NeeHoo

Can't agree more :) If, for example the forum's using the Invision community engine now, stay with it and make it all look stable and consistent. Other than that, be careful and thoughtful when adding new features. Sometimes it's not about how many things you add but how many you can remove, to make the user experience more smooth and focused.

If I may say something from a perspective of the one who is not a frequent visitor but has observed the website for a while. Introducing new features certainly requires a lot of work, testing etc. and I appreciate the commitment and the hard work. But is it really always required? 1. Are all the new features really appreciated and used by users? My guess is that some of the features are probably not used. 2. Are the frequent layout and navigation changes confusing people? My guess is that they are. I personally don't want to learn new stuff every couple of months just because I'm like the majority of web users (that are lazy and used to receiving an answer in a few clicks). 3. Are the constant look and feel changes dilluting the identity of the website? Yes, most certainly. How many websites / companies do you know that change their colour scheme / logo every now and then? None because once you have a brand you have to make sure it is consistent and grows. You don't dillute it by changing its face every now and then. Look at the big guys in any industry. The good logos are strong and unchanged for years Other than that, I still like and visit the forum. I'm just discouraged by the changes that I see all the time. The problem with the web users is that once they get used to something, they start to like it and feel comfortable with it. If you change it all the time they may feel alienated and discouraged (that actually might be what happened to me at some point). Especially when some of the users are not super confident in the first place anyway. That's because we're dealing with composers here, some are better than others, some are not really young and it might be easy to scare people away if you're not cautious (unless you want to scare away the less confident ones. Then it's fine ;). Again, I appreciate the hard work and commitment because I do know how much work it can take :) Best, J.

Heh, yes I checked out the new semi-Alt+key navigation after browsing some Sibelius forums where users would post similar angry "No Alt+key functionality" threads. Yes, the new functionality is similar to the previous one. I could go into "still, it's a few keystrokes more than previously" kind of conversation but I'll pass here. Complaints were voiced by more people than just me and Sibelius guys are aware of it so I take it as a good omen for future :)

Yes, getting used to it is one thing, Making a good and efficient piece of UI a piece of crap (pardon my French ;) ) is another thing. Keyboard is faster than mouse and Sib 6 gives you a whole range of useful Alt+key functions that virtually let you forget about the mouse (or track-pad if you're using a laptop) An example that annoyed me recently amd actually triggerred this angry post? :) I wanted to add/remove staves. In Sib6 you press "I" that opens the instrument window. Then Alt+key lets you toggle between lists of instruments on the left and on the right, add and remove them without the need of using mouse. Just press Alt and the key letters in the labels become highlighted so you know momentarily which keyboard shortcuts to use for what Two seconds and you've got your staves just the way you want them. It's no longer possible in Sibelius 7, which means that what I would find a huge efficiency gain in Sib 6 was removed and replaced by a flashy UI. Sibelius 7, Fail.

I am seriously thinking of using SVN. In my case it's because I've got two machines and I note down my ideas in Sibelius. At the moment I use Google Docs to store the compositions online. This actually saved my life when my laptop was stolen a few months ago. Still, using version control seems like a good idea for someone who knows how it works ;) And Subversion would probably be as good as any other software. You just need to come up with a proper structure of your folders, depending on what software you're using for composition. Also, a decent online repository like SourceRepo.com would be a good idea

I'm sorry guys but I just got Sib 7 and I hate it. They messed up a decent piece of UI just to get the new and trendy "Task Oriented" ribbon bars. I only had it for a day so please correct me if I'm wrong. I really hope that perhaps there's sth wrong with my version ;) - Alt + key no longer lets you navigate the menus. I mean that really sounds like something's wrong. For example Alt+F opens the File menu in every decent application on Earth and generally Alt+key speeds up your work incredibly by letting you navigate using keyboard only. - Full screen is no longer full screen. Ctrl-U in Sib 6 would hide the status bar, the windows title bar and the menu bar and show the actual notation but it's no longer the case in Sib 7. In Sib 7 you're still left with 4 layers of bars (the useless save, undo redo toolbar, the File, Home, Note Input, etc menu bar, the Full Score, tab menu, the status bar) Anyway so far I really dislike Sib 7 as it just slowed me down. If I want high quality audio I'll use Logic or Cubase. I want Sibelius to let me write a score quickly, not slow me down by introducing a whole new navigation UI and confusing me.

Sorry about mistyping your nick robinjessome, it's edited now ;)

Fergunkambobo, Thanks for the info! So it seems that there might not be too much difference between PC and Mac in terms of battery life after all. robinjessome, The main reason is that I'm on the train quite often. But yes, I might have to consider finding a way of travelling closer to electric sockets ;)

Hi guys, I'm planning to get myself a laptop for mobile music production. As mobile as possible that is. Can you recommend any options with decent battery life for a heavy usage (Cubase and samples library such as East West)? I know that a normal powerful quadcore audio PC will die roughly after an hour. I'm wondering if Macbook pro would be any better. The reason? I like to compose outdoors, actually looking at the world around me instead of four walls (and I also spend a lot of time on the move). Right now I'm composing in Sibelius and an Eee PC netbook that has 7h battery life to offer. But I'll need to be able to produce a bit more powerful mock-ups shortly. Any ideas appreciated (apart from those like "It can't be done" ;)

