justsoulin

Hey Baton, nice of you to find and join us. If you go to My link, after voting and looking through the results, you'll know why I'm happy to have you "on-board". New blood keeps us alive, but experience cannot be bought! Looking forward to reading your words. Myself, I'm kind of locked out on a lot of websites so if you post anything musically such as on youtube etc, may I please ask that you consider an alternative dload link for the likes of people here like myself. I get the never stop learning but I was wondering, you joined nearly a year ago before saying hi. What happened? And I'm really interested to know how you think the board may be able to help you. Looking forward to getting to know you better in the near future.

Hi Juliet and welcome. I just wanted to say well done for following your instincts and never ever give up trying. When you're ready, post some lyrics/music/songs but to help give you a little confidence before you do, take some time to look through the board, search for the questions you are asking and realise that a lot of your answers may be in older posts and other parts of the board you may not think to look in. The amazing thing I found when I arrived here was that I needed to look not only at lyrics but the other parts of the board to make sense of how it all fits together. Another important thing too is to remain open, don't make your work set in stone. And be honest when you review and critique other peoples work (don't just be nice ).

Many Happy Returns - So glad you are here to stay:)

Thanks Mike - much clearer

Thanks Rex, yep it does help. Ref the export/import. Someone sent me a score for drums but the app they use, on my pc (fairly new) didn't show the varied drum set they used. So exporting it, didn't do anything except the same sound as the score itself did on my pc (single beat sound). Maybe, at that time I didn't have the soundbank as they have. There really is a lot to get your head round when you're basically starting from zero point but I'm not going to give up. I'm still writing down lyrics etc as they come up, basic recording the melody and then getting my head back into these appz. Nick, I want to give my efforts the best chance possible by giving someone else the best chance to "get" my ideas. Not everyone has the time, patience or inclination to spend on something they don't get straight off (that's not to say the idea is not good in the 1st place). Also, this exercise of mine is basically two-fold. A - teach myself about things I don't yet know or fully understand but should. B - get to a point where my ideas are "more" complete to be able to take them to a higher level. Thanks Guys

Thanks for asking. Band in .... well it looks good but i can't find the way to actually try and write the music. It just seems to run away on it's own LOL I've just got Mixcraft 5 - WOW. I've just found the whole orchestra. Now I think this is a DAW? And I got Beatcraft too which from the different drum appz I've installed seems to be the best. Besides that, I guess I'm just lost still. What tips can U give me m8? I think one of the biggest problems I can't yet get my head around is that they all use different file extensions so they don't recognise each other. If I find I can use one app for one thing, then want to import what I do with it into another app - boom. I can't (yet).

um, ok, um thanks LOL

Hi John Thanks. Urm, ok. Let me see if I have this right or not. A soundfont gives you the "sound" of an "instrument" or "special effect"? A midi file just tells a sampler, sequencer or DAW software package, the note data, which instrument, bpm etc (because it is the music score)? A sampler, sequencer or DAW software package will open up a score (sheet music) saved as a midi file and use the soundfonts saved anywhere on your hard drive/s)? A VST is some sort of addon to a sampler, sequencer or DAW software package that allows you to add effects to any sound within the score (soundfont/instruments etc) but also allows you to, with a sampler, sequencer or DAW software package, actually make and record the music? No, I'm not quite there yet LOL am I? Do I need these? All of them? What's the easiest, simplest to use and learn based on lack of skills/experience to get something of a backing track for vocals? I've read quite a few of the posts in the software section and Reaper looks complicated for a noob (lots of buttons to play around with but stumped for getting anything half decent out haha) If the tune/music is saved as a midi file (if I can create that of course) and record the vocals as an MP3 file, can the different file types be added together to get a decent output? Can all this be done without the need of "external" hardware such as a keyboard? ie - all software? I've just got Band in a box that I'm playing with today/night. Got to get a handle on this somehow. Thanks again. J

Forgive my ignorance, but what does a sampler (such as Kontakt) actually do? What is it used for?

thx

Hi All, I don't play an instrument. I have no musical writing theory experience. I've been downloading various appz that give me sheet music to begin writing (eg NoteWorthy, Musescore). Also things like Virtual bassist, virtual piano, drumsite etc. Then SF2's and seeing things such as VST's, loops, midi's. I write lyrics, more often with a melody which I would like to put down in a note fashion and to build on this to produce a basic song (with the idea that someone much more professional can take the idea and polish it up into a more worthy demo). I know I've a lot to do, not as much time as I would like to spend on it with little financial resources as well as the space for suddenly having keyboards etc. PC has a Realtek soundcard that seems to deal with playing various soundfonts ok. I'm not looking to create soundfonts (that's the term I've read) - there's obviously a lot already out there. But how do I listen/play to/with them? So in terms of SF2's, midi's, loops and VST's etc: Can someone please help clarify in simple terms a) what they are, what they do, c) do I need them, & maybe very importantly d) how do I use them etc etc I think it would be of immense help to me to be able to load "something" into say "Finale" or "Musescore" to see it in note form. I just don't (yet) understand if I need a soundfont or a vst or a midi file etc that will load and transpose itself into the sheet music. Is there an app that "can" take a file and convert it into musical notation? If so, what format of initial file should I have? I know with say Musescore, I can export the sheet music into an MP3 and listen to it but it doesn't seem I can import the MP3 to get the sheet music from it. I read the "help" files in these appz and to be honest, they seem to think I know what they're talking about as in I have previous experience. So I've gotten a little overloaded with all this stuff and I'm a little lost now to be honest. I was looking forward to reading 333Maxwells posts but he never got around to doing them (on soundfonts, vst's etc). Appreciate any help. advice, useful links etc. Thanks, J ps - when looking and downloading a soundfont player, all I get is a dll file ?? I see a visual image on the website but the dload is something else. Do I need something else, are they a plug in? pps - What does a DAW do? How does it fit in with all the above? Same question for a sampler like Kontakt.

Here's another one for people to try (also free ) Rhyme

Thanks John. All this is currently in (& on) my mind and I'm trying to educate myself with music alone. That is I am reading about melody, composing et all and trying to learn how all the musical variations fit together on a score. Basically I'm trying to create the basics of the song musically that will give a composer more of an idea of the songs ability "in his language", whilst gaining an understanding of how my song doesn't quite fit or work - and all this without playing an instrument or knowing how to write music. It's a big task! Thankfully, I have ability, I have the need and want to learn and I've found a number of programs that help me. But there's a long way to go yet for me (just in learning each programs ways LOL). I think what you're saying came home to me recently when I had to fit a song into a fixed and rigid tune. My 1st attempt almost worked and my 2nd attempt did work. I've yet to know the result though of my 2nd attempt.

You're welcome John. I'm not sure about it's rhyming ability yet but the syllable counter is invaluable so as to follow the structure and balance throughout a song on 1st write, then rewrites etc. There's others that I've found but yet to try out so not yet posted details. Please let us all know how it is for you once you've tried it.

Good to meet you

Welcome I read them all

Thanks John, your words as always help me in my quest, especially; and Mike, I'm in a similar boat and therefore reading and soaking up others opinions here on the board - taking stock so to speak. That's what's making me ask now, which I think is a good thing.