easy repeat bars

Place your wishlist here. Maybe the Sibelius developers will honor your requests.
gmardoc
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2010 8:28 pm

Post by gmardoc » Sun Aug 15, 2010 8:50 pm

When writing for percussion, there are often situations where it is beneficial to use shorthand for repeated patterns. It is already possible to do in Sibelius, but it seems unnecessarily complicated if you want it to play back correctly, or if you want to repeat a 2 or 4 measure pattern.

Currently, the way to repeat single measures is easy enough (click on the bar rest and press "Shift +" twice). To repeat 2 or 4 measure patterns, you have to hide all of the rests, then insert a symbol (the ones that look something like *//. or *////.)... then drag them so they straddle the appropriate barline and vertical position in the bar. Then, you have to create text for the "2" or "4", enlarge the font and put it in bold, and drag it so it sits directly above the symbol.

These methods make the repeats appear correctly on paper, but they don't play back. To get them to play back, you have to copy and paste the notes you wish to repeat, move them to a voice other than voice 1 (which gets more complicated when you're dealing with drumset parts that use multiple voices), hide the notes, then carry out the steps above using the the measure rests that now appear in voice 1.

It would be great if there was a shortcut to doing this. Maybe something similar to the current function where pressing "R" repeats the selected notes. Perhaps there could be a function that pressing "Ctrl R" or "Shift R" would repeat the selected measure(s), automatically hide the notes, automatically change voices (if needed), and automatically create relevant repeat symbols and number text in the correct location(s).


Jeremy Hughes
Posts: 306
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:09 am

Post by Jeremy Hughes » Sun Aug 15, 2010 11:24 pm

Hi there

These were added in Sibelius 6.

Hope that helps

Jeremy
music editor/engraver
iMac Intel 2GHz 2GB | OS X Version 10.6.5 Snow Leopard | Sibelius 6.2

gmardoc
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2010 8:28 pm

Post by gmardoc » Mon Aug 16, 2010 12:20 am

Thanks for the tip. I'll retract my statement and upgrade asap.
Gabriel Mardoc

I am currently using:
Sibelius 5.2.5
Virtual Drumline 2.5.2
Windows XP
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS (sound card)
no MIDI keyboard

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