# Deborah’s Theme



## Martin S

This is my first attempt of arranging in StaffPad, I hope you’ll like it. I didn’t want to post in ‘StaffPad Compositions’ thread, as this is not an original composition but an arrangement of my beloved Ennio Morricone’s (RIP) “Deborah’s Theme“ from the movie ‘Once Upon A Time In America’. One of my absolute favorites from his hand. (The YouTube compression degrades the quality quite a bit; it does sound better directly in StaffPad)

I used Berlin Strings, Brass, Woodwinds and First Chairs, as well as Cinesamples Voxos. This is a screen recording, so no post processing or mixing in Daw, btw.





And here’s the Original:


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## Gil

Hello,
For a first attempt, it sounds really great! Congratulations!
I'm on the edge of getting StaffPad and Berlin instruments (with Voxos also) and my wallet doesn't thank you for your video 

I've seen some misaligned dynamics, a few "not-so-legatos" legatos, but the result is impressive!

Would you mind sharing the tweaks you have done please? Tempo I suppose, volumes perhaps and the pros(better definition of melodic lines) and cons(money ) of adding first chairs to ensemble, ... and how many time it took to enter it in StaffPad?

It's strange that your video is 720p, I think you can export it in 1080p 

Thank you and congrats again!

Regards,
Gil.


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## Martin S

Gil said:


> Hello,
> For a first attempt, it sounds really great! Congratulations!
> I'm on the edge of getting StaffPad and Berlin instruments (with Voxos also) and my wallet doesn't thank you for your video
> 
> I've seen some misaligned dynamics, a few "not-so-legatos" legatos, but the result is impressive!
> 
> Would you mind sharing the tweaks you have done please? Tempo I suppose, volumes perhaps and the pros and cons of adding first chairs to ensemble, ... and how many time it took to enter it in StaffPad?
> 
> It's strange that your video is 720p, I think you can export it in 1080p
> 
> Thank you and congrats again!
> 
> Regards,
> Gil.


Hi Gil, thanks a lot for your comments  Much appreciated.

Regarding the video, I actually did try to upload the video in 1080p, but the upload halted at 54% every time, so I had to downgrade the resolution - unfortunately.

Yes, the dynamics don’t reflect the dynamics markings. I’ve started out with markings, but eventually had to tweak quite a bit in the expression lane for each staff. The legatos (Strings) had me scratching my head. Generally they are ok, but there seems to be crescendo on longer notes. F.x. A legato tied quarter note to a dotted half note; the dotted half note has a cresc/swell, even if the dynamics are going downwards. I guess it’ll take some time to get acquainted with how to adjust the expression lane accordingly.

Tempo goes up and down quite a bit. I just adjusted by ear, as it’s easy do in the tempo track.

The First Chairs was almost an afterthought. Direct copy paste of the individual string sections, then adjusting some dynamics levels here and there. I didn’t want the First Chairs to be too dominant at all, so I actually attenuated each of them by -24 dB in their respective volume levels. Yet they still add just a hint of clarity on the attack of each note. Of course, this would come down to taste and context.

I still learning the handwriting recognition, but generally it responds well to my writing, although some adaptation is required. This I already knew…I think I spent about 5-6 hours writing, and when I got the add-on libraries on sale yesterday, I guess I spent another 3-4 hours today fine-tuning the levels and dynamics. Next step will be to export the stems to Logic and tweak/fine tune/mix/automate and see if I can get a better result.

Sorry for your wallet  Mine just took a big hit and is cowering under the bed. It won’t come out, no matter how hard I try


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## Michael Antrum

@Martin S - It’s a favourite of mine too, and it still shocks me that you can get such a gorgeous sound out of an iPad with minimal tweaking. With such a glorious piece of music, I did the sensible thing and sat back, closed my eyes and let it wash over me.

I wish my Grandfather were still alive. He died in the late seventies, but if I would love to have seen what he could do with such a tool…..

First attempt…….I wish my first attempt in Cubase all those years ago sounded anywhere near as fine.


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## Gil

Hello,
@Martin S thanks for your detailed answer! Very interesting!

I don't know if it's easy to share an audio without first chairs (as I do suppose actual levels/dynamics take in account the duo ensemble + first chairs)?

I'm also very interested in your next step using Logic Pro X as my workflow will possibly be the same 
Someone is wondering also here: https://vi-control.net/community/threads/logic-and-staffpad-workflow.112164/

Congrats and thanks again!
Regards,
Gil.


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## Saxer

Fantastic result! For my taste better than the version that came out recently as a chamber string library demo.
The legatos especially in bar 4 and similar seem to have the same problems as in "real world" DAW libraries: these pumping long notes. In Berlin Strings they are less obvious in the higher dynamics though. In a DAW there's the possibility to work around that (stacking, converting to audio and do some crossfades) but it's kind of a feature that you won't spend time with that in StaffPad. Simply accept the results and move on writing. The main result is impressive enough.

