Fill 'er Up
 

C'mon guys! There is plenty of room here to upload your creations. There is no better way to learn than through the sharing of ideas and information from each other. I am in the very early stages of learning how to put things together and the process gets easier when I can see how others accomplish the things I am trying to do. I'm sure there is lots of skill and talent out there and this is a great place to show it. I would be willing to bet that Mark would love to see this section of the forum utilized to its full potential. Let's go. Let's fill 'er up!
Fred Winterling

Hi Fred, That's right.
 

Hi Fred,

That's right. I'd love to see a lot more activity in this Share Your Music section of the forum. But it's definitely off to a start.

Another good forum/newsgroup in which one can share compositions with others is the rec.music.compose newsgroup, which you can access using Google Groups. There are other music gendre-specific newsgroups also, which I'm not so familiar with. These newsgroups are worth exploring. You might want to submit your compositions there for discussion with other composers, as well as in our forum here.

An advantage of our forum now is that it is intimate. We sort of know each other, and we welcome newcomers. The rec.music.compose newsgroup has some regular participants who know each other well. New folk jumping into the rec.music.compose are probably less likely to continue participating there than in our forum because they are less likely to get any responses the first time they join in, or if they do, it's more likely they'll get only negative feedback than they would in our forum.

I think the strength of this Share Your Music section of the forum will be that it is supportive of the musical creative efforts of the participants. A major goal here is to encourage each other to create music and to find fulfillment in doing that. We can encourage each other by offering positive feedback where we can honestly offer it. And, when the composer indicates that he or she is looking for constructive critical feedback, we can provide him or her another perspective that might be useful.

Cheers
-- Mark

Hi, I would like to echo
 

Hi,

I would like to echo the call to 'share our music'. We all benefit from this, eg:

(a) Each of uses Composer in a different way or for a different style of music. Some record directly into Composer, others generate orchestral parts, others (like myself) use it as a scoring programing to publish our music on the web. From comments in the forum, other also use it to prepare parts for their Church Bands etc.

(b) Most of us are self-conscious about our creations, and tend to be bashful and shy. I know I am - but it has been greatly encouraging to me to have the encouragement of peer comment, and also to see what others are doing that we all struggle with aspects of our musical creations. None of us are in a position to be critical of what others do, but we can certainly encourage each other.

(c) The facility that Mark has provided to 'share our music' will get your music known to others. For example, in the first 4 days of June so far, 16 people have followed the 'share your music' link and looked at my music. Even in the last few hours, people have downloaded/played 12 of my '.NOT' files from my web page.

(d) Mark has produced such a versatile package, and not only do we each use it for a different style of music, but we use it with emphasis on a different feature of the package. I think its great that we can be part of that promotion where we can all be winners.

Cheers ... Clyde

Okay, go to the "classical
 

Okay, go to the "classical" section.

Mark: may I request a "Show Music" section, as most of my music has no real home here?

Hi David, I have now added
 

Hi David,

I have now added the Show Music section. I also tried to move your Overture from the Classical to the Show Music section, but didn't do it quite right. Please start a new thread in the SHow Music section, and make a copy of your Overture post. The new thread will enable others to respond to your post.

Cheers
-- Mark

Howdy, This is sort of a di
 

Howdy,

This is sort of a different angle on the "Fill 'er up" motif, but since we've gotten into the "how folks compose" bit here lately, what with Clyde explaining how he uses BIAB to begin his process, and Tim and Fred and Mark noodle (quite well and intelligently) at the keyboard, and David takes off on lots of stuff, I thought I'd point you to my SoundClick site, where I've posted a lot of "rough sketches" of some songs I've written.

My process usually (though not always) involves sort of a swirl of music noodling on my guitar coming together with something that's been on my mind of late. Sometimes it has something to do with my kids or husband, sometimes it has to do with life situations, and sometimes it has to do with scripture that I've been reading. It may be that I start with the words, and noodle something on the guitar to fit the beginnings of a melody that I've got in my head. Other times it's that whatever noodling I'm doing, I try to start fitting words to that. So I don't have a set protocol for my compositions - quite often they just kind of happen.

