In the final part of my Orchestral Sample Library series, I’m going to focus on two products that don’t work in Logic but are both crucial in my writing process.
The two products we’re going to look at are Note Performer and StaffPad.
Here’s a piece of score played through both pieces of software. Many thanks to Mark Fabian for helping me again this week with both audio demos and collaboration on the article.
Note Performer
Note Performer is an artificial intelligence playback engine that allows high-quality renditions of score playback in Sibelius, Finale and Dorico with a VERY small computer footprint (as it’s not sample-based).
As a Sibelius user, I’ll talk primarily about how it works in Sibelius.
All users of Sibelius learn pretty quickly that both the general midi sounds within Sibelius and the huge Sibelius sound library are quite frankly awful and no sane person enjoys using them unless they have no choice. So how do you get a good quality playback of your scores without exporting them and mocking them up?
Step forward Note Performer...
Note Performer isn’t an alternative to an end product mock-up or recording. But when I’m playing something to a client to get their agreement of a cue before it’s mocked up properly or recorded, Note Performer is more than good enough. It works in conjunction with the dictionary in Sibelius.
Sibelius’s dictionary is the technical way in which Sibelius allows changing of articulations and techniques within a score.
So the Sound ID (the Sibelius technical term) of a technique (e.g. Pizzicato, con sordino) links the sound of that performance technique to those exact words. This means that typing in Pizzicato (assuming you’ve used the right type of text style) in Sibelius will change the sound of the instrument to the correct plucking.
Note Performer takes this a stage further. It sounds better than the stock sounds - period. But in addition, it has plugins (found in the normal Sibelius plugin folder) that allow manipulation of vibrato (or no vibrato). It allows a2 or a3 to be applied to a section for smaller ensemble playback or even a half section where required.
Generally, with little or no programming work at all, you get a really decent playback of a score (with dynamics fully followed) that is plenty good enough for anything short of release quality. If I’m playing stuff to my publisher or to a TV client to see if they will allow us to move to the next stage of production, it gives them MORE than enough to make that decision.
StaffPad
StaffPad is a rare beast.
It is one of the very few pieces of software that stopped me in my tracks and made me change my whole workflow after many years of searching for something similar.
I have long realised that I write differently with paper and pencil than I do with a mouse. Firstly, I’m left-handed (but use a mouse with a right hand), but secondly, I just come up with different ideas.
I’ve often wanted to find a way to write with pencil and paper but realise things on the computer. I tried a few pieces of software that purport to offer this but always ended up frustrated.
And then along came Staffpad.
So what is Staffpad? Let me see if I can explain simply:
Staffpad is effectively an offline sampler. It is not an artificial intelligent playback engine like Note Performer. It plays real sample libraries as I know them in my DAW. But unlike a DAW it doesn’t need to have all the samples loaded and ready for keyboard performance all of the time, so it’s footprint is light enough to run a full orchestral template with several libraries within an iPad.
It’s like the best bits of a DAW but with the best bits of paper and pencil. If I want a staccato note, I just write a note with a staccato on it, and the sample is changed. If I want slurs, I write slurs. The same for hairpins, technique changes (con sord, pizz etc).
But equally, it works so well because it doesn’t allow any real programming. It is simple and quick. - and therefore ALL my focus inside it is on writing. But the samples (if you buy the right add-on libraries) sound fantastic!
Unlike a DAW I don’t have to program instrument or technique changes or volume or expression.
Changing volume/sample crossfading is as simple as dragging one volume automation line up and down with an apple pencil.
Playback is immediate and INCREDIBLY satisfying for the most part as you write something with your pencil and then immediately here a high-quality sample play it back… and I can do it in my PJ’s sat in the garden on a Sunday morning with an iPad!
That’s the good stuff. Now for the rest of the info.
There are lots and lots of bugs, quirks and problems in this fledgeling version of Staffpad. It’s changing quickly as a program with new features being added very regularly, new libraries coming thick and fast and a thriving user community.
But I am frustrated on a regular basis that it doesn’t always recognise my pen strokes… that things which should work just don’t and that I have plenty of crashes and problems with it. Simple things like multi-copy of dynamics don’t work for me, meaning tedious entry of multiple things is necessary.
Exports of some files crash and stems had some time alignment problems the last time I checked. That said - I use it every day and I’m utterly hooked by it. Once I can add a timeline and audio import (which creator David Hearn assures me is not far away), I’ll use this for a good chunk of my arranging and writing in preference to Logic.
And that about wraps it up. I haven’t chosen a Desert Island choice this week as these bits of software aren’t in competition with each other, but if I had to choose, StaffPad all day long!
I hope you’ve enjoyed the series on Orchestral Sample libraries and the associated software. Let's see how these lists change a year from now!