Hey there,
How is everybody? Well I hope.....well I'm sorry I haven't been here much lately, work and all, I have been composing music in those rare moments when time allows and I needed some input on how I'm doing...you can find the work I speak of here;

http://eng.musicshake.com/zb/view.php?boardid=zb_adver&uid=7717

if the link doesn't work try

http://www.musicshake.com

right hand column, recently uploaded, "DARK MATTER" by Zhann

all votes and comments left there are appreciated (votes and hits will help me get to the top 100 list eventually),

AND you might even want to DL the app and start composing your own stuff!! It's ADDICTIVE!!!

Thanks for reading, be well..=)

Zhann

Zhann...well it's not too shabby, I have a slight aversion to synth stuff but the ideas are good. I'd like to recommend an app I've been using for years called MelodyAssistant from  www.myriad-online.com  It is a free dl and use but only saves a few seconds. But it only costs around 20 bux american when I got it, and it has a full complement of fairly real sounding instruments and an easy to grok interface.[updateable to extremely real sounds for a small amount (GoldSoundBase) ] Also if you play any number of stringed instruments it has a Tablature entering staff that you can have up simultainously with a regular staff so when you enter in Tab mode it also goes on a Standard Staff. Also if you have a midi keyboard you can compose directly from that as well. I found I learned an awful lot in the first few hours on it and cintinue to this day. If you're curious about it's output I could stick some of my tunes in my File Locker for you to check out...let me know, and keep on writing...it's good for the soul.. ...

I get an error message trying to use it..something about the flow (should I have crossed the streams?...;)

I have an old version of Cakewalk, that I never got around to using, because it seemed to be all-Midi, but there's oodles of software out there that does this. It's just a question of finding it...;)

Amazing talent in so many forms, wrapped in one package called Zhann.  I don't prefer syn music but this is a still spell binding stuff.  I've awakened a couple times with music in my head but I don't have the first inkling how to write it down, so it disappears within a too short time.

It's like theremin, folk, and techno all wrapped into one... But in a good electronica sorta way.

Hey man - thats great - what i like best is the B-parts? - where there is a pizzicato-like violin - really sound nice ...and the percussion part is simply hypnotic - great work

Best Regards
Arne

I will comment when I return home next week.. My Laptop Speakers are not the greatest so I can give you a proper comment.

Man, some arrangements made to revise me my auditions of the work of Isao tomita and Walter Carlos. 
I adored, great talent. 
Congratulations.

It's an interesting track, quite cool, I liked it.

Hi Zhann, I would like to add some input if thats OK.
I will give an honest opinion of what I think, and I hope you take it in good spirit.

20 years ago, I was writing music like this. This doesn't mean that your track sounds old, but simply as a basis of my own experiences with this style.

The sound: I like the cleanness of the track, but maybe it is a little too clean. I used to pump my 'clinicle' synth sounding tracks through a cheap mixer to add a little 'dirt'. This, in my opinion is far better than using effects for instance.

The hook: The repeating 'hook' does get a little repetitive, and if one switches from the first few bars to the mid point, one can still hear that the whole track hasn't evolved. This is where most of the work should be concentrated. Another thing is that since this repeating sound is the only thing that could be described as a 'hook' (the main theme) it should be more subtle. It should make the listner wait and beg for it. A good example can be heard in Vangelis' 'Heaven and Earth' where the track builds up nicely with complementing sounds, and ones breath is held till almost the end when the key changes. It's like listening to the lottery numbers one by one until finally all numbers have been chosen and you find you have just won. This is an excellent way to produce an instrumental track. Moreover, a Joke is the best way to describe instrumental music, first one is introduced to the emotion and overlaying storyline, and then one is presented with the 'punchline', this is the 'hook' that keeps the listner on tenterhooks for the 'best bit'.

The emotion: The track contains many colours but does lack emotional content. When writing a piece like this, 'don't write it'... instead feel it. Don't get expectant of the final results with instrumental music, hold back..... it's like 'savoring the moment'.
Think of it this way, all creative talent... and i'm not talking about maybe 60% of the "art" that gets uploaded into Renderosity, i'm talking about pure creative talent. This Pure creative talent comes from a source to which we are connected. One must believe that what they are creating comes directly from 'God', 'The Universal Mind'...or what ever your spirital beliefs are based upon....etc. If one firmly believes that the talent comes from their own brain, then one will never create 'Pure genius' in their work..... it's just a case of getting over the 'EGO' of the self. If your friends all say they like what you achieve, then that can be negative feedback, and your talent will never grow. You have a great talent with art already Zhann, and this is apparent if anyone visits your gallery here at ´Renderosity'.... just compose your music in a likewise manner and people won't just say it's wonderful, they will actually feel it too.

Conclusion: If you let yourself be more free when composing, that means to say if, you can let go of physical barriers of self ego, then you will create a style that is you (in the context of your spirital connection) and not one that is expected through general 'run of the mill' exceptance in this type of music.
I would love to hear your progress as you write more music, and I hope you take this in the spirit that it was given. Music that comes from beyond the 'brain' is the music that will be timeless.
 

Well.........it's well produced and very clean, but my first thought was the bass line needs to be more pronounced. It just doesn't 'thump' along enough.

Then I realised that I was hearing this 'RAP' track and expecting some big black guy (no offense to big black guys) to start rapping about how great he was and how much love he was gonna give his girl if she...etc......

My only real techical/musical suggestion though is that when you introduce a new phrase bring it up a bit more in the mix before fading it down when the next phrase comes along.

I hope this helps, but it really isn't my kind of music.

Well as we've all had our input, here's a bit of output from me. In Real Life I am a musician and as such I have been using this app to teach myself to write on a staff. To that end I have uploaded a zip of 3 tunes to my Public File Locker for y'all to critique. Go for it in the crits...I am a member of the Rhinocerous Party[a DADA politico party in Canada] so I do have thick skin......LOL

Bobby: Nice tunes but to be honest, they're not going anywhere in the musical sense.

I'm thinking backing tracks for short anims here, But they are very well played and produced - hardly a bum note among 'em.  I found the melodys hard to pick up on and follow. The Laconic Rag was the best of the three IMHO and I hear a nod in the direction of really old harpsichord music in the last one.

Hope this helps.;-)

Indeed Chris...Laconic Rag was the very first piece I wrote in this software and is a tip of the hat to my jug band/skiffle roots, Bare Bones was an exercise in Piano score as I originally wrote for Piano then seperated the hands and added stuff...to me it's almost a Romantic/PeriodPiece movie incedental music piece. Quartet was the second piece and I hadn't quite figured out 'voice leading'  at that point.
For the most part I use the app to transcribe my 'folk music' to a standard form so if I suddenly up an die one day at least there's a record if not a recording of all I've written. I'm putting together a verse/chorus/bridge version of each of the folk stuff together as a cd for a hard copy record as well. If I ever get that done I'll post it as well....but don't hold yr breath...LOL.. ...