NOTION Music Forum

Last week, I decided to upgrade to Reason 6 (Propellerhead Software), and after installing it I did a bit of scouting around to see if there was any information on various ways to use NOTION 3 and Reason 6, and I noticed that there is a Notion Music tutorial that demonstrates how to use NOTION 3 as a ReWire host controller, so I watched it, and then had an odd idea . . .

[NOTE: This video tutorial shows how to use NOTION 3 running in Windows as the ReWire host controller for Ableton Live . . . ]

NOTION 3 ReWire Host (Notion Music) -- YouTube video

The "odd idea" basically was that NOTION 3 might be able to control Reason 6 in the same way that NOTION 3 controls Ableton Live, so I did a quick experiment with Reason 6 running in 32-bit mode on the 2.8-GHz Mac Pro here in the sound isolation studio (Mac OS X 10.8 [Mountain Lion]), and it worked without me needing to do anything other than creating an Auxiliary Track in NOTION 3 and assigning it to the Channel 1-2 pair, as shown in the aforementioned Notion Music video tutorial . . .

I used "Faster" (Techno Squirrels) as the Reason 6 song, since it one of the demo songs that comes with Reason 6, and I like the song . . .

And I composed an accompanying part using the NOTION 3 Techno Synthesizer, since using NOTION 3 as the ReWire host controller requires having at least one track of something in NOTION 3, which makes a bit of sense if you think about it for a while . . .

This is a short video showing NOTION 3 controlling Reason 6 via ReWire in 32-bit mode, really . . .

[NOTE: I used ScreenFlow (Telestream Inc.) to do the audio and screen capture, and it tends to overload the Mac Pro, which causes an occasional pause or jump in the audio. And this is the link to the Techno Squirrels website, which is interesting: Techno Squirrels ]

"Faster" (Techno Squirrels) -- Featuring Surfwhammy on NOTION 3 Techno Synth -- Windows Media Video (WMV, 1.1MB, approximately 34 seconds)

Really!

At present, I am not entirely certain what this accomplishes, but I suppose that I can create a song in Reason 6 and then use NOTION 3 to enhance it with additional orchestration, which might be useful . . .

[NOTE: The default reference tuning ("Master Tune") for Reason 6 has "Concert A" set to 440-Hz (a personal favorite), so it is important to set the NOTION 3 reference tuning preference to 440-Hz, as well, since 440-Hz is not the default reference tuning value in NOTION 3 . . . ]

The next experiment I am planning involves determining whether NOTION 3 can send real-time MIDI to Reason 6, which after reading about "External MIDI" in the NOTION 3 User Manual appears to be possible, although at present I am not certain how to do it, mostly because MIDI continues to be a bit mysterious, so part of the plan is to read a book on MIDI if I can find one that is available in Amazon.com Kindle, iBooks, or as a PDF file, where it specifically explains how to do the port configuration, routing, and so forth on the Mac . . .

Lots of FUN!

P. S. I upgraded to Reason 6.5.1, and it works in this version, too . . .

Groove 3 has an excellent set of three video tutorials on Reason 6 (Propellerhead) and its instruments, and the video tutorials currently are discounted by 25 percent at the Propellerhead Software Shop until September 14, 2012, so I am watching them and making a bit of progress . . .

What I am hoping is that the section on MIDI will provide enough information for me to make sense of configuring NOTION 3 correctly to use External MIDI staves, MIDI ports, and MIDI channels to send instructions to Reason 6.5.1 in real-time . . .

Lots of FUN!

After watching the section in the Groove 3 video tutorial on MIDI and Reason 6, it provided virtually no useful information on how specifically to configure everything, and making even less useful the focus was on entering notes via a MIDI keyboard, but on the good side there is some very detailed information in the Reason 6.5 Operation Manual (PDF), although again when the focus shifts to doing interapplication MIDI on the same computer the information becomes a bit sparse, which appears to be some type of surreal industry practice, which is a bit mind-boggling, really . . .

Really!

My current guess is that either (a) nobody knows how to do this or (b) the handful of folks who know how to do it are completely and totally unwilling to let anyone else know how to do it . . .

And there is the possibility that I need to have the MOTU 828mk3 Hybrid running, since (a) it is MIDI enabled or whatever and (b) I am not so certain that the 2.8-GHz 8-core Mac Pro running Mac OS X 10.8.1 (Mountain Lion) has any actual MIDI hardware, since it certainly does not have MIDI ports . . .

On a related note, one of the more curious bits of information I found in the Reason 6.5 Operation Manual refers to ReWire 2 being the preferred way to do MIDI with Reason 6.5, which is vastly intriguing with respect to NOTION 4, since I certainly expect NOTION 4 to support ReWire 2 (Propellerhead Software), which is the new version of ReWire that provides supports both 32-bit and 64-bit operation, albeit in an "one or the other but not both" way, which is fine with me . . .

Real-time streaming of up to 4080 individual MIDI channels from one application to another (255 MIDI buses with 16 channel per bus). This feature requires ReWire 2.

Additional querying - one application can "ask" the other about audio channel names, etc. This feature requires ReWire 2.