Anyway, I'm hoping to get some more work done on these in the not too distant future. In the meantime, you can hear me "in the rough" as it were, and then I'll post the final "polished" versions, too, just for comparison. The polished versions will definitely be done with Composer Pro, so I'll post those files in the appropriate genre categories as I get them done.

ttfn,
Sherry
www.soundclick.com/beanfieldcastle

p.s. [img]http://www.notation.
 

Hi Sherry, Your list of pie
 

Hi Sherry,

Your list of pieces at Soundclick is already pretty long! You've been busy.

I suspect that many forum users will wonder, "How did Sherry make those sounds?" (I was just listening to Aaron's Meditation.) It might be valuable to many of us if you gave us a tutorial on using SynthFont and sound fonts with Composer. You'll described the techniques here and there in the forum, but it would be great to have that in one place, in new section of the forum Using MidiNotate with Third Party Products / Sound Libraries and Software Synthesizers.

If you described that in one place, then wherever you describe what's inside one of your compositions, you could refer readers to your general write-up about SynthFont and sound fonts (and whatever tools you use with Composer). What do you think?

It's a delight to see you making so much music.

Cheers
-- Mark

Howdy Mark, Well, the list
 

Hi Guys! I'll second Mark&
 

Hi Guys! I'll second Mark's request. Sherry, you're a pro. Rough sketches? How do you improve on that? I saw a post elsewhere about SynthFont and was going to download it (haven't yet) I was going to look for that post again and ask how to use it with Composer. But I'm still working on how to get everything to start on the same beat and in the same meter. I tried to do something with a little bass and drums and the keyboard. I thought it would come out OK if I made the rhythm tracks first and I couldn't get anything to start at the same time. It sounded like 3 different bands trying to record together without headphones. And they all guessed when to start. I laughed at that attempt for a day and a half. That's what I was doing when I realized I missed a tee time with my son at his country club in Portsmouth,VA this past Saturday. You know I am a sax man, not a keyboardist so you can help me cry on this one... My son missed the tee time too. We were to meet his friend at the club. Anyway, the friend showed up by himself and guess who they paired him up with??...Kenny G. Can you imagine how wonderful I felt missing the opportunity to play 18 holes with Kenny G? We would have had a little to talk about. Anyway, our friend got a bunch of free front row seats for Kenny's concert that night in addition to an invitation to attend an informal personal concert for all the stage people and members of the show afterwards. Then our friend played another 18 holes with him the next day and didn't call us. Anyway, enough crying! Can someone give me any tips on how to get all the tracks to start at the same time? I can't be that bad. I always thought I could at least count to four. Fred W

Howdy Fred, Thanks for the
 

Thanks Sherry! That may be the
 

Thanks Sherry! That may be the problem. I was confused by the echo earlier when playing along with the keyboard and downloaded asio4all at that time, but I solved the problem by turning down my speakers so it didn't bother me. I never thought about it possibly being a problem with the recording. My asio4all shows that my midi-out is "unavailable" and my midi-in as "beyond logic". With all the problems I had with configuring, I thought it best not to mess with it at the time. When reading the manuals, it is like a foreign language to me because I don't have the technical knowledge to understand what they are talking about. I need to educate myself in that area or find a "Manual For Dummies".
Your method of composing is very similar to mine. Until Composer came along I wasn't very motivated to write any more. I would usually forget a particular theme or motif just about every time I thought I had something. Now if something is going on in my head, usually just a few notes or a few measures, I quickly record it into Composer and try to elaborate on it later. However, I can't work piecemeal. I have to complete the entire song in one setting. Usually, I will just close my eyes and lean back against the wall and let my fingers do the walking. I am completely oblivious to everything around me and I get lost in a fog. It sounds like I am listening to someone else... Weird! My teacher used to play 4 notes within an octave, and I was to compose a song from that as part of my lesson. It works really well. It's a lot like the old TV game "Name That Tune". Try having someone not musically inclined play 4 notes for you and "noodle" from there. It's fun. Thanks for accepting Mark's challenge, by the way. That will be a tremendous help for a lot of people. It's very gracious of you to offer to do that.
tyrg
Fred (I don't know what "tyrg" stands for, I just "composed" it)

