Jerry Gerber

I downloaded Reaper a few years ago and tried it for a week and found it counter-intuitive. Powerful and comprehensive, yes, but in my 32 years of using software, music and otherwise, I have found the best software is designed so well that even without reading the manual (which I always do) you can start to work in it right away. A software program's power and capabilities must be matched by an elegant simplicity in terms of actually using it (reminds me of a comment a musician one said about Mozart's music: So simple a child can enjoy it and so sophisticated it will appeal to most learned musician). I didn't find this with Reaper. But, once again, to each his own, everyone is going to have a different reaction to an app in regard to whether it fits their requirements or not. I also looked at Studio One recently. No event list? Every DAW has an event list, an absolute must for keeping track of program changes, cc changes and other types of MIDI events.

I'm drafting legislation now to make eating it punishable by no more than 60 days in jail and/or a $500 fine. That'll take care of it!

Just because you haven't learned to use it is no reason to project and say it's unusable. It's unusable FOR YOU. I don't like spinach, that's a subjective truth. But I cannot say that spinach is objectively bad, I can only say I don't like it. I used Digital Performer's QuickScribe for 18 months, every day. It's not any better than Cakewalk; it has a few features that are better, but Cakewalk has features that are better for composition for me. How could a classically-trained composer who has produced 14 albums and over 750 soundtrack cues work in the staff view if it's "unusable"? Maybe I know something you don't? Try to recognize the difference between a subjective evaluation, which you're certainly entitled to, and a overgeneralized sweeping statement that doesn't take into account the experience of others.

From the CD Number 11: The Path Scored for VSL Cube and various software synthesizers PLAY Reply

I forgot to tell you all about the workaround I discovered in the staff view when the snap function gets stuck on 1/32 notes. Here it is: Revert the screen set you're using to its saved version. This will, at least temporarily, fix the snap so that it can be used with larger note values... Jerry

Hi Noyekker, Thanks for taking the time to listen, much appreciated.. I listen to works I've written over the years and always find things I like and don't like about what I did. That's how I learn, by reacting and analyzing what I did and finding ways to do it better. It's a never ending journey I suppose. I like the motivic development in this movement and I think from the standpoint of composition it's an improvement over some of my earlier movements which don't have the degree of structural cohesion that this movement has. Then again, I might have a listen in several years from now and change my mind. Jerry

Thanks Ed!

Of the forty symphonic movements I've written thus far, this is one of my favorites. From the CD Time Shadows PLAY

I've produced 10 symphonies, many short works, songs and 14 albums using the CW staff view. It works for composition if you are composing in and for the electronic medium. I've used Sibelius for my scores for 15 years or so and will continue to. The staff view is for MIDI input and editing, and of course, composition. It's not for publishing, preparing final scores or parts or for presenting written music to players for rehearsal, recording or performance. Once you understand the difference, it's not hard to exploit the staff view for composing. You can hear numerous recordings I've made in the "Songs" section of this forum and I think you'll agree that for complex arrangements and orchestration the staff view works quite well. It just needs a few tweaks and bug fixes as we discussed above. Jerry

You're welcome!

Scored for: VSL trumpet Kontakt bongos Softsynths FM8, Rapture, Tera and Massive VSL violin From the album Cosmic Consciousness PLAY

Thanks noynekker. When I was working on my college degree in music composition and theory I heard my works played often by ensembles. But it's very difficult to get a top orchestra to play long pieces, only about 15% of music programmed in the U.S. by orchestras is by living composers. If an orchestra wanted to play one of my pieces and offered me both sufficient rehearsal time and a recording of course I would say yes. But the politics of getting an unknown piece played and recorded are formidable. I actually am quite content to realize my work electronically as I love working in the digital medium. I am more interested in music as a recording art than a performance art..

I posted this interview a few months ago but I am getting questions about how I sequence music using the staff view so I am re-posting it I hope it is helpful. Here's the link: https://soundbytesmag.net/interview-jerry-gerber-on-masterful-virtual-orchestration/

Thanks InstrEd! I am able to work in the staff view the way I do because I was composing and playing music decades before I even knew what a DAW was. I think the better of a player one is, the more likely it is to transfer that knowledge of phrasing, articulation, gesture, intention and musicality in general to music that is sequenced within a DAW.

