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#709589 03/19/22 10:07 AM
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Old Dog At Fair

Just some wanderings around in BIAB style _CMPFBF3.STY, with various BIAB solos I lost track of (sorry) and supplementation in Logic.

There is a lack of substantial melody here which I try to make up for with liberal application of tone coloring agents and gratuitous modulations. I guess you could say I'm working on orchestration. I think the best thing about this short piece is the way it builds and bursts into the (RealTrack) lead guitar solo.

Come on in, stay for the guitar solo, and enjoy, if possible! =8^)

If you listen to the entire piece, you and your dog will both be 2 minutes and 52 seconds older.

Old Dog At Fair

Last edited by Mark Hayes; 03/19/22 02:21 PM.
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Very nice easy listening... especially the Squeeze-Box/Steel Guitar combination.
I enjoyed that a lot.


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Well I may be 2 minutes and 52 seconds older but I thoroughly enjoyed that time

Nice mix

IMHO I didn't think that guitar fit very well. I think a mellower sounding guitar would fit better. But that is just my opinion and other probably will not agree.

Either way it is a very good sounding song


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Thanks, Mssrs. Head and D! I like the idea of doing an "old dog series". This could be my "concept" album.

Mario: You're probably right about the electric guitar, I don't know why the solo's savage glory so appealed to me. I'll keep this as is but bear in mind that Not All Noses Smell My Roses (hey, I just made up a wise saying!)

PS – $oundCloud for pay, with update in place, makes revising songs just one more time sooo addictive... I just fixed the balance between the acoustics and the horns at the end, and tried to mellow the electric guitar...

Last edited by Mark Hayes; 03/19/22 02:26 PM.
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My dog is right next to me.
We both enjoyed it!

Nice.

moto

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Hi, Mark.

Yep, your description is accurate. smile


-- David Cuny

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Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?

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dcuny #709689 03/20/22 04:37 AM
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Thanks, Moto! Also...

Originally Posted By: dcuny
Yep, your description is accurate. smile

OK, I know which part you're agreeing with.

Melody is hard for me. It is really hard for me to sit down with Logic and make melody happen one note at a time using some kind of notation editor. What I did once was sing a melody, improvising and recording, then turn it into a MIDI track and edit away, but that doesn't work reliably. I really need to master some notation editor, I've read that MuseScore is good.

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Originally Posted By: Mark Hayes
I really need to master some notation editor, I've read that MuseScore is good.

If you work in your DAW, learning to use the piano roll editor is really useful. Plus, it's pretty much universal - BiaB, every DAW the supports MIDI, Emvoice and SynthesizerV... they all have support piano roll notation.

It's not as nice as musical notation, but even if you start using music notation (say, with MuseScore), you'll almost always end up tweaking it in your DAW at the piano roll level.

But if music notation is where you think compositionally, BiaB's music notation editor is pretty slick. Just be aware that by default it likes to put rests between notes, even if you don't write any. I think the setting is Settings | Notation Window Options | More... | Duration % and change the default of 80% to 100%.


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Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?

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dcuny #709694 03/20/22 05:17 AM
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Originally Posted By: dcuny
If you work in your DAW, learning to use the piano roll editor is really useful.

Well, that's how I mostly work now, in Logic, and what I'd like to get beyond. Piano roll is obviously needed for various reasons but it's terrible for entering music as notateable music, and being able to see it in theoretical terms.

Let me ask you this: If you were manually transcribing a piece of sheet music to create a MIDI file, what application would you use for data entry?

Last edited by Mark Hayes; 03/20/22 05:43 AM.
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Originally Posted By: Mark Hayes
Let me ask you this: If you were manually transcribing a piece of sheet music to create a MIDI file, what application would you use for data entry?

I'm probably not the best person to ask, but I'll give some suggestions anyway. wink

For simple monophonic melodies, BiaB is actually nice, if you set the durations to 100%. You need to do this before you start data entry.

I like Notion, but I picked it up cheaply a while ago. The main selling feature (besides price) was support for multiple sound libraries, but they don't have the same level of support they use to.

I used NoteFlight a number of years ago, and liked the ability to enter music notation by typing.

I've read good things about MuseScore, and I remember asking for some features that ended up in the next version - something you're not going to get from a typical software developer.

For simple compositions, you might look at Finale Notepad.

There are a lot of notation programs that I've skipped here - I've mostly mentioned the ones I know that are free (or free-ish).

Really, it's like choosing DAW. They all get the job done, but there might be something that designed in a way that matches your mental model, or has some features you find important.

Last edited by dcuny; 03/20/22 11:47 AM.

-- David Cuny

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Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?

BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
dcuny #709758 03/20/22 02:21 PM
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Originally Posted By: dcuny
Originally Posted By: Mark Hayes
If you were manually transcribing a piece of sheet music to create a MIDI file, what application would you use for data entry?

I'm probably not the best person to ask, but I'll give some suggestions anyway.

Thanks.

Having looked at a buncha stuff, here are my thoughts on this urgent matter.

All things considered, I should really just master Logic's score editor, even if it's not the best, if I'm going to be working in Logic. (And I hand-entered that entire Copland piece in Logic, after all, so I know it can be done – it didn't kill me, maybe it even made me stronger.)

However, for doing abstract, "pre-production" note-by-note editing, with or without associated chords, I think I will focus on learning MuseScore. Like: If I were trying to do exercises from the Fux counterpoint textbook, I would use MuseScore. It is (1) better than Logic, (2) free, and (3) favored on the PG forums in other threads.

Thanks again for all your thoughts on the various apps.

Last edited by Mark Hayes; 03/20/22 02:25 PM.
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Excellent backtrack. Really nice chord progressions and instrumentation. Well done


Scott Collingwood
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Scott C #709961 03/21/22 01:45 PM
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Originally Posted By: Scott C
Excellent backtrack. Really nice chord progressions and instrumentation. Well done

Thanks, Scott, that's what I was going for. Though I am still in the market for a melody, if you know anyone who's got.

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