AHA!! NO LATENCY! I found out
 

AHA!! NO LATENCY! I found out I really could count to 4. I just wasn't counting at the same exact speed for each track. Old sax players have a tendency to sometimes "ride" on top of the meter (which is OK as long as the meter is perfect). Now all I have to do is figure out how to synchronize a pre-recorded rhythm pattern to match the recording. Thanks guys! Fred

Howdy Fred, Congrats on rea
 

Hi Fred, When I first start
 

Hi Fred,

When I first started recording my own MIDI performances some 16 or 17 years ago, I remember having exactly the same problem, that there was latency in my own performance as I was trying to record against pre-recorded accompaniment tracks. Also, when I first started testing Composer's recording, I found that my human latency was horrible. I've improved on that a good bit with practice, but still, I'm a terrible ensemble player when I play with my one-person band (multiple tracks in Composer).

Fortunately, there are easy ways to fix one's recorded human latency. You can shift the real as-performed times of selected notes to the right or left using Composer's piano roll notation. Read about this in the Help / Users Guide in the section Viewing and Editing the Music Performance / Viewing and Editing the Performance of Notes. After you shift the notes, you might want to use the Track / Re-Transcribe command so that the notated rhythms match the re-located notes.

Cheers
-- Mark

Hi Sherry & Mark, Basica
 

Hi Sherry & Mark,
Basically I do the rhythm thing a couple of different ways. Sometimes I try the "style" and ACMP on the keyboard and other times I may copy a bass or drum track from another midi file that has changes similar to what I want, then edit the chords and the notes in it to match. That's the hard way for me. I can do fine if I play the bass parts myself, but I'm not very good on bass, and my drum playing is worse. I have begun to try to keep things simple to make it easier to learn. Twinkle, Twinkle is probably where I need to stay for a while. Mark, I'm not very adept at using the piano roll, I really need to go over it again and again to understand it. It's probably simpler than I am making it out to be, so I'll keep working at it. I started out just wanting to be able to print sheet music, but then when you find out what can be accomplished with the software it grabs hold of you and you want to do more. You can teach an old dog new tricks, it just takes longer. At least I am having a heck of a lot of fun!!! Thanks for your help! Fred W.

Howdy Fred, If you want to
 

Hi Fred, The concept of pia
 

Hi Fred,

The concept of piano roll notation is simple. Perhaps the user interface for editing the piano roll notation is not so simple, but I tried to make it easy.

When you deal with piano roll notation, just imagine a real piano roll and player piano. The piano roll paper has two dimensions (actually rotated 90 degrees from what you see in Composer, but don't think too hard about that.) In one of the dimensions, the location of a punched hole determines the pitch. In the other dimension the length of the hole determines the beginning and ending of the notes.

When you deal with piano roll notation in Composer, you are metaphorically changing the position and length of the hole in the real piano roll paper.

Some Composer users might want to be able to use the mouse to drag one end or the other of the hole to the right or left. Some MIDI sequencers like Cakewalk's let you manipulate the piano roll holes (rectangles) that way. Such a mouse drag technique works for only one note at a time, however. When I designed the user interface for piano roll in Composer, I wanted to support many, many more types of editing tasks than just changing the start or end of a single note. Therefore, I settled on key strokes (such as A+RightArrow to move the attack/start of the note to the right), palette buttons, and menu items. (The menu items are not intended for regular use, but only as a way to learn the key shortcuts, which you can learn just as easily by hovering the mouse over the palette buttons.) Since the mouse drag operation would work only for changing a single note, and since the mouse drag operation would conflict with other interpretations of mouse drags in Composer, I decided to leave that option out of Composer.

Cheers
-- Mark

Fred and Sherry, I'll s
 

Fred and Sherry,

I'll second Sherry's recommendation for drum tracks at http://www.mididrumfiles.com The author of the drum tracks and I became Internet friends when I was looking for some drum tracks when I was taking some jazz piano lessons (in which I failed miserably). Although his drum tracks are inexpensive ($35), I thought I'd save myself a few bucks and offered to trade a copy of MidiNotate for his drum tracks, and he took me up on the offer.

