Sequencers and digital audio workstations ....................................
For composers who are more comfortable composing music on an instrument
than sitting down and writing down notes, a good sequencing program such
as any generation of Cubase, Sonar, ProTools, or LogicPro is a great place to
start. Although early sequencers required a composer to sit down at a com-
puter and plug notes into a staff by use of a mouse — or, worse yet, a
computer keyboard — most modern sequencing programs come with input
hardware that fits right into an input jack in your computer. This way, if you
want to compose your music on any MIDI-capable instrument, such as a
guitar, a keyboard, or a microphone, you can play the music right into the
computer. There, the music is saved for future editing. Generally, when MIDI
hardware accompanies a sequencing software package, the combination of
the two is called a digital audio workstation.Many sequencing programs have the capability to record as many as 70 tracks.
Some claim to be able to record an infinite number of tracks. This means that
you can play a melody line on an instrument, record it, play an accompaniment
to the melody line for the second track, lay down a rhythm track on top of that,
throw another instrument into the mix for the next track, and so on.Sequencers are great to work with if you want to cut sections of music or spe-
cific instrument tracks out of existing compositions. They’re also fantastic for
creating your own loops, which can be used directly after composition to throw
into your full-length compositions (more on looping later in this chapter).The downside of many music sequencers is that they have only limited music-
notation capabilities and are only able to follow and notate a simple melody
line being played. The latest sophisticated hardware/software sequencer
packages, such as LogicPro and CakeWalk, are able to notate much more
complicated pieces of music.Music notation software: scorewriters ............................................
For the composer who wants to write sheet music for other musicians to
follow, or even create original pieces of music for publication purposes,
music notation software called a scorewriteris important to know how to use.Although older, less-sophisticated scorewriters insist that a composer plug
the notes into a staff directly by use of a mouse or keyboard, newer versions
of Finale, Encore, and Capella allow a user to plug a keyboard or other MIDI
instrument directly into a piece of accompanying hardware and play the
music directly into the computer, just like a sequencer. Then the software
interprets what you played and produces the written music notation for it.232 Part IV: Orchestration and Arrangement