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Comments
Now I know which app Aaron Copeland was using. 🤓
Thanks for checking in on my long running thread.
It does remind me of the Hoedown from Copland’s Rodeo ballet at times:
Very similar instrumentation and the use of repeated patterns. Pizzicato strings, mallet percussion and piano.
I did the export/import workflow using TC-Data as the MIDI generator app:
And I finally returned to just composing with the pencil… with a good bit of copy and paste.
Out of respect for @Paulieworld providing supporter and advice, I created a contrasting B section and then returned to the A section at a faster tempo.
Absolutely beautiful. Good, old fashioned composition with a John Williams spin. Mrs. Jacklin would give you a gold star for this. I love those descending chords towards the middle section. Every one was not what I expected, and they all worked perfectly. Nice variation of rhythm. I am going to force myself to get up to speed with StaffPad. I aspire to music like this. Well done. Happy New Year!
Here’s a trick I used… I take one or two bars and clone them with a transposition. I did that throughout the B section and created those unexpected harmonic choices. By using strict transpositions of all note equally you insure no odd sounding notes but you leave the key so you get obscure choices. The musical “echo” makes it seem logical like the outside patterns of a Michael Brecker jazz solo. I’ll bet many use this in a midi piano roll editor if it has the festure. If not… try it. It’s pretty magical. I mostly used major seconds or whole tones but when that became predicable I finished with a minor 3rd down.
I’ll give that a try. A somewhat mechanical process with a very musical outcome. Thanks!
That is very contemporary, a bit of early Stockhausen vibes. Fascinating.
The contrast is pretty brutal with the other one. Beautiful but much less fascinating in comparison.
Yes. There’s a beautiful quality of unexpected chaos using a MIDI generator like TC-Data. I started designing going into how it’s programmed. It got really unusual features and the results can be very atonal.
The tamer composing tends to be something I use to illustrate a visual sense I have when I hear music… something that triggers or provokes an emotional response. I get that from your work… you make the visual changes concrete by adding video to the presentation.
Time to start adding video @McD!
I agree. I liked both of those but a video would help me understand your complex processes, especially the tc-data. Quite a range you’ve got.
Staffpad does have a video track feature now… I bet it’s buggy but I will scan my iPhone videos for interesting content and merge a few into a 3+ minute nature film.
Ok… that’s a tutorial request and I find that video genre to be too personal and I complain about the few I watch in general so it would end up being a big editing task and frankly… too much like work. I do this for a diversion and not as work. I play. It feeds me and has limited value to others.
But TC-Data has so many presets that many would like for creating note streams and CC floods. I have not found a target yet that seems to make all those’ CC events obvious in the results. I think most are MIDI ADSR envelopes but there are a couple pitch bend setups that can get wild with the microtonal results. Some use the devices sensors for tilt and such so people see me tapping the iPhone while turning it upside down with headphones on… I must look insane to most. I did that in the hospital waiting area for an hour and people tended to sit away from me.
I do get the odd thought to make interview videos with some people I meet randomly that have good stories. We met a professional bird counter that recorded data for the Audubon Society for 3 months from dawn to dusk 6 days a week. She was an interesting person and is interviewed on several podcasts as a birder and nature writer.
I’ve never been able to get anything meaningful out of TC-Data. Fun for experimenting, but nothing I could use outside of odd ambient noise. You have managed to make it sound incredibly musical. A very enjoyable arrangement.
This is a great piece of music.
Thanks. It was an interesting experiment with mixed results. I made more than one but this one was my favorite. Most were
not worth keeping.
Thanks for the support. It always helps to get some feedback.
Well it’s taken me nearly all day, but I went back to the first post and listened to just about every track posted here. All I can say is, amazing work. This is where I hope to start with StaffPad.
Wow. I have fantasies that someone might do that. Keeping a record on SoundCloud or BandCamp where you might get insight from plays is helpful. If you do get Staffpad maybe we could start a questions thread.
Just strings with a Cello soloist:
You’re sounding a bit Jewish with this one @McD. Maybe do a DNA swab.
I hear that too… there’s a lot of pathos in Jewish folk music: with good reasons unfortunately.
I do think cultural appropriation with credit and respect for the original artists is OK.
When it upsets the original artists I respect that too. They have earned the right to complain.
You can’t go wrong with a cello soloist. Loved that piece.
Thank you Joseph.
