Help with some questions that have stumped me

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JasonBellx
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2014 1:48 pm

Post by JasonBellx » Fri Sep 26, 2014 2:17 pm

Hi all

I am new to Sibelius 7 and I really look forward to getting to be proficient in it. I have spent a few hours aquainting myself with it - many answers have been found in this forum - but there a few seemingly very simple questions that I have been unable to find answers to. If anyone has any answers to them I would be most appreciative. I have spent a lot of time trying to figure them out.

1. How do I change the guitar palm mute symbol/font size? It is way too big by default, such that adding a PM to one note results in the P.M....... symbol covering the next notes that aren't to be palm muted. I have searched high and low for this answer!

2. From what I can gather, there is no provision for hammer and pull symbols, so you have to use slurs, then the fingering tool to write H or P. However, when I add a slur, the slur symbol is not added to the guitar tab numbers. Instead it is added way above on the note stems. How do I place slurs beneath the actual tab numbers, leaving the stems as they are pointing upwards, so it can be read properly?

3. How do I lock the score so that things can't be moved around? I am always accidentally moving things around, and it seems that every single element can be dragged somewhere with the mouse. How can I just have a fixed layout, where nothing can be dragged, with fixed number of bars per system, each bar being of equal length - totally fixed?

4. Is there any way to get the numeric keypad (to the right of most keyboards) to work? Is there a way to re-program the shortcuts somehow? Very strange that it doesn't work.

5. When I set the default note velocity for an instrument, as well as the live velocities for selected notes, the MIDI is not transmitting to my DAW at the correct velocities. The velocities are different. This is massively important. Can anyone tell me why Sibelius won't transmit/playback at the correct default and live velocities?

These are probably rookie questions to you but honestly I could not find the answers anywhere I looked. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


bobp
Posts: 1182
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:53 am

Post by bobp » Sat Sep 27, 2014 2:37 am

Hi, Jason
I can give you a little help.
Keep in mind that Sibelius may let you write your music the way you want, but it may not play it back correctly.
1. P.M. Seems normal sized for me. Did you change font size for something else? Are rit and other lines too big also? You can drag it out of the way.
2. I can't tell from your post if your are writing notation or tab, or both. I would suggest writing in notation. In which case you can add slurs below(from the Line window) then there is a plugin that will convert it to tab, or vice versa.
3. Check out the Layout tab for many answers. Write your piece out and after you are finished, then you can set the number of measures per line.
4. Make sure NUM LOCK is turned on. There should be a lite on to show this.
5. Sibelius does not deal with midi velocities the way you may be used to. Yes, you can set velocities, but I think you need to set them for all notes to get an accurate export. I would suggest writing with regular dynamic markings and exporting as a midi and see if that works better. Or even a music xml. People that have wanted my music to put into a DAW have used a midi file version of my notation file.

Good luck and hope this helps.
Bob Porter
Sibelius 7.5, W10,i5,16 GB ram,desktop

JasonBellx
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2014 1:48 pm

Post by JasonBellx » Sat Sep 27, 2014 1:02 pm

Hi Bob. Really appreciate you taking the time to reply to me. Just in response to your responses, please find them as follows:

1. I just opened one of the default templates, and the PM font is about 3 times a big as the tab number that it applies to. I would really love to know how to make it smaller. One of those silly little questions that I can't find an answer to.
2. This project is for a modern band, so in this instance it is all tab-based. Playing-positions can't be demonstrated with notation for the guitar. But you mention a plugin - where do I find that? I would ideally love a plugin that adds notation simulataneously as tab numbers are entered, rather than having to copy the tab and paste it in a staff when it's finished. Is there a plugin for this?
3. As far as the layout goes, the fact that everything can be slid around really annoys me and gets in the way when it happens accidentally all the time. Are you sure there isn't a way to just disable this and have a fixed layout.
4. For the numeric keypad question, I can enter numbers across the top of the keyboard just fine, but the square number pad that is specifically designed for easy data entry located on the right of most PC keyboards is not recognised by Sibelius. That seems very odd to me.
5. The MIDI issue seems to be a real perplexing one. When you edit an instrument, you can set the default playback velocity for the notes. Obviously you can set live velocities for individual notes as you go along so that those notes are different to the default. However, I have confrmed multiple times that setting a default MIDI velocity for an instrument does not have any effect whatsoever on playback. If I set it at 125, the playback comes through at something like 77. I'm either doing something wrong, or there's a bug, or they decided to deliberately add a field that does nothing!