Cheers
-- Mark

Howdy, Regarding the DrumFi
 

Howdy,

Regarding the DrumFiles site, he used to (don't know if he still does) have an email newsletter, where he had articles, as well as about 8 drumfiles at a time included for free. I got quite a few this way, too. I think the $35 deal is if you want all the gazillion files that he has.

ttfn,
Sherry

Hi Mark & Sherry, Thank
 

Hi Mark & Sherry,

Thanks for all the advice. It will be a big help! Yes, Sherry, I would be interested in the drum files you have also.Thanks again!
Fred

Hi- I don't know what happ
 

Hi- I don't know what happened to my post. I clicked on Preview Message and tried to edit it, and it disappeared. Whew, and it was a long one!

Mark, thank you for developing the Midinotate Composer software. I am thrilled with it, and with the help of Sherry, I just completed my first "fake" sheet music. As soon as I learn how, I will share it with the group.

I am a musician in the 'rough'. I play by 'ear' with just a few chords that I have learned. I bought a Technics KN7000 keyboard almost a year ago. I hope to compose new songs and get the ones I have already written in sheet music.

Again, thank you. I will be purchasing the software very soon.

Regards,
Gracie

Hi Gracie, I'm quite pl
 

Hi Gracie,

I'm quite pleased that you are enjoying MidiNotate. You're in expert hands with Sherry's assistance.

Please do share your music in the (I guess I subconsciously used the same words) "Share Your Music" section of the forum.

I'm sorry that you lost your original longer post. The next time you add a post to the forum, copy it to the clipboard, and perhaps even paste it in NotePad for safe keeping, before using Preview Message. Then try to duplicate the same steps you took before when you lost the post. The configuration of this forum software has had some usability problems in the past, such that it was too easy to lose a post, but I thought those problems were fixed. However, if there are still some usability problems here, your attempt to repeat the steps might help me learn where the problem is.

Cheers
-- Mark

Hello again Sherry! I have a d
 

Hello again Sherry! I have a dumb question. I opened a jazz midi I downloaded to get some ideas on the drum & bass tracks. The guy used 2 tracks for bass, accoustic bass and fretless bass. I guess I can understand the logic there, but the drum line was named "violin" and the instrument shown in the track properties in Composer was violin. I don't get it. The drum track included bass drum, snare and hi-hat. Why and how dey do dat?? Thanks again! Fred W

Hi Fred, If I can jump in
 

Hi Fred,
If I can jump in on this one - I think what happens is that midi channel 10 is a drum track regardless of the actual instrument setting.

This may answer your question until Sheryy gives you a more complete (and perhaps more accurate answer) - shes the drum expert.

Cheers .. Clyde

Thanks Clyde! That makes sense
 

Thanks Clyde! That makes sense. I see piano used quite often for the drum line, but I figured that was probably because they used the piano to play the drum part.( something I can't do very well). It will be interesting to see what difference it makes to try other instruments there. I just saw it for the first time and hadn't had time to play with it. Fred

Howdy, Clyde is quite right
 

Thank you, Sherry! Yes, it is
 

Thank you, Sherry! Yes, it is very helpful. I had some vague suspicions along those lines, but I have never played around with the possibilities. I tried a few instrument sounds and noticed the change, but am not familiar enough with it to know what I am doing. It is a lot of trial and error. I just added drum and bass tracks to "Patsy's Song" and believe it or not, I actually got it on the right meter. I really did it the hard way though. I copied the tracks from a downloaded version of "Alfie" and the drum part fits well. I had to change the key for the bass part, then of course, I had to change each note to fit the chords in my song, because mine is a zillion miles away from "Alfie" changes. I still have to tweak the rhythm in places to make the ritards etc fit better, but I think Mark will tell me to do that with piano roll. I have to experiment a lot more, but now I am almost motivated to add tracks for strings, a brass section and maybe a trumpet or tenor sax solo. It gets crazy doesn't it? Thanks again and thank you also for the drum files. I downloaded some from the web site you mentioned, I can't wait to sample your's. Fred

Howdy Fred, I sent you a &#
 

Hi Sherry, Yep got them yester
 

Hi Sherry, Yep got them yesterday. Thank you very much. I haven't unzipped them yet, but I will this afternoon.

