Simplest methods to split chords?

[andrewlsummer]

Hi!
I am having very poor success at splitting chords into new staves. I only want to split chords in Sibelius for the purpose of exporting a midi file with separated midi tracks.

My source file is a midi file with 3 tracks in it: 5 part sax, 4 part trumpet and 4 part trombone. I'm not interested in splitting them by any particular Arranging method and as this seems to be the default concept for Sibelius which may be part of my difficulty.

Firstly I have tried copying my sax track to the clipboard, then creating a new Score (Big band), selecting the sax parts and then going Notes Arrange. The preset options here aren't very good. I wish there was something totally basic like: 3 part harmony, 4 part harmony, 5 part harmony.

Out of the jazz saxes arrange styles, the only one that partially works is jazz saxes strayhorn - but this only puts notes in alto 1, tenor 1 and bari. It ignores alto 2 and tenor 2 altogether. How do I solve that?

Secondly, I have tried editing my own New style (5 part harmony), and completed all the settings that I can see. But I can't Save my style. After I close it, it doesn't come up in the list. Can someone describe how to create a 5 part harmony style chord splitter?

Thirdly, is there any preset and setup combination that I can simply use to separate any track into 3/4/5 part harmony? I'm surprised that that basic option isn't on the list.

Overall I'm kind of disappointed with the Explode function. If somebody could answer the above questions I would really appreciate it! I wasn't able to find any written tutorial on how to do it. This could be a valuable subject for a blog.

Thanking you in advance for an informative and comprehensive reply! Any ideas to pursue would be great too.

[Sebasian]

. . . is there any preset and setup combination that I can simply use to separate any track into 3/4/5 part harmony? .

The Explode plug-in is the obvious method — perhaps you were using the Explode setting in 'Arrange', which isn't intended to do what you want to do (and it seems absurdly confusing of Sibelius to use the same name for these different methods).

If you are using the plug-in (which works for me) then maybe you are using different options, or maybe there is a mixture of voices which is stopping it from giving the result you want.

But you can also select particular notes to copy. For instance:

Select a passage, then use Ctrl+Alt+1 (or Mac equivalent) to select just the top note of each chord. Cut with Ctrl-X and use Ctrl-V to paste into a new stave.

Repeat (the top note is now the original second-to-top note, so you just use the same keystrokes).

[andrewlsummer]

Select a passage, then use Ctrl+Alt+1 (or Mac equivalent) to select just the top note of each chord. Cut with Ctrl-X and use Ctrl-V to paste into a new stave.

Repeat (the top note is now the original second-to-top note, so you just use the same keystrokes).

Dear Sebasian,
Thank you for your very helpful reply! This seems to do the trick. First I had a problem that it doesn't select any rests in front of the notes, so if my notes start on the 3rd beat and I paste the notes into a new staff, then they start on the first beat.
So I use the Ctrl key to select those rests.
Once again, thank you for sharing your knowledge! I am very happy with you.
Andrew

[andrewlsummer]

The Explode plug-in is the obvious method — perhaps you were using the Explode setting in 'Arrange', which isn't intended to do what you want to do (and it seems absurdly confusing of Sibelius to use the same name for these different methods).

If you are using the plug-in (which works for me) then maybe you are using different options, or maybe there is a mixture of voices which is stopping it from giving the result you want.

Hello Sebasian,
Am I correct in saying that the Explode plug-in only deals with 4 voices? This makes it unable to be used for my 5 part saxes. What I really need is a "split track option" which splits the stave into a number of parts that I select, e.g. 4, 5 or 6.
Thank you very much again!
Andrew

[andrewlsummer]

AndrewIsSummer,
In a nutshell, Split voices allows you to automatically split chords in a selection into single voices, while Select Notes in Chord Position gives you the power to filter combinations of notes from chords based on their position in the voicing, with the option for copying, deleting, or just selecting them. You can find both of these plugins at:
http://www.themusictranscriber.com/plugin-store3
Best of luck!

Dear Transcriber,
Can you do a 5 part voices Split option for me? That would be really good. Thanks a lot!
Kind regards, Andrew