How do you guys handle quick sketching of ideas etc..?

[Robert Randolph]

Something that slightly annoys me about DP is that when I open it, I can't just get going. I have to create a project, save it (which I rarely want to do!), perhaps add things to my template etc..

It sounds minor, and it mostly is, but it is such a common annoyance that I just use other software that I don't particularly like because it's so much quicker and cleaner to quickly do something with/to audio or MIDI.

In some other DAWs, you can open it and just do stuff. Record, import files, do anything. When you close the project most of them will delete everything for you if you wish.

So my question is: How can I get a fast and simple workflow for jotting down quick ideas, trying out things, testing files, inspecting audio etc... in DP?

[Guitar Gaz]

I often will be in a project with VI's etc and just setup a new Chunk (or sequence) with the same setup in that project - I can then sketch with existing sounds. If anything comes of it I can then setup a new project and load that Chunk into it. That is easier than setting up a new project to start with which tends to rob the moment of inspiration.

[Babz]

My new answer to this question, is Apple Music Memos on the iPad/iPhone!

It's quite remarkable how well it works. To add more tracks, you can also export to iPad GarageBand (which was recently updated to make it a lot more powerful). Both apps are FREE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc_KN5dmsSE

For me (ideas just come to me, sometimes in dreams), the key is QUICK. This is the fastest most intuitive solution I've seen.

Babz

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I like writing on paper...

[JSmith1234567]

I like writing on paper...

Me too!!!

[stubbsonic]

I work on paper for certain kinds of things. I also sit with a guitar or piano for other things and either write or record.

With DP, the key is to create different work templates. Have all the things you might need and want for different types of work all ready to go. I'm a little torn because I usually don't want lots of clutter, so I have different sizes of templates. Some MIDI only with just a piano VI, and some with a combo of MIDI, VI's and Audio to let me work without having to do much routing of tracks.

Babz makes a great point about those kinds of apps that have ready made reference loops, but I just hate working that way. I'd rather just bust out my own kind of reference loop so I'm not being bossed around or my muse isn't forced into some pre-fab mode.

[Henry Robinett]

I'm old school. I don't open DP when writing music until I've already written it either in paper or most often in Sibelius. I like to have it still in my head and malleable before I start committing it to tempo, VI sounds, drum patterns, beats or guitar playing.

When it's basically written then I start DP and looking for sounds. I can change form and sections, but I'm not concerned about composition too much. I like to do one thing at a time, as much as possible.


All the best,
www.henryrobinett.com
Check out my latest CD on iTunes.
I Have Known Mountains by Henry Robinett
https://itun.es/us/pi6C_

[Henry Robinett]

Of course it helps to know music notation well.


All the best,
www.henryrobinett.com
Check out my latest CD on iTunes.
I Have Known Mountains by Henry Robinett
https://itun.es/us/pi6C_

[mikehalloran]

Of course it helps to know music notation...

True. Now that just playing something in is no longer an option for me, I'll start composing in Encore or Finale if more complex than 4 or 5 parts.

If audio, I might record a stereo track using a Zoom iQ5 stereo mic in TwistedWave to my iPhone or iPad with a guitar player or my wife on piano. Then I transfer the scratch track into DP. If an ensemble or a better mic setup is required, I use a Zoom R24 with or without outboard preamps, then transfer the tracks into DP.

I rarely track in DP. It's easy enough but doesn't fit with the way I work.

[Michael Canavan]

Something that slightly annoys me about DP is that when I open it, I can't just get going. I have to create a project, save it (which I rarely want to do!), perhaps add things to my template etc..

It sounds minor, and it mostly is, but it is such a common annoyance that I just use other software that I don't particularly like because it's so much quicker and cleaner to quickly do something with/to audio or MIDI.

In some other DAWs, you can open it and just do stuff. Record, import files, do anything. When you close the project most of them will delete everything for you if you wish.

So my question is: How can I get a fast and simple workflow for jotting down quick ideas, trying out things, testing files, inspecting audio etc... in DP?

I have a Project name Empty, I use that instead of templates, because it's already a Project.
I use Clippings to quickly add in hardware I own.

Honestly I wish MOTU would change that about DP, that it requires you to make a new project before you start a new project. For years I would start something in Live not because I like Live better, but because in Live a new Live Set isn't saved on your hard drive until you close the Set down, so you have the option to discard it.

So Yeah, when importing an audio file to mess around with, test things, play with a new soft synth etc. I highly suggest opening a designated blank project instead of making a new one or using DPs Template feature.

[HCMarkus]

I play the piano and record it on my iPhone.

[Robert Randolph]

Something that slightly annoys me about DP is that when I open it, I can't just get going. I have to create a project, save it (which I rarely want to do!), perhaps add things to my template etc..

It sounds minor, and it mostly is, but it is such a common annoyance that I just use other software that I don't particularly like because it's so much quicker and cleaner to quickly do something with/to audio or MIDI.

In some other DAWs, you can open it and just do stuff. Record, import files, do anything. When you close the project most of them will delete everything for you if you wish.

So my question is: How can I get a fast and simple workflow for jotting down quick ideas, trying out things, testing files, inspecting audio etc... in DP?

I have a Project name Empty, I use that instead of templates, because it's already a Project.
I use Clippings to quickly add in hardware I own.