There’s a library for StaffPad called the “Tina Guo Cello” and it generates surprisingly good expression with excellent treatment of vibrato which is typically delayed and rarely too fast. It’s my go to if I want to improvise a solo.
I created the string chords using my copy paste of 8 bars with transpositions of 4th up, return to root and then Major 3rd down and return to root.
Staffpad can display a chord chart staff which I place just above the blank Cello. I hit record on the Cello and play watching the scrolling chord chart to help me stay close to the harmony. I below it on a Bbm which I interpreted as Bm but after listening I can hear the crunch.
Returning to my cinematic roots in the style of John Barry who created the Bond musical style… “shaken but not stirred”:
I’d have written simpler and less busy violins, and put more emphasis on the horns that are very distant and shy. But it is just me.
Hard to jump from your recent work to something more classical.
I’m using the “live midi” recording feature in this one. I recorded an 8 bar Fender Rhodes pattern. Added an Upright Bass 8 bar pattern.
Then a copied those 8 bars over and over to create a backing track.
I improvised a viola solo over the backing track… that’s why it tends to go on and on in a ramble.
To go along with the viola, I added a french horn section… trying NOT to be anywhere as busy as the viola. So, it’s in the background when I should have left room for them to come forward. Lesson learned. When playing over a backing track
take a break or open more space in the editing process. Slicing in parts is easy in Staffpad so an editing session to remove a lot of the viola ramble would be good. Some of these more simple horn parts are more iconic of the James Bond mood music anyway.
I did spend some time in the last phase looking for material that could be manipulated to create motifs… anytime you hear a bar that sounds similar to 1-2 bars before that’s an edit. The whole ending motif comes from that. I did do some transpositions since the backing track is really just 4 chords over and over so I transposed up a minor third which I find we all become accustomed to after years of chromatic mediant progressions in fantasy music. I think Gustov Holst pioneered the technique but it could also have been Prokofiev… just based on some music I like. I should Google for the history of these techniques.
Anyway…. thanks for listening and providing advice on how to make the final work more interesting.
In the recent weeks I have created a lot of non-Staffpad work that’s more experimental. It’s on Soundcloud… and I suspect
SoundCloud is creating bots to listen to this crap and make people like me think someone if listening. There are dozens of listeners that do NOT make music and have no followers. Who listens to random SoundCloud crap?
@McD Im thinking of pulling the trigger on StaffPad as I have waited quite a while to see if it goes on sale but think I would be better off just buying it.
Have you tried exporting MusicXML to any other apps or desktop software, and has it been successful? I’m wondering if I could import something written in StaffPad to Logic Pro on the desktop without any problems.
I might buy it over the weekend and as I’m not working on Monday I’ll start working on writing something.
I spent time exporting musicxml as a way to route around Pencil entry and there’s always a lot of work assigning instruments.
Recently I exported out of StaffPad to Dorico to evaluate the new free Iconica instruments that use Note Performer (like) Expression Maps to convert notes to the right sample articulation like StaffPad does. It’s better but not as realistic as StaffPad. There may be instruments where it has an edge but I’ haven’t found them yet.
Getting the expression maps assigned correctly took me a week because the forum features desktop Users and the manual did’nt open up the right menu to invoke which ended up being “reset sounds”.
I’ll test the Logic Pro exchange to see what the ends up creating. Converting articulations is essential for orchestral works. Not sure what Logic Pro provides there… maybe support for 3rd Party Note Performer installs. This might open the door to $300+ orchestral libraries on the Mac. Probably closer to StaffPad realism at several times the total costs.
Thank you. The reason I thought of Logic Pro is because it is on the list of support d software, but I know from prior experience that ‘supported’ doesn’t mean zero work to get thing to work together.
I already have some orchestral libraries that I could reinstall to my Mac and remind myself what they sound like. If the transfer is not too difficult to complete it will give me more options for sounds.
Looking for instruments in the StaffPad libraries that have some punch… Plucked Bass Synth stands out:
Has the feel of an early Depeche Mode song.
Is the bass from its bundled library or is it from another library?
Extremely emotional. You have a natural talent for this style. I am hearing several possibilities for a recurring melody that could be developed into a full blown orchestral composition with lyrics. I know that’s not your thing, but the thought crossed my mind. Please put this in the folder for Sketchbook 3. Really nice one!
Edit - I think the NotACello by @jo92346 would sound great in this.