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Hi, folks from CifraClub!
I'm Philippe Lobo, and in this video, we're going to see a review about Guitar Pro 6,
one of the main score and tablatures edition softwares nowadays.
Devoloped by the french corporation Arobas Music,
Guitar Pro 6 has a very friendly interface,
that has been translated to Brazilian Portuguese
and can be installed on Windows, Linux or Mac operational systems.
We're going to get to know this powerful program
and understand it's mainly functions and tools
that assist both professional and amateur musicians
in their writing, edition, production or musical studies works.
Let's go!
Guitar Pro 6 is the up to date version of this software.
As the first versions of the software were directed
specifically to the guitar tabs edition,
the evolution that happened from then to now has
transformed it on one of the most complete tools for musicians
and music students of any instrument.
Among the main functions of the software, we can stress the following:
- Advanced Tabs and Sheet Music edition;
- Plays files with MIDI platform through an awesome sound database that
covers many guitar types as well as other string instruments, keyboards, percussion
and wind instruments, popular as well as orchestral ones.
- Fine tuning for a more melodic reproduction of your work,
that allows advanced configuration of dynamics, tempo, agoge rhythmicas, timbre and effects.
- Layout interface, printing, and publication of your works.
- Exportation and importation in a wide range of format, as MIDI, WAV, GPX
(that is the extension type of the Guitar Pro projects), PDF, PNG, MusicXML and ASCII.
Well, were going to analyze each one of this functions
and get to see a little bit of the working dynamics that Guitar Pro 6 have to offer us.
Let's go!
Well, to begin, I'm going to load the program, so we can see how light it is, and loads fast.
This computer has nothing special, it's an ordinary machine, concerning it's RAM memory...
Hard Drive... a very ordinary computer.
Guitar Pro has opened and is loaded with the last project in which I've been working on,
this is automatic.
But I'm gonna create a new project, I click on "File".
The software has a series of presets,
templates that has a score already preseted in a few patterns.
But I'm gonna create an empty sheet, that i'm gonna call Example 1.
Well, the first step is to add a new track,
that I can choose accordingly to the instrument for which I want to compose to.
I'm going to write a simple guitar score, ok? A Six Strings Clean Guitar.
Nice. Now we can begin to write the notes.
The two main ways of doing that, is using the keyboard to select the icons of the duration of the notes,
as well as the accents... a series of items on the left side of the video.
I'm writing us an initial chord
I'll go directly into the score, selecting the pitch with the arrow keys on the keyboard.
So, let's make an Em to begin this composition?
Nice. The space bar plays what we wrote, ok?
Well, we can, suddenly, decide that our E will be a major one,
so I'm gonna use the “sharp” here
to put into the G note,
and so, we have everything at our reach, trough the mouse.
We can surf using the mouse with no problems,
but, sometimes, it's faster to use the keyboard.
Anyway, the cursor will help us to surf through the bars.
I'm gonna show you...
How it's done to write using only the keyboard.
Instead of selecting the the duration here with the mouse,
I'm gonna use the “plus” and “minus” keys, look.
The “plus” key, will increase the agility, decreasing the note's duration.
And the “minus”, goes back.
Ok?
Then, I'm gonna write a little example using just the keyboard so we can see how cool is the dynamics of doing it this way.
I'm gonna select the “quaver” note,
But I messed it up, I want the E note.
Both the backspace and the delete key will erase what we wrote.
Nice. I've done a series of quavers.
Now, I'm gonna make a powerchord, so I can add another layer of notes over here with no problem.
The E and B.
Let's listen to what we wrote.
Nice!
Well, that way we can see that we have a nice dynamics through the mouse, but we can be quicker using the keyboard, right?
We can write as if we were typing a text.
There are many shortcuts that we can use as well, and it's all in the software's user's guide, that can be located on the “Help” menu.
The guide has been translated to Portuguese.
Brazilian portuguese.
And, at the bottom, we have the keyboard shortcuts, at the page 61.
It has all been listed here on this table,
it's really easy to learn all the software's functions, and the user's guide is very nice.
Now, I'm gonna show you some of the main features of the top toolbar.
An important thing is the basic keyboard shortcuts, that we already know.
Take for example: "ctrl+a" selects the whole score.
In “Bar”, I can define the bar's formula, clicking on “time signature”.
And so, we can choose any of these preseted times
or we can choose a completely new time signature.
A weird thing, like a 9 times measure... the software accepts almost anything we can imagine.
