Composing with virtual instruments
In 2015 I started to study music composition seriously. I am currently working on adaptations of melodies from the renaissance, baroque and classical periods. Longer term I hope to progress to the creation of compositions in the sonata form.
My work is only relevant to work produced primarily from 1500 to 1900, using most classical conventions.
What do I do?
At the first stage I am learning the skills that a composer learned at the beginning of the 18th Century.
For this I choose familiar musical selections. I analyse their structure and I experiment with various variations to understand the essence of the melody. This inspires new melodies in the original style that I can cast into a familiar style for a subsequent performance of that or of a similar piece of music.
But the great difference arrives in the following steps.
All my work is done on "virtual instruments", which is not always easy.
At the present time, only some instruments are readily available for realistic emulation. These are the common keyboards and certain woodwind, percussion and plucked instruments. In renaissance to classical use, frequent instruments have been harpsichords, pianos, harps, guitars/lutes, flutes, and some wind instruments. Some adaptations to organs are also available. In common use, artificial violins, violas, violoncellos, horns, trumpets and human voices remain less than satisfactory, without special local modifications.
The second part is "mastering". This is a delicate and relatively technical procedure. I took many years to understand and to apply every aspect correctly.
As a first step, written scores produced by MuseScore, Finale, Sibelius or Dorico often need further work in velocity and rhythm. Specifications of dynamics (mp, mf, f etc.) and tempo (often in quarter or half notes) must be provided for every part of the score. Also while working with written scores, I use transpositions that are more suitable to my instruments or the original composition.
After that my work proceeds to a digital audio workstation that transforms the music for public consumption (a DAW used for "mastering a recording"). Many wish to automatize this step, but so far the results have been disappointing (e.g. in MuseScore 4).
A DAW provides these principal enhancements: (1) geographical placements of the instruments within your spatial acoustic placement, (2) enhancements to frequency domains that promote some notable and preferred regions, while keeping other regions sufficiently audible, (3) adequately adjusting the duration of the time of notes, in conjunction with local dynamics, (4) lenthening or reducing note durations between notes, so as to provide a credible tonal landscape, (5) appropriate reverb specifications between "dry" and "wet". "Wet audio" refers to a processed signal used to provide desired depth and distance to your instrument, while "dry audio" is the original untreated signal, (6) and overtone protection, in order to reduce the chances of extremely high or extremely low tones.
So far I have found no instrument that can perform all these manipulations automatically, and so I perform these adjustments separately for each piece of a composition. That in short describes the work I do for each composition.
Why?
NeoClassix.info is a totally free service that I promote for the following reasons.
1. Novel musical creations. For example, the original melodies of Turlough O'Carolan were short tunes, often less than one page. From that I created and published a set of complete compositions.
2. Lesser known meritorious compositions. Examples on my web site have been: the earliest compositions by Antonio Vivaldi, highly selected sonatas from among 555 works by Domenico Scarlatti, and rarely heard works by John Dowland. Currently work is under way to produce a series of works by Fernando Sor.
3. Use of the best available web-capable virtual instruments. For NeoClassix.info written musical scores are read, analysed and then implemented in musical form. This often requires much work and experimentation before a pleasant performance is possible. NeoClassix.info uses the best available musical equipment.
4. Mastering. Since NeoClassix.info works from written scores, a detailed preparation is required. This is quite different from traditional music recording. In our case, the instruments must translate a series of musical symbols into audible text. This involves a series of serial dependencies that is different for the production of one, two or three voices, as against the realization of an orchestral group.
Our instruments are rather limited. Sound recordings of the lute in broadcasting, for example, can use special microphone sets, while there are no usable instruments for simulating a virtual lute. We must use instruments simulating a classical guitar, and after extensive searches, I am limited to just one type of guitar that can be used for our simulations.
5. Future. Our style is then limited to a certain set of tools that are compatible with today's technology. This is what we are currently using in NeoClassix.info. Will this change radically in the near future? No, even if we had access much more resources, this is unlikely to change a great deal. Given the current situation, major changes in virtual technology are more probable in about ten years from now.
Why "Neo" and why "Classix"?
"NeoClassix" makes it explicit. I have a choice. Either I create a modern recording with as much distinction and vitality as is possible with my best available audio tools. Even if the original score was written from 1500 to 1900, my recordings, made in the 21st century, may sound quite different from what the original composers would have been able to produce with their own instruments (e.g. what Mozart heard with his early piano, or what F. Sor heard with his early guitars). This is the basic logic behind "NeoClassix" which you find throughout my site. It also coincides with the desire of the majority of my listeners.
Alternatively, I have a few tools -- two harpsichord simulations and an organ simulation -- that allow me to create sounds that could have existed at the original time. In addition to Vivaldi's harpsichord versions, you may wish to listen to the recordings of J.S. Bach, made with an modern organ simulation. These recordings can be considered "credible echoes of the past", that is, these are creations for which composers might have heard very similar renditions themselves.
The 440 Hz Standard
On another level, we should address the passage from 432 Hz (etc.) to 440 Hz.
440 Hz was standardized in 1955 by the International Organization for Standardization, and it has been formalised in 1975 as ISO 16. 440 Hz is now the default key frequency worldwide.
Prior key frequencies have been investigated in various detailed studies. They illustrate that a large variety of dominant tones that were in use in the 19th century and in the first part of the 20th century.
But why has 440 Hz become such a dominant standard? An important and everyday application was the growth of industrial production of wind instruments after WW2. For instance industial flutes, clarinets, oboes, bassoons, horns, trumpets and trombones all need to be constructed with a fixed reference frequency. This is now generally 440 Hz; alternative non 440 Hz wind instruments are still possible, but they are simply not commercially interesting.
Is it possible to "return" to 432 Hz (or other base frequencies) with electronic means? Yes, I have tried it several times, especially with Turlough O'Carolan's melodies. But the results of these experiments were very clear: the 440 version was more powerful, more "catching" and more "involving" than the 432 version. For my own "NeoClassix" choice, I have thus generally remained with the 440 Hz version.
Let's enjoy what we have now.
Eric Keller
Responsabilities 1978-2008: https://erickeller.ch