Welcome, 2012!
While we are all sorry for the loss of the old year, which we have grown to love over the course of its lifetime, we are sure you will be more than up for the task :)

So I wish everyone a Happy New Year 2012, hopefully a good one for health, success and a fair share of great people your way.
I have lots of exciting projects in the pipeline for 2012, including a bunch of Sibelius seminars, the wonderful world of SCOREcast, and many many more!

Take care!

Tags: website

I.A.A.M. 1404 V2 has now been out in the wild for a few days to a great reception.
I’m very pleased to hear that my music is liked across the board; here’s a short comment from the official Ubisoft forums (translated by me):

„Just downloaded and started it. The intro video is just so great ... ... and the music ... ... This for me is Anno“

So if you own the game and would like to add a host of new gameplay features to it, head over to the I.A.A.M. 1404 site and download the new version!

Tags: anno, music, game

Sibelius 7 has been out for some time now and the one question I still get asked most when giving demos is „How can I notate free rhythm in Sibelius?“. There is even the rumour that it is not possible, which of course is not true. It is. And it is pretty easy.

My newest article at macProVideo.com will tell you how to notate free rhythm in Sibelius 7. So please go to the macProVideo.com Hub and read for yourself!

Tags: macProVideo, sibelius, mockups

I usually do not post private thoughts here, but today I feel compelled to do so.

The world has lost a great mind, a one-of-a-kind visionary and a man, whose influence cannot be expressed by mere words. Never in my life I have been this quickly full awake as this morning, when my iMac woke from sleep, started playing my favorite radio program me in iTunes and transmitted the audio via an Airport Express to the loudspeakers in my room. The announcer read the news of the loss; I immediately grabbed my iPad sitting on the table beside me and called up the news. When I got up I marched past a cupboard full of books about Pixar, with all the DVDs, soundtrack releases and other memorabilia. As I came out, my MacPro had already booted and Steve’s words „Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love“ from his 2005 Stanford address greeted me as the wallpaper for my usual „pre-breakfast writing session“. To say that the man’s work has influenced my life would be an understatement.

I (like most people I suppose) have never had the chance to meet Mr. Jobs - I do not want to go into debates about his alleged tantrums and way of dealing with his employees. I would have preferred to hear and see both sides; it (still) being my wish to work for Apple and having been so since I switched to a humble mac mini in 2005. Jobs’ work at Apple and at Pixar have both tremendously influenced my life and made it richer. His work has allowed me to pursue both my professional and private ambitions. His keynotes have been an integral part of my training routine for my own presentations and demos. His talks and speeches have brought me many insights and to a very large extent defined my view of the world.

I am glad that we, the world, were able to partake in his genius for so many years. It is sad that a man such as him had to battle terminal illness instead of putting his immense gifts to use for his companies. I do not share his religious beliefs; nevertheless, I have the utmost respect for the belief of every person, so I sincerely hope and believe he has made progress on his way. You never know - we may see him again some day and actually I am sure we will. My condolences go out to his family and friends, who have had to share far too brief a life with the workload of more than one big company and, in his last year, with a terminal illness.

His legacy will remain and so will his vision. I am grateful for him teaching me to always follow my vision and pursue my dreams and I wish him and his family all the best they can possibly have.

Tags: Apple, steve jobs

I am very very happy to announce that one of my works, a Piano Sonata in three movements oriented on traditional musical forms, but with a distinct modern tonal language, has been published at Loosmann Publishing as a part of their new-founded edition "Komponisten-Atelier".
This edition, the first volume of which for solo piano was just released, unites works of young composers from the composing class of Prof. Gerhard Fischer-Münster at the Peter Cornelius-Conservatoire Mainz. Having the joy to study with Fischer-Münster for several years now, I was very excited about this opportunity.
Please find more information, press releases and details after the jump!

Read more...

Tags: sheet music, piano, sonata, loosmann

Thanks again for all the great feedback!
Sibelius users on Windows rejoice! Sibelius Control R3 now works with Windows. Included in the download are keymaps for both OSX and Windows. Other than Windows compatibility there ar no new features in this release, but tons of stuff are planned for future releases.
Head over to the Sibelius Control site and download your copy! If you like Sibelius Control, please consider to donate! Your donations keep me motivated to develop the layout further.

Tags: iPad, Sibelius, keypad, controller, control

The Feedback for Sibelius Control was absolutely overwhelming! I am happy to do my part in making the best notation software in the world even easier to use :)
Today I have released a new version of the keypad layout with some added features, all based on user feedback. Visit the Sibelius Control website and give it a go. The new version installs as a separate layout, so version 1 will not be overwritten.

And if you like the layout, please consider donating on the website. Your support gurartees further development - there are tons of things in the pipeline already!

Tags: iPad, Sibelius, keypad, controller, control

From the first day of using the iPad, I was fascinated by its capabilities and usefulness as a control surface. When I discovered the brilliant Custom Keypad app, I felt a burning desire to free the world of all evil... sorry, wrong film - to make a nice control layout for Sibelius.

This is what it looks like (click on the image for a larger version):

So without further ado, here is Sibelius Control for iPad. If you have an iPad, get Custom Keypad, download the layout and tell me what you think! Currently the layout is Mac-only, but a Windows-compatible version is in the works. I am open to any feedback and looking for Windows testers :)

Tags: iPad, Sibelius, keypad, controller, control

Using Vienna Ensemble Pro for setting up my composing rig has proven again and again to be one of the best decisions I ever made.
With my VE Pro Orchestral Template Tutorial, featured on the VSL website, I have had the chance to help lots of people use this software for their business. Helping people set VE Pro up and building their templates has become an important and fulfilling part of my work. With great pleasure I present version 1.3, an updated version of the tutorial.
The new version is live on the VSL website as well as on my Tutorials site.

Without all of you this tutorial would not be what it is today, so please keep the feedback coming! An extensive rewrite of the VE Pro setup process is already planned for the next version, so stay tuned!

Tags: logic, ve pro, tutorial, vienna ensemble, orchestral template, kontakt, play, daw