Seeking Dorian (Piano Version) - Solo Piece in C-Dorian Mode

[BloomingLate]

Hi

I just uploaded one of my latest piano solos titled "Seeking Dorian". As the title suggests, it is written in Dorian Mode. I learned about church modes some time ago and wanted to give one of them a try. Dorian mode seemed like an easy place to start. It developed from a piano thing, to an orchestral thing, back to a piano thing, and I'm glad it did. Its always nice when you can actually play your own stuff

My piano teacher provided some feedback and even said she would like one of her students to play it during a student concert sometime, which is a nice compliment. When I'm working on things I always think "Oh, my teacher is going to not like that..." so I was surprised to find out she actually liked it (I really need to let go of those thoughts anyway).

So here it is:

 

Enjoy.

[Ronald Poe]

I thought it was a very pretty composition. I would like to see it orchestrated but it's fine as a piano piece. 

[BloomingLate]

3 hours ago, Ronald Poe said:

I thought it was a very pretty composition. I would like to see it orchestrated but it's fine as a piano piece. 

Glad you liked it :) I may still orchestrate it in the future, provided I learn to properly work with the orchestral things that I have.

[HoboKa]

BTW, are these tunes played live or with a VST?  I'm not skilled in separating the two unless it's really robotic.  Is this a Soundfont or a VST sample?  Or played live?  Dunno why I can't tell the difference.  You think I would after 8 years of music production or so. 

Anyways.  The dynamics are very alive.  A lot of ebb and flow.  And the main melody, though stuck within the confines of a smaller tune, sets out what it intends to do with flying colors.  At least in my books.  Good work BloomingLate.

 

Edited August 13, 2019 by HoboKa

[BloomingLate]

7 hours ago, HoboKa said:

BTW, are these tunes played live or with a VST?  I'm not skilled in separating the two unless it's really robotic.  Is this a Soundfont or a VST sample?  Or played live?  Dunno why I can't tell the difference.  You think I would after 8 years of music production or so. 

Anyways.  The dynamics are very alive.  A lot of ebb and flow.  And the main melody, though stuck within the confines of a smaller tune, sets out what it intends to do with flying colors.  At least in my books.  Good work BloomingLate.

 

Thanks for the feedback on my three pieces

I played them on my digital piano and recorded them with the built-in recording function. I then imported the MIDI into FL Studio, where the sound is replaced by the Cinematic Studio Series Piano. The uploaded files are MP3 at this point.

This situation is far from ideal, because the digital piano doesn't have a lot of velocity layers and so I can't really put in the feeling that I want pieces to have. When I hook it up directly with the VST its a little better, but the VST triggers rather loud samples at a certain velocity, so I have to go in and manually fix those unintended loud parts. Unfortunately the next lower level is often too soft.

I don't always get the pedal right either and unwanted results can happen when legato or non-legato notes are triggered at the wrong moment.

I really wish my playing was so good that I could do perfect recording takes each time and had the right piano and recording methods to do it. Now I have to piece together parts sometimes and that's when inconsistencies arise.

Thanks for the positive comments anyway

 

[HoboKa]

42 minutes ago, BloomingLate said:

Thanks for the feedback on my three pieces

I played them on my digital piano and recorded them with the built-in recording function. I then imported the MIDI into FL Studio, where the sound is replaced by the Cinematic Studio Series Piano. The uploaded files are MP3 at this point.

This situation is far from ideal, because the digital piano doesn't have a lot of velocity layers and so I can't really put in the feeling that I want pieces to have. When I hook it up directly with the VST its a little better, but the VST triggers rather loud samples at a certain velocity, so I have to go in and manually fix those unintended loud parts. Unfortunately the next lower level is often too soft.

I don't always get the pedal right either and unwanted results can happen when legato or non-legato notes are triggered at the wrong moment.

I really wish my playing was so good that I could do perfect recording takes each time and had the right piano and recording methods to do it. Now I have to piece together parts sometimes and that's when inconsistencies arise.

Thanks for the positive comments anyway

 

Aha.  I kinda detected that there was a human element to this, but the sound felt a little off ...Alas, there isn't really a "budget" option for piano synths.  Unless pluginboutique.com unveils some some insane sale that I ain't privy to.  There's always Black Friday and Boxing Week!!  You'll need to ask the other pros here for the best deals.  You're welcome. 

Edited August 13, 2019 by HoboKa

[BloomingLate]

3 hours ago, HoboKa said:

Aha.  I kinda detected that there was a human element to this, but the sound felt a little off ...Alas, there isn't really a "budget" option for piano synths.  Unless pluginboutique.com unveils some some insane sale that I ain't privy to.  There's always Black Friday and Boxing Week!!  You'll need to ask the other pros here for the best deals.  You're welcome. 

I would love to have an actual piano, but I live in an apartment building so I'll likely annoy everyone else with my playing (plus, there is little room for one, maybe an upright piano).

CSS Piano is supposed to be good enough for what I'm trying to accomplish, I just need more experience with it and get my actual playing to a better level. I'm afraid that just getting the more professional tools isn't going to be enough :)