PC/MIDI BASICS #3: INTRODUCTION TO SEQUENCERS & NOTATORS By Richard D. Clark (PCC RichC) 5/6/92 (Note: A list of many of the programs available in these categories can be found at the end of this document.) Well, now that you have a basic understanding of what MIDI does and how it works (see PC/MIDI #1), and have chosen, purchased and installed a MIDI interface in your computer (#2), it's time to make some music! There are two basic types of software applications available for making MIDI music: the SEQUENCER and the NOTATOR. Some programs combine both functions, usually sacrificing some power in the process. SEQUENCERS accept input from an external keyboard (in real- or step-time) or by file import, and usually also from a mouse or computer keyboard. They record MIDI data -- notes, controller messages, etc. -- and include means for that data to be edited, modified, saved and played back. The most powerful MIDI sequencers can manipulate music in just about any way imaginable. Think of the sequencer as a "music processor," analogous to a word-processor. NOTATORS accept input from the same sources as sequencers, though import of sequencer-created files is the most common way to start. Their primary function is to create printable transcriptions. Since many types of MIDI data do not readily translate into traditional notation (for example, it's tough to notate a different key velocity for every note), notators usually don't try to compete with sequencers as MIDI editors. INTEGRATED PROGRAMS are becoming more popular, and as they do they are becoming more capable. The introduction of MIDI support in Microsoft Windows 3.1 seems to have been an incentive to developers, and several new integrated programs are due to be introduced in the Spring and Summer of '92., joining the many DOS-based packages that have been available for years. But before you just jump in any buy an integrated program, give some thought to your goals, skills and expectations. The choice of a music-making program is not to be taken lightly; this will be your main tool in creating MIDI music. Many musicians find that, once a program is learned, it's very hard to switch to a different one. If you are comfortable with the way your creative mind works, a program that forces you to change the way you think about music can be very uncomfortable to work with. Try to get hands-on time with any program you're considering. Trying it out in the music store is *not* sufficient, unless the store has a classroom or studio setup where you can work undisturbed for a couple of hours, using a PC and keyboard setup similar to your own. Usually, the best approach is to narrow down your selection list to three programs or so, and then purchase them (one at a time) from a reputable mail-order music software dealer. Establish out front that the usual 30-day money-back guarantee is in force, and return software that you don't like. You may need to repeat this a few times until you're satisfied with your choice. The kind of program you look for will depend heavily on your existing musical skills and the way you like to make music. For example: *Keyboard Players who already have decent keyboard skills, and own a MIDI keyboard, will probably want to work primarily with a sequencer. With a sequencer you can enter musical data as fast as you can play, and the nuances of your performance (assuming a velocity-sensitive keyboard) will be retained. It's easy to correct mistakes, to add tracks with parts for different instruments, and to perfect even a large, complex performance. *People who wish to create MIDI files for exchange with others will find this easier to do with a sequencer. An exception to this might be someone with sight-reading ability (or who's just copying music from a printed score) but no MIDI keyboard. Such users could use a notator to create a MIDI file, but should keep in mind that the result will be a very rigid-sounding performance. *Musicians who need transcriptions of their music will require a notator. Whether they also need a sequencer will depend on how they create the music to be transcribed. Many newcomers to PC music bring with them the misconception that a screen display of standard notation is a necessity. It's not (unless you're planning to print a transcription). *All* sequencers utilize some method to display note data; the most common is the "piano-roll." Found in the majority of sequencers, (and even in most integrated programs), the piano roll can display (depending on the program) several measures and octaves of note data very quickly, and for many musicians -- even accomplished sight-readers -- is easier to work with than notation. _____SEQUENCERS: Features and Choices I can't possibly cover the entire field here, so I'm just going to touch on some of the main issues to think about when choosing a sequencer. *User Interface: It looks like Windows sequencers are going to dominate the market before long, and in a way that's too bad. The best of the DOS-based character-mode sequencers -- Sequencer Plus Gold and Cakewalk Professional -- are still state-of-the-art