Thanks, Eric.

I'm still blown away what the great composers would do with just pen and paper.  I like to do mockups for relaxation just to study what they did. 

Jim

Another great job, Jim!

I'm still blown away what the great composers would do with just pen and paper.

Me, too!

I don't remember where I first heard it, but it was many years ago, well before PCs were available (and maybe apocryphal, even then, but someone estimated it would take a typical transcriber decades to write out all of Bach's work. Never mind that pesky composing part!

-Susan

I'm still blown away what the great composers would do with just pen and paper

haydn12

And they didn't have all the "distractions" we have today....like forums, etc


I sometimes wonder what these composers would have done if they had all the tools we had today.  Would they have been more productive?

First let me say..... Jim. Use a bad motherfa..... 
 
you get the point.
 

haydn12
Tempo changes are the most time consuming part and can take half as long as recording the parts!  I usually import an audio recording of a live orchestra playing it and work the tempo changes against it.  Most orchestras don't play more than one bar at the same tempo.  I shut off the grid and use the line drawing tool.   Some measures have constant tempo changes going on especially for rubato playing.  The tempo maps for each piece have thousands of events.  One of the toughest time signatures is 3/4 time.  There is a constant push/pull going on.  The tempo maps had to be redone for the LA Ballet as they were practicing with a different recording.  So I ended doing a big chunk of these for the live performances.  We had a couple other people doing the rest because of time restraints.  The Russian Dance was slowed down quite a bit because the Russian Dancer was jumping so high that he needed more time.  This guy was amazing.

Jim

 
Now. Recently I've been asked to make midi renditions of a particular local band. I don't know why they need/want it, but they asked if I could. Sounded like a real challenge, figured I'd give it a go. Unlike your piece where the tempo changes were planned, these guys are all over the place & like you mentioned, it's a bit tedious manually building a tempo map. Perhaps if I continue to do it I'll get better at it... but at the rate things are going now, I'm about ready to throw in the towel. 
 
You wouldn't happen to be able to do a quick youtube showing us (me) your technique would you? I'd greatly appreciate it & I'm sure many others would as well. 
 
Whether you do or don't, I want to say thank you for at least showing me (with your Nutcracker sequence) what is possible. 
 

haydn12
I like to do mockups for relaxation just to study what they did. 

Jim

One of these days, I'll take the time to do one. 

Doing the tempo map takes patience!
 
What I do is solo the audio track that is the tempo reference.  Then turn on Metronome for playback.    I find the basic tempo and line up the first beat.  I let a few measure play to see how steady the tempo is.  I use the line drawing tool in the PRV view for drawing in changes with Snap to Grid turned off.   At this point start drawing the tempo changes.  Sometimes you can use an accelerando for gradual speeding up.  Sometimes you may have to go quite a few measures forward to see how the tempo is drifting. 
 
I find drummers have a tendency to change tempo around fills.  Usually they rush during the fills.
 
The more you work doing tempo maps, the faster you will get.  I'm pretty quick and hearing the little fluctuations.  Rock music is easier to map versus classical where the musicians make many changes within a beat.
 
Jim

haydn12
Doing the tempo map takes patience!
  
The more you work doing tempo maps, the faster you will get
 
Jim

Thanks for the reply. I'll stick with it. 

When I need to snap the timeline to an audio track for transcription, I generally use SONAR's Set Measure/Beat At Now (Shift+M in X3) - very precise and ultimately about as quick as any method available. I use a combination of listening and tabbing to transients with visual confirmation that the transient marker is correctly located to ensure I'm setting the right timeline beat to the right audio event.