[NOTE: The information about ReWire 2 and its ability to query an application to get a list of the audio channel names and so forth that the application supports is intriguing, because in some respects this is similar to what VST 3.5.1 makes possible . . . ]

[SOURCE: ReWIre (Propellerhead Software) ]

The perspective here in the sound isolation studio is that something needs to be at the top of the pyramid, and NOTION 3 is the most logical choice, since I already know that it is fully capable of performing this role . . .

A full-featured Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) application like Cubase (Steinberg), Digital Performer (MOTU), Logic Pro (Apple), and a few others about which I know very little, hence did not list them specifically, can perform this role, but when one (a) needs and wants to use music notation, (b) is proficient in treble clef, but (c) cannot play any instrument by reading music notation, as is the case here in the sound isolation studio, DAW applications are entirely too primitive in their abilities, and there is the additional problem that occurs when VSTi instruments are moved from NOTION 3 into the workspace of a DAW application, which I suggest probably will be just as much of a problem when everything is 64-bits as it is currently when everything for all practical purposes is 32-bits . . .

And on yet another curiously related note, one of the things I have noticed is that quite a few of my "baby boomer" generation friends are very interested in music, which as best as I can determine is one of the consequences of what happens when folks who are highly literate and numerate retire and rather instantly discover that they have nothing to do, which tends to be the case more often for folks who typically did not have a lot of interest in doing anything other than whatever work they happened to do in their professional careers, and from a marketing and sales perspective it is useful to know that these folks usually are well funded, which maps to being able to purchase whatever is necessary to have a bit of FUN with digital music production . . .

For these folks, as a general rule, they probably had a bit of music instruction perhaps half a century ago, but basically they do not have a lot of expertise with respect to making sense of everything involved in digital music production, including to be as clear as possible working with real instruments, microphones, amplifiers, and so and so on . . .

This also is one of the reasons that I think Notion Music needs to have an online store and a NOTION Composer and Developer Program, since for example, if I decide that I want to have a bit of FUN with a Flamenco song but know next to nothing about Flamenco music, where do I get a NOTION 3 score for Flamenco to use as a template, complete with rhythms, instrumentation, and so forth?

I have no idea, but if I could purchase one for $25 (US), then I would be very happy, which basically is the way I do it now, except that instead of purchasing NOTION 3 scores, I purchase the MIDI version of a song from the Hit Trax folks who are based in Australia, which currently costs approximately $10 (US) per song when songs are purchased one at a time . . .

Hit Trax (Australia)

However, NOTION 3 has templates for different types of rhythm patterns, which is a good start, but I think the concept needs to be expanded, as well as enhanced with increased artificial intelligence and a SQLite database, for NOTION 4, at least sometime in the not so distant future, which is fabulous . . .

Fabulous!

Groove 3 just released a new video training series on Digital Performer 8 (MOTU), the new 64-bit version that now is available for the Mac and Windows, and it has a virtual festival of detailed information on MIDI, which spans several chapters . . .

Digital Performer 8 Explained by Eli Krantzberg (Groove 3 Inc.)

MIDI tends to be like ReWire in the sense that the prevailing perspective is that everyone automagically knows everything about it, hence user documentation is a bit beyond sparse, but so what . . .

I am optimistic regarding the ability of NOTION 4 (Notion Music) to work productively with DP8 for doing video scoring and sequencing, and this is one of the areas where DP8 clearly has advanced capabilities, which includes the ability to provide visual clues in a studio orchestra setting so that the various musicians see visual cues in addition to hearing the usual audio cues like click tracks, countdowns, and so forth . . .

DP8 has a special "Conductor" track, which is used in a similar way to the way NOTION handles real-time tempo adjustments, but the focus is a bit different, although the capabilities are similar . . .

I have not done a lot with Digital Performer for video scoring, but based on what I have read and observed, timing and sequencing is done very precisely, which is different from the way real-time tempo adjustments are done in NOTION . . .

Consider that there is a particular instant in a film or video where something dramatic happens and the orchestra needs to play a precisely timed "boom" or whatever . . .

In DP8 , the strategy is to mark this point in the film or video with a visual marker, which among other things provides precise timing information on the timeline or whatever, and this visual marker or cue then is used to determine exactly when stuff happens . . .

[NOTE: It is easier to understand this stuff when you watch the video at the MOTU website for DP8 . . . ]

Digital Performer 8 Re-engineered Video Engine (MOTU)

The "Conductor" track in DP8 has a tempo tapping feature, but it is different from the tempo tapping that NOTION does, where the focus in DP8 is on high precision timing and sequencing, which makes the way NOTION does tempo tapping ideal for live performances but not so ideal for scoring to film and video. Conversely, the way Digital Performer does tempo tapping is not ideally suited to live performances, where the preferred DP8 strategy is to provide a click track to which the live musicians and singers synchronize, which at best is awkward . . .