Let's keep the 4/4.
Another basic function for any score, is defining the key signature.
Here, we can choose whether the key is major or minor and here you can choose the key, according to these options.
I'm gonna chose the Em tone for this score. Then, we have all the system in Em. Nice?
Well, here on the “Effects” menu, we'll find some really cool things, that can increase the musicality of the score.
For an example, let's supose that in our quaver session here I want to make a “Palm Muting”.
I'm gonna choose “Dead Note.”
Let's see how that sounds.
Easy, no?
There is a very simple shortcut: the “x” key.
Automatically, every note will become a dead one.
Now, suposed I want to write a track like this:
I want to put a little vibrato in any note. Let's put it on this D note.
Also, in “Effects”, I'll be able to select this vibrato function.
Cool?
To make it clearer:
I'll increase a little bit of this note's duration.
Nice.
Well, another really cool thing, ordinary to any text editor,
are these shortcuts like “ctrl+c”, for an example, it will copy the whole selected thing, right?
If I want to reutilize this part,
I'll use the “ctrl+v” shortcut on the next bar,
and so on.
Now, let's say I don't wanna stay only on the "E" power chord and I want to change it,
so I can use a little cool tool that is on the “Tools” menu,
that is “Transpose”.
We have the “E” chord, right? So let's transpose it to a “perfect fourth”,
so, it has become an “A” chord.
Here, I want the “B” chord.
Better, it's the “B” power chord, as we're only using two notes.
I'm gonna transpose it, selecting a “perfect fifth".
It's quicker that way, as it's a pattern, and as every pattern repeats itself,
we don't have to worry about writing it all again, right?
Well, a really cool thing is that if I want to make a more melodic chord, you can give it a different aspect.
I can turn it into an arpeggio, for an exemple, an “Arpeggio Down”.
And here I can choose the speed of this arpeggio.
An arpeggio... not so slow...
And look!
The program plays it very nicely.
It can be slower.
So, there are many tools, and we can't show everything,
as we would need a “tutorial” video, so we could explore the whole software.
An important thing to show is the “View” menu, that will help us to get the best interface for editing.
Here, I'm using the "one page per window", so I can preview what would be the printed page.
If I want to make it look a little better,
I can use the “Design Mode” that allows me to change the bar sizes...
If there is only one chord here, I can shrink the bar,
it doesn't need to be so wide.
And I can add another bar to this system.
Anyway, this is a layout tool, in which we can lend the digital score the same design that the printed version will have.
Another really cool option, is the “Horizontal Screen”.
That way, we don't have to see page by page.
It will be an endless score.
It doesn't matter if I want to have a thousand bars,
we'll have the whole score on the horizontal.
And it's a nice thing if you're playing some really long piece, right?
You've noticed that among these icons, there are signs that represent the piece's dynamics.
So, if you want to stress this chord, I'll choose the “f” here.
Supposing I want this one really stressed... Making it sound stronger.
The software shows us how it sounds.
Whether that is what we really want... Not only it's a fine tool for writing scores, but it also helps learning music.
Still on that “View” menu, we have a nice thing for people that plays the instrument well,
but is not so familiar with the musical theory... Can't find the name of the notes on the sheet...
we can see the notes on the very instrument.
So, if I wanted to write a chord, in which I know where my fingers go.
One here,
other there...
It gives me the chord according to it's position on the instrument, and this is really cool.
After I've written it, I can change it's duration using the “plus” and “minus” on the keyboard,
or, on the mouse, as I've already explained.
And there are a lot of other tools.
As this digital tuner.
We can plug the guitar on the computer and use the tuner so we can have the same tunning that's on our score.
As well as a lot of other things that we won't be able to see tool by tool,
but I'll show you an example using a more elaborated score.
This is one of my compositions,
in which we can see the software working, playing a more complex piece,
in which I explored the instrumentation.
I'll zoom in so we can see clearer...
In this score, I'm using drums, a double bass, a trombone, a trumpet,
a tenor sax and a soprano sax,
there is also a piano, a guitar track and a track that I've written only to contain the composition's chords, ok?
Let's listen a little bit.
Another really cool feature on this new version of Guitar Pro, regards the audio mixing,
and it's a way of controling the audio so we can listen to a more melodic song than the one we've been writing.
That means that, basically, the program cames with a mixer, as if it were an audio editor.
On the bottom of the screen, we have a “soundboard” as the user's guide calls it,
that is, in fact, a mixing pannel, right?