Thanks bitflippper. If your brass samples don't have built-in dynamics (the samples are of actual instruments going from p to f, or pfp, or f to p, etc. then you have to do it with cc7 or cc11. That's how I did it before I had the VSL library. If you write for 3 trumpets, and they're all playing the same line, make sure you de-tune them from each other a little bit, maybe 5 or 10 cents, and also make sure you stagger them so that one starts on the beat, one starts maybe 10 ticks early and one starts 10 ticks late. This will open up and give a much fuller sound and create more distinction between 1 trumpet and 3, or 1 trombone and 3, etc. Also, since brass sit in the back of the orchestra, if you give them a little longer reverb and very slightly more reverb, that can make a difference. Experiment, there's no right way or wrong way to sequence music... Jerry

Dear msmcleod, Any chance you know when this new version with the snap function fixed will be available? Thanks, Jerry

Yep, the problem was the themes. When I reverted back to one of the 2 original themes, I see now that the Inspector uses icons now rather than text. I sure hope the themes I like are being updated, I'll head over to that section of the site and check.... Best, Jerry

Great, thank you. This might be because I am using themes. I hope the theme-makers update their work because there are a few themes I really like a lot... Jerry

Hi, In regard to the latest CWB update: I just noticed that the Inspector now has an added function called "Arranger". But this added tab cuts off the text from "Pro Channel" and and I don't see a way to expand the Inspector so that all the text shows.. It looks cramped. Even when I undock the Inspector the "Pro Channel" tab has some garbled text in it... Any solution to this? Can I remove the "arranger" tab from the Inspector? I attached a screenshot using Microsoft Word (.docx) that shows the glitch... Thanks, Jerry Pro Channel.docx

Thanks Andy, and thanks for listening! Jerry

Yep, as I always do. I use the mouse to pop notes on to staves, occasionally I'll play parts in, but nearly the entire composition is composed using the mouse, the staff view, the event list and of course tons of controller data, tempo changes, velocity changes and attack/release data. Since I am using VSL, I've got a very large pallet of articulations and sample sets, which helps a lot. Thanks for listening, glad you enjoyed it Bjorn..

From the album Virtual Harmonics Scored for VSL Symphonic Cube PLAY

Also keep in mind that when you export Cakewalk notation to a program like Sibelius or Finale, it's best to export as a .mid type 1 file, not XML. First of all, if your piece has more than 23 staves you won't be able to export all of the music as XML. Also, if you export as XML the graphic inaccuracies will be exported too, so you'll have to edit them in your notation program. With a MIDI file export, the MIDI data will export accurately. You'll still have to do some editing, but there's less chance of errors cropping up than with XML. In perfect conditions, I'd use XML upon export, but we don't have that so I prefer to use MIDI to maintain better rhythmic accuracy. Jerry

I have no idea whether programming the staff view to include 32note triplets, tied triplets, dotted triplets, etc. is quite doable and the will just isn't there, or whether it's a very difficult programming problem. I do know that the original code for the staff view is quite old so I suspect it's probably quite a complex job. But there's good news: The display of these events has no impact on MIIDI precision upon playback. If you program tied 32nd notes or dotted 16th note triplets, you'll get exactly that on playback. When I export a .mid file into Sibelius it's not a big problem to edit and clarify the notation. The other good news is that even though Cakewalk doesn't display 64th or 128th notes, the fact is they are not often used, at least not nearly as often and 32nd and 16th notes. So, the workaround is this: if you're working on a piece that suddenly requires 64th notes, simply double the tempo and write them as 32nd notes. Or, leave the tempo as it is, and when you export the file to a program like Sibelius, correct the notation there. I know it's not perfect, but I'll take the limitations and imperfections of Sonar over every other DAW on the market because of all the things that Sonar is that other DAWS are not. Jerry