What equipment do you compose on?

[David Coscina 3]

There are a good many composers on this board so I figured I'd get an idea of how people get their ideas out there.

[David Coscina 3]

Oh, I actually don't use GPO. Doesn't sound very realistic from the demos although I do know that even great sample libraries like EWQLSO can sound so-so depending on who's doing the demo.

[nja 0]

Perhaps there a little more detail should be included.

For example, I primarily work with Finale on a 1.25 Mghz eMac (but am not adverse to using pencil and p from time to time).

[diskobolus 3]

My composition has been limited to two semesters of theory and composition classes. I often use the piano to get ideas, but am able to use pencil/manuscript.

[Henry B 49]

Garritan Personal Orchestra as a plug-in with the Overture 3.5 notation program (works almost as well as a sequencer).

[AC1 3,565]

Mostly using a sequencer (Cubase, Reason) and Gigasampler (3.0 is coming out this month, fellas!). No, I don't have any of the new orchestral libraries. I would like to have "VSL Opus 1" though (their Performance Set woodwinds are killer), but it's not really necessary. I'm in the library music business and competing against the vast film music section is pretty useless. Why copy Williams if Williams is so much better at it?

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Alex Cremers

[David Coscina 3]

Alex, have you listened to the East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra series? I just got the SIlver Edition and I'm really excited over its range and quality of sounds. I posted a few examples on Motifator.com. Check 'em out.

[woodwindmaster06 0]

I use both pencil and paper along with a keyboard hooked up to my computer using Finale 2003.

[pixie_twinkle 44]

Ah, I thought this was going to be a "Finale vs Sibelius" thread. I use Sibelius 1.4. I used Finale for years and I hated it. Sibelius is SO much easier to use.

[tony69 0]

I use pen and paper to sketch themes and fifty different potential variations. afterwards, i key it into finale (i can't find sibelius off kazaa ;p) and listen to it really carefully. often i find that i do my transpositions wrong haha. then afterwards, i fix it, and edit orchestration some more. i find pen and paper is much easier to sketch out sonata form ideas and inversions of themes rather than finale.

I dont have any samplers partially duin to the fact that i don't have 1000 dollars to spend. i have an old 1999 computer which serves its purpose. I am still in high school so I don't have enough to purchase the VSL, though I'd love to get it. I'm hoping to earn enough to make my own personal studio by the time i get into university, so a computer, good keyboard, samplers, lotsa programs. i dunno if i can make 10000 haha. Anyone selling old stuff that works?

[Justin 2]

I use a combination of keyboard, notation software, and Pencil and Manuscript. It all ends up on notation software though.

Justin

[Rogue_Leader 2]

I wonder how many people on this board in total compose music in their own time.

[David Coscina 3]

There's a few of us. Some of us actually even make some money at it!

[SeekUYoda 0]

I don't compose, but I do a lot of arranging with a dinky MIDI keyboard and Finale.

[ChrisAfonso 159]

I compose mostly with pencil and paper. Though the meaning of "compose" here ranges from writing a whole piece completely down to sketching a few themes and plans for the developing of the piece (quasi "milestones" along the way). The rest, ranging from typing in the completed piece to developing the sketches, is done with Sibelius.

Most of the time, though, I do a quasi-piano reduction with occasional additional staves of a whole piece, and then orchestrate the whole thing at the computer, though parts of the piece can undergo major changes in the process (most frequently harmonies that sound different than I imagined them to do when writing them down).

[jsawruk 0]

Ok, how I compose varies upon what I am composing for and what I have available at the time. Here's what I use virtually everyday:

Pencil/Paper <- Best method of composing for me because I can actually "see" and audiate music very well, so most of what I write down on pencil and paper far surpasses what I come up with by other methods!

Keyboard <- 2nd best method, because of the instant gratification of vertical sonorities

Sibelius 3.1 - This is what I primarily use for concert/art work. I use it in conjunction with Garritan Personal Orchestra

SONAR Pro 3.0 - This is what I use for composing for film, because I can sync a Quicktime very easily, it hooks in with VSTi, I can use my Acid Loops (great for drums/perc!), and provides all the sequencer functionality I would ever use.

With SONAR, I use Garritan Personal Orchestra, the Spectrasonics Atmosphere, Stylus, and Trilogy modules, NI B4, FM7, and Pro-53 synths, and various other VSTi and samples and loops.

When I'm on my Mac, I use Cubase SX in lieu of SONAR, but with much less functionality because my Mac is a laptop.

When I'm in the mixing stage at school or work, we use ProTools.

For audio editing, I use Sound Forge. For pre-mastering, I use CD Architect. If it means anything, I use a Behringer Mic and Mixer, and a Korg Prophecy synthesizer in addition to my simple Casio.

But then again, I do most of my composing in my head!