in terms of sequencing power and richness of features, and run with a snap and sizzle (even on a 286) that Windows-based sequencers just can't match. Such sequencers are still the programs of choice for owners of older, slower machines; laptop owners can rejoice in the fact that Cakewalk Standard can be run from a single floppy, and supports the Key Electronics MIDIator serial-port MIDI interface. Some sequencers (Cadenza, for example), use a proprietary windowing-type interface, but the sequencing world is migrating to MS Windows in a big way. Many of these programs do offer advantages over their non-GUI cousins: graphical controller editing, side-by-side track editing, multiple open files, extended memory support for huge sequences, traditional notation (sometimes), and the somewhat-standardized Windows interface. The price for all that is, of course, the need for ever-more-powerful computers. While Windows itself will run on a 286, most Windows sequencers really need a 386/20 or faster in order to handle the simultaneous graphics overhead and reatime MIDI data processing, especially with large, complex music files. *Hardware Support: Any sequencer will support all external MIDI devices, and will also support Roland MPU-401-compatible MIDI interfaces. But not all sequencers support every other available MIDI interface. Support for the Sound Blaster MIDI interface (and the basically identical interfaces on other such music cards) is growing, but by no means universal. More advanced interfaces from Music Quest, CMS, Voyetra and Roland, which offer features like multi-port operation and SMPTE time-code synchronization, can't be expected to work with a particular sequencer unless its documentation specifically says it does. So check first. Some sequencers also provide drivers for the built-in FM synthesizer found on most PC music cards (like the Adlib, Sound Blaster, Pro Audio Spectrum, etc.). These allow the sequencer to "see" the FM synth as an additional MIDI port, and the music card's voices can be used in sequencing in tandem with external synthesizers. If you are purchasing both an interface and a sequencer, it's wise to decide on the features you need (or may want in the future), and make sure they're supported by both the hardware and software. *Features Just about any sequencer will perform basic 16-channel MIDI recording and playback, and offer fundamental editing utilities like cut-and-paste of measures and tracks. Most can edit notes and MIDI events on an individual basis. Most offer a sufficient number of tracks (at least 32), and can create large enough files to accomodate long, complex compositions. Support for the Standard MIDI File Format (.MID) is now just about universal, although most sequencers default to a proprietary file format which supports more types of data than SMF's do. A few sequencers will also work with .ROL files (designed for Adlib-compatible music cards' FM synths). It's in their more advanced features -- and in the way they provide access to them -- that sequencers differ. Here are a few examples: *Track Management: Maximum tracks (16 to over 2000); Individual track muting and soloing; track grouping, group muting and soloing. *System Exclusive Support (ability to send patch data to individual synths): Built-in Librarian; Sysex upload/download. *Controller Editing: Volume and Pan Control (Graphical or Numeric); Controller Curve Editing (Graphical or Numeric); MIDI Event display (Event List, MIDI Line, etc.). *External Synchronization: Support for SMPTE Time Code, MIDI Time Code, FSK Sync, MIDI SPP (Song Position Pointer). *Global Editing: Tools for modifying note and/or MIDI data over a measure, region or track; Edit by measure boundaries or between user-defined points. *Record/Playback Tools: Multichannel Recording; Selectable Filters (to avoid recording unwanted data types); Punch-in/Punch Out; Step-Recording; Manual Insert;. *Timing/Quantizing: Maximum Resolution (the higher the better); Quantize during playback only and/or permanently; minimum quantize value (16th, 32nd, 64th, triplets in any value, etc.); Advanced Quantization features ("human feel," syncopation, etc.); Multiple time signatures in same song. ...and many, many more. An advanced MIDI sequencer can have a features list that runs for pages, and to compare available packages on a feature-by-feature basis would take forever. That's why it's so important to "try before you buy." Most publishers offer demos of their programs (either free or at a nominal charge); many demos of commercial sequencers are available for download on America Online (search for DEMO and SEQUENCER). _____NOTATORS: Features and Choices Notators are definitely a "niche product;" there are fewer available, and they vary widely in their features and capabilities. The advice to "try before you buy" goes double here: the notator that works well for the songwriter creating lead sheets based on a keyboard performance may be entirely unsuitable for the composer scoring brass charts using mouse input. *User Interface Notators are, by their nature, graphics