Composing Software

Hi everyone, I'm just curious to know what software you use for composing.

To be more general, how do you PRODUCE your music??

I've used Sibelius before, and didn't like it. I've also used Fruity Loops for more electronicky sounding stuff, and that was better, more user friendly. Sibelius takes time and the end result (sound quality wise) is very poor

I had a friend recommend using Reason and I've also been recommended a program called Logic Pro.

Really I want to just be able to type the notation/music into a program, edit the sounds, mix, etc. etc.

I also want it to be kind of "free", I don't want the end product to sound all... click-click, metronomey... lol

To be honest, I really liked Fruity Loops (the "piano roll" in particular), but it just didn't have the sound bank for classical/orchestral sounding scraggy.

Sound wise, I'd be happy with piano, strings, some percussion, woodwind, brass, not much really, I don't plan on writing anything epic just yet.

So yeah, WHAT DO PEOPLE USE?!?!?!

Thanks,

Chris.

You have to choose: do you want it to look good or do you want it to sound good?

I can't help you with the "sound good" part, I don't write for synthesized instruments.

If you want it to "look good" the two top contenders are Finale and Sibelius. I use Finale.

I am so tired right now, but here goes...

You need different things for different things to do.

Reason, FL, and logic are sequencers. They make the music, edit midi, edit audio (not ALL of those 3 actually), etc. Logic pro is highly professional actually for orchestral music, and what a lot of pros use in the film music business (or computer game music).

Other sequencers: Sonar, Cubase, Reaper, Audacity, Logic, Reason, Fruity loops. Ranging from free to hugely expensive

Then you need something to play sounds.

This can be a synth, or module which will create sounds via various ways.

Another way is to use samplers. They will get a captured recording of an instrument, mapped on the keyboard, so everytime you hit a key, you will hear that exact recording. (<-short explanation I know).

Major samplers: Giga studio, Kontakt, Halion

Then you need actual sounds to use in your sampler

They range from pianos, to synths, to choirs, to orchestral, to drums, to whatever.

Major companies making orchestral samples: Garritan, EastWest Quantum Leap, Vienna Symphonic Library, Sonivox (Sonic Implants), Kirk Hunter.

What I personally use:

Cubase3

EWQL Gold, Gold xp pro

EWQL Symphonic Choirs

Pianoteq 2

Synthogy Ivory

Drumkit from hell superior

Manytone Manybass

EWQL Vapor

EWQL Adrenaline

Bela D. Media DIVA

and various smaller stuff.

I also use a very early version of Finale for notation.

If you plan on actually buying, cause for some reason I'm not sure about that, both Kirk Hunter and Garritan have DEAD cheap orchestral libraries. Also reaper, is a good shareware (=almost free if you don't care to give the asked price, they won't hunt you down) sequencer.

If you want to get anything else you either get cracked copies (:() or pay dearly...

You have to choose: do you want it to look good or do you want it to sound good?

Both! ;)

Then you need more than one program! :thumbsup:

But of course you do! I've got lots! :D

Thanks guys, I'm really just after it to SOUND good. As far as looking good goes, I can always write it out by hand if needs be, I'm very neat. :D

Think I'm gonna look into samples and maybe import them into Fruity Loops.

Anyway thanks Nikolas you gave me a lot to look into :thumbsup:

Maybe Logic Pro one day too.... It will be mine... oh yes... it will be mine. :blush:

P.S. Don't know if you guys are into FL, but, is there a way to get sounds to fade in/fade out? That would really open up some potential.

Cheers...

I don't use FL, but if you want a notation product and it sound good use finale.

If you want to write by hand go with the garritan library.

I don't use FL, but if you want it to sound good would use finale.

Personally, I use Sonar Home Studio XL version 6, which is pretty adequate for my needs and budget. Yes, flint-wwrr was right, you have to choose whether you want your music to look good or sound good. If you want it to look good get either Sibelius or Finale. If you want it to sound good get a sequencer plus some orchestral libraries.

One alternative for you might be a program called Notion. It is kind of a compromise - it is not as good at notation as Sibelius or Finale, but apparently it is much better at playing back music accurately. I have heard good reports about it, but I don't think it is widely known...

NOTION Music software for composition, songwriting, notation, performance, teaching, learning

The reason I didn't buy Notion myself was because I occasionally experiment with different types of music (electronica and "rock") other than just classical-style stuff.

P.S. Don't know if you guys are into FL, but, is there a way to get sounds to fade in/fade out? That would really open up some potential.

I'm a Sonar user these days, but I've got some experience with FL, and yes, there is a way.

Just double click the Lower Pane, and draw a velocity curve

EDIT: I reinstalled FL Studio, and made a short movie of how its done

http://www.nwn-music.com/tsep/VC.rar

The video is created with Screen2exe, so its an .exe file (for keeping the size small). It DOESNT contains any virusses, but scan it if you like.

Cheers!

Sibelius, Max/MSP/Jitter, cSound, ProTools. That is what I use. There is various other software too I have been known to have a tinker with, including Soundhack, Cecilia and fScape.

I just use Guitar Pro and sometimes Audacity if I need to convert to mp3.

nWn you are a god damn legend!! Thanks so much for that. :w00t: :thumbsup:

I use FlexiMusic Composer for music composing. Been very pleased with it.

I use Sibelius for composing and for making very rough recordings (usually just to share a work-in-progress with people I know). For more refined recordings, I export a MIDI from Sibelius and tweak it in SONAR.

(Now, if only I could figure out how to move MIDI CC data from one controller to another so that I can work with it through GPO...)

I use for composing Sibelius, PWGL.

For my pieces with electronics i use Digital Performer, Logic, Max/Msp, Super Collider, Reaktor, Absynth.