I'd love to have StaffPads audio output in a MIDI input based notation program too. All these articulation maps doesn't really work like the adapted integration in StaffPad. It's still a kind of science fiction that handwritten music sounds so well immediately!


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## Martin S

@Michael Antrum , Thank you so much for your comment, it really means a lot to me that you enjoyed it so much. Yes, you're right - if only a tool like StaffPad had existed during my Conservatory years in the 90'es


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## Martin S

Gil said:


> Hello,
> @Martin S thanks for your detailed answer! Very interesting!
> 
> I don't know if it's easy to share an audio without first chairs (as I do suppose actual levels/dynamics take in account the duo ensemble + first chairs)?
> 
> I'm also very interested in your next step using Logic Pro X as my workflow will possibly be the same
> Someone is wondering also here: https://vi-control.net/community/threads/logic-and-staffpad-workflow.112164/
> 
> Congrats and thanks again!
> Regards,
> Gil.


@Gil , sorry for my late reply.

Well, the way I used the First Chairs in this piece is very, very subtle. I'm not even sure if it's actually possible to hear the difference in the mp3 below, but I've tried anyway. It's the same first few bars played 3 times; 1st playthrough is First Chairs alone, then followed by strings section WITHOUT First Chairs, and finally both of them together.

View attachment Staffpad Deborah's Theme strings.mp3


I'm no Logic Pro wizard so the way I use it with StaffPad is simply to export individual Audio stems into Logic. This gives you all staffs as a stem + the metronome track as WAV files. I then use the Metronome file to create a Logic Tempo track via the Beat Mapping feature. Once that's done I export the MIDI from StaffPad into Logic. This way the individual MIDI files follows the tempo track and the audio files perfectly. So if I want to use another library for certain parts or passages, the MIDI is already there and ready to be used with whatever patch/library I'd want.

All the best,
Martin


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## Martin S

@Saxer , Thank you so much for your feedback. It's much appreciated and I'm glad you liked it.

Yes, the 'pumping/swells' seems to almost be a standard in most libraries. But, as you correctly states, it's something I don't worry too much about; especially not during the writing phase. If need be, I can try to edit it once the StaffPad project is exported into Logic and using the techniques you described.

Although I do have a Master's Degree as a (Jazz) Upright Bass Player from a Danish Music conservatory, it is no longer my main profession and I only do this orchestration/arrangement thing as a hobby and entirely for my own pleasure. I don't have clients or deadlines, nor do I intend to. But I f***in' LOVE StaffPad; I'm really chuffed to bits of how amazing it sounds 'out of the box' (w/ add-on libraries). I mean, just inputting notes (absolutely no editing at all) can give me something like this:





It's REALLY hard not to get inspired, when I get 'instant gratification' just be inputting some notes with a pencil 

All the best,
Martin


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## Gil

Hello @Martin S,
Thank you for your answer and your MP3 example!
Like you it's quite difficult to make the difference with or without first chairs...

Moreover thanks (and congrats) for your vocal arrangement, Voxos seems also great in StaffPad!

Thanks for describing your workflow with Logic Pro! One thing I don't understand is:


> I then use the Metronome file to create a Logic Tempo track via the Beat Mapping feature.


Isn't it possible to export a midi file with the tempo track from StaffPad?

Thank you again for your examples and your very interesting answers!

Regards,
Gil.


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## Martin S

Hi Gil, yes when exporting as XML, the tempo track is included and Logic automatically uses this. However, I found that once imported into Logic, the tempo track was not in sync with the audio tempo/metronome file I got when exporting the stems from StaffPad.

I think this was due to the fact that my tempo track in StaffPad uses tempo curves in some places (f.x. gradual tempo increase from 40 to 50 over, say 4 beats), and my old Logic version - I’m still on v. 10.3 - doesn’t interpret these gradual tempo curves correctly. So I had to use beat mapping instead.

According to more experienced StaffPad users, importing XML (to StaffPad) is generally a bit more reliable than ’just’ importing MIDI because the dynamic markings etc. are more accurate. I don’t know if this also applies when exporting from StaffPad. I didn’t notice any difference between XML and MIDI in Logic’s Score Editor; the music/notes looked exactly like it did in StaffPad.


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## Gil

Hello Martin,
Thanks for your detailed answer!

Would you mind sharing your StaffPad score as an education starting point for a very-closed-to-be-StaffPad-user please? 

Thank you!
Best regards,
Gil.


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## Martin S

@Gil I sent you a Private Message


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