GPO4 and Sibelius 6.2

[barbsaw]

I have recently downloaded GPO4 as a plug-in to enhance my work on Sibelius 6.2. I have managed to get everything working correctly, but my main problem is knowing what to do now. There aren't any recent tutorials for Sibelius users and I feel a bit concerned that Finale users will find Garritan more useful than those of us who use Sibelius. I am a musician who has very little music tech knowledge and would greatly appreciate any help in getting through some of the jargon. I have read numerous forum questions and answers, and have learned a good amount, but I don't know where to go from here. I have tested Reaper, but don't know how to integrate Sibelius or Garritan into it. I have a Yamaha P-85 keyboard which I have used purely as a replacement for my piano which is 3000 miles awy. Can I use this as a Midi controller? If so, how? My computer is an HP Pavilion dv6 with Windows 7, with Intel Core i5-2410M CPU, 6 GB of RAM, IDT High Definition Audio Codec Audio Interface and 64-bit Operating System. I have also downloaded LoopBe30 for a reason I cannot even remember. I've been warned on the Sibelius site that the learning curve is steep and will take time. Is there a book which might help an older musician get to grips with all of this technology? Or might there be some suggestions regarding basic equipment to get up and running. I compose music for children and want to get beyond using just Sibelius. I am spending hours trying to find answers and it all feels as though I'm opening Pandora's box. Many thanks for any help you may be able to offer.

[yjoh]

Hi Barbsaw and welcome to the forum. I will get the ball rolling with what I know. I'm sure others will join in to help you out.

Garritan libraries are fantastic and are useful whether you use Sibelius or Finale. Some of us here use Sibelius and some use Finale. The libraries work in either.

Your keyboard can be used to input your music into your computer but you will need to connect it with a USB to MIDI interface. They range in prices from as little as $20 to over $200 or more.

To know how to advise you, we need to know what you want to do and the way you like to work. e.g. Do you want to create a notated score for children to play from or are you looking to make audio (CDs, MP3s etc) so they can listen to or sing along to?

I work mainly with notated scores because I need professional looking publications. When I'm working with the audio side of things, I use my audio program. I don't use Reaper so I can't help you there but I do use Sib 6.2 so I may be of some help with that if you have questions.

There are some very talented people here who put out fabulous music and can better advise you with suggestions for setting up and using a DAW such as Reaper, Sonar, DP etc. My first DAW after my Atari and Notator program finally died was PowerTracks Pro Audio. It's a great little program for me, it does what I want and is what I know and am comfortable with. I am looking to get into Digital Performer when I upgrade my struggling laptop next year, so it will be a learning curve for me as well then.

Just jump in and take the plunge, it will all get easier and this forum is full of help. There are great tutorials from Randy and DPDan just to name two.

All the best!

[barbsaw]

Thank you so much for your help. One of the reasons I selected GPO4 was its friendly forum, full of people like yourself, so willing to help. I have been using my Yamaha P85 to notate on Sibelius, but since the start of my move away from just Sibelius, I've read about Midi Controller keyboards and although I didn't think it was possible with my Yamaha, I wondered whether there might be some ingenious cables to link it to other software. I am very new to music tech. My main interest is in writing music both for publication and for CD, so I have a need beyond Sibelius 6.2. My original thought was to improve my soundcard, but wasn't sure whether that should be a first step or even necessary. Then I tried the free 30 day download of Reaper, just to gain some familiarity of a DAW and came up against a wall, unable to hear anything. I thought it was because there are no virtual instruments in Reaper, so downloaded Garritan as a standalone and a plug-in. Now I need to learn how to integrate all of this so that I can edit my Sibelius pieces and make them more life-like. Many of the forums seem to answer questions which are far beyond my tech knowledge/needs. Many seem to focus on Sibelius 7.1 and Garritan/Finale. I wish there were some more recent tutorials for Garritan/Sibelius users and failing that, some manuals for dummies! I've spent hours plodding through forums and older tutorials which are not up-to-date. Thank you for your very warm welcome and I look forward to gaining greater understanding!

[yjoh]

Hi,

I'll try to help with some answers. The underlying principles are the same whether you're using Sib 6/7 or Finale.

Sib will be fine for your published music. To produce good sounding CDs, you'll need to get into MIDI editing and Audio processing. There is an excellent tutorial on this "playing instruments characteristically" at the moment in General Discussion section by Randy. I would bookmark this and study it in depth as Randy is one here that can help you with controller questions and getting good recordings.

With your keyboard hooked up you can access any software you have in the computer, you don't need any additional cables.
I'm not sure what if any controller features you have on your keyboard, but you should be able to attach a pedal to send controller messages such as cc#11, this sends expression data. I can set up my Roland GX300 digital piano to send controller messages but a dedicated controller keyboard has lots of faders and knobs that you can assign to the various messages.

If you want to record the actual output, that is the sound of the Yamaha itself you will need an audio interface to take the sound from your keyboard outputs into the computer. There are units that are a combination MIDI and Audio in the one box. Others here may be able to advise you further on the best ones. I have a simple Behringer Audio interface but I mostly use the Aria with my Garritan libraries so I work "in the box" and just use the roland as an input device.

Reaper does support Rewire, so you could fire up Reaper, add an audio track and then load in Sibelius as a rewire instrument. It's easier than it sounds. It the audio output from Sib to Reaper rather than your souncard. You could then work on the audio side of things in reaper, editing, drawing controller info in etc.

A long post but another thing to consider. My original Sib 4 version could use the free ASIO4all so I could play the soft synths with my keyboard without the dreaded latency issue. The weird thing is my Sib6.2 hates it and freezes completely and I have to manually shut the computer off. Aria hates it as well. If I want to play the softsynths for a more life-like performance I have to use Sib4 then load the MIDI file into Sib 6.2 or my DAw to work further on it. Your Sib may be fine though. If not make sure you either get an ASIO compatible sound card or an Audio/Midi interface that supports ASIO.

Well I hope I haven't confused the issue for you. My first port of call would be the General Discussion forum.

Just keep asking questions. As you say, this forum is full of people to help.

Good luck!

[rbowser-]

Hi, barbsaw - I just now found out about your posts from yjoh who has been giving you excellent in-depth help.

I invite you to come post questions in General Discussion. That's about the only Forum members visit anymore, and it's the best place to post questions.

No matter how you go about it, there Is a lot to figure out. It's difficult even to know what questions to ask, and while people are willing to help, there's always a limit, because nobody wants to write long replies which are rehashes of things that can be found in manuals.

We do what we can though. I post a weekly series of Tips in General Discussion, some of which I'm sure could help you out.

My basic observation for now is that it sounds like you'd be getting the results you want more easily with DAW software, rather than wading through a notation program which presumes so much understanding of musical theory. That kind of software, frankly, just isn't as much fun for most people - whereas with your keyboard, your song ideas, you could get up to speed much faster in a recording program.

Gotta go - But do go to General Discussion, and slowly but surely, you'll be helped out.

Randy

[barbsaw]

Thank you both for you time, in depth answers and great help. I really appreciate it. I feel that I now have a greater focus and am not a chicken running around without a head. You're absolutely right about finding it tricky even knowing what the questions should be! Thanks so much, and the real learning begins now!