A pianist and some other musicians are interested in performing some of my compositions. I have been trying to export from Sonar Platinum into Sibelius (8.4.2). I have tried exporting as an XML file but when I import it into Sibelius (or Musescore) it says that the file is not a valid XML file. If I proceed the resulting file in Sibelius (or Musescore) is full of major errors. The midi files don't produce anything resembling a score when I import them either- but they do sound better when played back in Sibelius. I am no expert at scoring and could use any advice or suggestions you might be kind enough to offer.

Thanks
John

John,
 
If you're under 35 I'd take Jerry up on his offer to teach you composition for free.  You are extremely talented.

eph221
John,
 
If you're under 35 I'd take Jerry up on his offer to teach you composition for free.  You are extremely talented.

Thanks for the compliment. I didn't see that offer until you pointed it out, thank you for pointing it out. It would be a great opportunity. I meet the age requirement as I am 15 but I don't play any traditional instruments. I tried the violin, but I found it really frustrating and eventually had to focus on my school work. I was assigned the flute and drums at school, but could not produce any sounds that were not noise. I also live in eastern Canada. So I don't think I fit his requirements. They seem pretty firm.

A pianist wants to come to my school next week to help me work on my scores, but they are quite rough and I don't really know what I am doing. I am very excited but also quite nervous.

Thanks again
John

Firesong X

eph221
John,
 
If you're under 35 I'd take Jerry up on his offer to teach you composition for free.  You are extremely talented.

Thanks for the compliment. I didn't see that offer until you pointed it out, thank you for pointing it out. It would be a great opportunity. I meet the age requirement as I am 15 but I don't play any traditional instruments. I tried the violin, but I found it really frustrating and eventually had to focus on my school work. I was assigned the flute and drums at school, but could not produce any sounds that were not noise. I also live in eastern Canada. So I don't think I fit his requirements. They seem pretty firm.

A pianist wants to come to my school next week to help me work on my scores, but they are quite rough and I don't really know what I am doing. I am very excited but also quite nervous.

Thanks again
John

Update:

The pianist is coming next Wednesday (October 12th). My father ( who knows nothing about music) and I have been trying to get some tracks exported into a format that Sibelius (or other score software) can handle. We have tried a lot of different ways to do this but haven't really had much luck, but we may have found a way to do at least some of it faster.

My father experimented with some midi to notation programs and found that in most cases saving the Cakewalk project as a midi file, then importing into the midi to notation program (we have been trying a demo version of Midinotate), then exporting the file from that software as a MIDI file, then importing it into Sibelius seems to work. At least it sounds reasonable when you play it back in Sibelius and the notes seem to be in the right places. There seem to be far fewer errors than doing it Sonar to Sibelius directly in one step and the result seems easier to work with, but I also have to admit I have only tried it with 4 or 5 pieces so far.

Of course I still don't know if the result is an acceptable score, but this was much faster and much less work to get to the same place. I will find out on Wednesday.

Thanks
John

On the staff view, there is an option to export to music xml.  I did this with a piece, it works pretty well, although it's better to quantize, or at least be straight on the dots.  Otherwise you'll have lots and lots of dotted notes and ties.

eph221
On the staff view, there is an option to export to music xml.  I did this with a piece, it works pretty well, although it's better to quantize, or at least be straight on the dots.  Otherwise you'll have lots and lots of dotted notes and ties.

Yes thanks,   we tried the export to xml but when I tried to import it into Sibelius (or Musescore etc), it would say "not a valid Musicxml file" and report a "Fatal error".  It will report that "Element Note is not defined in this scope".  It would allow me to continue but the results were not very good.  You are right when I use the Midi route there are lots of dotted notes and ties.    I have learned a bit about scoring, though. I am a bit embarrassed to say that I originally thought that simply printing out the staff view from Sonar was the same as making a useable score.   I realize now how wrong I was.   I met with the pianist and my scores still need a lot of work, but she is helping me.    She wants to perform some of the piano pieces for Christmas.   She says that I am speaking the language without being able to read or write it and looking into ways to help me learn a bit of theory as you suggested I should (thanks).   I really am new to this and I realize that I don't know very much.   Can I ask what you mean when you say quantize and being straight on the dots?
 
