David Alabaster's Music
If you never try you won't know you can do it
My Favourite Links
Personal Favourites
- My brother's web site (he is a sculptor) www.brian-alabaster.com.
- My sister in law's "vintage tea parties" web site www.nipsandcrumpets.co.uk
- Stratford symphony orchestra website (where I play the cello).
- Special website for the Stratford Cello section (recording memorable weekend at Benslow).
- My son James's art site.
Music Notation Software
- I originally started with Music@passport bought for a mere $38 which is remarkably good - unfortunately they went bust. The product was taken over by GVOX who have now got products called Music time Deluxe (a basic version) and Encore (high end and will also do midi playback of articulation marks) that both look and feel very similar to my Passport product. Some limited support is available for Music@passport from the link www.gvox.com .
- I now use a product called Overture 4
originally from Cakewalk but now provided and supported by Geniesoft - see www.geniesoft.com . I highly recommend this product - the user interface is very intuitive and in the latest (Overture V4) you get excellent playback (of dynamics and articulations for both midi and VST instruments). They also have a cheaper version called Scorewriter which is basically the same engine with a few features removed but still extremely good value for money. - Sibelius www.sibelius.com - if you want to get really frustrated download their free demo but you will need a mortgage to buy it! and now I think Overture 4 is pretty much up there anyway.
VST Instruments
- For piano I use the Pianoteq modelled piano from Modart. I think it is a wonderful instrument and quite unmatched (I would, I bought it!).
- For orchestral instruments I use Garritan Personal Orchestra (GPO).
Both of these integrate really well with Overture 4 but you need the corresponding xml configuration files. Many of these come with Overture but I have made my own for Pianoteq and for Muse Authentic Guitar:
PDF file generation
- I use a utility called PDF995 and all the pdf's on this site of sheet music have been created this way. This utility can be obtained from www.pdf995.com. It is free if you don't mind the ads popping up (you can get rid of the ads for a nominal fee). You can also obtain PDFedit995 (from the same stable) which enables you to combine pdf's together extremely easily which is very useful when trying to make up a book for printing.
- If you don't want to combine pdf's then I would recommend CutePDF which is free and doesn't have any annoying popups.
Generation of MP3 files
- I use a freebie called CDex which you can obtain from www.cdex.n3.net. Works very quickly to convert wav files to MP3 and will do a lot more besides.