So, we have each track transformed in an editing track in which we can mix it as if it really were an audio track.
So, we have a vast number of commands.
There are this “S” and this “M” that means Solo and Mute for each one of the tracks.
Notice that if I select only the guitar track and click on “Solo”, we'll only be able to hear the guitar.
Nice.
And if I select mute, we won't hear the guitar.
This is a well known feature among people that uses audio mixing softwares or mixing tables.
Well, we have nice controllers here.
We have independant volume control for each one of the tracks,
so we can mix it and balance what we are composing and arranging.
We also have the “Pan”, that allows us to spatially distribute the sound,
so we can hear each instrument clearer.
As you can see, I've mixed the “Pan” very nicely.
As an example, I'm going to make a solo out of the Piano track, look.
Everything on the left...
going to the right side...
That way...
I've mixed my wind instruments, the trombone, the trumpet, the tenor sax and the soprano sax.
You can notice that they are well distributed in the space.
Look how cool it is.
And the most advanced feature of this soundboard
is this five-band equalizer.
Only a few mixing tables have an equalizer as cool as this.
And, besides having a five-band equalizer, we can control three tracks of mids on three different levels,
so we can choose which frequency we want it to act on.
The regulation of the equalizer's filter width
and the gain that we're going to add or subtract from the frequencies that we've chosen.
That's why the software plays the composition, the way we want to listen to it, so efficiently.
If we hit play and it doesn't look so nice, we can mix it according to our taste.
Another feature that must be stressed,
that helps to increase the musicality of the score,
is here on the left pannel.
We can see this pedal shaped icon that shows us the effects we can apply on the tracks.
Here, I'm basically using a “Clean” amp, right? With a reverb effect and an equalization pedal.
Supposed I wanted to add a stronger effect to play this riff,
I can use the “Vintage”, on which I can apply a little bit of distortion gain.
I can position it, putting it on the front, so the distortion will act first.
And here, there is an “On/Off”.
Let's listen to this riff with some distortion.
Nice!
We can create a “loop”, selecting a piece of the score and letting it play as we mix the audio.
That way, while we write the score, we can make sure if the sound is what we really have in mind.
Good!
Now let's say I've already finished my work, and to finalize it I can click on the “i”
and edit the information about the score... the author... I can add a subtitle... album... the lyricist, etc..., remarks...
And other nice score styles...
The size of paper, on which I want to print my score,
what I can show or hide,
make a header or a footer.
Really nice layout things,
so we can print a pretty version of our score.
To finish, I also want to show you,
this part here on the “File” menu, that allows us to export the project
on the GP5 format, that is from the Guitar Pro 5, the previous version of this software.
I can export MIDI files,
so it can be launched by any software that reads MIDI files, as long as it's an audio editor or another score editor, ok?
There are no compatibility issues.
There is a wide range of extentions, including the WAVE one, I can export my whole composition as audio, all done.
I can listen to it on a stereo...
Or I can export image files, as PNG or PDF, that are some important features that are really usefull to the musician's routine.
To print the score, we simply click on “Print” or use the Ctrl+P shortcut.
And it goes directly to your printer and you can print it as you like.
The best impression that I have on the Guitar Pro 6 is that this software fulfils the demand for musical works,
whether you are a student, or a professional arranger, composer or musical producer.
Guitar Pro 6 offers all the editing features, whether it is for creating, writing, studying or plublishing your scores and tabs.
The trouble of translating both the software's interface and the user's guide to the Brazilian Portuguese,
shows how Arobas Music gives special attention to the brazilian public,
which is really cool.
Also, there is the versatility, having a long list of extensions and comapatibility with other softwares,
operational systems and previous versions of Guitar Pro,
providing a nice and easy experience on working and sharing data through the Guitar Pro 6 plataform.
Guitar Pro has a nice promotion for the brazilian public of CifraClub.
Using the promo code on the screen, “CIFRACLUB01”,
all in capital letters,
you get a 20% discount on the purchase of Guitar Pro 6.
Still, we have to stress that Guitar Pro 6 has a really good cost-benefit.
It has a fair price and it's worth, for all awesome things the software provides.
That's all, folks!
This has been our Guitar Pro 6 review,
an excelent musical software that goes beyond being an ordinary tab or score editor.
For more information, go to www.guitar-pro.com. And stay tuned on the CifraClub videos.
Hugs, and see you!