Drum notation: Crash cymbal with circle round the x

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frunee
Posts: 120
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:55 pm

Post by frunee » Mon May 16, 2011 11:27 am

Not sure if it's me or Sibelius, but whenever I try to do some drum notation a ton of problems arises which I am unable to solve and thus makes drum notation a somewhat frustrating experience.

I'm trying to learn and understand but the otherwise very intuitive Sibelius fails (imo) badly when it comes to the drums.

I'd like to notate the crash cymbal (as the general convention) as an x with a circle around it (see screenshot). But in Sibelius I can figure how to do this, since I'd only get the circle if I write a half or whole note. But in most drum grooves the crash will appear in a shorter note length and thus without the wanted circle.

Now what?
Attachments
Crash.PNG
Crash cymbal
Crash.PNG (9.97 KiB) Viewed 13614 times


frunee
Posts: 120
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:55 pm

Post by frunee » Fri May 20, 2011 9:54 am

Push. Anyone?

frunee
Posts: 120
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:55 pm

Post by frunee » Sun May 29, 2011 8:43 am

Hey musictranscriber,


I will try playing around with the settings you mention. I'm not sure though if what I want if possible that way.

In the screenshot you can see, what I'd like to have. I am aware how to change noteheads. You are referring to notehead 1. That is X and XwithCircleAround for half and whole notes.

My issue with that is that for a crash cymbal I'd need a circle round the X no matter how short that note is. You can notate a 1/16-note groove with the first 1/16 being a crash and then continuing on the Hi-Hat. But that would not be possible as I see it with notehead #1. Or am I mistaken?

And the next problem would be, that the Crash cymbal is on the same line as the ride cymbal. So what I'd need to tell sibelius is, to use the crash sound for each note with the XplusCircle and the ride sound for each X without the circle. Is that possible?

I think that for drum notation Finale is somewhat ahead of Sibelius. I sometimes have the feeling that the folks at Sibelius are

a) mainly from the classical field of music and
b) don't think a lot about drum notation.

I might be wrong but drum notation with Sibelius is all but intuitive. It's not intuitive with Finale as well, but at least you'll get what you want with Finale.

Maybe someone could elaborate on the problem as well as I'd like to hear more thought on Sibelius and drum notation in general.

This is standard drumset notation and there must be a solution somehow. Do you have any idea?


UPDATE: So when I go to House Styles > Noteheads I could change the quarter note of notehead #1 to X with circle. But then I wouldn't be able to notate any Ride Cymbal or Hi Hat where I need only the x without circle, right?

I don't get the concept behind this to be honest.
Attachments
Drum Cymbals.PNG
1HiHat 2HiHatFoot 3Ride 4Crash
Drum Cymbals.PNG (12.14 KiB) Viewed 13504 times

frunee
Posts: 120
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:55 pm

Post by frunee » Sun May 29, 2011 9:00 am

I found a solution. Here's what I did.

Since changing the quarter notes of notehead #1 would make it impossible to write any HiHat or Ride Cymbal, I adjusted notehead #30. There I did, what musictranscriber suggested and changed the quarter note to "circled cross note" as the XwithCircle is actually called.

Now for HH / Ride I use notehead #1 and for crash I use notehead #30.



But now the next problem shows up. How do I tell sibelius to use the correct sounds?

notehead#1 on g-staff = HiHat sound
notehead#1 on a-staff = Ride sound
notehead#30 no matter where = crash sound

frunee
Posts: 120
Joined: Fri Sep 04, 2009 3:55 pm

Post by frunee » Sun May 29, 2011 9:10 am

Got that done as well.

Go to House Styles > Edit Insturments > Edit Instrument > Edit Staff-Type

There I added the notehead #30 where I want to make use of it and selected the crash cymbal sound. For notehead #1 I selected Ride Cymbal and HH sound for the according staff and now everything is working great.

Cool. I have the feeling I slowly start understanding how Sibelius works. :P

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