The score editor- what are its limitations?

[Larry Mal]

I'm sort of hitting a wall with the score editor. I'm hoping to be able to retire Sibelius, or at least not upgrade it soon. I do know how to compose in Logic to a degree. But the problem is I can't persuade it to play with much dynamics, outside of the "Force Legato" function.

 

Does this have to happen in the MIDI editor exclusively, or can I get real time performance feel with the Score Editor itself?

 

The manual seems to say that all the ties, dynamic markings, etc., are merely for the purposes of printing the score. I feel I must be missing something here. Can one really not write a fully dynamic score, or am I just really missing a lot here?

 

Obviously I'm fairly new to Logic. What I've always done in the past is compose in Sibelius (4), export as MIDI and assign it to instruments in Pro Tools or Ableton. But Sibelius has such bad sounds it's no joy to work in, and it takes me a while to figure out how it will sound that way- not very inspirational. Sibelius 5 allows for any instrument I have to be played, but I don't want to upgrade. Or I ain't got the money, anyway.

 

Logic's built in sounds are great, or at least good enough to write with. Except I can't get a good feel with it. I guess outside of any advice I can get my main question is this: is it possible to write a proper music score in Logic itself? I think it must be- how does one do it?

 

This is my first post on this forum. I'm looking forward to it, it looks like a good site. Thanks everyone!

[ski]

The only things in the score editor that will actually change dynamics (or duration) are those markings tied to "MIDI meanings" (check the manual on this). All other markings are cosmetic/graphic or, as you put it, to prepare a score for printing.

 

There are some very sophisticated setups that will detect dynamic markings and cause various instrument plugs to switch articulations of dynamic levels. But they're not easy to set up and require an expert knowledge of Logic's Environment.

 

So really, the way to get your compositions to come to life is to play in your parts and then write in volume rides for cres/decres, do articulation switching, massage velocity values, force legato, automate attacks/releases (in EXS, possibly other sampler plugs too), and so on.

[Plowman]

It's a happy Boing dawgie sighting!

 

Larry, those of us from a notation program background empathize with this baptism you are about to undergo. Years ago, I came to Logic 2.5 from a DOS platform called Music Printer Plus. The first few months were lamentable. Logic is simply a different paradigm.

 

Professional score writers DO use Logic, but they generally approach the Score through the Arrange window. And those are just the people who need print-outs. If MIDI performance is a companion goal, you need to re-focus on Arrange and Environment.

 

Accept the learning curve or return to Sibelius. If you force Logic to behave like Sibelius, you will be painting through a keyhole.

 

Welcome to the party, Pal.

[Larry Mal]

Thanks for these suggestions. I'll try them all! I just wasn't sure if I was missing something somewhere.