Speed Of Inputting Music, If you can't play a real-time keyboard, how's the fastest way Options

[Ricky Buchanan]

I am experienced with both computers and music, but not so much with the mix of both. Because of my disability I can't use a regular music keyboard to compose, and putting the notes in one-by-one with the mouse is a bit like pulling teeth! I do have a small keyboard - eKeys 37 - which I use to do note pitches and then use a programmed XKeys Desktop device to specifiy the note length, but it's awkward and slow.

I think what frustrates me most is that music entered like this with a mouse or the XKeys/eKeys combination has no extra "live" midi stuff like note velocity/etc. (I'm not sure of the terminology - sorry). So playing it back is a bit like listening to a robot, and very frustrating.

Is there any decent way of getting this information in so the computer can play it back and have it closer to the way it sounds in my head???

At the moment I'm using Sibelius mostly and Garage Band a bit (haven't really mastered that). I started off clasically trained so I'm used to notes and staves and such, not the MIDI type stuff, but I am willing to learn!

Best Regards,
Ricky
ATMac - http://atmac.org/ - Assistive Technology for Mac OS X Users

[midiwife]

Hi Ricky,

You say you're using the ekeys 37 which has mini keys. I've just done a search on it and come up with this:

The Evolution Ekeys comes in 2 sizes:

* Evolution eKeys 37 - A lightweight USB keyboard with 37 mini keys and will fit in with any computer setup due to its compact design.
* Evolution Ekeys 49 - The Evolution Ekeys 49 is a Velocity sensitive 49-note USB keyboard.

Which makes me wonder if your 37 mini key size version has velocity sensing. If it doesn't then you're really stuck with having to enter velocity (i.e., playing weight) information after the event which IS like pulling teeth I agree. No fun!

If you're able to hit the notes with a variety of strengths, then why not look at a more fully featured keyboard that has velocity sensitivity - also called 'touch sensitivity'? Most keyboards do feature this as standard. You can get mini key keyboards which have this.

Then, any sequencing program that recognises velocity will be able to take advantage of your playing style.

As to playing in musical ideas using a keyboard, I'm no keyboard player but I use Cubase and by slowing down the tempo considerably, I can execute quite tricky passages which I can then speed back up again to what I'd intended and the results need little editing.
Plus, if I record in cycle mode, I can add successive notes each time round to build up chords etc.
Most sequencing packages should let you do this and Garageband is a good example (and actually quite simple and very powerful once you understand how it works).

I'd not venture in to Max unless you are keen to explore programming and how it can relate to music. I'm taking a course in it myself at present and yes, it's fascinating but not really a quickstart and appropriate answer to your current question.

Good luck and kind regards.

Oh and I should have added, Garageband has the notes/staves option for viewing your parts so it's really well suited to your particular approach. It also has the more accessible 'piano roll' style of editing for those not used to classical notation.

All the best.

[Ricky Buchanan]

You're right, midiwife, the keyboard I have doesn't have velocity sensitive keys. The trouble is, I need a keyboard that has keys that are smaller than piano size because then I can enter stuff with less arm movement - but I couldn't find a USB keyboard with small keys and velocity sensing and is small enough to have in my lap in bed and didn't need a power cord - it's a big ask!

Also, I'm not even sure that my playing would be decent enough that it would help at all .

I am a programmer, so I am going to look into the Max idea - that was one that I didn't know.

Also I want to learn more about GarageBand, can people recommend tutorials or info that focusses specifically on using software instruments rather than live recording or loops? The loops are never exactly what I want!

One specific problem with GB is I want to enter a percussion sequence in software instruments then just have that repeat until I specify it to change... but there doesn't seem to be any way to turn software instrument sequences into loops except by exporting them as AIFF and going through all that crap. Did I miss something?

Thanks to everybody for the suggestions so far! I'm arranging Christmas carols at the moment *sheepish grin*

Ricky