And while in many respects I have few if any actual clues about doing film and video scoring, I am conversant in what probably is the most practical way to make timing and sequencing adjustments the way these things are done in DP8, Logic Pro 9, and Final Cut Studio X, which is based on the way it was done over half a century ago using techniques from Joseph Schillinger's System of Musical Composition (SoMC), where there are specific techniques for adjusting music to fit precisely to film sequences or scenes, since in the SoMC the focus is similar in the sense of being intimately time-based, where as an example you have a scene scored at a specific tempo but the director decides to add 5 seconds of new material to the scene but simply adjusting the tempo will not work, which creates a bit of a dilemma that requires composing a few more measures of music but in a way that ensures it fits with the already composed music, thereby making it a combination of perhaps a tiny adjustment in tempo but more a matter of extending the theme in a mathematically and geometrically elegant way, where for example doing something like appending "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" to "Somewhere over the rainbow" is not the brightest solution in the grand scheme of everything for extending a wonderful melody by a few seconds, where in this context the SoMC provides a virtual festival of different techniques, one of which will provide a few clues to a better strategy, where the focus is on introducing a bit of mathematics and geometry into the equation rather than on arbitrarily defining intuition . . .

The SoMC will not make someone a skilled composer automagically, but it does provide some insights and techniques which are especially useful for making adjustments to fit music to specific timelines, as shown in the simplified melody for "Over The Rainbow" (Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg) . . .


Somewhere Over The Rainbow ~ NOTION 3 Melody (Simplified)

[NOTE: In the following SoMC graphs, "p" is "pitch" and "t" is to "time", where the units of time are eighths. . . ]


Somewhere Over The Rainbow ~ SoMC Melody (Simplified)

Both of these music notation systems provide the same information, but the SoMC version is more linear than logarithmic, which makes it easier to understand the various mathematical and geometrical aspects, where as shown in the following colorized version, there are repeating subpatterns . . .


Somewhere Over The Rainbow ~ SoMC Melody (Simplified) ~ Repeating Subpattern (Red, Blue)

The red subpattern is easy to identify, but the subpattern also is shown in blue, except that the blue subpattern is flipped and stretched, as shown the following SoMC diagram, where the flipping is reversed (or normalized, if you prefer), with the primary focus being on the pitch intervals, but secondarily on the durations of the notes, of course . . .

[NOTE: When I refer to "flipping", I am referring to a set of operations, where for example the high and low notes in the following two subpatterns are "flipped" horizontally. In other words, "flipping" refers to a set of transformations, which includes mirror imaging and other types of rotating, arranging, and so forth, where in this example the "flipping" is two-part, where it begins with a horizontal flip but then is followed with a vertical flip, while the durations of the high and low notes are flipped horizontally once the subpatterns are normalized, and the durations of the two middle notes are flipped vertically, which overall makes it two outer "flips" and two inner "flips", where these "flips" all are simple. And what you discover after a while is that when you include the complex flips, creating an elaborate melody requires only a few pitch intervals, where for example in this particular diatonic scale (Ionian), the pattern for the first four notes in the scale is the same as the pattern for the second four notes ([E, F#, G# A] = [B, C#, D#, E]), since in terms of half-steps both subpatterns are (2-2-2-1), which is a bit mind-boggling when you ponder it for a while, where it is important to understand that "flips" includes repeating a subpattern but at a vertical, horizontal, or angular offset . . . ]


Somewhere Over The Rainbow ~ SoMC Melody (Simplified) ~ Repeating Subpatterns (Normalized)

The subpattern aspect might be easier to understand when you focus on the pitch intervals without respect to time, where the overall pattern is {1-8-7-5-6-7-8-1-6-5-4-5-3-1-2-3-4-2-0-1-2-3-1}, although perhaps not . . .

For me, it is easier to make sense of the SoMC graphs, since the patterns are represented visually, but once you understand the patterns geometrically, working with the integer numbers in an algebraic way is natural . . .

Traditional music theory has a virtual festival of ways to analyze and to explain this stuff, but none of it is mathematical in an absolute sense, and what happens is that you find yourself relying on arbitrary "rules" that are based on fitting hypotheses to facts, where the problem is that the hypotheses are arbitrary rather than absolute in the sense that music theorists correctly observe that certain patterns consistently work but never realize the mathematical and geometric reasons why the patterns consistently work . . .

Using a surreal cooking analogy, metaphor, or simile, music theorists correctly observe that dill pickle slices taste good with hamburgers and ham sandwiches, and then have a team meeting where they decide that the "rule" should be that when one is making hamburgers and ham sandwiches it is good to include dill pickle slices, which is spanky except that it does not explain precisely why dill pickle slices taste good with hamburgers and ham sandwiches, where the fact of the matter is that understanding why this is the case requires one to switch to physiology, chemistry, the perceptions of taste, smell, and touch, as well as including a bit of yin and yang metaphysics, which is fabulous . . .

Fabulous!

P. S. Regarding the "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" reference, one might suggest reasonably that "She Loves You" (John Lennon and Paul McCartney) is a variation of "Over The Rainbow" ((Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg) , really . . .

"Over The Rainbow" (Judy Garland) -- 1955 -- YouTube music video

"She Loves You" (Beatles) -- 45 RPM Record -- YouTube music video

Really!