I have a predilection for classical music interpreted with synthetizer.I wish I knew how to utilize it the way you do. It is amazingly well done. I will download it (as I have downloaded many of your recordings) as soon as my MacBook is back from repairs (I dropped it!. Thank you.

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Dear Enrique,

Thank you for your kind words, but may I observe that utilize should be employed in only very special circumstances and not as a synonym for the simple and happy verb use.

The misuse of this verb antagonizes me as much as such common American redundancies as "at this point in time," or the newly-popular, "first and foremost."

Good language is as important as good music.

Although I am using HTML tags, MacJams will not follow them, and so, to avoid another unreadable paragraph, I will address your questions in future posts.

Keep your ear to the ground.

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you did not state which programs you used for this recording. Please let us know.

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Once again, since MacJams will not follow HTML (or BBCode) paragraph tags, I'll divide this reply into separate messages. [NEW PARAGRAPH]

Enrique, I answered your question in my response to your generous comments about my piece about The Demiurge, but here it is again in expanded form. Almost everything (though not all) I have posted here was done entirely in the notation program Sibelius 3. (Sibelius 4 has been out for a while, but I'm too cheap to upgrade.) The two most popular music notation programs are Finale (most popular in the USA) and Sibelius (most popular worldwide). (Noteworthy Composer has its loyal fans, too, but it's available only for Windows.) In 2000, I began making music using Finale, which I used to create MIDI files of the classics (that's how I taught myself how to write music) which I then posted at the Classical Archives. After a while, I noticed that my files didn't sound nearly as good as those posted by the clever English composer Tony Matthews, who uses Sibelius, so in 2002 I switched. (Sibelius was also the first to introduce a version native to O/S X.) [NEW PARAGRAPH]

With a notation program, you simply enter the notes on a staff using your computer's keyboard, and the program plays it back. (Notes can also be entered using a MIDI device such as a MIDI keyboard, but I don't think that's of much use when devising a new piece, because if you play a wrong note, that too will be notated.) In this way, it takes me much less effort (and skill) to create a music file than anyone else here (except for the loop monkeys). If I had to think-up music AND learn to play it as well, I'd have maybe one file posted. [NEW PARAGRAPH]

Almost all of my files here are simply MIDI sounds. I have the Garritan Personal Orchestra in Finale 2006 and the Kontakt Gold sound library (from Native Instruments) in Sibelius (both programs now come with the GPO sound library), but I don't like either, and I stick to MIDI. My early postings here were done by merely writing the music out in Sibelius, then saving (Save As . . .) the file in standard MIDI form (playable on any computer or as a ring tone) then converting the MIDI file to MP3 in iTunes. At the time I used the standard QuickTime General MIDI synthesizer bundled in every Mac, and as you have seen, I received many negative reviews about the sound, but for the Rossini piece above and The Demiurge I no longer use QuickTime sounds. I was disappointed that Mr. Reinholt (whose fine Audio Voyage I am listening to as I type) does not like the sounds of the Rossini, but then I listened to the MacJams stream, and the sound here is not as good as the MP3 file of it on my Desktop. (Indistinct and too much muddy bass.) Why this should be, I don't know.

BTW, I have most of my old stuff posted using improved sounds at MacIdol.com. and my SibeliusMusic page. (Don't download anything of mine from here -- download from those sites.)

I'll probably capitulate eventually and start using a sound library (anything other than the hideous S.O. JamPack 4), but for now, my antique Dual-1.25GHz G4 ("Mirrored Driveway") is too slow to handle a sound-library using over 10 different instruments. (I suppose I could record each instrument separately then mix them down, but that'd be too much tedium, and music's supposed to be fun.) [NEW PARAGRAPH]

Enrique, I recommend Sibelius as your composition instrument. It's easier (simpler and more intuitive -- think, Mac is to to Windows as Sibelius is to Finale) to use than Finale, and you can manipulate the playback sound more, and there's one especially good reason why Finale is absolutely the wrong choice for you. [This is getting too long, and I'll be back later. Stay tuned.]

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Anyone who visits this site regularly must surely have noticed that within hours after I post a new file, an Anonymous Coward immediately (perhaps without even listening to the piece) gives my music a rating of 3 in all categories. No reason or comment for the rating is ever given, as that's the way anonymous cowards operate, but the AC never misses an opportunity for a low (anonymous) rating. Why is this? Is it retribution for a disparaging remark I may have made about the AC's music? I leave you to speculate on the psychological motive for such behavior (which is at about the level of those who vandalize public toilets), but the question is, does this cause me any grief? [NEW PARAGRAPH]

Of course, it's always nice to receive compliments, but at the end of the day, the ratings at MacJams aren't on my mind much. I certainly wish more people listened to my music, but since I write mainly in the style of 100-years-ago, I don't expect to be the Next Big Thing. Besides, I receive something more complimentary than anonymous ratings -- regular checks from SibeliusMusic for the sale of my sheet music. True, I'm not making a fortune, but last year I sold scores and parts for Afraid of the Dark, Crepitation Rag, and one of my marches to community bands in small towns. The scores cost just a few bucks and the individual parts sell for $1 each, but you do the math. [NEW PARAGRAPH]

Why would anyone purchase sheet music written by a rank amateur when music by the famous masters is available? Easy. That's right, my stuff's easy. I can't play Chopin, so I don't write like him, I write at the level of other rank amateurs. Also, a set of band parts from a publisher costs about $75. You can print sheet music from SibeliusMusic for less than half that price. I admit to being a bottom feeder. [NEW PARAGRAPH]

Enrique, that's why I'm hollering at you to get Sibelius. You write better music than I do (not much better, mind you, but you have greater keyboard fluency, and your melodies are finer), so if a rank amateur like me can make a few bucks in the business of music, think of what you could do. It's a nice feeling. [NEW PARAGRAPH]

Incidentally, Finale Showcase is Finale's equivalent to SibeliusMusic. Sheet music can be printed from the site, but everything is free. I can report that everything posted there is worth exactly what it costs.

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I really appreciate your advise. I will make a point to visit the site you mentioned. As for your musical background, you certainly must have it and I am curious. I have eagerly searched since my teenage years for classical music played on synth "a la Walter?Wendy Carlos" and finding your pieces was a treat. Thank you again.

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I think that rendering classical pieces in this way at least makes them available, should the particular programmer wish, for others to enjoy.

My concern though is that either the sounds are not quite rich (or probably authentic) enough for this great piece of music or that the production could have been a tad different, to enhance the synthesized orchestral sounds.

Have a great 2007.

R.



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to the vast and rich world of classical music. I know of course all the stuff everyone knows; moonlight sonata and yes, william tell, but my actual knowledge doesn't go far beyond that. It's something that has bothered me for some time, as I have been interested in this music for about 10 years, but have never really grown my appreciation to any substantial ragard.
Despite my self-induced frustration, I wanted to leave a comment to say that, even in the modest position I am in, and with the slight knowledge I have, I must say that classical music is by no means slow or dull or solemn through any sort of prerequisite. Not that I find there to be anything wrong with being sombre or durge like in punctuation, accent and overall execution, as my own offerings at MacJams will indicate.
I listen frequently to Beethoven's symphony no. 9, Ode An Die Freude in it's entirety, as it is one of the few classical works I own, and I find myself falling subject to all emotions I know. Certainly, it is not limited to a stigma however mispaced, of boredom and tired cliches. It is beautiful, expressive, and real.

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