Many thanks for your advice.
John

I use Finale, so maybe the others are different,  but in Finale you can't open an XML file, you must  import it. Perhaps that is an option in Sibelius or Musecore?
 
I work regularly in both MIDI land (Sonar, Studio One) and Score land (Finale, trying Notion).
 
My workflow is dependent on the project, but falls into  two broad categories:
 
1) Sometimes  I start in Sonar, record audio, add MIDI, record MIDI, add audio, and while I certainly think in terms of conventional music scoring, I'm not working from standard notation. And sometimes, when I am finished, I realize that I need a conventional score. UGH! I find it easier to quantize and move things around in Sonar, so that's what  I do - to a COPY of the project. Then I can export the XML, and import into Finale, where I spend (way too much) time touching it up. It works. I wish it worked better.
 
2) most of the time I start with pencil and paper - or Finale these days, it helps me think through the part writing. Once I've reached a point where I want to hear it I export the MIDI and import it into Sonar, where I assign tracks and finally get to hear my masterpiece. Needless to say, it tends to sound mechanical. If I am producing a practice tape I pretty much stop there. If I am trying to produce a recording I will print the score and play the parts in, and then I'll still spend too much time touching it up.
 
I'm afraid that's the deal, working in the two domains is not yet easy.

I am curious about the claims made by Presonus - so far I'm not getting it, but I think it is worth a little more effort, just in case they have really figured it out!

and don't forget steinberg's dorico.  John you're a real angel good luck!

wst3
I use Finale, so maybe the others are different,  but in Finale you can't open an XML file, you must  import it. Perhaps that is an option in Sibelius or Musecore?
 
I work regularly in both MIDI land (Sonar, Studio One) and Score land (Finale, trying Notion).
 
My workflow is dependent on the project, but falls into  two broad categories:
 
1) Sometimes  I start in Sonar, record audio, add MIDI, record MIDI, add audio, and while I certainly think in terms of conventional music scoring, I'm not working from standard notation. And sometimes, when I am finished, I realize that I need a conventional score. UGH! I find it easier to quantize and move things around in Sonar, so that's what  I do - to a COPY of the project. Then I can export the XML, and import into Finale, where I spend (way too much) time touching it up. It works. I wish it worked better.
 
2) most of the time I start with pencil and paper - or Finale these days, it helps me think through the part writing. Once I've reached a point where I want to hear it I export the MIDI and import it into Sonar, where I assign tracks and finally get to hear my masterpiece. Needless to say, it tends to sound mechanical. If I am producing a practice tape I pretty much stop there. If I am trying to produce a recording I will print the score and play the parts in, and then I'll still spend too much time touching it up.
 
I'm afraid that's the deal, working in the two domains is not yet easy.

I am curious about the claims made by Presonus - so far I'm not getting it, but I think it is worth a little more effort, just in case they have really figured it out!

Thanks so much for the advice. I went back and checked and I have been using the import Xmas file. I have the free version of Finale and I tried it too. I get the same error, so maybe it is just that track that makes it error. I will check some other tracks to see. I wasn't sure about what quantizing meant but I think I understand it now and I can try that as well. I don't know enough to use a pencil and paper yet. It sounds like there isn't an easy solution. A very kind professional pianist has been helping me for two weeks, she says it always involves going through every note so it is not easy, but it is the only way to get my music played. I will look at the Presonus software too, thanks again.

John

eph221
and don't forget steinberg's dorico.  John you're a real angel good luck!

Thanks. I will check out the Dorico too. A string ensemble is also interested in performing some of my tracks but they want to see a score first o there's no avoiding it.