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Hello guys!

I've been giving RC a good workout this week, I know the potential of this tool is immense, and I am aware that some people are using it in their own unique way and are very successful in getting RC to fit into their own workflow, I'm slow at this as at this stage I'm working my way into really having RC as my go to for not only inspirations and ideas BUT to be honest, somehow I keep getting into a head space where I'm getting frustrated by the way I'm trying to fit RC in my creative flow.

To this point, I ask you RC power user the following;

What is your workflow when it comes to.

1. Motif development? Let's say you have an empty canvas for eg. 12 bars in Part 1 to 24 bars in Part 2

How do you slowly build a motif that makes musical sense from Part 1 to Part 2? This is one of my biggest hurdle when it comes to using RC, I end up getting lost in the idea tool of endless clicking and at the end my initial motif is nowhere near developing!

How do you get around this?

I have a lot more questions for you guys and I really appreciate you all taking the time to read and hopefully share your RC workflow with me.

cheers!

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I must admit, I am not able to reply to your question. :( I develop a tool that I hope others find useful, but I do not consider myself a composer so I am not the right person to reply composition workflow-related questions. As you mentioned everyone is using RC in their own way. Can you describe how you usually develop a motif (outside of RC)?
I am sorry I could not help...
Cheers!
Attila

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In my user guide videos, I work the videos through as an imaginary "real world" approach to using the software. As I go, I use probably almost all the features of the software. I start off bad, I admit, but, they do get better..

But what I do when I want to compose something, I use the chord selector "palette" tab so I can hear what the chords sound, or temperament are, and where they want to resolve to... I also think linearly in the chord progression, thinking of how to go up and back down, either gradually, or drop fast, etc (higher to lower scale, if you will).. Settle on a progression and then fill in the phrases..

but for the most part, it is a lot of experimenting. You also have to pretty much set up the idea tool in such a way that it gives you predictable results that you are working towards. If you just set everything to random, it will be just that, random and it probably won't sound good either..

The videos are meant to be watched in order, if you are new to RC, meaning, if you don't understand one part of the software, it will affect another part of the software later on.. A lot of the stuff in the software works together in one way or another..

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I don't always start with RC! Sometimes I just get an idea which I work into an orchestral passage by traditional methods. If I run into the dreaded block; that is where I find RC most useful. So far it has always generated something that sparked a melody or harmony that has been useful.
My end point is to produce a score for a conductor, parts for an orchestra and an MP3 to give an idea of what I would like. So, after the idea I drag the phrase into Studio One and from there to Notion, most of the arranging I do in Notion. Any other notation program would do, even the free Musescore 3, but I'm used to Notion. You can export from RC to midi which most notation programs will import.
RC will help with arrangements but sometimes I find it quicker to use a score. It's just what you're used to using and what method you develop for what you are composing, there's no perfect way.

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Thank you, bagelfish and BluGenes!

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Thanks guys! I really appreciate all the feedback and ideas...please allow me to gather my thoughts so I can relay my approach to you all clearly.

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Firstly...thanks To Attila, BlueGenes and bagelfish.

I learned music composition traditionally, motif augmentation and diminution, harmonically and rhythmically, extending the tonal centre by chordal embellishments and movements etc... also a broader view of the harmonic map, Schenkerian analysis, polytonal approach to line harmonisation, upper structure triads...etc etc there are other approaches to musical composition that I won’t go too much into here.

I view the ideas in RC in two folds, firstly just to spark little seeds of ideas, RC is brilliant tool for that! Secondly to save time, I find conventional music notation as an end product to be very linear, and working in a DAW environment in my opinion is more geared towards the post production side of an almost completed piece, try inputting some of RC phrases manually into Logic Pro sequencer is doable but also very limiting.

I work in a very fast phase environment where the only time I could really spare to write my music is whenever I could find the time, not much I’m afraid these days.

I’m sure it’s my knowledge of how to utilise RC that’s really frustrating me...like I said before I’m learning and making mistakes...I’m still trying to understand some of RC’s basic terminologies, for instance what does rendering phrases, tracks allows me to do?

The idea tools is fantastic! But when I’m working on parts for instance, the idea tool gave me a beautiful 8 bar melodic idea on my Part 1, 8 bar line, now I’d like to be able to recall that motif or melodic idea and expand upon it on my next part which is 16 bars long, I could exit out of the idea tool, that’s fine and copy the melody/phrase that I like from the 8 bar part, but what I have in mind is for RC to have some kind of functionality where augment or diminuate that motif rhythmically or even elongate some of the notes length or truncate others...it would still have the same note order, that is just one way to expand on a small or a longer melodic phrase, another way is to have a call and response type approach...I find i could get there with RC but it’s more of a longer route, as I’m constantly trying to figure things out, BUT having said that it’s brilliant in a way that I’m constantly bumping into happy accidents!

Thanks for reading!

Cheers

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Hi shotgunportfolio,

thank you for sharing your thoughts!
While I do my best to implement more music theory, RapidComposer does not (yet) offer all the compositional techniques that you mentioned.

"Rendering phrases" here means the multi-step process to calculate the final MIDI notes of a phrase. In RC notes are like functions depending on the current chord and scale notes, rather than 'absolute' MIDI notes like in a DAW. This has lots of advantages, one of them is that you can apply all kinds of variations on a phrase, non-destructively. The other advantage is that you can change the chords anytime, the phrases will follow.

I will add more variations that can make a new phrase from an existing one, like Simplify Phrase. An ornamentation variation would be very useful indeed.

Based on user feedback the program is being improved all the time. 9 years passed since the first release, but there is still a lot to do...

Thanks,
Attila

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Attila.

There is nothing like RC at the moment! it's so unique it can be approached in many different ways, it can be a valuable assistant to a seasoned working composer, if one is only willing to spend time to realise its potential, the drawback for a lot of beginners like myself is really workflow.

I was just thinking the other day what would make someone who just downloaded this software for a test ride get a glimpse of its potential?

In real life scenario...

I would've liked some kind of workflow demonstration that shows a beginner an actual song file with proper Parts and lines being composed from start to finish it doesn't have to be a long piece either, utilising bits and pieces of RC feature sets, I know there are currently templates file already built in RC, however it would be beneficial and encouraging if one could actually follow a typical "build your song from start to finish" (even just a lead instrument and a piano part) demo "workflow" you can even have phrases saved specifically for this demo, and at the end they will have a completed short piece ready for midi export to their DAW.

If they can then take away even a fraction of what RC can really do, there would be more chance of continuous experimentation I think what made me stop using It from the first week was I just didn't know how I could fit it in my workflow. I already know the "bone structure" of my piece I just want RC to put some flesh on it, dress it if you will in different ways! I just didn't have a blueprint to guide me, I've watched videos online when I started with RC and yeah and my initial reaction were YES! This is f'n awesome! Until I launched it and just plain didn't know what I'm doing. Pretty sure a lot of beginners would agree this was the case, it's understandable as RC is not so linear like a notation software or DAW. But the before mentioned demo "follow me file" would be so helpful.

Thank you for constantly improving its current feature and always looking forward to what it can become in the future!

Cheers!

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