Howdy Fred, Just a sidenote
 

Thank you Sherry, Yeah, I pla
 

Thank you Sherry,
Yeah, I played the song with just one bass track and the sound wasn't nearly as good. Ain't it nice to learn something new everyday? Now all I'm waiting for is someone to invent a midi saxaphone, then I won't have to edit anything. By they way, guess what I found yesterday? The first song I ever wrote when I was 15 in high school. It's called "Saxaphone Rock". It's not very good, but it is pretty funny. Maybe I could talk you into and arranging it with your guitar and we could have some silly fun. It's just a melody line with words, but maybe you or I could add some chords ( It's old time rock, 3 chords and a cloud of dust) and we could collaborate on it. Think about it. Fred

Howdy Fred, Re. the midi sa
 

Hi Sherry, Wow! Somebody'
 

Hi Sherry,
Wow! Somebody's always inventing something before you have shot. $600, huh? That's what I paid for my saxaphone in 1956 and sold it for the same price in 1994 after it had been sitting in the case for 18 years.
Let me fill you in on something. Getting the 4 kids raised doesn't help much. I raised my 4, then 14 foster kids and 2 grand kids and I was just as broke when all that was over. I think you gotta hit the number or something.
No, I don't have the tune in Composer, yet. I'll have to either do it manually or try it on the keyboard. It may take a little while. My wife has been in Baltimore for a week and is coming home today and I am just about exhausted. I think I could sleep for a month. Anyway, it could turn out to be a riot. I still can't believe I wrote that stuff, but I do remember doing it so I can't blame it on someone else. Let you know when I get it ready. Fred

Howdy Fred, You said: &#
 

Howdy, Speaking of using yo
 

OK, Sherry, You asked for it!
 

Howdy Fred, What a hoot! S
 

Hi Sherry, Are you still laugh
 

Hi Sherry, Are you still laughing? Funny you should mention Jerry Lee Lewis. He sat in with my band at a place called Unity Hall in Baltimore at about that time. He sat in on guitar, but he could only play guitar in the key of C, so he used a clamp on the frets. If I remember, he may have played everthing on the piano in C, too. I wasn't up too much on chord progression at that time, I was classical clarinetist up until then and all I could do was read. When I started playing sax, I just played and let the guitar player worry about the chords. I did the notation in C, but I believe it should be in F. Probably back and forth between F7 and G7 ( maybe with a Bb7 thrown in for good measure). What's going on in my head? I think I hear you doing a vocal and playing guitar. The sax break is long gone. I don't think I could do it on the keyboard. ( I can't make it growl ). heh heh! Anyway, do whatever you want with it. Whatever you do will be a major improvement. Thanks for the tip on getting the meter right and editing the notes afterward. I'll also have to start using the metronome or put in the rhythm first. Fred

Hi Sherry, Mark finally woke
 

Howdy Fred, This is actuall
 

I am getting up the nerve to p
 

Howdy Fred, I just download
 

Hello Gracie, Did you daugh
 

Hello Gracie,

Did you daughter write this song? It's nicely written.

You can use the Score / Repeat Instructions command to control how Composer plays back repeats, endings, choruses, etc.

I noticed that the notes tend to lag behind the beat by a 16th or 8th note. This might have happend because the metronome was incorrectly set to a MIDI device that has a lag. The most common example of a MIDI device with a lag is the Microsoft GS Wavetable Softsynth. Double-click the metronome button to assign the metronome to a different MIDI device, or to the computer speaker beep sound.

It's also possible that your performance actually did lag behind the metronome. You might have to practice recording a few times to get the hang of playing closer to the metronome.

There are some different ways that you can fix the notes to align on beats, but the techniques are somewhat advanced. In the upcoming Composer version 1.1, there will probably be some new options to make this task easier.

Good luck finishing the piece. Please don't hesitate to ask if you have more how-to questions. And share the piece with us when you're done. Start a new thread somewhere under Notation Software Support Forum » Share Your Music, rather than in this Fill'er Up thread, which is getting too long for forum readers to follow.