Hardware

Dell Dimension 4600

HP L1940T 19-inch monitor

2.66Ghz Pentuim 4

2GB RAM

2x hard drive 80Gb & 250Gb

Event ALP5 monitors

Audiophile 2496

M-Audio Keystation 61es

Roland DP-6 sustain pedal

Software

Sonar 5 Studio Edition

Sibelius 5

Kontakt 2

EWQLSO Gold Edition

VSL Horizon Solo Strings

Audacity 1.2.6

WAV to MP3 encoder

I use for composing Sibelius, PWGL.

For my pieces with electronics i use Digital Performer, Logic, Max/Msp, Super Collider, Reaktor, Absynth.

Ohh, a Super Collider user! I really need to learn how to use it. It looks really great from what I've seen about it, and should be just the kind of software that suits me. I've used Csound and some Max/MSP, but the Csound language isn't optimal for algorithmic composition (nor for live usage), and the Max/MSP approach of dragging lots of tiny symbols and cables across the screen just doesn't suit me. I guess I'm simply more a text person. Also, Max/MSP sometimes "cheats" a bit to speed the calculations up in order to enable live performance, which sometimes changes the sound in an unfavourable manner. So I'm really interested in checking out Super Collider.

As for composing software: I do most with pen and paper, so I don't use much software. Just Finale to write the final version down, but even that often only when it's for ensemble or orchestra where I need to do parts. Otherwise it's much simpler to do it by hand. I couldn't care less about how it sounds.

I have Logic Pro, but I don't use it. I just have it because I could get it for free :P (Perfectly legal, of course!)

Did you know there is another kind of audio format called .mod? It's small, and the trackers(software to make the music) are mostly free. Great if you're just starting out, and pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it. And also, the file size is very very tiny, only a little bigger than midi, so it'll be convenient.

Madtracker homepage: http://www.madtracker.org

Aren't .mod files a legacy from the days of Amiga computers?

I am so tired right now, but here goes...

You need different things for different things to do.

Reason, FL, and logic are sequencers. They make the music, edit midi, edit audio (not ALL of those 3 actually), etc. Logic pro is highly professional actually for orchestral music, and what a lot of pros use in the film music business (or computer game music).

Other sequencers: Sonar, Cubase, Reaper, Audacity, Logic, Reason, Fruity loops. Ranging from free to hugely expensive

Then you need something to play sounds.

This can be a synth, or module which will create sounds via various ways.

Another way is to use samplers. They will get a captured recording of an instrument, mapped on the keyboard, so everytime you hit a key, you will hear that exact recording. (<-short explanation I know).

Major samplers: Giga studio, Kontakt, Halion

Then you need actual sounds to use in your sampler

They range from pianos, to synths, to choirs, to orchestral, to drums, to whatever.

Major companies making orchestral samples: Garritan, EastWest Quantum Leap, Vienna Symphonic Library, Sonivox (Sonic Implants), Kirk Hunter.

What I personally use:

Cubase3

EWQL Gold, Gold xp pro

EWQL Symphonic Choirs

Pianoteq 2

Synthogy Ivory

Drumkit from hell superior

Manytone Manybass

EWQL Vapor

EWQL Adrenaline

Bela D. Media DIVA

and various smaller stuff.

I also use a very early version of Finale for notation.

If you plan on actually buying, cause for some reason I'm not sure about that, both Kirk Hunter and Garritan have DEAD cheap orchestral libraries. Also reaper, is a good shareware (=almost free if you don't care to give the asked price, they won't hunt you down) sequencer.

If you want to get anything else you either get cracked copies (:() or pay dearly...

Sorry for getting a bit off topic. Nikolas, I have Logic Pro, I hardly use it now even though I do not have GPO simply because Pro Logic does not recognize the Finale inputs, or is there are way to come around that? For instance, Logic Pro does not recognize a glissandi or if the strings are played pizzicato. Of course the latter is manageable, just have to change to pizzicato strings. Generally it is extremely uncomfortable to use Pro Logic to get it sound good. ( I do not know how it is with other sequencers)

Sorry for getting a bit off topic. Nikolas, I have Logic Pro, I hardly use it now even though I do not have GPO simply because Pro Logic does not recognize the Finale inputs, or is there are way to come around that? For instance, Logic Pro does not recognize a glissandi or if the strings are played pizzicato. Of course the latter is manageable, just have to change to pizzicato strings. Generally it is extremely uncomfortable to use Pro Logic to get it sound good. ( I do not know how it is with other sequencers)

Is there a difference between "Logic Pro" and "Pro Logic"??

Anyhow, as far as I know every sequencer has trouble converting orchestral files from Finale or Sibelius, since there is no recognised standard for orchestral annotations. With GPO, from what I understand, you have to add articulation "key switches" when you load a midi file into a sequencer. Other sample libraries use different methods, or don't have a switching feature at all, so you might have to cut up a track and divide it into different tracks for different articulations. :(

Logic Pro is a sequencer program and Pro Logic is a surround sound system.

hmmm...

As far as I know Finale uses "custom" midi commands to change the sounds (I would assume that it's a program change command or controller). Now most sequencers will not follow this process. What you need to do, is to "split" in different tracks each of the sounds you will use (staccato, legato, pizz, etc) and assign each sound to each midi track (midi track 1: legato, midi track 2: pizz, etc). The other way would be to actually use the program change Controller, but I can't say it's really convinient... Most sample libraries do contain, however, keyswitching articulations, which means that you have legato, and if you press a "preset" key in your keyboard, it changes to a different articulation, preloaded in memory.

In all with sequencers you get much more control, than you do with Finale, but it is harder work of course in most cases. Certainly you can import midi files that you will export from Finale (which is what I do in most cases), so you don't have to input any notes in Logic (I use Cubase).

As you said it can be PIA...