Getting Started How To Manual MIDI and Audio
In this tutorial we are going to do some recording with QuickScore Elite. You'll need a MIDI keyboard attached to your computer in order to complete this tutorial.
We'll start with the file ONEBASS.QSD, so let's load it up. Click on the File menu, select Open and double-click on ONEBASS.QSD in the file list box. ONEBASS.QSD is a file with one bass track.
Before we start recording, let's make sure things are set up the way
we want them. Let's start with the metronome. Click on the Options menu
and select Metronome.
The metronome you are given by default is MIDI note 37 on channel 10 with
a velocity of 127. The metronome will count four beats before recording
starts. Click on the Audition Metronome button at the bottom of the dialog
box to start the audition. Click on the Audition Metronome button again
to stop the audition. If you like what you hear, keep it; otherwise change
the settings for the metronome (especially if you hear nothing) until
you get something you like (or at least something you can live with).
Click on OK when you are satisfied with your metronome.
Now let's make sure MIDI thru is set up the way we want it. Click on
the Options menu and select MIDI Thru.
Normally, incoming MIDI events will be routed to the current track's channel,
as set in the Track Sheet. To explicitly route each channel from your
MIDI input device to a separate channel, select Assign output and channels
independently.
If you are using a single MIDI keyboard that has its own internal sounds for some or all channels, turn MIDI thru off for all of these channels. If you are using one or more synth modules that are separate from your keyboard, keep MIDI thru on for all channels. If you are using a keyboard that can only send on one channel, keep MIDI thru on for that channel and set the output channel for that channel to the one you would like QuickScore Elite to record and play on. If you want to change this output channel to another at any time you will have to do it here because you can't do it from your keyboard.
Note: If you set local control to off on your keyboard (that is, you only have the instrument play sounds that it detects from the MIDI in port), you must keep MIDI thru on for all channels in the MIDI Thru dialog.
You can have QuickScore Elite record using the current track's MIDI channel
instead of using the channel that your input device is sending on. This
is set in the bottom part of the Record Options Dialog, available from
the Options menu.
Once you set this option, it will remain this way in your future use of
QuickScore Elite until you change it again.
Now let's make a new track and set it up for recording. Select the Track Sheet. Click on New at the bottom of the list of track numbers. This creates a new track. Let's call the track Guitar. Click on the name field for track 2 and type "Guitar". (Erase "B", the name that was given to the track by default.) Set the channel for the track to 2. A dialog box appears asking, "Change all events on track to channel 2?". Click on Yes. This will not affect the channel of events that are recorded from your keyboard, but it will affect events recorded using the faders and notes entered with the mouse. Set the program for the track to 28 - Electric Guitar (clean). Now set the channel that your keyboard will send to 2. (If you can't do this on your keyboard, you will have to do it using the MIDI Thru dialog as described on page 74.)
Let's record. Press the HOME key to make sure you are at the beginning
of your piece. Press the record button (the button with the red circle)
in the tape transport in the main control area.
The count?in will play and then the bass track will start to play. Play
some notes along with the bass track. When you have finished, click on
the stop button. You will be asked, "Keep this take?". If you
like what you recorded, click on Yes, otherwise click on No.
You can keep recording more takes, even if you answer Yes to the question "Keep this take?". Just use Undo. (Click on the Edit menu and select Undo.) Then you can try again.
Let's record one more track. Click on New at the bottom of the list of track numbers in the Track Sheet. As before, this creates a new track. Let's call the track Piano. Click on the name field for track 3 and type "Piano". (Erase "C", the name that was given the track by default.) Set the channel for the track to 3. A dialog box appears asking, "Change all events on track to channel 3?". Click on Yes. Set the program for the track to 3 - Honky-Tonk Piano. Now set the channel that your keyboard will send to 3. (If you can't do this on your keyboard, you will have to do it using the MIDI Thru dialog as described on page 74.)
Let's record the track. Press the HOME key to make sure you are at the beginning of your piece. Press the record button. The count?in will play and then the bass track and the guitar track will start to play. Play some notes along with the music. When you have finished, click on the stop button. If you like what you recorded, click on Yes, otherwise click on No when you are asked "Keep this take?".
When you record, you don't have to start with a new or an empty track. You can record on any old track. When you record, the new events which are recorded are merged with the events already on the track. You also don't have to start at the beginning of a track. You can set the time (shown in the time display in the main control area) to anything, and start recording from the time you set.
If you want, you can cut out part of what was already in a track and
record something new in its place. You do this by punch recording. Click
on the Punch button in the main control area (the button with the red
line and two little black arrows underneath it) and click on the time
display to the right of the Punch button.
Set the From time to 2:1:0 and set the To time to 3:1:0. Now when you
record, all events on bar 2 will be replaced by events recorded from the
keyboard. Try it. If you don't like what you did, you can reject the take,
or you can undo it after listening to it a few times.
Recording while tapping the beat is great if we don't want to stick to a rigid tempo as we record. We don't want to hear the metronome or any other music for that matter as we record while tapping the beat, because the metronome and our music will proceed in real time and we will not.
To make things simple, let's start a new file. Click on the File menu and select New. Answer No to the question, "Do you wish to save?", and then select Default from the list of score settings that appears.
Select the Metronome dialog by clicking on the Option menu item and choosing Metronome. We want to make sure the metronome doesn't play when recording so remove the check mark in the box beside Metronome on Record by clicking on it. Click on OK.
Now select Record Options from the Options menu. Click on Tap Beat in the top left-hand part of the dialog. Put a check in the Listen to MIDI box in the middle of the dialog by clicking on it. Now press the lowest note on your MIDI keyboard. The Listen to MIDI button will clear and the number of the note you pressed will appear in the Value list box. Click on OK. Click on the record button in the main control area. Now we are ready to record.
There is no hurry about entering notes. Remember to tap the beat with
the left hand on the lowest note on your keyboard as you play with the
right hand. When you're finished, press the SPACE BAR. Answer Yes to the
question "Keep this take?" if you like what you did.
Remember it doesn't make sense to record while tapping the beat with your
music playing. If you want to record while tapping the beat into a track
with music either on this track or on tracks above or below it, it is
best to mute the tracks. Do this by selecting the Track Sheet and removing
the circles in the Play field for these tracks.