Ravich

By the time you get to PS2 games, I think they were capable of utilizing sample libraries in the PSF2 files, so they sound real even if they're not recorded by a live orchestra.

Mmm... are you sure that they didnt just use an orchestra for the credits track and such? I'm pretty sure that all of the in game stuff is MIDI. For me it was probably FFVIII for the opening FMV and the credits. I wouldnt be surprised if it was the first console game to use a live orchestra...

Track meaning it is MIDI data and therefore all 1 voice on one staff. I am wondering if Sibelius can take a staff with 4 parts that arent separated into voices.

I am wondering whether Sibelius has the capability of taking 4 part harmony condensed into one track, and giving it a shot at splitting the voices. Anyone know?

People are still convinced that "tonality" was exhausted after the 19th century. No one really has any idea what "tonality" is. People are insecure about the unstable placement of Classical music as "high art" that only middle aged upper middle class white people bother with. As a result, people avoid consonance so that when their music is not appreciated, it is only because the audience isnt educated enough.

I think the point that the OP is making has to do with the placement of Classical music within society, and that classical music is not really a reflection of the times like it was for composers like Mozart and Beethoven. We view classical music with a sense of timelessness as though we are observing an exhibit in a museum. This is exacerbated (or caused, take your pick) by the fact that no effort is being made to have current music become a part of the repertoire. The audiences hardly get exposed to new music that they are likely to grasp or enjoy, and as a result we have phenomena like "new music" having a negative connotation among listeners. Think about it. How many classical and romantic composers would have dared hide behind trite bullshit like "you just dont like my music because you dont understand it. You arent educated enough." I mean, by all means compose whatever the hell you want, but if you're going to sit there riding on a tradition that developed specifically because the audience was meant to be entertained when they went to a concert, quit acting entitled to having a room full of people sit there and listen to something they didnt pay to hear just because you wrote it. Really. It's no secret that there is a specific compartment of the classical repertoire that only gets paired with Beethoven Symphonies and Concertos by Brahms and Tchaikovsky. I feel that in many ways, the way musicians control the manner in which audiences are exposed to classical music sets up some rather strong misconceptions of the nature of the music and composition. Mainly the notion that the reason music fitting into the standard repertoire isnt written anymore is because people are no longer capable of doing what Bach, Mozart, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky did. Take a look around us. Look at the resources available to musicians and the much higher number of children with access to means of studying music at a young age, and the people with connections that will make sure that their talent receives nourishment. How many times have we heard "THE NEXT MOZART?!?!" because there is a 5 year old displaying an unfathomable level of comprehension of music. Do they become the next Mozart? No. There is no room for Mozart in classical music's "high art" culture that we have set up.

Hrm. So With Kontakt 3 out, I downloaded and installed it. I am recovering from an external HDD failure, so I only just got my new one up and running. I went ahead and set everything up again, and this time I did not get the "instrument could not be found" pop up when clicking the speaker in the Sibelius mixer window. Unfortunately I am not getting any sound. The Sibelius start up sound plays through just fine, and I made sure to go into the plist file for Gold XP and created a new ContentDir entry with the new library location. EDIT: well, after trying to open Sibelius one more time 6 times in a row, having it crash 4 times, and hang twice, it finally works... through the internal speakers. Does it just disagree with my Presonus Firebox? Thanks for your time.

Multiple tracks are much harder to convert to score for what I'm thinking of. Pizzicato strings arent in a separate staff, nor are muted strings, staccato, etc. If I had a different track for every time I needed a different sound from an instrument, it would be incredibly cluttered, and when I converted to score I would end up with 5 staves per instrument, which would be a pain. Regarding Symphonic Choirs, I'm still curious to try them out. I'm sure it's situational, but there's plenty of choral music out there where the listener has no reason to actually be understanding the words being sung. Thanks for the link.

Thoughts on other sites I have found? HostMonster - Web Hosting Browser Update Page

There's also the relatively massive issue of teaching music theory without an ear training counterpart.

Who would have thought Finale was going to follow up all of the previous releases with 2010

It's looking like OSX wont be able to be Apple exclusive for much longer, which was inevitable as soon as Apple went intel. It looks to me like apple is preparing for that, but they're not quite ready. Anyway, yes, macs are more expensive, but the bottom line is that sometimes they are just worth it. The technical support is better than anything else you could possibly get with a PC. 150$ for a 3 year warranty, and by default they come with a 1 year warranty. For some people the peace of mind is worth the extra money, and really the difference isnt as big as most people make it out to be, The new macbook pro 15 inch has a 2.5G processor, 4GB ram default with 8gig capacity, 7 hour battery life, 1 year warranty, etc... find me a similarly specced PC laptop (taking into account weight and size, mind you) for 1700 or less.

Helpful responses so far (mostly), thanks everyone. Anyone able to point me in the right direction for these 2?

Anyone have any good sources (books or jazz wiki type thing) for good reading, research, learning in general about solo piano improv? Or not solo, I'm sure it's all useful to know. I'm interested in learning more about anything that would assist with my "background piano music" capability. I had a link in an email, but it was to their homepage, which expired >.<