Cheers
-- Mark

Mark: You are correct. The m
 

Mark: You are correct. The midi device was set to Microsoft GS Wavetable Softsynth. I will change it. Thank you, and yes, my daughter did write the song, but it is not on sheet music. I learned to play it on the keyboard, and we never got it noted. This is one of my goals to get all of the music we have written in sheet music. We have some really pretty songs, but none of us know anything about Theory. We just have a God given talent and love for music. So I am really excited about Midinotate Composer. I have a big learning curve and get stuck on basics, but I hope to learn quickly. Sherry has helped me a lot, and she has encouraged me to post on the forum. This forum is a real blessing! I purchased the software today, so I am one of the group now. Gracie

Hi Gracie, Welcome to the grou
 

Hi Gracie, Welcome to the group! As Mark said, your daughter's song is nicely written. Obviously, you are not going to have any problems getting all your songs notated. I am in the "basics" stages myself, but you will find the help you get in this forum is priceless and it won't take long at all. Nice to have you aboard. Fred Winterling

Hi Mark & Sherry: I'v
 

Hi Larry, Very nice!! I don
 

Hi Larry,

Very nice!! I don't know if I am qualified to offer you any suggestions. You are a far more skillful artist than I. But, I will tell you what I hear and perhaps offer a way for you to be able to sleep a little better. I don't believe the piece has gotten away from you. What I feel is that you actually have two pieces here. So I have two thoughts. I would consider separating them at measure #87 ( and if you feel that would make them too short, you could possibly expand on both of them separately) or another idea would be to make the last half the piece the middle. Maybe bring the first half back in at the end and finish it with that theme ....or vice versa. Anyway, I like your style. Do you play jazz? It sounds like you could be the second coming of Thelonious Monk! Keep up the good work!
Fred Winterling

Hi Fred: Hey, thanks for the
 

Hi Fred:
Hey, thanks for the comments. I'm a hack guitar player with tunes running in
my head but no real training to get them out. I, like Sherry, am a church
musician and often re-arrange our praise songs using music software with
Composer as the final stages (the more I dig into Composer the more useful
it becomes, and with Mark responsive to increasing its capabilities I can
give up some stages I do in other programs). However, your suggestion to
segment the parts into an A B A set sounds like something to try on this
piece.

The Monk! - You throw that kind of praise too easily ;^> but how kind.
Thanks.
Yes, I do play at jazz, and listen to it a great deal. I have over a
thousand (vinyl) disks collected and still listen to the early ones as well
as the recent CDs.

I'll work at the piece as I can, and give the forum updates if desired. If
others have any input, I'll incorporate them if they are workable.
Thanks again,
Larry

Hello Fred: I have altered th
 

Hi Larry, The transition at
 

Hi Larry,

The transition at measure 177 works. It's a much simpler way to approach it than my suggestion. Good job! The ending fits better, too. BTW, are you sleeping now? I thought I heard someone snoring.

Ah, The Monk! I once sat in with him one of the after hours "dives" on 8th Avenue in NYC. I was on the road in the late 1950's with a Top 40/ Variety band playing at a club in Paterson,NJ. My trumpet player, drummer and I used to go there after our gig to listen or to sit in when asked. We were sitting in one night when in walked The Monk and Yusef Latief. What a blast! A little later two tenor sax men from Basie's band (Frank West and Frank Foster) also popped in to sit in. Being a tenor man also, I thought that would be a good time for me to take a break.
Those were the days.
Best,
Fred

Hi Fred: Yeah! That would hav
 

Hi Fred:
Yeah! That would have been a real pants wetter siding with a legend.
How curious... I lived in Paterson NJ in the early 40's (we're telling our ages I fear) a few blocks from where Lou Costello lived.
I thank you for your feedback, and I had a great nap this afternoon.
I replayed the tune and was still uneasy with some syncopations that felt awkward. I'll look another day, but thanks. It's nice to connect with someone after facing this screen plastered with music and notes to myself and..., etc.

Hi Larry, I like the piece.
 

Hi Larry,

I like the piece. It seems to have an internal logic, and I don't know as I'd want to change very much. My first impression was that I was hearing a re-incarnation of Bach in a body with Andre the Giant's hands. Subsequent listenings have done little to change the first impression.

There are a few places, such as measures 153-155, where there is a reach that most people couldn't make, but in many of them switching a note from one hand to the other and/or using the sustaining pedal would obviate the necessity of a third hand. But in a place or two (the 3rd and 4th beats of measure 153) something will have to give by an octave, I suppose, as in the F#3 and E3 moving up and some of the RH notes becoming LH notes. But for the most part, anyone who can comfortably reach a 10th could play it, if he/she has the reach and is quite accomplished.