Hi guys, Some background: This is a sketch for a scene in a short film "Drop". A scene where a girl is given a cup of coffee in a very old and fancy, precious porcelain cup. She's quite apprehensive of handling this cup and it eventually ends up with the cup's handle breaking off and the cup falling on the floor. Drop OST Ideas - A Clumsy Girl.pdf Drop OST Ideas - A Clumsy Girl.sib

Alex, Thanks for your comment. I haven't tried sound treatment yet but I'll give it a go. It is reassuring to hear that people with Tinnitus can have a successful musical career :) I thought that this kind of condition may be too much of an obstacle when you need to spend so much time with music. I will try to focus on keeping it at bay. My current concern is to make sure it does not get worse and I hope to get some answers from the Hyperacusis specialist that I found recently. Hopefully I will get some more information soon:) Thanks again!

Thanks for all the info guys, The music I am making most of the time is for screen (student projects ATM), which often needs good mix and that is why I need to produce the full package for the picture. I do mix using near field monitors (however the room is not treated properly), but, as Kamen mentioned, the proper mixing levels are 75-80 Db (SPL which is just a killer to me). It seems that I will have to start wearing earplugs. I just came back from a Philharmonic Orchestra concert (being part of the audience) and when the whole crowd was applauding it was just too loud for me and the ringing has kicked in hard again (brass fortissimos seemed to do the trick as well ;) ). As for the composition process, I am trying to train my ear to be able to compose purely on piano but it's not working yet. And since I am still learning - composing, arranging and mixing / mastering take more time than I would like to. ATM my composing process is : piano -> Sibelius -> Cubase & Samples (and this stage is the most straining one) Recently I got hold of a whole set of ear training books and CDs so perhaps these will help me build the mental model of the music that I am usually writing with samples feedback. One more hope is that I have a very good friend who is very good with mixing so it seems like I will be asking him for help a bit more often ;) As for my crap doctor, I think I will be getting a second opinion from someone who should know more about the Hyperacusis & Tinnitus issues soon. I guess I will give myself a chance and try to follow all your advice. Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.

Hi guys, I'm in the middle of my studies (2nd year of BA, planning to apply for masters degree in composition for screen next autumn) but I have serious doubts whether I should continue. Over last couple of years I seem to have developed Hyperacusis (hyper sensitivity to sounds but in a bad way) & Tinnitus (constant noise, initially in one and now in both ears) which, at times are hampering my compositions by driving me crazy. It's not that I can't hear things properly but after couple of hours with music, both my ears are just buzzing and get really sensitive. And after a day spent mixing the composed piece the hearing is, well, slightly impaired. And I have a subjective feeling that it's getting worse over years. I can still quit music, but that's the one thing I love most :) My ENT doctor just says "your hearing is within a norm now" (ENT norm, which which means, you can hear speech), "the only thing I can do", he says "is to prescribe you a hearing aid when/if it gets worse". I have had the feeling that it's getting worse over years but it's still not bad enough for hearing tests to pick it up. Have you had any experience with it or do you know anyone who actually had a successful composing career despite such issues (please don't mention Beethoven). Or anyone who gave up career in composing for that matter? Thanks for any info.

Marius, Thanks a lot for the exhausting response. I think I have watched too much of musical boxes associated with bad guys (Ennio Morricone soundtracks, Hans Zimmer with Davy Jones theme etc. :) ). I was planning to add something to the background to make it sound somehow ominous but I'll work on it a bit more. Yes, this I can see. The titles introduction would need more care. OK, I'll try to unleash something more for this explosion stuff here. I guess I focused on the falling ship instead of the explosions here :) OK, more drama required here :) I'll spend some time trying to make it more complex and interesting (although it might not be ultra spectacular since I've still got a lot to learn here :) ) Well the mix actually was Sibellius output imported as midi into Cubase. The way I worked here and on my previous piece was to compose it on piano, write it in Sibelius and then trying to animate it in Cubase. The way I usually do it is by manipulating expression and moving around individual notes to make it sound more human (although to be fair I haven't done a lot of animating or mixing/mastering for this piece due to time limits). what I usually do : For instruments where proper phrasing is required, I usually overlay synful orchestra (physical modelling) on top of EWQL samples and then place it in the same spot on soundstage using PAZ Analyzer from Waves, so that I can have something that sounds like human. The percussion... well that's basically moving notes around to get a sort of feel that I need but it usually takes ages to get it right. Perhaps I could try to get some readymade grooves from EZ drumer? although I don't know if it would work for orchestra... :) Thanks again, I have a lot to do now to address all these issues. I'll try to handle them one at a time :)

Hi Guys, This is a game trailer music assignment that I am working on. Actually I had to hand it in but since it's not finished I am planning to improve it and I could use some help here. I know that I have to fix drums and percussion because that's the weak point here in my opinion (don't know much about it yet). Also I think I will slightly thicken the harmonic texture of the opening strings (until the FF logo appears). Apart from that, can you give me some advice regarding thematic development? Am I doing it right (or at all :) )? And basically any comments are welcomed, it's a fairly complex piece for me so there are a lot of places where I can mess things up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fadaCd7SPU&fmt=22 Thanks,