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  • When it is time to print a score how do you approach it?

    Hi all,
    I have been meaning to ask you all how you approach transforming your MIDI score into a printed one. Obviouly there will be different tracks for things like PIZZ, Trem, Trills, Sustains, Staccatos, .etc. Do you just merge everything (eg. all 1st violin parts) onto one master track and so? I have ways I would think to do it but I am interested in other approaches.
    Thanks,
    Chris

  • I go the opposite route, writing everything in finale first then exporting midi to sequence with. I usually leave out markings that don't influence the midi, and go back and add them for printing.

  • You don't have to use separate tracks for each articulation - you can put them all (except maybe legato tracks) on a single track and separate the articulations by channel # on the individual notes. That makes it a lot easier when you go to make a score.

    After that it's pretty much straightforward - dump each track to a MIDI file and pull it back in to Finale or whatever. I have never gotten a moderate-length piece (e.g. more than 6 or 7 minutes) to transfer without errors, however - weird things happen when I pull the MIDI into Finale. Notes get shifted in both time and pitch, though not many. I've never determined if it's at the MIDI export stage or the Finale import stage.

    I once missed a moderately technical passage in the horns that had gotten transposed down an octave into low petal tones - they let me know, though...

    rgames

  • I compose everything in Logic and when the compostion plays the way I want it to, I create a copy and name it "composition" score. I go through the composition and look for overlapped notes, unquantized section that will result in a weird score. Then I split a section line for example violins into stacato notes, pizzacato, arco. Arrange the lines stacato top pizz next then arco. Repeat for each section or instrument. Be sure to lable the tracks with the proper ID eg. Vln pizz. etc. Once you have split the instrument lines you can erase the c1 to C2 midi keys. I create a midi file and open the midi file in finale. I carefully scroll through the score to see if I can to modify the midi file that will yield a better score rendition. Once I am satisfied with the result I apply the articulations using the mass mover tool. eg. Stacato articulation. etc. Then starting with the top group I use the Utility>implode score > top line and implode the pizz. line into the stacato line. Then using the pizz line as a guide I put in the Pizz. and arco markings. Go to staff tool select line and delete. Go through the score line by line and repeat. I find that this method results in fewer mistakes in transcribing a midi file.
    Regards,
    Stephen W. Beatty

  • I'm with composer2000 on this one. I write in Finale then occassionally export a midi file to use in a sequencer. However, I would just treat everything you write like you are writing for a live group, then you automatically have a good clean score. Then if you need to make an especially realistic mock-up export the midi to a sequencer and tweak it from there.

    You can treat Finale like a sequencer though. Using multiple staves for different patches when necessary, just as one might use in a sequencer. Also, you can control most midi parameters in Finale as well. I believe Sibelius has those capabilities. Then it is easy to make a playable score. I think what is being discussed is really the big problem with writing in sequencers, rather than staying in the musical roots of actual notation.

  • Is there someway to use the VSL library to voice a finale score inside the finale program?
    Regards,
    Stephen W. Beatty

  • last edited
    last edited

    @Stephen W. Beatty said:

    Is there someway to use the VSL library to voice a finale score inside the finale program?
    Regards,
    Stephen W. Beatty


    I'm not sure I completely understand the question, but I think the answer is "yes." I currently compose in finale using the vsl patches.

  • You can use VSL with Finale or Sibelius, as long as you have gigastudio to play the samples...or whatever the format you have. So, I'm not sure what you are getting at either.

  • I use Sibelius for notation purposes and Logic for the arranging/audio file production. I haven't yet found a satisfactory method of either transfering a Sib score into Logic or a Logic arrangement back into Sib. I tend to work in both programs totally separately. I loathe MIDI files just because of their limitations. The amount of time you spend adjusting your sequencer song file could be just as well spent working on the score from scratch in your notation program. Shame that the output notation in Logic is just not quite good enough! Maybe in a future upgrade?

  • I also write in Sibelius; I'll also generally not put in information that will not affect the MIDI (unless I think I'll forget). In Sibelius you can include hidden text (~text) in which you can send program changes etc. This gives as close as I can sensibly get to good playback in Sibelius.

    When time comes to realise it properly, I delete all the items of hidden text (since they really sod everything up), and create parts. I then export all of the parts to MIDI, and realise them one-by-one in Logic. Sib adds reverb, pan and volume MIDI messages at the beginning of each part so I delete those. Then in logic it is pretty much a matter of making sure each note is going to the right patch (in Gigastudio). So I end up with a number of MIDI tracks for each part.

    Once I've finished with all of that, I export each part to a MIDI file from logic, and import it into my session in Pro Tools. Then I just record it, pan it and mix it. As a result I build up the composition part by part.

    Part of this process is necessitated due to the old software I'm working on (Logic 3 and Pro Tools 24).

    I then edit my Sib score to add all the other performance information that I haven't put in yet. The use of Sib (and, I suppose, Finale) has advantages in that the expression and tempo tools allow slight variations in dynamic and tempo that a real performer would be likely to put in, but often get quantized out when just using a sequencer straight. I feel that it makes it sound more real.

  • Another Finale user here - cleaner, and more efficient. Like using a word processor but for music. When needed the midi transfer into the sequencer goes pretty smoothly in my experience. As Finale continues to evolve though, it soon will not even be necessary to bring it into a sequencer at all.

  • I build my compositions in Cubase, mostly by playing them in through a keyboard and then editing until I get exactly the sound I want. Then I create a MIDI export file, import it into Sibelius and then polish it up for the performers. Both Cubase and Sib can do playback through Gigastudio, though unlike many other people, I find it easier to use Sib with VSL, rather than a sequencer, particularly for choral music where I use it in conjunction with the Voices of the Apocalypse.

  • PaulP Paul moved this topic from Orchestration & Composition on