Hi guys,
The hardest thing about composing a piece for me is the timing of the notes I hear in my head. I am not a skillful instrument player! I prefer using software to put my notes.
Like I hear a specific timing in my head but I cannot put it in music software or sometimes it does not line up with tempo or the tempo changes somehow or there is a halt or pause that messes up everything when transcribed. How should I overcome this? This timing thing is killing me especially when it comes to using software like Sibelius to save my transcribed score. I hear something but when I enter it in the software it is not exactly the thing I want it to be time wise(not pitch wise)
I am looking forward to hearing your suggestions. Hope you suggest something that helps and is practical.

 

Try recording it into notation software real-time.

 

Hmm, that doesnt seem to be a common problem in sibelius. I'd contact avid customer support, maybe they can fix this

 

You could record the timing using a mic and your voice or clapping, hitting something etc. Record it all the way through your track (where needed) for one kind of feel, or alternatively select 2 bar loops from the recording to use for a different feeling.

Using a "slice" function in the DAW or a tool like "WIDI Recognition", you can convert the audio from the mic to midi and then go from there.

 

Practice, practice and then some. Learn your instrument and as time goes by you will notice how it all becomes unconscious. Putting dashes on a grid dehumanizes the feel. It is ok for some music but not for all.

Unless your name is Ludwig or Stevie it might take a bit to get there. Patience.

 

I was thinking about this approach. By far, this seems to be the best option. I am still open to any suggestions for fast workflow.

 

If I was doing this a lot, I would probably set up the UnfilteredAudio G8 gate instead of WIDI Recognition. The advantage is that the G8 can be tuned to spit out a midi note whenever the gate reacts. You would just tune that to the level of your clappings or whatever, and that way have it all working within the DAW pretty seamless.

 

You will never have realistic timing using a DAW, if your stuff is quantized. You basically have to:
a) Record each instrument (in midi or audio), ignoring the midi grid;
or
b) Use plenty of tempo automations and insert or cut very short measures for characteristic fills and gestures - like 1/8th, 1/16th of a bar etc, depends on tempo of the piece;
or
c)Edit all the midi (or audio, but this can be pretty hard in some DAWs) timings until it sounds natural.

b) and c) methods can be combined.