QSketcher: An Environment for Composing Music for Film

Abstract

We describe QSketcher, a new environment for composing music for film. The main design focus is the support of the early stages of the creative workflow, from idea conception through realization, rather than the mere order and synchronization of musical fragments with film. This paper describes the design process and rationale, the system, the user environment, and how they relate to one another. Novel aspects of the system include a free-form 'idea space', a main workspace that can be configured to individual needs, an “idea capturing” facility, a workflow tracking mechanism through which previous workspace states can be examined and restored, and the ability to create a variety of relationships among musical elements.