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RapidComposer 10th Anniversary Sale (40% Off Until April 15)


cclarry

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RapidComposer was first released 10 years ago and to celebrate new users can order RapidComposer with 40% discount during the 10th Anniversary Sale from April 1 to 15, 2020.

You can order:

RapidComposer for $119.

RapidComposer LE for $47.

RapidComposer is an innovative phrase-based music prototyping software for composers and producers of all musical styles.

http://www.musicdevelopments.com/

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This is an amazing tool for composition but has quite a steep learning curve to say the least!

I am hoping that version 4 improves things on that front. Last I heard it was supposed to be out in Spring 2020 which is now so maybe this sale is a pre-cursor to the launch of the new version.

 

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4 minutes ago, ZincT said:

This is an amazing tool for composition but has quite a steep learning curve to say the least!

I am hoping that version 4 improves things on that front. Last I heard it was supposed to be out in Spring 2020 which is now so maybe this sale is a pre-cursor to the launch of the new version.

 

I've never quite got my head around it - is it worth persevering with ?

 

 

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4 minutes ago, simon said:

I've never quite got my head around it - is it worth persevering with ?

I'll let you know when I have persevered with it a bit more :) When I first got it I worked my way through some of the tutorial videos on the website.
I got some impressive results but thought the layout a bit un-intuitive. It's definitely worth spending more time with though and I do plan to do that.

If you look on the website under Support --> RapidComposer --> there are lots of Tutorials, Videos, User Videos and a Forum.

I think @Matthew Sorrels has been using it longer than me so he might have a bit more insight.

Also worth a look is Orb Producer Suite.  After having some initial problems in CbB (worked OK in Studio One 4 Pro, Cubase Pro and Reason) I was pretty impressed with it and you can get good results quickly. 

 

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11 minutes ago, ZincT said:

 

Also worth a look is Orb Producer Suite.  After having some initial problems in CbB (worked OK in Studio One 4 Pro, Cubase Pro and Reason) I was pretty impressed with it and you can get good results quickly. 

 

I've got the full Orb composer - another one I can't really get on with.....also the upgrade path is so stingy (ie non existent) that I don't want to spend any more money there.....

I'm always looking for the elusive "musical talent" plugin :)

 

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16 minutes ago, simon said:

I'm always looking for the elusive "musical talent" plugin :)

This ^^^^  😂 Let me know when you find it!

Sundog Studio is also worth a look. I own and like ChordPotion by the same company but they have a new version of Sundog out and are doing 10% off at the moment so I will probably get that before the offer's over ( https://discuss.cakewalk.com/index.php?/topic/13152-sundog-updated-to-36/ ). 

It's strange as I thought I would have more time with the current lock-down but, as it happens, having my daughter at home and home schooling I seem to have less time.  So I will happily use any "song writing assistant" utility that I can get hold of!

BTW I forgot to mention there was a new version of RapidComposer last month - v3.84 so it might be worth updating if you haven't for a while.

Edited by ZincT
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I have all of these (Orb Composer/Sundog/ChordPotion/Rapid Composer) you name it, I've bought it.  I've spent a lot of time with Rapid Composer.  The developer is very responsive and has taken and fixed bug reports pretty much non-stop.  The problem of course is that it has had bugs, pretty much non-stop.  That said in the last few years it has really grown a lot. 

While it does have some of the best generators out there, it also is one of the few apps in this class that I don't feel like I'm just driving a random number generator.  You really can compose with it and it really can help you do that.  But the learning curve is pretty much a brick wall.  From the very odd/unique UI that wraps the whole app to some of its crazy ways of working with things --  it's very hard to get to grips with.  I figure I maybe understand about 20% of it.  Huge sections of it I still have no idea how to use.  And I first bought it in Dec 2014.

There is a lot more learning material available now which can really help, but even still I think most users are going to find it's almost impossible to get a handle on.

My only advice is to try the demo and watch some of the videos.  Also download all the user generated phrases/content you can find on KvR.  While I think it might offer some big productivity wins if you go all in and use it to make an entire work, I'm still at the using it to generate short (less than 24 measures) bits which I almost always take out of it and put into a more productive DAW.  I know I'd get big wins if I did the whole work inside it, but I just can't quite do that full level of project management with it (part of the huge sections I have no idea how to use).  I think I have the most fun with it when I just use it as a phrase/chord/melody generator.

It might sound like I'm not recommending it, but that's not really the whole truth.  I do recommend it very highly but not for everyone.  For me it has helped me start thinking about music and music theory in ways I don't think I would have without it. 

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Thanks Matt for the review. I am d/l the demo and installing as I type. One thing I was wondering Matt, are the bugs show stoppers? Or more of annoyances? 

If you buy now you can get the upgrade to V4 for free. Read that on the product website.

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Working with the demo, I can see what Matt is talking about. this is like learning a whole new DAW, from scratch! Plaqyed with it for about an hour. Saw what it's about, and some of what you can do with it. But definitely need to spend more time with it. It's a new way doing things... and that takes time. And if your not getting pleasing results, or the results you trying for, you loose interest. At least that's the way it works for me.

Will have to watch some of the video tutorials. Might miss this sale.

Edited by Grem
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4 hours ago, Grem said:

One thing I was wondering Matt, are the bugs show stoppers? Or more of annoyances?

Early on they were show stoppers.  So much so I pretty much only ran the beta builds, which he released relentlessly.  I seem to remember days where he would actually ship multiple updates on the same day.

It's not quite like that any more.  In fact I don't think I'm on a beta build right now.  Most of the bugs these days are just annoyances.  There is a lot of logic behind how music works and it's easy for things to not work right.  If you read the KvR bug thread

https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=168&t=450065

You can see some of the history of issues that have come up.   I don't think bugs should be the major issue with deciding if you and Rapid Composer are compatible.

It also sounds like he's going to take the melody generator and make stand alone plugins out of it (I hope he does more than just it).  Which I think is a great idea.  I do recommend getting the full version, the extra tools are really the heart of Rapid Composer.  The generators it has are crazy complicated but also generate some of the most usable MIDI.  Need a strum, its got it.  Want an ostinato, there is a generator for that too.  Fingerpicking, check.  Bass generator, check.  And it follows your chord progression and all the crazy music theory math you can imagine.  And then on top of what it generates you can toss in a bunch of phrase variation tools, to humanize things, change chords/ velocity/etc.

Here's the generators it has (every one of these has zillions of options):

DsctwB.jpg

Then here is the list of phrase variations you can stack and use with those generators (think of them as extra MIDI plugins):

wOg52R.jpg

But with this near infinite amount of power comes a pretty near infinite amount of complexity.  If you can get your head around it though, I think it's amazing.  I'm fully prepared to pay full price to get the next upgrade, I think it's that good and worth supporting.  But it's not for everyone.  I'm a big believer in anyone can be a "professional" and should/can use professional tools if/when they want to.  But Rapid Composer is one of those tools that learning to use it and getting something out of it is a lot harder than most music software products -- sometimes the pro tools aren't a good match for the normal user.   Rapid Composer is one of those apps that while it's crazy complex, it's not because of bad design or because of poor planning (in general).  It's very precise about how it works.  It has it's own logic and workflow.  Taking a pass on it isn't unreasonable though.

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