I started by saying I wouldn't want to change much, but I wonder if making the piece for piano plus an instrument, such as a clarinet, would disrupt its internal integrity. Not a suggestion; just wondering.

all best,
mgj

Hi mgj: Thanks for your inter
 

Hi Larry, So you lived in Pat
 

Hi Larry,
So you lived in Paterson? The memories I have of that city will be etched in my mind for the rest of my life. For instance... Our agent messed up our road dates and we found ourselves out of work for 3 weeks after our gig in Paterson. We did not want to tell our wives because they would have made us come home. So we agreed on a scheme. We had very little money and we decided to stay in Paterson and pool our money so we could survive. We bought a 5 gallon carton of cheap wine and, a greasy spoon next to the hotel advertised "Hot Texas Wieners" for 25 cents. I'll never forget that sign. We ate hot Texas wieners for breakfast and dinner every day for 3 weeks and skipped lunch. The timing was really wonderful because Thanksgiving fell into that period. We could only imagine what we were missing out on at home. We found a bar that was offering free Thanksgiving turkey dinners. So we stood in line at least a block long and waited for our free dinner along with all the homeless people. Can you imagine the feeling standing there in Italian silk suits (with holes in our socks and underwear) and being stared at by everybody in line? We didn't care. We were actually starving. We ate like pigs. It's funny now, but it took us a while to laugh at that predicament.
Anyway, I am having a lot of fun with your piece. I took your 6/8 section and added bass and drums with a jazz waltz beat. It looks like it will be a good while before I can finish it but if I can put it together, I might also add guitar. I'm having trouble with the meter so I might have to double time the the drum part or speed up the tempo. It's not yet coming out like my mind hears it, but I'm persistent. I hope you don't mind my messing up your creation. I'm just having some fun and it's a challenge.Thanks!
Fred

Hi again Fred: Fun is what it
 

Hi again Fred:
Fun is what it's all about. Go ahead with what you'd like to do. It will be interesting to see a different take on the piece.
Larry
PS. I'm getting a picture of the band eating Texas hots every meal. Some of my 'hippy' days were like that.

Hi Larry, This looks pretty
 

Hi Larry,

This looks pretty easily playable--virtuoso down to 4th grade level ;) I miss the fullness of presence in the other version, and I particularly liked the way it ended on the broken E minor chord. On the other hand, the melodic content is more apparent in this version. I find myself thinking it would be great if the versions could both be heard at once, which doesn't make a lot of sense.

Torn between the two versions, I'm not sure what I'd do if it were mine. Probably, I would wind up keeping the other one and modifying only those few places, in one way or another, where the reach required is too much for an ordinary hand. I'd also keep the second. It's not too difficult and it also would make a good study in playing the rhythm of one hand against the other, not to mention the more distinct melodic line.

Unfortunately, I know little about the guitar. I have a piece for flute, strings, and Indian drum and guitar, which is stalled until I find out whether a guitar, or two guitars, or even three, can actually play it. But I can imagine that it would be easier to play widely separated notes in a chord. Your composition, however, seems very right for the piano.

best,
mgj

Hi mgj: When I started in mid
 

Hi mgj:
When I started in midi I didn't ever concern myself with whether a song was playable with a real instrument. I considered the midi process an instrument of its own. I wasn't hampered by normal physical limits of a performer or whether a band had two or three measures of several oboe (how many bands can afford to hire three oboe players for three measures), I just wrote to create the sound I wanted to hear.
You're right! when listening to the two pieces the sonics are much richer in the earlier version. The piece will probably never reach commercial status and I'll not worry about complaints from keyboardists who can't make the stretch. I think now my task is to see if I can achieve the same sonics and still be playable. However, I'm torn, and maybe don't even care if it's playable as long as it's listenable.
I started in music at the age of nine on the accordian (I think I could make the reaches on that keyboard) (I also hated the accordian) and twelve years switched to guitar. I've mostly played by ear and the guitar was self taught. Midi was a way for me to express what I heard in my head rather than write for a real physical instrument with its limits.
The majority of my writing is with the mouse and occasionaly my midi keyboard or midi guitar. I'm sure that many of my pieces are unplayable, but listenable. Even so, I guess I should be concious of whether a piece 'is playable' to learn how. Thus, this thread.
You and Fred have been a real help and what you have challenged me to do was a learning experience. It also helped me to dig into Composer learning more about its capabilities.
That all said... maybe you could put up your piece and let others on the forum offer suggestions as you did for me.
Make a great day...Larry