Hope that gives you a bit more information. Once again, I am very grateful that you took the time to reply. Please let me know if the above information helps refine some suggestions/answers. Jason.

bobp
Posts: 1182
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:53 am

Post by bobp » Sat Sep 27, 2014 11:18 pm

Jason,
Without seeing you PM I'm not sure what you mean. You can add PM in small text. Right click on an open space, select text/other staff text/ small or even tiny. Should work. I don't think Sibelius plays PM anyway. Also go to File/ Preferences. There are some places where you can change the font sizes,

Sorry, not a plugin. Rather you would create a score with notation and tab. Write out your part in either tab or notation. Let's say you wrote notation. When you are finished, select the entire notation part (click three times on a measure) and copy it into the tab part. You can make needed changes in the tab part. It works the other way around, also.

In the layout tab, you can lock and unlock your format. I'm not sure how you are moving so much stuff, unless you have a laptop with a hyper mouse pad. Might want to adjust that.

Again, make sure NUM LOCK is activated. In the upper left corner of the number pad is the NUM LOCK key. Near it should be a light that is on. If no light, than press the NUM LOCK key to turn it on. Light on activates the number pad and it should work in Sibelius. I've never had a problem with this. Maybe a computer restart is in order. There is also a NUM LOCK setting in BIOS but I can't imagine you have to go that far. Please list your computer specs, as I have done in my sig.

In order to get your velocities to sound, you need to have Live Playback activated in the Play tab. In which case Sibelius ignores all other dynamics. My advice is that you forget about midi and velocities, and use standard dynamic markings, and hair pins. Which Sibelius (being a notation program, and not a DAW) is made more to work with.
Bob Porter
Sibelius 7.5, W10,i5,16 GB ram,desktop

JasonBellx
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2014 1:48 pm

Post by JasonBellx » Sun Sep 28, 2014 1:20 am

Thanks again Bob.

With the PM text, it seems to not be part of a font group and not recognised as 'font' when you click on it. The staff text method you described does not affect the PM font, because it doesn't seem to be classified as font. It seems to be in No Man's Land, completely separated from any font or symbol family. It must be in here somewhere, but I have spent hours searching for it. Let me know if you find it!

As far as they layout goes, clicking 'lock format' in the format bar doesn't do anything. That button does not stay highlighted when clicked, and it appears that Magnetic Layout and Freeze positions do nothing either. I just want to set layout distances and formats (which I can do no problem), but what is the point of doing that when one action can ruin it all by moving stuff around. I just want to disable it and 'Lock format' does nothing to lock anything that I can notice.

Upon further inspection, I can see that the right numeric keypad does actually work, it just doesn't type numbers. It seems to navigate the floating keypad in Sibelius that relates to note entry. But I need to use it to enter guitar tab numbers. So what I am trying to do then is create a letter-based shortcut that I can use to toggle the selected note length up or down, and use the numeric keypad on the right to enter tab numbers. I assume that I somehow achieve this in the preferences/shortcuts section?

Regarding velocities - you've mentioned a couple of times that I should be aware that Sibelius does not play back articulations such as PM. I am fully aware of that - that it why I am using Kontact to play the instruments, among other VST plugins which I run through my DAW. Sibelius is clearly designed to work with such plugins, and being able to correctly set velocities (default and live) is absolutely critical to this process. Many articulations in plugins such as Kontact are triggered by velocity, and it is clear that Sibelius understands this. Live velocities work no problem. But setting the default velocity for an instrument (in edit instrument) does not work. Set it at 125, and it plays at something random like 77. I must be doing something wrong, as I doubt this is a field placed in there for show.

