Francois2010 wrote:Surfwhammy wrote:pcartwright wrote:You can move instruments around as you wish and save the file back in the templates section. Once saved in the template folder, you can access the file as a template from the File menu.
This is very interesting! 
QUESTION: Where is the "template folder"? If I can create my own templates this way, it will make my work a lot easier . . .
I will do some experiments and report back on it, for sure . . .
For sure!
C>Program files>Notion 3>Support>Templates> open the file.
Go to Score settings.
Make the desired change.
Save as...
Go to C>Program files>Notion 3>Support>Templates
Click the file you want to change: for example : 05 String Quartet
In this post I suggested that N3 modifies this file for new users.
This is for Windows, but
it is different on the Mac, since on the Mac the standard Notion 3 templates are embedded in the application bundle or "package" . . .
[
NOTE: I do Mac OS X software development, and I was able to examine the Notion 3 application package using Xcode, which is where I found the template files, but they are part of the application bundle, hence probably cannot or should not be modified by users. I did not do any experimenting with a hexadecimal editor, but my general view is that modifying an application bundle probably causes its security checksum or whatever to change, hence is very likely to render it unusable, which overall maps to no added-value in exploring it any further . . . ]
So, the technique I described in my previous post is the way to do it on the Mac, and while it requires a few more user-interface actions, it is not cumbersome . . .
On the Mac, it requires creating a new score which then becomes a "pseudo-template". Once this is done (a one-time activity), the "pseudo-template" if accessed via File Open, at which time you can do a File Save As to clone the "pseudo-template" and make it a Notion 3 score . . .
The primary difference is that on a Windows machine you can do it via the Notion 3 menu where you select a predefined standard (or modified) template, which is a tiny bit faster, since it does not require doing the File Open step, but nevertheless you need to do a File Save, which is no more difficult than doing a File Save As, hence the user-interface difference in "File Open" versus Notion 3 standard (or modified) template selection, which is negligible . . .
However, one of the advantages of doing it the way I do it on the Mac is that by creating a "pseudo-template" starting with a blank score, you are able to tailor the "pseudo-template" very precisely without having any residue caused by modifying an existing Notion 3 standard template, and since you specify each instrument separately, you can use highly-customized VSTi instruments . . .
Overall, I have a handful of these "pseudo-template" files, and they are designed for very specific genres and purposes, which saves me a lot of time . . .
For reference, when I was doing experiments with the standard Notion 3 templates on the Mac, one of the things I discovered is that there was a bit of garbling that occurred when I made certain types of changes to the Full Orchestra standard template, where I replaced the existing VSTi instruments with Miroslav Philharmonik or SampleTank 2.5 (IK Multimedia) instruments, and rather than explore and identify what was garbled, I switched to defining and creating "pseudo-templates", which works very nicely when the VSTi instruments are what I call "heavy" with respect to computer resource usage, which tends to be the case with some of the SampleTank 2.5 VSTi instruments, which I use a lot . . .
And my current strategy, which is working very nicely, is to limit a "pseudo-template" to 20 instruments, which maps to having a separate score for percussion, rhythm, and melody, as well as several scores for what I call "sparkles" . . .
I keep them synchronized by following various procedures that I developed, and the system works very nicely for my needs, which overall maps to anywhere from 100 to 1,000 instruments, which is well beyond what Notion 3 can handle in a single score . . .
In other words, if I need 100 instruments for a song, then I have 5 separate but synchronized scores, and I "synchronize" them by having a few common instruments that I keep very simple (typically a basic kick drum, piano for chords, and piano for melody), so the actual "subscores" might have 23 to 25 instruments, but the instruments beyond 20 are for "synchronizing" purposes and to provide a reference to the beat, basic chords, and simple melody, hence are not recorded multiple times into DIgital Performer 7 or whatever . . .
It is a complex system, but it works, and I can do elaborate motion effects that would be very difficult to do otherwise, so the complexity and time required to do the work is not an issue for me, since previously there simply was no way to do it . . .
And even though it might take from 100 to 500 hours to do everything for a 3 minute and 30 seconds song, the reality is that DISCO and Pop songs require at least that much work when everything is done by musicians, studio personnel, music and vocal producers, audio engineers, and so forth and so on with respect to what colloquially is called "man hours" . ..
If 15 people work 10 hours a day on a song for three days, then this maps to 450 "man hours", and I doubt that any hit song is done in less than three days by fewer than 15 people when you consider everything that has to be done, so if I can do a song that at least is "ballpark" in terms of complexity and overall sound quality in 500 hours with my system (Digital Performer, IK Multimedia VSTI instruments, Notion 3, and Reason 5), then this is fantastic from my perspective, for sure . . .
For sure! 
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 7:28 am