applications. Some, however, do actually run under DOS in character mode, using an extended character set to display notes, rests, staves, etc. Such programs often do not support the use of a mouse. Again, most of the recent action in this area has been triggered by the introduction of Windows 3, and this makes sense for the same reason that using a Windows desktop publishing program makes sense. When evaluating a notator, though, it's vital to ascertain that its feature-set will cover your current and likely future needs -- even more important than it is with sequencers. With a sequencer, it's usually possible to work around a missing or poorly-implemented feature. With a notator, if you need something (like a 128th note) and the program can't do it, you're out of luck. *File Support Most notators can now import Standard MIDI Files; avoid those that don't. However, some can handle only eight tracks at a time, so you may need a sequencer to re-create some SMF's to prepare them for notator import. Some notators can also import the proprietary files of some sequencers (especially true with brandmates like Passport's Master Tracks Pro sequencer and Encore notator). All notators save their transcriptions in proprietary formats; some can also create SMF's from a score (but these files will usually be very thin on MIDI performance data). *Hardware Support Most notators support only Roland MPU-401 compatible MIDI interfaces. However, as more sequencers are updated to reflect Windows' new multimedia capabilities, they will also support interfaces (like the Sound Blaster's) that work with Windows. Few notators support external synchronization. Advice here is the same as it is for sequencers: be sure your hardware and software choices are compatible before committing your money! Playback of your transcription via a MIDI synth is just about the best way to "proof" it before you print it, so make sure you can accomplish this with your hardware. *Input Choices *Music: Besides importing sequence files, most notators allow realtime or step-time input from an external MIDI keyboard. (But some don't, so be warned!) Most (but again not all) let you manipulate elements onscreen via a mouse and/or the computer keyboard. *Text: All notators will let you enter lyrics below the staff, though their facility with this function varies. Most allow placement of text chord symbols above the staff; some also will create fretboard chord symbols. The ability to add additional text to the page (annotations and such) varies. *Printing Check a program's printer support carefully. While acceptable results can be achieved with a 24-pin dot-matrix printer, laser printers give better results. Many programs support HP LaserJets and compatibles.. I recommend that you also make sure any notator you buy supports PostScript, even if you don't own a PostScript printer. Someday, you'll create a score for which you'll want the highest-possible quality printing. If your notator can print to a PostScript file (and you have the Adobe Sonata font, often included with notators), you can take that file to an image-setting service for publication-quality reproduction.. It's likely that the same will soon apply to TrueType, but as of this writing I haven't heard of a TrueType notation font. *Notation Power I can't cover the dozens of notator features here; but I can give you an idea of how the programs vary. You'll need to decide what's important to your applications. *Keys & Meters: Some notators let you mix key signatures in a transcription; some don't. If you create music with key changes, this is pretty important. The same is true of time signatures: if you create music in 5/4 time that goes to 4/4 in the bridge, make sure your notator can handle mixed meters. *Options & Preferences: Some programs don't support alternative noteheads (like x for percussion); at the other end of the spectrum, some allow you to create custom symbols with a drawing tool, and save them as permanently-available symmbols. Many programs are rigid in their rules about things like beam angle, stem thinkness, dot offset and such, while others let you customize such aspects of a transcription's appearance. Often, flexibility in these areas can make the difference between professional-looking notation and something less. *Transposition & Part Extraction: If you're creating parts for individual instrumentalists from a master score, a notator with strong, easy-to-use extraction capabilities will save you hours of labor. Examine this capability carefully; some notators can't do it at all! Similarly, if you need to transpose parts for singers, or wish to transpose a theme from a major to a minor key, look closely at the program's transposition modes. Some are limited to chromatic transposition (eg: A Major to G Major); some can't transpose at all; others can transpose in multiple, selectable modes. *Staves & Channels: Make sure your notator can support as many staves as you might need; one with a 16-staff limit is unsuitable for symphonic composition. And make sure the program offers the flexibility to assign more than