Howdy guys, This has been a
 

Hi Sherry: I have an old Rola
 

Hi Sherry:
I have an old Roland GK1 with a GK2 pickup mounted on an old Squier electric guitar. Roland had newer since I got my rig but I was happy with mine (and I didn't have the money to upgrade).
The sensitivity and innability to filter out 'artifacts' (when I pressed a string at the fret it might trigger a midi event even without plucking - but it's called a phantom note because it is only a few ticks long and easy to delete from the file using a sequencer.
I can set it up to record the individual strings on a seperate track (midi channel) so the tracks from one to six carries the nots respectively from each string.
Pitch bend (PB) is read by string as well. Any track with unesential pitch bends are seperated in the sequencer and the PB's are deleted from those tracks leaving only the essential string PB's. If you record all on one track, then do a PB on one string ALL strings will act on the PB - yuck.
I have done live performances with it with these results:
1- The phantom notes sound making me sound like Les Paul
2 Sometimes the phantom note is not the correct sound because it may pickup my finger touching at a fret other than the target - owww
3- I have assigned the two lowest strings E and A to a bass in the sequencer and then my thumb picking had better be right on. The different instrument sound stands out.
4- I'm a picker by habit and my old fingers don't always finger AT the fret anymore so I may get additional artifacts or phantoms.
With practice, the thing does a good job.
There are some dedicated guitars out there, notably the Godin and they make recording to midi pretty easy.
Keyboards are generally note-on, note off instruments with wheel (pitch bend)capabilities. A midi guitar is constantly in pitchbend (unless shut off in the converter module, which is a whole 'nother issue for sound reproduction) and needs to do a lot of work. It is like working with a fretless bass. The better you manage the fretboard the cleaner intonation and correctness of pitch you get. The midi guitar is sometimes like fretless because often the strings are pushed slightly across the fretboard even with near precise fingering. Not noticable in performance without a midi rig, but the pickup slightly exagerates them.
Hope this brief overview helps.
Larry

Hi again Sherry: I see no iss
 

Hi again Sherry:
I see no issue with hanging out with anyone in this forum. It is why I posted on a 'public' forum. Glad your here as well as the others. I just hope the lurkers join in and either give yea and nay to us, or contribute in suggesting ways. Either way I'm glad to have had some responce, and willing to give others the same.
A great day at you... Larry

Howdy Larry, Thanks for det
 

Sherry wrote: a "chamber c
 

Sherry wrote: a "chamber concert" means the bluegrass band is _inside_ the barn

As the old joke goes: "I like both kinds of music -- country AND western."

Hello Larry, I listened to
 

Hello Larry,

I listened to #17 a few days and #19 a few minutes ago. The main change I observed-- the return to the earlier material at the end of the piece-- helps to unify it as a single composition, I think.

The modal tonality and syncopation of first section reminds me of Dello Joio's 3rd piano sonata, written, I'm not sure, in the 1950's. I don't expect anyone around here to be familiar with it, any more than anyone should expect me to know... you name it... most big band tunes from the 40's. Any way, take the Dello Joio comparison as a compliment; he's a good composer.

I find the fuge-like section engaging-- sort of three fourths Baroque and one fourth jazz. Elements of syncopation have always been important in counterpoint. You took it a little bit further by mixing in some jazz feel with the Baroque. Nice composition technique in this section, such as some convincing sequences.

I found the 12:8 meter difficult to decipher. I kept hearing 2:4 instead of 12:8, three 2:4 meters per original 12:8. So, in Composer, I just changed the 12:8 to 2:4 and then the beats made sense to me. In a later section, changing 12:8 to 2:4 also works, but the barlines then need to be shifted by an 8th beat here or there. Just my opinion or ear here about the meter.

So, how did you get these notes into Composer? With the mouse, at a MIDI keyboard, MIDI guitar, or some combination? Whatever way you did it, you did a lot of musical work.

Cheers
-- Mark

Hi Larry, Quote: maybe you
 

Hi Larry, Thought you might