me to fall into that. Most of the regular posters here, I like their music and there really isn't much for me to say beyond "Yeah, this is great". I hope that maybe some of them also enjoy my stuff. ---------------------------- However, I will say there is a final reason, and I know I risk sounding a like narcissistic @$$ by saying it, but I really don't mean to be or think I'm the very best, but it is just fair and honest: When I started frequenting musicians forums some 20 years ago, I was often frustrated by how the more experienced musicians we all looked up to didn't really give much feedback or help n00bs like myself. However, now that I'm getting to be one of the "old men" with a lot of experience, having made money with it, got into prestigious national programs by the merit of my own work, and now releasing albums with some of the bigger music libraries and did all of this so far coming from a family that couldn't afford to put me in proper music lessons and I was forced to learn most of this stuff on my own over the course of my entire youth and adult life so far...I understand now why many of them weren't so willing to dedicate that kind of time to what essentially amounts to being a free teacher for strangers online. Over the last five or so years, I've had people send me emails or messages asking to help them make some piece they're working on into their grand vision. The problem with most cases is, at a minimum, I would have to make posts or videos much longer than this, with pictures, custom examples, or recomposing aspects of their piece. In the more extreme cases, which are many, I would essentially have to teach this person how to compose from the ground up. I would not just have to teach academic music theory and such, but more importantly, I am pouring in my own perspectives and experience — my life with music — in order to truly help these people grow, and I don't think it is arrogance to feel that that is worth something. The "something" doesn't necessarily have to be money, but in the cases of most, money is all they'd have to offer in exchange.

Haha ! I'll let them turn a little longer, but I'll do allegiance to them one day by trying something much less audible... Thank you for your comment! I really appreciate it. Indeed, I had Liszt in mind, and necessarily, there are some reminiscences (but this relationship is also linked to the number and the choice of theme, as well as the principle of variation). And then, my piano is much easier to play! (At least at a more moderate speed). Initially, I didn't want it to be anything other than a musical beach in support of my slideshow. I got carried away a little and the music here overflows with its role as an accompanying person. To return to the samples used, these are several mixed libraries: The piano is Garritan Yamaha CFX (which alone weighs more than 150 GB, which is considerable, but I must say that since I got this VST instrument, it has really opened up new horizons for the use of the piano in my small jobs, because I find it sublime. The orchestra, globally is the BBCSO pro of Spitfire Audio. It was basically the BBC orchestra that was sampled. This program is now a few years old but remains in my opinion a very good option under the 1000 euro mark for a complete and very well sampled orchestra. Some blame him for having a sound that is too "concert", with a natural reverb of the recording location (their London rehearsal room, I think) but that's what I appreciate precisely because I find it quite convincing and lively. It's a very beautiful starting point that sounds very good. Note that Garritan and BBCSO have their own interface and do not depend on Kontakt, which in my opinion is a big advantage! I also use here a trumpet sample (The Trumpet V2) which is pretty bad at the interface level (it's on Kontakt). So sometimes painful interface to use, some strange conflicts, and a rooting of midi instructions really not clear sometimes causing bugs and conflicts. But in return, the sound of their different trumpets is absolutely splendid. He for the time being remains very neutral and malleable. It is a modeling and therefore it does not have the heaviness of a sample. This also allows extreme virtuosity that is not always possible with samples. On top of these elements, I use studio equipment that helps me give more character to these samples (compressors, EQ...). The fact that all this goes through hardware adds a certain amplitude that is not necessarily present in the sounds at the base. In any case, thank you for listening. (Ah, yes, the score... For the moment nothing is clean at home. Here for example, I only wrote a reduction for 2 pianos, and frankly, it's a draft. One day, in my next life, I may put all this clean, but my goal is always to go fast now and I really don't have time to make efforts on this point...) I often use my manuscripts as visual supports for my Youtube shares, with the idea of leaving the eye wandering, so that the music is not upset by the image. And the modified macro photos of my scores are finally frames that I sometimes want very abstract. But I understand your request. If I can, (on my return because I am traveling) I will post some photos of my music papers... Haha.

You know, sometimes it's just enough to say "I really liked x!" or "Something about meas. y or timestamp z didn't work for me, but I don't know what it is or how to fix it." I'm sure people will still appreciate the time you put in to saying that! Thanks for responding .. I've added three new answers to the poll!

more depth on the Garritan CFX. Like honey....

