The most long winded approach to composition

Using Cubase entirely to write a piece for that galapagos film thing. Literally click and drag the pitch and duration of each note, and then draw the volume of each note in at the bottom. cool eh?

I would have never gone down this route without a midi controller.

I mean, if tedium is your bag. Why bother with midi then?

The reason I did this in such a moronic way was because I started off like this, and then i somehow found it easier to stay in that mentality for hours on end rather than move to a different, much quicker method, like writing it in sibelius and copying over.

I call this 'True Laziness'

well what the duckie does it sound like

I'm glad you asked: http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/galapagos-film-composition-17989.html

Second link

Andy: although I don't know you, you are my hero simply because you did this. Sitting down to do something like you have done makes me seethe and breath fire out my Orifice's.

Haha, you should do it more often, perhaps

rofl, I remember doing something similar the first time I used a notation program (it was probably quickscore...ahhhh them good ole' days)...Because when you get bored of doing something coherent with your midi controller, just go into the piano roll and start drawing pictures lol it sounded so wretched...I could just hear Conlon Nancarrow whirling in his grave :wacko:

Btw, Andy, I'm not trying to imply that I thought that's how you did your piece. I listened to it - and enjoyed it very much - especially the percussion bits, but I'll give more comments on the thread devoted to that piece....

Just had to mention =)

~K

Ahahaha i used to learn piano pieces with a piano roll.

Well, that pretty much IS how I did it. Couldn't be bothered notating stuff, because the score wasn't a necessary part of the project. turns out this took about 8 times longer but hey. as long as it sounds nice ^^

But... I thought the percussion was the worst part. I'm using Edirol Ochestra, and the percussion is limited to about 5 different cymbals and 3 drums...

NEED more software

Heha, I've done that but only when notation is impossible basically. I can't count the hours/days/weeks I spend looking at goddamn piano rolls and charts and crap rather than good'ol notes.

But yeah, so long as you like the result I guess the method isn't what's important eh?

I've never been able to write music adequately with pen and paper, and only ever use it should I be sat at a piano with the need to take something down. Otherwise I tend towards piano roll editing, which seems to put me in a minority!

You are, mainly because it IS horrifically long winded, unless you're somehow super swift. I just use Sib.

It's a matter of practice. I'll add that for some things even when notation IS possible, I'd much rather use piano roll.

I don't find it long winded at all, as all I have to do is click on a screen where I want a note to be placed, exactly as I would in Sibelius. Its merely a matter (as SSC noted) of familiarity; I've been using sequencers to make music of various forms for about 6 years, so I can throw something together fairly quickly.

Hm. doesnt the cubase have a builtin score editor?

i find myself use logic's score editor often...

It does, but it is so horrifyingly irritating it would probably take twice as long again. I THINK they improved it in cubase 4, not certain though.

It does, but it is so horrifyingly irritating it would probably take twice as long again. I THINK they improved it in cubase 4, not certain though.

Really? Last time I checked it was hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriible. :/

But, what I really like about the piano roll is that you don't have to pay attention to measures and time signatures, none of that. Plus, you can control each tone with much more accuracy (velocity layer & all) which makes it a super duper awesome way to write serial music, for example. Much more practical than using a score sometimes unless you intend someone to play it, then I guess you can port the midi to a notation program and have fun trying to make the score readable (you'll probably end up with Stockhausen-like crazy scores to begin with so dunno if maybe it wouldn't be better to just directly go to photoshop or whatever.)

yeah you are probably right.

logic pro8 and pro tools (now) 8 have better score editors.

protools basically has sibelius built in. :)

but i like logics score editor more

But, what I really like about the piano roll is that you don't have to pay attention to measures and time signatures, none of that. Plus, you can control each tone with much more accuracy (velocity layer & all)

I suppose that's a fine justification for writing to a film clip, you can time things perfectly if needed with quite a bit of ease rather than messing around with 512th notes and whatnot

that's when I just start entering in tons of tempo instructions slowing this bit and making this bit quicker, and making this pause longer, and... adjusting this bit... there should be a way to do that in Cubase. In Finale I end up with 500 Expressions defined and 3-digit numbers littering my score like Asians in China, but hey, it works. :thumbsup:

yeah, its called the "tempo track". :)

notation/daw needs some corellation.

i almost ALWAYS do my tempo track in a DAW and then import it in finale and just write the accel/tempo markings.