 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: moderhett
Date: 2004-06-08 07:50
I've been really getting into composition lately since I got a copy of Sibelius as a present, but I'm finding adding notation using the mouse really tedious. I'm fairly proficient on the keyboard, and I'm wondering if maybe investing in an inexpensive midi keyboard would help me to get the notes down faster?
I don't really have a lot of money to spend, and I'm just looking for something to make notation less time consuming without too many frills. I don't really have any idea what to look for, though, and I don't know of anyone who may.
I looked around wwbw a little, and this Miditech Midistudio didn't seem to look so bad... but I don't completely understand what exactly makes it so much better or worse than the rest of them other than 3 more octaves, weighted keys, and a bunch of buttons that'll probably just drive me crazy to try and figure out...
Post Edited (2004-06-08 08:08)
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-06-08 09:11
If you can spend a bit more, you might look into getting a synthesizer instead. While the sounds may not be up to acoustic-instrument standards, they can be decent, especially if customizable. On top of that, you won't need your computer running to play with it.
On the other hand, I personally prefer keyboard (numbers and letters) input to other forms of notation. If I'm inputting via a piano-keyboard, I find that I'm easily distracted, and will soon have about 20 pages of notation to filter through to find out which parts I liked.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: msloss
Date: 2004-06-08 12:34
If you are truly proficient on the piano, consider a MIDI controller or MIDI synthesizer that does have a weighted action. This will give you a lot of the tactile sensation of a "real" instrument, and reduce the number of dynamic and little note glitches that tend to crop up when the keyboard doesn't feel quite right under your fingers. There are more options out there than you could possibly wrap your brain around -- check out a website like Musician's Friend or go to a Guitar Center or local dealer and plink around on a couple and see what feels good to you. They all talk to the computer the same way -- it is a question of feel, features and sounds (and of course price) that will drive your decision.
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Author: RAMman
Date: 2004-06-08 12:34
To be honest, I doubt it.
Using the keyboard is useful for pitch, but nothing else, so you still have to select note values, articulation etc. using your mouse and keyboard, and then change to a different device, when you could just (for example) press the C button.
Without doubt, the keyboard is faster than the mouse. Try to learn the shortcuts (Ctrl + up cursor, shifts the pitch an octave etc.) I work for hours on Sibelius 3, and the best way I have found of working was to buy a seperate accounting keyboard...you know, the small ones which just have the number pad.
You can keep this in one hand...and operate your main keyboard with the other.
Hope this helps!
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Author: msloss
Date: 2004-06-08 12:54
Not completely true -- Sibelius has a feature called "Flexi-time" which is a straight MIDI input protocol. If the template is set up with the right staves and tempo, you can play into the score with both hands. It doesn't always get voice-leading right, but if you are trying to get complete musical ideas into the score quickly, it is a very useful tool, and does get the rhythms right with quantization.
Sibelius will also import type 0 and type 1 MIDI files if you want to play into something like Performer or Cubase and pull the files across.
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Author: RAMman
Date: 2004-06-08 15:01
Interesting,
Although I find Flexi so poor that by the time I've corrected the mistakes, I may as well have copied the score out myself. This is the same as Photoscore.
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