I suggest you listen to the piano part alone, with a comparison between my two best VSTi pianos: Pianoteq 8 Shigeru Kawai vs Garritan CFX Concert Grand

Hey, thanks ! I didn't know this channel. I'm going to take a look. In any case, I advise you to train in these tools. A small miniature master keyboard can be very suitable. It is absolutely not a question of composing on it (I sometimes compose on the piano In a kind of routine, in the evening, but sometimes also simply on the train by noting a piece of stuff on a notebook, or on a block of music paper. But I didn't get used to composing directly on the computer, neither on the DAW nor on a score noter. (my old school)... So the master keyboard is only used to "enter" the partitions in the DAW and access the varieties of controls. And this is the moment that is both very long and exhilarating. The moment when you play your little puppets of musicians on the virtual stage. We activate the metronome and we manage to make them play what we noted, what we had in mind by noting on score. From this point of view, we are finally very close to the real work of developing a musical project. A rehearsal, or better yet a recording session. 4 measures of double bass spiccato, with a progression from P to FF, a crescendo timbale rolling, followed by a bright cymbal to punctuate the climax, tubas lining in staccato, or even trombones. Come on, let's try again. We resume. Each in turn. You see the idea... In any case, if I had been told that this science fiction, to have a symphony orchestra in his office, available, would one day be within my reach, when I was still a student and we spent 2 days trying to generate bell sounds with a Yamaha DX7 on our commodores 64... And yes, I'm not very young anymore... (But there are still many other things that I could not have imagined at the time, much more unpleasant for our world)...

Yes, it's compatible. Unfortunately I don't think the result is satisfactory. Music editing software does not have (to my knowledge) the advanced midi programming functions that DAWs have. For my part, I use Reaper and when I enter an orchestration, I have to play all the parts of my orchestration on the master keyboard then I have to turn the CC midi control faders for each sentence or each pattern in order to record the automation curves. This is the only condition to have a sound that lives, and does not remain in a fixed nuance. It is often necessary to do it several times to get the desired effect. For BBCSO for example, there may be 3 main faders to move: Expression, dynamic, vibrato, and possibly others, plus mixing elements with choices of microphone modifications, reverb or other elements. It is an ultimately much more dynamic approach than a score that remains quite fixed on its indications. For example, a realistic crescendo is not played continuously and linearly. A series of pizzicati must be a little chaotic and not strictly identical. A legato can be slow or abrupt, or even dripping, which is only possible by modulating the pressing force of each note on the midi master keyboard While playing on the expression and vibrato fader or other. I also add that a tempo should not remain the same and what's more, attacks are never strictly together. I also sometimes voluntarily leave false notes. And even "duncks" (you know, the "couac")... What might seem to us to be flaws, in reality participates in the realistic impression. It is therefore true that it is considerable work to enter each passage in the DAW (and to get used to the midi view system that does not look like a score). Sometimes, even more than for an orchestral score, you have to navigate in 200 or 250 tracks. It's pretty strong! But terribly addictive: I almost feel like I'm making a real orchestra work: such a flute solo is not successful the first time, so I do it again. I politely ask the flutist who is under my fingers to better succeed in her staccato, the melodic design of a curve, a swell. She tries to do it (my hand tries to play properly)... but it doesn't work. So I do it again by taking a tempo below, and this time she succeeds. For piano playing, it's easier. The VSTs react more or less like numeric keypads, but with a sound that is often more beautiful than the samples embedded in the clavinovas for example. I have an old clavinova next to my desk. Its touch is correct (much better than my master keyboard Komplete Kontrol). So it's easier for me to play everything on the piano directly on this keyboard. That said, you need a power machine because the samples can cause significant latency. (for example, Garritan CFX weighs 150 GB, BBCSO pro weighs 1 TB on an SSD, and the RAM of my MacBook is occupied at more than 20 GB when I work on orchestration under reaper. So, to summarize, using BBCSO samples will not be a great advantage with a score editor, even if the sounds are better. Those of Muse score are not bad by the way. But it is all the realism of the executions that will be missing, despite the deepest possible precision of notation.

Hello, This is a piano piece I finished recently for Valentines last month. I hope you enjoy! Kaiyun