How important is the piano roll to you?

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I consider the Piano Roll an essential tool. That said, I'm happy with a simple one.

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I'm loving Ableton Live 12's MIDI editor and I couldn't live without it now.
Last edited by Yorrrrrr on Sun Jan 28, 2024 6:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Love the idea, but it never really helps.
I much prefer a better score editor.

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Harry_HH wrote: Wed Jan 10, 2024 6:17 am ”real music writing”, i.e. notation
I hope that intends 'real writing' literally, as in pencil or pen to paper. Otherwise it's an unnecessary dichotomy.

it might seem, owing to the people such as I replied directly to (seems like it was in Music Theory), ie., having no game at all, that there is some dichotomy where 'real musicians' doing "real music" are inextricable from that certain task, but there just isn't. I find notating generally a waste of valuable time. There have been one or three instances where it will have been probably the better way to proceed than adjusting those blocks in a piano roll editor by ear but I looked at it as a challenge.
I'm not doing 'false music'.

I don't think while playing - "You can't think and play at the same time", Sonny Rollins - and I rarely think constructing via Piano Roll. If pressed I would have to go back and look to tell you what anything is technically. It's 'in a zone' for a period of time, if not I should - and can - leave it alone.

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I love me piano roll editor, but a simple one for editing what I play in. I rarely, if ever compose anything using a DAW itself. As long as the features don't get in the way, the more the merrier.

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And I too would like a score editor/display! Not holding my breath though. I can always us Notion and import the results.

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jancivil wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2024 11:50 pm
Harry_HH wrote: Wed Jan 10, 2024 6:17 am ”real music writing”, i.e. notation
...
I don't think while playing - "You can't think and play at the same time", Sonny Rollins - and I rarely think constructing via Piano Roll. If pressed I would have to go back and look to tell you what anything is technically. It's 'in a zone' for a period of time, if not I should - and can - leave it alone.
Off-topic, but I would like to mention this channel, it's quite useful for showing smaller and larger patterns, the dame demonstrates them well.

for example, Ludovico Einaudi patterns for beginners in the easy, quick, and beautiful category, so you can start creating your own, this is the first part of the arp series

Code: Select all

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLap82WkvF6Vhg_k8xNcFeCmJKogs0c28w
"Where we're workarounding, we don't NEED features." - powermat

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Well, you can twist things in the arty farty position if that makes you feel good.

As said, the pianoroll is kind of course childrens playtool. Its better thank nothing, but very clumsy.

E.g. if I have lets say in the 5/4 time signature
2 kvarter notes, 5 eight notes and 2 sixtteenth notes in one bar, easiest way to define the excact lenghts (really excact, i.e. if I move the midi file to the Musescore, the lenghts must correspond the note values).

And: how to (in one command?) define the note distancies inside a bar to same (even), e.g. in the polyrhytmic music this feature is use

The integration between i.e. notation, and the pionoroll, is lousy, especially in the Live.
Metrics, time signature changes, note lenghts, which all are core bread and butter in the music writing (note: writing), are hard to implement in the fluent way in the pianoroll.

I even purchased the Cubase pro, which has a bit more sophisticated pianoroll for getting more out of the pianoroll - not much help.

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^^^ Dorico is the specialized tool for this not Cubase



from 24:30
"Where we're workarounding, we don't NEED features." - powermat

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Well, you can twist things in the arty farty position if that makes you feel good.

As said, the pianoroll is kind of course childrens playtool. Its better thank nothing, but very clumsy.
This is your opinion. It's also the sort of bigoted statement I get tired of seeing. It's not a toy to me although you could say it IS playful which happens to be a big part of creativity , in fact, it is creativity in most respects. I make the music I want because of these tools, not in spite of them. I do not know theory so most of your post means nothing to me. I just switch on my keyboard and play. I make electronic music and so it's essential. Music isn't just about harmonies and rhythms, it's about textures also.

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I find a piano roll less janky to edit than a score editor with a much finer control over the parameters. A score editor can really only handle note, length and volume. The piano roll handles all that and everything else. Unless I need to print out scores or sheet music, which I haven't done since college, I have no need for the score editor.

Overall, the piano roll is a vital tool for me. Despite my habit of playing parts by hand and selecting the best take, I often still need to make micro edits and do funky arrangement things to finish a project.
I started on Logic 5 with a PowerBook G4 550Mhz. I now have a MacBook Air M1 and it's ~165x faster! So, why is my music not proportionally better? :(

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I couldn't make any music without the piano roll. I do everything there since I have no input device.

Damn it Jim, I'm a guitarist, not a keyboard player.

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I barely use it at all, just to fix the occasional misplaced note

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wuworld wrote: Sat Jan 08, 2022 2:10 pm When making music, how important is the piano roll for you? Or maybe you don't use it.
Very important, use it for editing everything
How original

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I have a MIDI keyboard somewhere but I'm too lazy to go get it, plugging it and making some space on my desk. Piano roll to the rescue!

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