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Old 03-26-2009, 05:15 PM
Adrian Allan (adrianallan)
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Default thanks so much for listening i

thanks so much for listening in such detail.

Yes, no amount of sound font work will be as good as proper samples played through a sequencer, just as no sequencer will be as good as a real orchestra CD, and no CD as good as a live concert. BUT we have to work with a "vision" of the end product using whatever tools we have.

I will post my proper mock-up when it's finished - where I use cubase and East West Gold Play. East West have just improved their Play sample engine, and I've heard it can perform really well, even with 2 gig of Ram.

And to answer your question, the most important stage is the piano sketches. Until I'm 100% happy with these, I won't even touch the computer.

Before I orchestrate each movement in Notation composer I download a load of midi files from the websites you recommend, like the classical midi archive, to copy the techniques of the greats (or at least I try to). I think long and hard about what section of the orchestra will play what part.

I then do two things- I send a midi export in the direction of Cubase and use East West VSTs to make a mock up.

I also send an XML file to Sibelius to polish up the score. What sets Sibelius apart from its rivals for printing music is the fact that the parts are all continually made. You just click on a part to see it in progress. There is no "extract part" command. Also, when a part has a few bars' rest, it puts in the thick horizontal line with the number of bars' rest above it - it doesn't just leave blank bars.

We've been discussing on music forums a program that could combine midi commands with notation (like yours) and also be a sequencer like cubase, and also print parts to a top professional standard - but until that happens, I need all 3 programs; it's a necessity rather than a luxury. In the future, I think there will be a program like this, as all this "exporting" doesn't seem at all efficient.

You will be pleased to know that I still find Notation Composer the most intuitive and easy to use, and will always start my orchestration on it.
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