one MIDI channel to a single staff (so you can combine, say, vocal harmonies originally sequenced for separate MIDI instruments onto a single staff). *Things You Might Forget to Think About: Cross-Staff Beaming (important for piano transcriptions; not all programs can do it). Resolution (32nd notes are probably too coarse; 256th notes may be more than you'd ever need). Screen-scrolling follows playback (believe it or not, some don't); Diagonal Beaming (yes, some programs can't!). "Try before you buy." "Try before you buy." "Try before you buy." Right? Right! And in the case of a notator, "look before you buy," too. Ask the publisher to send you samples of scores printed with their program, and examine them critically -- even compare them to commercially-published transcriptions of the same music, if possible. Try to determine how the program compromised in order to handle that particular music, and whether you could live with those compromises. Music notation is an art form separate and distinct from performance or composition. And in many ways it is just as idiosyncratic and organic as performance or composition. Yet it has far more rules and conventions. It's tough for a computer program to reconcile these attributes, and most fail in one way or another. Consider also that the more flexibility a notator offers (the better it's able to reconcile art with the rules of notation), the more complex and difficult it's likely to be to learn and use. _____INTEGRATED PROGRAMS Most of the above concerning sequencers and notators applies to integrated programs. The all-in-one packages usually started out either as sequencers or as notators, adding features in later versions, and their origins show. Those that started out as notators may be very good ones; usually their sequencing power is the equivalent of an entry-level sequencer. It's only recently (in the Windows environment) that sequencers have begun adding notation capabilities, and those capabilities are distinctly limited compared to the high-end notators. If your need for one module (eg: notation) is only casual, selecting a good sequencer with a notator module may make sense, and the reverse may also be true. But the killer integrated program that can compete with both the best sequencers and the best notators has yet to appear. ***** The PC/MIDI BASICS files are published irregularly and available in the Music & Sound Text Library of the AOL Music and Sound Forum. (c)Copyright 1992 by Richard D. Clark/Fundamentally Sound. This file may be freely distributed only in its original form. Suggestions/corrections/additions may be e-mailed on America Online/PCLink to PCC RichC. ***** PRODUCT LISTINGS By no means all-inclusive, I've listed here the most prominent of existing and forthcoming programs. Prices are list. Addresses and phone numbers follow. _____WINDOWS SEQUENCERS Dan McKee WinJammer(formerly MIDIedit) (Shareware, $50) Passport Master Tracks Pro ($395) Trax ($99) Big Noise Cadenza for Windows ($300) _____WINDOWS NOTATORS Coda Finale ($749) Passport Encore ($595) _____WINDOWS INTEGRATED MIDISoft MIDISoft Studio for Windows ($249) Passport MusicTime ($249) Twelve-Tone Cakewalk Pro for Windows (??? - summer '92) _____DOS SEQUENCERS Big Noise Cadenza ($200) Dr. T's Prism ($99) MIDISoft MIDISoft Studio/Standard ($140) MIDISoft Studio/Advanced ($220) thoughtprocessors Triple Forte ($249) Twelve-Tone Cakewalk Standard ($150) Cakewalk Professional ($249) Voyetra Sequencer Plus ($169) Sequencer Plus Gold ($300) _____DOS Notators alla breve Musicad ($295) Dr. T's Copyist Pro-DTP ($299) Copyist Apprentice ($99) Quick Score Deluxe ($99) SongWright SongWright ($99) Teach Services Laser Music Processor ($99) thoughtprocessors The Note Processor ($295) Showtune ($79) _____DOS INTEGRATED Dynaware Ballade (for Roland MT-32) ($195) Jim Miller Personal Composer ($595) Temporal Acuity Music Printer Plus ($595) PUBLISHERS alla breve Music Software / 1105 Chicago Ave, Suite 111 / Oak Park, IL / 60302 / (800)833-2397 Big Noise Software / P.O. Box 23740 / Jacksonville, FL / 32241 / (904) 730-0754 Coda Music Software / 1401 E. 79th St. / Bloomington, MN / 55425-1126 / (800)843-2066 Dr. T's Music Software / 100 Crescent Rd., Suite 1B / Needham, MA / 02194 / (617)455-1454 Dynaware USA Inc. / 950 Tower Lane, #1150 / Foster City, CA / 94404 / (415)349-5700 Dan McKee / 69 Rancliffe Road / Oakville, Ontario / Canada / L6H 1B1 Midisoft Corp. / P.O. Box 1000 / Bellevue, WA / 98009 / (800)776-6434 Jim Miller / 3213 W. Wheeler St., Suite 140 / Seattle, WA 98199 / (800)446-8088 Passport / 100 Stone Pine Rd. / Half Moon Bay, CA / 94019 / (415)726-0280 SongWright Software / 7 Loudoun St., SE / Leesburg, VA / 22075 / (800)877-8070 Teach Services / 182 Donivan Rd. / Brushton, NY / 12916 / (518)358-2125 Temporal Acuity Products / 300-120th N.E., Bldg. 1 / Bellevue, WA / 98005 / (800)426-2673 thoughtprocessors / 584 Bergen St. / Brooklyn, NY / 11238 / (718)857-2860 Twelve-Tone Systems / P.O. Box 760 / Watertown, MA / 02272 / (800)234-1171 Voyetra Technologies / 333 Fifth Ave / Pellham, NY / 10803 / (914)738-4500