Rapid Composer and creating variations of existing melodies?

[rockbandguy]

Hello all!
I am new into RC and I find it a great tool for musical creativity.
Now I have the following problem/task, where I can need help:

How can I use RC to create variations of existing melodies I have in MIDI format?
I don't know how it can be done with RC, if it can be done with RC at all.

I made the following video of where I stand right now:
https://youtu.be/4N1uIfG2yn8

Besides my overall goal I have the following questions:
How can I send a melody from the composer window to the Melody Editor? Or is that not possible?
How can I import a melody into Melody Editor? Or is that not possible?
How is Melody Editor integrated with the Composition window of RC?

How can I use MIDI mutator or another tool (or process) from RC to reach my goal?

Thx in advance for all tipps.

Best regards,
-Adrian

[BluGenes]

Hi Adrian and welcome!

To get up and running, I suggest watching these videos.. They explain all the "mechanics" of the software..

http://www.musicdevelopments.com/videos.html

[rockbandguy]

Thx BluGenes, for Your suggestion.
In fact I am already watching those helpful videos.
They are very good!
But they don't answer the questions I ask here in my message.
So if anyone could be a "little more specific", that would be great!
Best regards, Adrian

[BluGenes]

Place a midi phrase on a track.. be sure it's absolute, from the actions tab of the phrase, use the convert to "motive generator", then execute. Now double click the newly converted phrase to send it the melody editor.

Same for importing. you have to convert the phrase first..

[rockbandguy]

Thx for Your description, BluGenes.
Sounds stupid, but I cannot find an "Execute" button on the actions tab of the phrase.

[BluGenes]

when you hover a button, it turns blue, they don't look like buttons, but, they are.. yea, bad choice of words, sorry.. when click, that is the execute I meant..

[rockbandguy]

I don't know what to do - look here... really lost at ~01:10
https://youtu.be/7SEO-_lpKao

[rockbandguy]

Now I got it... YES.
And I am in Melody Editor...
*rofl*

[BluGenes]

[rockbandguy]

What a great program! Just what I was looking for. Thank You!
https://youtu.be/LU3oTe5iUY0

[lovemusic15]

Hi Adrian,

In response to your email about midi mutator.

From watching your video I believe what you're asking about was is it possible to edit in melody editor or MIDI mutator and have the rest of the composition play at the same time.
It's definitely a feature that's needed but unfortunately you can't at this present moment as far as I'm aware.

They kind of work as separate utilities rather than a part of RC.

In regards to your other question about
getting variations with mutator. At the moment you can mess with the pitch and the rhythm and the Order but it needs to have a mid learn function afded to really give you the results that you want quickly and easily.

Depending on the kind of Melody you're using there is a feature in the markov melody generator that can be quite useful for coming up with new ideas based on the original MIDI file.

If you show me the MIDI file that you're thinking of then I can help you further and maybe give you some other alternative options using variations, where you may be able to get alternative results.




Hope that helps

[musicdevelopments]

Hello Adrian,

if you have a melody phrase, you can add variations, like "Insert Connecting Notes", "Join Notes" or one of the variations that changes the rhythm. It is not possible to apply random transformations on a normal phrase.

You can do that in the Melody Editor and MIDI Mutator, but these two have different uses.
You can drop a MIDI file containing a melody on MIDI Mutator and experiment with different transformations.

What is more usable is the Melody Editor.
You can use a "Motive Generator" which encapsulates all settings of the Melody Editor. If you double-click on a Motive Generator, the Melody Editor opens where you can edit/regenerate the melody, and apply the changes.

You can drop a MIDI file on the Melody Editor which becomes one big motive, that you can split up into smaller motives manually. But since the melody in the Melody Editor has an internal structure, this cannot be done automatically.

Please note that Motive Generator is special; the length can be set only in the Melody Editor, not in the phrase inspector, because of its internal architecture (motive repetitions, and such), mentioned earlier.

Thanks,
Attila

[lovemusic15]

Hi Attila,

Thanks for that long explanation and you are right you can do all those things but as you stated they give you more of an experimental result rather than the actual desired result of what you're looking for, as a producers you want to be able to get the desired results as quick and simple as possible.
I understand from a developers perspective you want your software to be very advanced which is great when you want to spend hours going down a rabbit hole trying out different things. but from a producers perspective trying to be creative and stay in the creative mindset is difficult when you have to go through so many stages and learn so many different aspects.

Your midi learn feature is the answer to this request and is by far one the best feature in RC. It just doesn't analyse custom phrases to well. But yet midi mutator analyses perfectly but doesn't have the midi learn feature.

All midi mutator needs is midi learn and the ability to add your own custom rest after each note.

After seeing my previous post. Adrian asked me the same question how do I take my favourite melody and get alternative variations. there are also other users asking the same question.
You said previously that you would add this feature if there was a demand for it.

It's great when you see new users commenting in the forum that wanna be part of the whole RC experience.
I understand how frustrating it can be when you wanna use new software but you can't find enough tutorials on a certain feature.

I think you will agree BluGenes videos have really helped the RC community learn a lot.
As I stated previously I will be making a video showing people how mutator work and the real advantages of having those features added.

Thanks as always for your continued development with RC

[Mykyndryd_]

Hi Attila,

Thanks for that long explanation ...

This is a plus 1 from me as well please. I've not had a great deal of time to commit to music this year due to various other 'draws' on my time but hope to get back asap and in particular doing some videos around the mutator.

[musicdevelopments]

Hi lovemusic15,

you are absolutely right, MIDI learn would be very useful for the MIDI Mutator.
I expected that MM would be more useful after the all the efforts I spent with it.
Anyway I'll get back to it when other tasks are finished.

Thanks,
Attila

Hi Attila,

Thanks for that long explanation and you are right you can do all those things but as you stated they give you more of an experimental result rather than the actual desired result of what you're looking for, as a producers you want to be able to get the desired results as quick and simple as possible.
I understand from a developers perspective you want your software to be very advanced which is great when you want to spend hours going down a rabbit hole trying out different things. but from a producers perspective trying to be creative and stay in the creative mindset is difficult when you have to go through so many stages and learn so many different aspects.

Your midi learn feature is the answer to this request and is by far one the best feature in RC. It just doesn't analyse custom phrases to well. But yet midi mutator analyses perfectly but doesn't have the midi learn feature.

All midi mutator needs is midi learn and the ability to add your own custom rest after each note.

After seeing my previous post. Adrian asked me the same question how do I take my favourite melody and get alternative variations. there are also other users asking the same question.
You said previously that you would add this feature if there was a demand for it.

It's great when you see new users commenting in the forum that wanna be part of the whole RC experience.
I understand how frustrating it can be when you wanna use new software but you can't find enough tutorials on a certain feature.

I think you will agree BluGenes videos have really helped the RC community learn a lot.
As I stated previously I will be making a video showing people how mutator work and the real advantages of having those features added.

Thanks as always for your continued development with RC