# Writing some music on the fly - Piano Roll Midi Editing Videos



## TheoKrueger (Sep 12, 2009)

Hi everybody,

I recorded my self composing 2 short pieces in Sonar 4 from scratch for the fun of it using the piano roll. One has only a clavinet in a Bach style setting, the other has some small orchestration (harp, pizzicatos, woods, glocken etc) It was a speed composition/practise sort of thing, so please don't expect anything well-thought out 

I find it interesting watching such videos and seeing how other people work so I thought you might like this too.

You may watch the videos here:

Clavinet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5lO44sjD7U

Orch : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w3e15IcoCY

Epic : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QlKV23mRWU


Thanks for watching! I hope you enjoy.

Theo.


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## Ranietz (Sep 12, 2009)

Wow. You're fast at editing in the piano roll. I liked the use of the "scrub" tool (if that's what it's called). I never thought of using that myself. I also saw a couple of other tricks I got to try out.

Thanks for sharing.


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## R. Soul (Sep 12, 2009)

:shock: 

That was amazing. I had no idea people wrote music like that. wow.
It virtually looks like you are entering random notes at the speed of light but it somehow ends up sounding better than what I could do in 8 hours. :( 

On a technical note I didn't know that you could have all those different instruments on one piano roll either. Perhaps it's time for upgrading my sequencer - must be over 4 years old now.


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## Johnny22 (Sep 12, 2009)

Theo Very cool videos, enjoyed them greatly.

Like Ranietz said, I've never used the scrub tool, you just showed how it can be used, very cool.

And the music, it self, very nice!

Cheers mate !


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## TheoKrueger (Sep 12, 2009)

Thanks a lot for the comments and for watching guys! I am glad you liked them.

I am currently trying to make another video with a more "serious" orchestral score, with french horns, strings and the rest... but looks like my computer doesn't agree with running all that stuff together + recording the video and audio streams!! I'll do my best though to have something new up shortly.

Thank you Casey,

Two videos that come to mind are these:

http://www.cinesamples.com/videos/ 
There are two videos at the bottom, one called "dramatic composition in 9 minutes" which is very cool.

There's also this video Alex Pfeffer posted recently called "template talk" which has some nice things:
http://www.alexpfeffer.net/?p=825

If someone else knows some more videos please feel free to chime in.

Cheers,
Theo


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## mf (Sep 12, 2009)

Your mouse skills are really impressive! Loved the klezmer feel of the orchestral piece. Did you compose these on the fly? or had them sketched in mind (or on paper) prior to this?


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## TheoKrueger (Sep 12, 2009)

Thanks mf!

I didn't really have anything scetched in mind, but I used an existing template in which I had written a similar small piece before, so I used more or less the same orchestration/feel but composed different music with it.

Usually when I am writing a normal piece I don't compose this way, this feels more like a donkey with blinds that is always looking forward without making any corrections, looking back etc. Usually i use more controllers, are more careful in the instruments and samples selection, open up kontakt now and then to make tweaks etc. I also change the piece a hundred times before i am happy with what i wrote.

Thanks a lot for watching!!!

Theo


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## TheoKrueger (Sep 12, 2009)

Hi guys, just a bump to say that i've uploaded one more video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QlKV23mRWU

This one is like an epic sort of track. Unfortunately the sound was recorded in mono but the juice is still there i think 

Thanks for watching,

Theo

PS: part 2 and 3 coming up.. probably tomorrow afternoon or so...


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## Ranietz (Sep 13, 2009)

Thanks again for posting those videos Theo.

I see you already have a fast workflow for entering notes into the piano roll, but have you tried the pattern brush tool when entering notes? I haven't tried it myself but it seems it could be useful when you want a lot of repeated 8th or 16th notes.
I'm using Sonar 6 so I'm not sure if the pattern brush tool is included in Sonar 4 though.


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## TheoKrueger (Sep 13, 2009)

Thanks Ranietz,

I haven't used the pattern brush tool a lot, but i've tried using it a couple of times for the bongos and shakers patterns just for fun ... usually when i want a lot of 8ths or 16ths i draw in 4 of them, copy paste to make 8, copy paste to make 16/32 etc, works for me that way without getting things too complicated.

By the way, i guess most know these, but here are some shortcuts in the piano roll view in Sonar 4, once you learn them its like playing a FPS:

D: Draw
E: Erase
S: Select
B: Scrub
N: Enable/Disable note snap
C: View/Hide velocity grid
W: Go to start of track

Custom shortcuts (very useful):
Z: Zoom in horizontally
X: Zoom out horizontaly

Best,
Theo


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## Mr Greg G (Sep 13, 2009)

Thanks for those videos, it's always interesting to see how composers are working!


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## Mahlon (Sep 15, 2009)

Another handy short-cut key sequence is if once you've zoomed in with the magnifying glass tool, by pressing "U" key, you can immediately go back to the last view before your zoom.

Just thought it was worth mentioning workflow-wise.

Mahlon

p.s. Sonar has some great workflow and customization. I just wish it'd get with the program on "notation view".


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