MidiKareshi

Thanks, I'll check those out.

I was hoping for some fun and experience writing music for a game maker out there, but I seem to have trouble finding one. So much for Google. :P I'm not looking for some large commercial game developer, just a small (possibly non-profit) project that I could lend my amateur skills to free of charge (though I would still want to be properly credited, obviously). I always write for myself, so I'd like to get a feel for producing music for other people's needs, you see. Does anyone here happen to know of a site or community that would make finding such an opportunity easier?

Thank you for your many interesting comments, folks. After reading Flint and charliep123's posts, I feel I need to clarify something. I wasn't actually asking this question with the intention of writing for orchestra. As things stand, I exclusively compose electronic music, and I am in fact quite comfortable with this "genre". I do, however, listen to some orchestral music for inspiration (mostly film). My question was the simple result of curiosity. That said, I've found your responses very helpful thus far. :)

While we're on the topic of composing for orchestra, there's something else I'd like to ask. I haven't personally written for an orchestra (yet), but suppose I did... That's an awful lot of instruments to write for. I assume one doesn't always use the whole lot of them. Which of these are generally used in most orchestral pieces?

Sorry for the awkward title. I've read in a couple of places that, especially in film music, an orchestrator other than the original composer is used to, well, orchestrate the piece. So I was wondering... For what instruments, then, does the composer himself normally write the piece to begin with?

I'm not very experienced with Cubase myself, but in my experience, the sampler itself usually has a master "instrument" which allows you to switch between articulations in "real-time" using a defined key (I know this to be true of at least Kontakt 3 and EWQLMOR

Thanks. :blush: I really appreciate your input. I think I'll ask my teacher why she played a different chord when I go see her today. Whenever she suggests a change, she always has a very specific reason (backed by music theory and everything).

Thanks. I knew it wasn't my imagination! It's obvious what my own preference is in this case, but if you would indulge me, which do you think sounds better in this instance?

Thank you, Gardener, for your valuable insight. I agree with your observations on the violin part, and yes, I do believe my teacher used a recorder simply because she didn't have a flutist available. I will not let myself be put down, and in fact plan on speaking to my teacher tomorrow to personally thank her for the performance. Like you said, I'm lucky to have even had a performance in the first place. On another note (so to speak), do you also hear a different chord at the end of that octatonic climb (after the flute part)? I'm not very confident in my ability to identify chords by ear, so I would appreciate a second opinion. :)

True. I'm leaning towards not criticizing the violin, though, since the violinst is but a student and I knew this from the beginning. Listening to the performance again, though, I'm pretty sure I'm hearing some of the piano notes changed, which I find almost just as annoying (but given that this was my music teacher herself performing, I supposed I should have seen that coming). Lonely Melody Original Version Live Performance Version I have to ask that you please don't spread these files, especially not the live performance one, since that involves other people's work and I am currently unable to give them proper credit (also, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to upload it in the first place). It is here strictly for comparison purposes. :)

Sorry for the double post, but I've got my hands on an mp3 of the actual concert performance (low quality, made off someone camcording the event). Perhaps I should post it here for comparison?

Thanks for your ever sound advice, Gardener. I feel that I should make an effort to discuss this with my teacher after all, especially since she herself was the pianist for the piece and I would like to thank her again. Also, I've never met the recorder player in person (I don't even have her name), so this might be a good opportunity to communicate my gratitude to her. Phrasing my criticism of the violin is going to be a tough one, though. Perhaps I should let this one slide, since these are mostly students playing, and since I fear that my teacher might indeed take criticism of her daughter's performance personally (given her own skills as a musician, though, I'd like to believe that she picked up the discrepancy herself). As for my pride, I think it'll survive. It's just that I don't get a lot of exposure (since I tend to keep my music locked away for projects that never see the light of day), and as I sat there, I really wished the audience could have heard my composition in its original form. In case you wanted to hear it, here is the original. I intend to fix the velocity on some of the keys for the piano, but otherwise it's pretty much done for now. Thank you again for your input.

Well, I got my performance on Thursday evening. I'm afraid it wasn't quite what I expected... Some liberties were taken with rhythm and velocity, which I'm cool with, as I was expecting as much. The piano and flute pieces were played well and I couldn't complain. What I wasn't expecting, however, was the sound of the violin. Perhaps I've been spoiled with pitch perfect samples composing on the computer, but this instrument sounded awful to me

Well, Kontakt 3 gives me some good samples to start with (also a little bit of almost everything), so since money is an important consideration here, I think I'll pass on Goliath. (If I'm persuaded that its quality/variety is superior, I might come back to it once I've acquired the others, though.) This is it, right? It's pretty expensive for something that has no use by itself... Thanks for the advice, I just happened to be looking for another excuse to put in more RAM. :P

Thank you again. Well, I write background music (as for films and games), and each of these packages have elements that I would like to incorporate into my work. I like to have as many options as possible. Naturally, I can't afford to buy all of them at once, so I'm thinking of acquiring them one by one. It'll probably take me a long, long time just to figure out one of them anyway. As for my computer, I'm not sure of the hard drive speed, but I do have 2GB pf RAM and two 2.40 GHz processors. If I need to upgrade for my music, though, I'll gladly do it