Advanced Tips Request

[rrayner]

I'm looking for some tips, from folks who have been deep into Notation Composer, to tweak some of the performance. The attached score was originally written for Male Chorus, Baritone Soloist and Rhythm Section by Bob Walters. Bob was in the USAF Band at the same time I was a member of the Band's Arranging Staff back in the '60s. I added the strings.

I'm retired now and getting back into writing, using Notation Composer as the writing medium and a Yamaha Clavinova as the playing medium. The Male Chorus had to be replaced with "Choir Ahs" and the Baritone Soloist by a trombone.

The tweaks I'd like to make are that the piano playing and the trombone in places sound very percussive, like the pianist is really pounding the keys instead of a soft legato touch, and the trombone sounds in places are too hard an attack on the notes. I want the volume level to be where it is, but I want the performance to be smoother. This question really relates to all instruments, but only the piano and trombone in this score.

Also, if I've covered my bases, the only glissando that Notation Composer can incorporate is a notation mark -- not actually a performed glissando. In the final measure, I've created a close semblance of a glissando by building a chord, which Notation ripples through, but is this the easiest, most effective way to do this?

Sherry has been very helpful in giving me guidance, but I thought I'd ask the Forum users if there are any suggestions from their experiences.

[rrayner]

Hmm -- I meant to add the bass part in the next-to-last measure to the glissando question. Is there a way to do this without keying in every note?

[rrayner]

Adding some more info -- in the areas I'm concerned with, the attack and duration values in piano roll show as +0/-7. Just as a wild guess, I tried changing these values to +0/+0 for one test and +0/+1, to get a little overlap, for the other, and I can't say if I can detect any difference. Of course, I have no idea if the thought of lengthening the duration would have any beneficial affect. I thought it might smooth out the performance a little, but I can't hear it.

[dj]

Hi, rrayner:

I see that the note velocity you've used for input across the board is 96, which is a pretty high value (0-127 is the range). That translates to a strong forte or light double forte.

Velocity affects not only the volume of the note, but, as with acoustic instruments, usually the timbre as well, so it's more subtle than simple volume changes. That is part of why the piano and trombone seem to be blasting away.

If you choose Note Velocity from the main palette, you can edit the velocity of the notes, either individually or by group. To do so, simply click and drag the mouse cursor over the notes you wish to edit until they turn blue (the notation equivalent of choking them?) and use "L" + "down arrow" to lower the velocity and "L" + up arrow to raise it.

To select the whole track, simply click on the staff's blue arrow at the left (staff controls) and type "qcrn" (quick change region to notes) to select all the notes.

You could also try adding some sustain (damper) pedal to the keyboard part, either manually (GraphOverNotes/pedals icon) or by playing them on your Clavinova's sustain pedal. To do the latter without recording over the entered notes, you need to add a new staff that uses the same midi channel as the keyboard part, then record the pedal events to that new staff. You can then merge the staves (qms or Staff menu/Merge Staves) to combine them.

On the question of glissando, do you mean portamento or a fingered gliss? Composer doesn't have any specific notation for a fingered gliss -- the arpeggiated chord you have in bar 72 is the closest. I usually just notate the gliss.

I see that the double bass has a fingered gliss in bar 71, which, being a string instrument, could be either a fingered run or a portamento. For a true portamento, you can use combination of Midi Continous Controller 5 (Portamento time) and Continous Controller 65 (Portamento On/Off) to do trombone slide type stuff. That is, if your Clavinova can do true portamento, which may not be the case.

If your synth can't do portamento, you might be able to use pitch bend to simulate the glide.

Good luck.

David

[rrayner]

Hi David -- thank you very much for your suggestions. Sherry has been trying to help me with Note Velocity and Loudness, but I'm finding it rather difficult to manage. She has suggested OEM soundfonts, but as my target platform is my Clavinova, that's not going to help me.

I've made changes, dropping the Note Velocity, and it does seem to soften the attack a little, but it also drops the volume level, so I've increased the volume where I've dropped the velocity. I did this to the entire trombone part and to selected places for the piano, i.e., measures 22-25 and measures 46-50. I've attached the file with changes if you want to see if I've done what you suggested.

I won't be trying the damper pedal suggestion at this time, as my primary and almost exclusive input device is my PC. However, I will look into the GraphOverNotes application of it. I can play simple exercises and chords, but keyboard is not my instrument, so input on the Clavinova is not a good option for me.

A true portamento would be nice for measure 71. I'll dig into the Controller references you made. I think that the Clavinova will handle it, as a number of their samples have the sound of a true portamento. I just need to figure out how to code it.

Along that line, I will be doing a number of swing band pieces and I haven't yet figured out how to do drops (downward gliss w/no target) or doits (pronounced doyits -- an upward moving equivalent of a drop). I have read Notation references to note bends, which I will want to incorporate in some of my pieces, but I haven't dug deeply enough into what's required.

