RoyLennigan

Does anyone know a really good program to compose sheet music and record/play through midi? I need something that either has decent midi instrument sounds or can be upgraded to. I can't stand those "sequencers", I've gotta have something with staves and notation.

 

Aqualung

Guitar Pro is the only thing that comes to mind, but I haven't played with it much so I don't know if it suits your needs.

__________________


Here we go. Mushu cereal for breakfast with duck sauce.

Habey Gonzo

Guitar Pro too, and then, in order to improve the sound, give Cubase (or any VSTi enabled multitrack) a try, with a few plugins like virtual guitarist, virtual bassist, virtual [insertyourfavouriteinstrumenthere]... Someone in this forum (don't remember his name) produced a nice song called "playa" based only on vst's, and it was hard to tell that these weren't real instruments.

If you want something a bit more "automatic"... search the forums, there have been a few discussions about that too.

__________________
-=The C in rap is silent=-

IceWind -=- Habey Gonzo's nest

RoyLennigan

I've been working with guitar pro and I've come up with stuff that I like. Its really good for getting an idea down, but the quality is so bad. Can I compose on Cubase with notation and a Staff? If I get Cubase or Reason, will this upgrade midi sounds in all midi programs, including guitar pro?

Habey Gonzo

You can use the midi files that you create with guitar pro, and import them in cubase to run them through VST's. The midi itself doesn't "contain sounds", it depends on the soundcard you use etc, so what cubase or other VST's will do is to replace each note or sound with a different sample, which might give you a better sound. But for the composing, I think guitar pro is the easiest. Even if it sounds crappy while composing, once you finish and VST it, it's nice.

__________________
-=The C in rap is silent=-

IceWind -=- Habey Gonzo's nest

RoyLennigan

cool, that makes sense. Thanks! Cubase looks like a pretty good program.

Habey Gonzo

But keep in mind that cubase is a very expensive application, especially if you get the VST's as well. Of course, there are... ahem... alternative, cheaper, methods, of obtaining it, but that's not something to discuss here!

So if you planning on buying it, be ready to spend a lot of money. I recommended that one because it's the one I use and it's nice, but maybe there are cheaper ones as well (other KMA'ers might recommend these).

__________________
-=The C in rap is silent=-

IceWind -=- Habey Gonzo's nest

Jeff AMM

Roy, there are a lot of good programs out there - what's your budget and what type of music (single guitar, full bands, orchestra)?

__________________
Hal Leonard Sheet Music

Jamey Aebersold Jazz

RoyLennigan

Well, I don't think I'd want to spend more than $150 on something like that. Unless I was doing it professionally, but I'm not... yet. In composing, I'm more of a big band/full orchestra type. On the modern side, of course; sometimes with guitars, bass and piano. I'm trying to learn different drum beats as well, but I think I'd have more luck actually learning the drum set.

For the most part, orchestra, though.

Habey Gonzo

Ok, then better find something else than cubase (close to 800$).

__________________
-=The C in rap is silent=-

IceWind -=- Habey Gonzo's nest

RoyLennigan

So... are there any other good midi composing programs out there?

Habey Gonzo

Ah, true, I used sibelius a while ago. It was ok, don't know what it has become now. It's standard notation, not meant for a particular instrument. Also powertab, this one is for free, kinda guitar pro, but I guess more aimed towards producing great printed scores than towards training yourself.

__________________
-=The C in rap is silent=-

IceWind -=- Habey Gonzo's nest

Aqualung

I have a friend who uses that, and likes it a lot. he's composed a lot of good songs with. (I've been trying to get him to join, but he's not very tech savvy...)

__________________


Here we go. Mushu cereal for breakfast with duck sauce.

Brain

For this Sibelius is the best program out there.. used by professionals, and hmm.. me.
It's very very easy to use and you can upgrade the VSTi and with the fifth edition (Sibelius 5) you alot of VSTi plugs with it, such as Garritan Personal Orchestra and Jazz Band (probally the best VSTi plug for orchestral and jazz instruments).

I think telling him to use Guitar Pro for this is a really bad advice seeing that it's only a tabulature program (yes, you can see notes but you can't add any of the information any composer would like to add to his or her work such as tempos etc).

Habey Gonzo

There is a tempo setting for GP, but it's true that it doesn't follow the standard notation, so it's not good for printing, but if it stays in the computer it's ok.

__________________
-=The C in rap is silent=-

IceWind -=- Habey Gonzo's nest

Michelle<3Music

i use ableton for a lot of my production

Michelle<3Music

guitar pro is very cool too

rgrwkmn

Rosegarden rules for MIDI and making sheet music. Check out the link in my sig to learn about its features. I'm not sure if it runs on anything other than Linux, but that's ok because you should have linux anyway.

__________________
Want to learn about Recording in Linux? (aka haha! my DAW is better than yours!)
Want to find compatible hardware? http://www.linuxstudiopro.com

skylightsorrow

Hey, I don't know what you are using right now. But a cheap and really good program is Fruity Loops for Orchestration and pretty much all types of song writing. I haven't been able to figure out everything with that but it is a great program and it has a great sound quality. If you want I can send an example that my band has written. For drum beats a good program to use is Beatcraft, it goes along with mixcraft. Mixcraft is a recording program which is very good.

The link for Fruity Loops is flstudio.com
The prices have a varied range depending on what package you get. But It is one great program. I hope this is of some use. I am currently enrolled at Berklee college of music online but Classes don't star until fall. If I get anymore information on anything I will write back.

Aqualung

Fruity loops is a good program.

You should upload it to the music showcase. I try to use Fruity Loops, but it's always really cool to see people who actually have composition skills make their songs.

__________________


Here we go. Mushu cereal for breakfast with duck sauce.

Clive

I have recently discovered MagicScore Maestro. It's a great tool of this class, I have already created some sheet music and shared it with my colleagues, it's easy to notate and export the composition notes to a printable file.