Okay, this is what I have been up to for the past few weeks, writing music with one of the most amazing piece of software I have put my hands on in a while – Synful.

Synful is a breakthrough piece of software for orchestral emulation. It is not a sampler but a synthesizer, which means it takes up very little system resources and is able to do things that sample playback can only dream of – such as a true legato, for example.

And the strings are simply amazing to work with. It was amazing to be able to write for strings whatever I felt like writing and then be able to just play it and have it sound great right there. Then just a little bit of MIDI tweaking to add the finishing touches and it was wonderful.

These demos here will be up on the Synful home page as well, go check it out because there are also descriptions of each piece there.

(http://www.synful.com)

[Note: only Synful sounds were used here.]

Action Adventure

Soaring for full orchestra

Scherzo for Winds and Pizzicato

Suspenseful Strings

Expressive Adagio for String

A few days ago a prominent record company sent an email bulletin announcing their new release from a prominent conductor.

It sounded exciting. I opened the email.

Drum roll, please… (The email was in HTML, so it took a few seconds to load. Oh, the suspense!)And finally, this wonderful “new” release was…

Dvorak’s New World Symphony…!What? Again? This is “new”?

Jeez. I rolled my eyes. Sorry, I already have two recordings of that one. Yes, I’m sure this recording is insightful, but I have some dusting to do, sorry.

Listen, looking at the reviews in classical magazines, ezine and websites, it seems to me that one of the problems of classical music is pretty clear.

The same music keeps getting recorded over and over again! Once in a while there is a recording of actual new music, but those get lost in a sea of so-called “classics”. You really have to hunt to find them.

Think about it, could pop-musician have such lucrative and high-profile careers if everyone recorded the same songs? Would pop-music be such a vital presence in modern culture this way?

Look at any pop music magazine and everyone plays new music!

So I say to all you musicians out there, performing and recording new music is the best and perhaps only way to bring classical music back from the mothballs.

Ideally an artist or group would be associated with pieces that they premiered, recorded and performing regularly.

(Of course, it has to be music that people actually like, but that’s for another post.)