Honestly I wish MOTU would change that about DP, that it requires you to make a new project before you start a new project. For years I would start something in Live not because I like Live better, but because in Live a new Live Set isn't saved on your hard drive until you close the Set down, so you have the option to discard it.

So Yeah, when importing an audio file to mess around with, test things, play with a new soft synth etc. I highly suggest opening a designated blank project instead of making a new one or using DPs Template feature.

A designated blank project is an idea. No idea how that escaped me!

Still curious about other ideas if anyone else has them.

[Shooshie]

I have a 3 ring notebook in which I put score paper that I've printed from DP (or maybe it's Illustrator; It's been a while since I've had to print any, with about 300 pages printed), and when I get an idea, I just write it down. I don't have perfect pitch, but it's pretty close, so I have to check the key before I start; other than that, it's just me, a pen, and paper.

That brings up another point. How many people can remember songs in their actual key? Most pop songs that I know, I remember in the key in which they were recorded. Ditto classical music. I use those as crutches sometimes to help me find the key I'm writing in.

Playing a transposing instrument really did a number on my pitch identification. Saxes are in Bb and Eb, while flute is in C, so I was always hearing different notes than what I was reading, except when playing flute or piano, which always sounded wrong by comparison.

Once I establish a key, everything's fine.

BTW, I have a friend who used to be Elmer Bernstein's assistant. She'd go out and sit under a tree and write scores for films, using her time table books to establish her tempos and tempo changes. Time tables, for the uninitiated, were big old printouts of data, where every tempo change was calculated for tempos, beats, seconds, beats/second, and so forth. They were used to figure out the tempo changes between scenes in a film, where a particular event had to occur at a particular hit, with a tempo change leading up to it, etc. Those big books did what DP does for us without our even thinking about it. I didn't know about them either, until Beth showed her books to me. They remind you of the old logarithm tables in the back of algebra books, only they are huge. THAT's how they used to do music in movies. It was a very specialized type of composition skill, and the people who were good at it were people like Beth, who read and wrote music as easily as prose.

Shooshie

[Shooshie]

I have a Project name Empty, I use that instead of templates, because it's already a Project.

All my projects start by cloning an existing project. There are projects that I keep around for that purpose, with different time signatures in different chunks, etc.

I used to have one with chunks for nearly any project I might want to start, with data already deleted except for the time signature. I've lost track of that file. May have to make another sometime, but I've not been starting much original stuff in DP lately. I use pen and paper for that when I can. Anyway, here's how it goes when I clone an existing project and open it.

Once DP is running and the project is open...

• 1) Open the desired chunk. Save As a new project, with a temp name.
  2) Select All
  3) Delete

... and I'm on my way.

Once I've got an idea down, I do a Save As, change the name (again) and place it wherever I want it in my hard drives. The first Save-As was just to keep it from saving over the original file. It's actually easier if you duplicate the file in the Finder first, then you can skip the Save-As steps.

The idea is to minimize the time from booting up DP to writing down the idea. This is one reason why I prefer pen and paper. It's so much more immediate. I can skip to different phrases and ideas as they come to me. There is no need to try to make them complete or in sequence. Just jot down ideas. Sometimes a lead sheet with chords is all I need, but often it's the particular voicing and harmony that I'm trying to remember, so I have to write in detail, but only for a short phrase.

For years I tried doing it without pen and paper, and the above method is the one I evolved into using all the time. It was about 10 years ago that I went back to pen and paper for the first impressions.

There is, however, the other mode for starting a piece. I'll just run DP while improvising, and when I come up on a good idea, I've got it. But that's the other end of the spectrum: "let's see what comes out." That's not the same as "oh man, I've got to remember this idea."

Sometimes I come up with ideas in remote places. I've got snippets written on napkins, in blank books, and even in the margins of something I'm reading at the time. I try to draw the lines straight; that helps a lot. I usually write those in the key of C, maybe transposing later.

Different methods for different circumstances, but when I start a project in DP, I almost always clone an existing project. It's just so much faster.

Shooshie

[Michael Canavan]

Yeah Shooshie, I often think I'm going to make more than a blank template, then realize I like working from a blank template.

It's funny, being a non traditional musician I've started songs from noise clips. A sound with little tone can be a starting point, and often it is. Song starts for me are mostly found or created noise, or a single riff, that for me anyway works best if I record it. I'm jealous slightly of people who use pen and paper, but it doesn't really work for me. I want the texture of the initial part to guide the breaks and choruses etc. If it's got distortion I want to hear that when I'm thinking of where it's going next.

It's funny to me how we as musicians are, the other forum I visit often is the Ableton Live forums, and it's all electronic music people there with few exceptions. Almost none of them can read a staff even as poorly as I can. Songs are all about build ups, drops, break downs and other motion tricks to help a progression along when it's squarely 4/4 with a simply melody and no key changes.

In other words the answer to this question wouldn't be pen and paper, but "Get thumping kick and everything else will fall into place!"

Not knocking either approach, just digging how people approach a DAW, electronic musicians approach a DAW as an instrument more than a place to record compositions if you get what I mean by that. The idea comes out through the tool, like picking up a bass as a sax or guitar player, and writing something completely different because of that.