I have discovered something else that boggles my mind regarding Sibelius' unnecessary complexity: setting the tempo!! Every other program I have used (rightfully) allows you to just type in a tempo for the piece. However with Sibelius it seems to be a long, multi-step process. Is there anywhere I can just type in a master tempo (say, 105 bpm) and just get on with composition?

Sorry about the long reply, but there should be clear cut answers or options for these simple tasks in the manual or online somewhere. I just don't understand why Sibelius makes simple thing very difficult compared to other programs. I appreciate that is is powerful, but come on, PM font, typing in a tempo, numbers working on a number pad, slurs on the bottom next to tab numbers and not the top, default velocity actually working, not wanting a slinky layout - it should all be one-button stuff!

Hopefully you can point me in the right direction with this extra information. I really expected to be further along with Sibelius with this ultra-basic setup and input stuff by now. Sorry if I sound frustrated! Really appreciate your help.

Jason

bobp
Posts: 1182
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:53 am

Post by bobp » Sun Sep 28, 2014 1:55 pm

Jason,
With each post, I see how complex your needs are. We are fast approaching the limits of my knowledge. You may need to join the official Sibelius forum to get better answers. I drop by there almost every day and learn new things.

I see in the manual that Sibelius is working just as designed as far as tab input goes. The keypad selects the length of note and moves about the staff. The numbers across the top type fret numbers.

For tempo, select where you want the marking to be, right click an open area/Text/Tempo (or Metronome mark)/q (for quarter note)= number (if Metronome mark was chosen then right click again and you have a choice of note values, and the actual note will print). Takes way longer to explain than do.

I don't work with a DAW so I can't really help much there. Sibelius kind of has it's own way of doing things.

Why do you need to set a high default velocity?
Bob Porter
Sibelius 7.5, W10,i5,16 GB ram,desktop

JasonBellx
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2014 1:48 pm

Post by JasonBellx » Mon Sep 29, 2014 8:27 am

Hi Bob.

I think I'm realising that Sibelius may be a waste of time. I discovered other programs that are well designed and just as powerful. I just don't understand the why a bunch of professional developers would create something so unnecessarily complicated. The menu/setup layout is poor and illogical, the features are lacking and overall the interface is really, really messy. Nothing is anchored down. I was willing to invest many hours into Sibelius but I expected to make progress, not uncover more shortcomings.

Setting velocity to anything I want is important because velocity range triggers articulations in many plugins.

I may come back and give it another try if I am let down by these other programs, but they seem to be on the money.

I do appreciate your help though. You have personally helped me get from A to B, and that is the most important things. Thanks. Jason.

bobp
Posts: 1182
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:53 am

Post by bobp » Tue Sep 30, 2014 2:32 am

Jason
Sorry I couldn't help you more. Many professionals use Sibelius in tandem with a DAW in a wide variety of circumstances. No doubt someone who uses Sibelius more like you do could answer you questions far better than a hobbyist like myself.

Yet Sibelius is primarily notation software and not intended as a front end for a sequencer. I believe Finale works with midi more than Sibelius does.
As you look at other software, try to keep an open mind. Just because something doesn't work the way you expect, doesn't mean it is illogical or messy. It only means that it doesn't work the way you expect.

Good luck in your search.
Bob Porter
Sibelius 7.5, W10,i5,16 GB ram,desktop

JasonBellx
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2014 1:48 pm

Post by JasonBellx » Tue Sep 30, 2014 12:57 pm

Yes you are right. I can't really comment on it for pure notation purposes, but for contemporary TAB-based stuff it is not very good compared to other offerings (who also have near-fatal flaws).

I'm just going to sit on it for a while and make a decision. But this forum still remains a great resource to find answers for Sibelius in general. Thanks again Bob. I have really appreciated your input. Jason.

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