Newb needs some help

[robotears]

Hello, just signed up. Ive only made covered one song in mpc so far



I just used noteworthy composer first so I could figure the timing and the different melodies. I now want to try doing this song here



Im having trouble getting the timing for all the notes. Im thinking it would be easier if I could lay down one part of the beat, record myself playing alongside it, and keep repeating until all the instruments are done. I mean play with the keyboard as my piano keys instead of clicking them in with the mouse.. Im not sure if noteworthy is able to do that. anyway I dont really know what all this is called, maybe someone can let me know a program that can or some tutorials if you have an idea what level Im at.

[Mr. Sub]

If your keyboard has MIDI capabilities you could plug it into your computer and use something like Sibelius 7 (demo available for free, I believe) to record playing on your keyboard, and it will convert your playing to notation. Search around for MIDI input stuff, it's not my area of expertise at all, but I'll try my best to field questions if you have any.

[robotears]

ok, Ill try it out. thanks

[robotears]

actually, i have a midi keyboard thats in the pawn, may not get that back. Im looking into something to download to turn my regular computer keyboard and mouse into midi controllers. now that I see people(like you) must be making songs without recording themselves real time.. im wondering how are you able to make songs without sheet music at all? clicking in notes one by one until the timing of each is right seems too tedious to be able to finish anything. so how are you guys doing it?

[Mr. Sub]

Some people who want sheet music find MIDI files of the pieces they want to make and convert these files into sheet music using a program like Noteworthy Composer or Sibelius, to then copy from into MPC.
However, quite a number of people compose the pieces they want to make entirely by ear- if you hone your musical ear then transcribing rhythms and pitches becomes much less a case of trial and error to get it right and instead becomes more a case of recognising certain rhythms, note lengths, chords, pitch movement, etc, and being able to enter them into MPC correctly on first or close to first try.
I would argue that as well as having a good ear, having a good knowledge of musical theory and how to apply musical theory helps with that a lot.