MIDI Software
MIDI software is a bit strong in favor of sequencing MIDI data, but they usually record analog data in separate tracks just like the MIDI data. It is safe to say any modern music software is designed to do it all, even print out a grand staff rendition of your sequences, although you get better results from a stand-alone notation software. The power of sequencing is realized when you understand the features available. The program will organize your composition that matches a band set up, i.e., lets say track 1 is piano, track 2 bass, track 3 sax, track 4 & 5 are audio voice tracks, and track 6 is drums (Select channel 10 to match General MIDI). You can display the tracks as a piano roll, which is a two dimensional graph with the vertical showing pitch, and time duration on the horizontal. It looks like the old time piano rolls for player pianos. Or you could have the music displayed as Grand Staff. Or you could have all the notes tabulated as a list of data. You can quantify or line up the attacks on the beat to correct timing errors. The program can add "feel" to the mix by adjusting timing for swing or rock or jazz idioms. You can transpose notes to other keys or pitches. Just about any desired editing feature you can think of, is standard now. It operates like a tape recorder with record, play back, fast forward and rewind buttons. You can vary the tempo and pitch or loop repeated parts like drum patterns. Once the tune is to your liking, you can run the whole thing, including out board gear and internally generated tracks, and generate and audio mix down to a stereo .wav file, record that back in the same file, then, after your satisfied with the results, the CD burner software takes over.
Notation Software
If we specialize in music notation and place MIDI as a second priority in our software, notation software (most note worthy is Finale by Coda) comes to mind. This is sophisticated software that contains pre-formatted score sheets for nearly any kind of music you can imagine, like chorale, bell choir, dance band, string quartets, saxophone quintets, full orchestra. There are many more, but you get the idea. This plops the basic structure in front of you to start composing. This is software really targeted at the composer, since working in the grand staff is its focus. You can enter notes via a MIDI keyboard or via the computer keyboard. This is tedious work but perfectly placed. If your a very talented player, you can also synch up to the software and play your music in real time and have it recorded in grand staff. Of course, the software will also play back to an external MIDI instrument, so you can here your work at tempo. For the composer at heart this type of software is as basic as a hammer to a carpenter. You can learn how various musical riffs will sound or how different parts go together. You can cut separate parts in the different keys for accompanying instruments. You can type set publishable product to professional printers. If you want to see your work in print just as if a New York publisher did it, then this is the software for you. It generally has a steep learning curve, but well worth the agony. It also, can be customized. You can create font types that generate unusual graphics on your music. The most common is to add guitar fingering boxes, but you can add recorder fingerings or complex Concrete Music symbols to maybe indicate an anvil being dropped through a sheet of glass, if that is your desire.
Emulation Software
This is the stuff that generates reverb, special effects, and emulates famous instruments in software instead of buying them from the antique store. There are several "standard" formats for this type of software, so be aware and match what you purchase to the other software you use, such as the sequencer software. It usually comes as a plug-in to your sequencing software. Now all the electronic music you can imagine and all the tailoring, editing, and sound layering can be done inside a computer - a very big and fast one. There is nothing quite like having a Moog bass line with Arp horns and Kurtzweil analog massive string pads and Phil Collins drum patterns over your twenty track song to provide wall-to-wall sound for your home surround-a-sound system. Might as well go whole-hog and push everything through a Bose sound system using 400 watt amplifiers. Hopefully, you have available a concrete basement in the country.
© 2003 John Wolf - Wolf Tracks Music