This is definitely a partial list of some of the things you can accomplish with a computer music system. I thought it might be kind of fun (and, hopefully, informative!) to put this short article together for you so that you can get an overview of the various applications that music software products are being used for. It could inspire some of you who are still “on the fence” deciding whether to even become involved with computer music applications. The fact is, there are very meaningful and practical benefits that this technology offers musicians.
Many musical tasks (notation, transposition, recording, etc.) can be delegated to a computer software program. Often saving time for the musician, the professional level of musicianship that can be achieved either by a single individual or a corporate group, can be greatly enhanced through the use of some of these products. Although MIDI /music technology has been around for awhile, I feel that most folks are still essentially unaware of the great variety of music technology “tools” available to help them achieve their musical goals. This is changing however, as musicians share their discoveries and personal experiences with one another at music conferences, via email, and visiting web pages like this one.
Anyhow, here’s a rundown of some of the things people like yourself are doing with computer music systems and software. I hope you enjoy it and come away inspired!
Recording Multi-Track Music
The type of software is used for MIDI and digital audio recording. Recording to tape is becoming less important these days, being replaced by digital software applications that make recording much easier for home musicians (as well as professional recording studio facilities) to churn out high-quality productions.
MIDI Recording is usually done via a MIDI keyboard synthesizer attached to your computer with a simple MIDI Interface. Digital Audio Recording into the software is done by connecting an Audio Interface to your computer (so you can connect microphones and/or audio cables to route the audio to the computer).
Instead of purchasing the two types of interfaces separately, it is common practice to use a combo-interface that combines both MIDI and Digital Audio capabilities into a single unit.
Almost all current software recording programs give the user a choice of linear recording, meaning you can record each instrumental or vocal part for the duration of the entire song, or pattern and loop sequencing, where you record song sections and “assemble” your recorded sections to create a complete song.
Here’s some of the common things you can do with a recording software program…
* Compose Original Songs for Copyright or Personal Use
* Enjoy Full Orchestral Playback of Your Songs using MIDI sound modules, MIDI keyboard instruments, SoundFonts and Software Synthesizers
* Experiment With Different Instrument Assignments Without Re-recording Parts (MIDI)
* Easily Mix and Remix Your MIDI and digital audio Tracks With On-Screen Faders
* Record All Vocal Parts (melody and harmony) Yourself On Separate Audio Tracks
* Record Acoustic Instruments On Their Own Tracks
* Freely Alter Tempos of Any Song Without Changing Pitch (MIDI)
* Change Pitch (transpose) Without Altering Tempo (MIDI)
* Make Your Own Accompaniment Tracks to Sing or Play Along With (homemade karaoke!)
* Create New Arrangements of Existing Songs
* Make Background Music for Multimedia Applications
* Record Entire Collections of Songs to Create Your Own CD’s
Become Your Own Music Publisher
For printing music, you use Notation Software. This type of software is used to edit, arrange, insert lyrics and chords, place musical symbols, and do the final page layout for printout of musical scores. Very popular for self-publishers and music teachers. Music pastors use notation software most frequently for transposing existing music to a more comfortable key for their choir or congregation.
Printing music using software is now referred to as DTMP (DeskTop Music Publishing). Sometimes a combination of software programs are used for this purpose -especially if you are incorporating photos and graphics on the same pages as the music. For binding your printed pages of music into book form, your local office supply store can help you with this. Here’s what you can do with a MIDI Notation software program…
* Make Your Own Custom Sheet Music, Songbooks and Hymnals
* Print Full Scores or Lead Sheets for Band, Orchestra, and Church Musicians
* Print Original Songs for Copyright Purposes
* Create Teaching Materials and Theory Workbooks for Music Classes
* Transpose and Print Music In Any Key (choral or instrumental)
* Play A MIDI Keyboard for “Instant” Notation of Your Songs
* Create New Arrangements of Existing Songs and Print Them Out
Specialty Applications
There are quite a few software products that will allow you to do the “unusual” (read, previously impossible). Each has its place for the particular needs of the user. Here’s some examples of these applications, with a brief description included for each…
Convert Monophonic Instrument Performances To MIDI (Pitch-to-MIDI conversion)
There is a neat little utility included with PrintMusic, Allegro and Finale called MicNotator that actually converts the performance of a monophonic instrument like trumpet, sax, clarinet, etc. into MIDI data. This can be handy for non-keyboard players to get single line instrumental parts into the computer. (Before you ask, singing into the microphone will not yield accurate results – you must perform your part using a monophonic instrument for the conversion to work well.)
You plug a microphone into your computer soundcard and play your instrument. While you are playing, the software listens to the note pitches and converts them into MIDI numbers. When you’re done entering the part, you will see your performance displayed as notation on your computer screen. You can even save the result as a Standard MIDI file. Pitch-to-MIDI conversion is not a perfect science, so you will likely find that some manual editing may be required.
You can save your music as a sheet music file, or if you save it as a MIDI file, it can be opened in any other Notation program or Music Recording program for printout, editing and/or playback.
Music Scanning (music OCR graphic-to-MIDI conversion)
A company called Musitek developed OCR (Optical Character Recognition) for music a few years ago. I was a beta tester for this software before it went to market, and I remember how excited I was to be on the “cutting edge” of this new technology!
Their premier software is sold under the name SmartScore. SmartScore supports up to 16-part music, and has fully integrated scoring and sequencing capability, as well. The program was created with the main purpose of converting a graphic scan into MIDI data, but it also allows you to perform score editing and layout functions similar to those found in dedicated notation programs.
To take advantage of its musical OCR features, you scan each page of music, then save the pages as graphic files. Your monitor displays each page of the original graphic scan on the top half of the screen, and the “interpretation” of the graphic on the bottom half. Comparing the original scan with the on-screen interpretation allows you to spot any errors for editing. Basically, you want both displays to match.
After making any necessary corrections, you can convert the music to a Standard MIDI file to use in other software programs, or print and play the file directly from SmartScore. The music scanning technology has gone through several updates and improvements over the years, and is getting better all the time; improving speed and accuracy with each new version.
Auto-Accompaniment Software
This type of software helps composers create MIDI instrumental soundtracks much more quickly than manually recording each individual instrument part “by hand”. The most well known product is Band-In-A-Box by PG Music.
Basic operation requires the user to type in the chord progressions at the appropriate locations in each measure of a song, then select a musical “style” (ballad, rock, Latin, etc.) The software will then automatically create a multi-part accompaniment based upon that style and the chords that were entered. The results can be quite impressive, and can help the user build a collection of songs in a fairly short time.
You can create your own custom style alterations if an appropriate accompaniment cannot be found in the ones included with the software. Jammer Pro, particularly, has a myriad of options for maximum variety of accompaniment styles (really helps if you are up on your music theory for many of these options!). One music pastor I know uses both the products mentioned above. He is a trumpet player with limited keyboard skill. Using the software to generate the instrumental parts he would find difficult to record himself, he has produced several Worship Albums for the youth ministry at his church!
Educational Music Software
There are two main types…Education Software and Edutainment Software. Most education products are used to augment conventional private music lessons, but can certainly be successfully used on their own by individuals who desire to improve their musical knowledge and skills.
Education software is widely utilized by public school educators, homeschoolers, and individuals who want to brush up on their music theory, or even take piano or guitar lessons in the privacy of their own home.
Edutainment software incorporates lots of entertaining multimedia which serves to make the learning experience more fun and enjoyable. Music teachers will often integrate edutainment products in their lesson plan as the “carrot on a stick” to encourage young students to come to their lesson with a good practice record. The students’ reward is some allotted time on the computer playing (and learning) with the edutainment software.
