NotePerformer by Wallander Instruments - REALISTIC NOTATION PROGRAM PLAYBACK

[Wallander]

You haven't answered my question. Why does reading ahead turn a 'staccato dot' into 'the right short note'? You mean it knows from context when to make different length staccatos? That sounds like Artificial Intelligence and for some reason I would expect to see that costing more. Or are short notes just 'more staccato-like' consistently*? Is the program integrated with the playback engine to some extent and gives more attack to, seeing the staccato dot?

Yes it does sound very much like Artificial Intelligence. And yes the library could have costed a whole lot more, but it doesn't. Yes, short notes are more "staccato like" consistently, rather than "sustain like". Yes, the program is completely integrated with its own playback engine, and its own full orchestral sound library largely based on modeling and synthesis (please see the link in my signature) and gives more attack to, the shorter note (regardless of whether its made short by a dot, or being notated with short duration).

Well, it may be 'general' but I'm using something that specifically addresses it. "True staccato" indicates something to do with the samples handling, doesn't it. You aren't reinventing the wheel here.

"deficits of MIDI playback of a musical score"; yeah, 'staccato dot' in real life is interpreted by musicians with a certain knowledge of style, a lot of things, but a dot on a score in a notation program has a literal, fixed meaning to the machine. SO, people use the piano roll and attend to actual note duration and pick actual articulations in the libraries. You're making a claim that 'reading ahead' addresses the deficits of using a notation program as a playback engine but you won't say what it does.

I'm trying to explain it, my friend! Yes, it has something to do with the samples handling. No I am not reinventing the wheel, it's just that when a guy turned up with the first wheel it was so awesome you didn't believe him. Yes the dot has a largely fixed meaning both for the machine and the musician, NotePerformer does what the musician would do (stretches the sound appropriately, in sample library terms) while your sample library plays a fixed-length sound. Yes people use the piano roll, successfully, but if you write music for full orchestra, a musical notation program can be a much faster and enjoyable tool to work with. After all, musical notation was invented for the purpose. MIDI was invented for communicating keyboard controller actions.

If it is really a staccato, I put a keyswitch in front of the note. The actual behavior of the player with the instrument, for instance the bow pressure and release is just a different articulation than, there are different types of samples used for a reason here. Short staccato, medium staccato, long staccato, short portato... And I can shrink or stretch these if I get so picky, and deal with the release characteristic, and more.
I know this program doesn't address that so me posing this is rhetorical.

If you are happy shrinking and stretching your samples one-by-one in Kontakt, you should continue to do so. Or you can use NotePerformer where you don't need to because, yes indeed, it does all this for you automatically. It cannot do it to third party sample libraries, obviously, but using its own sounds.

*If you're saying 'Sibelius' handling of short notes is deficient' per se, that's one thing, but 'MIDI playback' is a WYSIWYG thing and you're saying the machine 'gets' more by seeing more/this reading ahead.

I'm going to guess you work in marketing, but your lingo here is not very meaningful to me.

I don't work in marketing. I'm just sounding Swedish.

I'm not sure how to explain this more clearly! Did you listen to our audio demos?

[coincidental]

I think I get it! If it helps to provide some context, it looks similar (maybe better - I can't say) to the Human Playback feature in more recent versions of Finale - and has something in common with the lookahead that Synful Orchestra used to do to provide more realistic phrasing.

Notation software struggled in the past to bridge the gap between score and playback, and quite rightly concentrated on improving scoring tools rather than providing a high-end sound engine. If you wanted expression - an interpretation of the score - then you needed musicians to play the music or you needed to (laboriously) create your own performance by manipulating MIDI and VSTs/samples.

Real-life performers will employ extreme phrasing sometimes, but the conventions of notation are such that this can be expressed quite clearly in a score, even though the final performance may be very, very far from a piano-roll implementation. In an short phrase, each note may be an eighth-note, but in reality a performer will play each note as a different length (maybe even closer to a sixteenth), delay or bring forward a couple, change the dynamics for each, all without thinking! And that'll be different depending on the context of the phrase, possibly affected by dynamic markings nearby, and also depend on the instrument.

I'm sure it's not perfect, but using some smart analysis to make educated guesses at humanised phrasing and provide this level of quick "mock-up" playback is great - I particularly liked some of the brass and woodwind. I chose Finale back in the 1990s so it's no use to me (and I haven't updated for 10 years now), but if I was a Sibelius user this would be very tempting indeed.

[strav87]

Mr Wallander, you said that NotePerformer is a self-contained playback device with its own sounds, so one can use it even if one doesn't have the 37 GB Sibelius sound library installed - which is great, since I didn't install the 37 GB sound library to save space. I am now considering buying NotePerformer, but the thing is, I am mainly interested in writing orchestral works with vocal/choral parts. Now suppose I want to write a piece for big orchestra and chorus in Sibelius - I want to use NotePerformer for playback, but what will play as the choral sounds then (since you said choral sounds are not available in NotePerformer)? Will the choral parts just sound as the default Sib midi sounds (while the orchestra will play through NotePerformer) or will they not sound at all?

[benjamind]

Talking about using a cracked version of software on a public forum is rather silly. But it's good to hear you are considering purchasing a legitimate copy.

I wouldn't risk using a cracked version of anything these days, it most likely would contain viruses or malware that could ruin your system installation and cause all sorts of problems with files, privacy, etc.

[benjamind]

To quote Arne, the NotePerformer will never truly sound exactly like a real orchestra recording. But one thing is for sure - it can get pretty damned close. Since it relies on his new technologies, it is a very promising avenue for people writing music. I'd rather get back to notation than using MIDI systems. To be honest it makes things more interesting to me, and I don't need to worry about dynamics, or setting up articulations. If the softsynth can handle input from a notation program and handle the CCs for the appropriate articulations/styles then it wouldn't be necessary to handle MIDI events since that would be done for you with the CCs (various shapes, modulations, envelopes, for CCs and automation).

If memory serves me correctly Sibelius can use CCs along with the notation to modulate articulation, effects, etc. This should be very useful.

[bill45]

Are there any efx/EQ or compression on these demos?
These instruments could mix well with samples. My current libraries lack punch that these instruments seem to have.
I thought Sibelius was being discontinued or no longer devevoped?

[Lotuzia]

listening to the examples seems very nice and handy to sketch, a bit less to sound like a real orchestra, except in certain situations/articulations. It still sound very mechanical in most situations. This said this is a score playing, and regarding this some parts did sound quite impressive, so .....

For this hi end Library and manual playing are still the easiest way imho.

Good price/ratio. Looking for this as a portable solution. Is it cpu heavy ?

[coincidental]

I thought Sibelius was being discontinued or no longer developed?

I believe you're right about that. useful and perceptive summing up here.

However, there are developments for the future: see here and here.

Back on topic - Sibelius is still very highly featured, and this add-on makes it more useful. Notation software has the advantage of continuing to be useful for a long time after you've bought it, because notation doesn't change much and once you've climber the learning curve you have less incentive to change.

Question for Wallander though - any other options/plans for making this technology or these sounds available in other formats?

[goldbaker]

I have owned this for a little while now, and I have to say, if you own Sibelius, just buy it. This is a no-brainer for the price. The playback has a much more human feel to it then any sample set (even the good ones) that I have heard. The sound is perhaps, slightly synthy, so to speak, but only slightly, and is the best thing I have found to use with Sibelius.

In particular, if you are writing music for real people to play, Noteperformer gives you a much more realistic feel for articulations, etc.