All of your input is appreciated. If you have time, please take a listen to my revisions to see if I've done what you suggested.

One side note, I didn't realize until after I attached the initial copy that I had the Tenors "singing" one octave above where they should have been. I've adjusted that, but then I had to adjust the Ahs velocity and volume as the lower register didn't come out as clearly as before.

Ralph

[dj]

Hi, Ralph:

I'm sending your White Christmas back at you, with a few of examples of the things I mentioned. :)

I manually added some rather arbitrary pedal events into the piano (as well as dropping the velocity on the left hand at the first piano entrance -- just seemed a little obtrusive to my ears. Your mileage may vary.)

Don't be afraid of recording the Clavinova's pedal(s) to add expression. If it's already hooked up to playback, it's likely hooked up to record and it's just a matter of recording the pedal presses into a new track with the same midi channel as the piano. Likely the easiest way to ease into real time recording. Some high end synths respond to variable pedal depth, but most are just all on or all off.

I also treated the baritone solo as if it were an instrumental trombone solo and added some bends and vibrato. This was done manually. Basically, I just wanted to demonstrate how a little creative controller data can bring a part to life. Again, your mileage may vary: the swoops may be too much for your ear.

I removed the 8va bassa marks from the tenor and used Composer's Transpose Instrument Key (under the Staff menu) function to set the tenor line's transposition. Although it doesn't have an automatic setting for tenor voice, Composer does have many, if not most, transposing instruments in a selectable database.

And, finally, I played with the stereo spread (under the Staff/Setup menu) and set the sounds up as they may be on a stage. Just that kind of change can really fill the soundscape.

Lovely arrangement, by the way. They just don't write 'em like that, anymore.

David

[rrayner]

Thanks for the compliment, David. It is much appreciated. And thank you for the updates. The first piano measure is 22 and I see that the velocity in your version is set at 71 in both the left hand and the right hand, the same level that I uploaded with the previous reply, so I'm confused about that point. I know I'm in your version, as I can hear the trombone differences.

My Clavinova is not yet directly connected to my PC, so the only way I can record is to the USB drive, to be imported on my PC, so I don't think that approach is doable, yet.

I am keenly interested in digging into the controller aspects of Notation and will do that as time permits. Adding/modifying vibrato will be a very nice choice. And I do want to learn how to approach a tone from below, not necessarily like bending a guitar note. I will try to figure out how you manipulated the trombone. Thanks.

The score you included still has the 8va bassa notation in it, so I'm not certain what you meant there. I do see that you have the tenors sounding one octave below where they're written. That's a little less messy for the notation. I did the same and removed the 8va bassa notations.

Also, I will dig into the stereo spread concept. I haven't detected the change yet, but I will listen more closely.

Thanks again for opening new doors. I'm really enjoying resurrecting my writing skills. I'm relearning a lot by revisiting old scores, all the while trying to figure out how to make Notation Composer hum.

Ralph

[rrayner]

OooOoo, David! I LOVE the stereo affect! I exported your file as midi to my thumb drive and took it to my Clavinova. I hadn't noticed the stereo split when I played it on my PC's sound card. Do you do that with the Pan feature of Notation Composer? I hadn't given that feature a single glance yet and had no idea it referred to channel separation. I hope that's what you used, because I need to do almost all of my work in Notation.

Ralph

[rrayner]

The first piano measure is 22 and I see that the velocity in your version is set at 71 in both the left hand and the right hand, the same level that I uploaded with the previous reply, so I'm confused about that point.

Ah, I see that measure 36 is where you dropped the velocity of the left hand. Yes, I see (hear) your point. Thank you. Ralph

[dj]

Interesting that you're seeing the 8va bassa marks. I just checked the file and don't see them at all.

And, you're right: I missed the piano entrance at bar 22 entirely.

Yes, Pan sets the stereo spread. You can set it numerically, either in the staff setup controls at the left of the staff, through the Staff/Setup menu item or graphically through GraphOverNotes/L<->R icon.

The latter is especially useful for "wandering minstrels". ;)

David

[rrayner]

Hi David -- I think I've tweaked this score enough for now. It's hard to stop tweaking -- there always something, searching for perfection, but it's time to move on.

I'm going to post the final (for now) version on the Notation Share Forum. I owe you a lot for your suggestions. I've incorporated most of the changes you suggested. I didn't use the "swoops" at this time, but I've been wondering how to do this and hadn't found it yet, so I'll be using swoops in other scores in the future. Also, I narrowed the trombone vibrato a bit, now that you've given me insight into how to do it. And, as I mentioned earlier, the Pan stuff is great!

Thanks again for everything.

Ralph

[dj]

The swoops are a bit of pitch bend, in the GraphicsOverNotes toolbar. Pitch bend is the note with a wobbly line icon. A little is a lot.

David