Re-inputing pitches with copy/paste on rhythmical figures ?

[Akiraaah]

Hi everyone

I'm new to Sibelius, so i'm not aware already of every subtleties and constraints of its engine. I'm currently designing, apart from a main score itself, figures with complex rhythms (sometimes with tuplets), articulations, symbols, texts, etc., that i would like to use in different places and contexts of a piece, but with different pitch profiles each time.

I generate my pitches (mostly microtonal) using PWGL, a visual programming environment for computer-aided composition, and import them as MusicXML files (this part works).

As I said, my figures are already designed in Sibelius : I would just like to fill these figures with series of pitches (imported as raw series of quarter notes for instance) like in "re-input notes" mode but with copy/paste.

I'd like to avoid re-input each note one after another, or to retype them at the keyboard, because it could take a lot of time…
Do you see any way? Thanks very much in advance.

Akiraaah

[Ian Cugley]

Do you see any way?

As it happens I wrote a plug-in which does this kind of thing. I'm not sure how well it would work with Sibelius 6 (I wrote it for Sibelius 4), but I'll have a look at it when I get a chance. Essentially you make a multiple selection of a collection of notes (which don't need to be in order, or even in the same staff) and then a target note. The plug-in then copies the pitch information into the durations it finds on the target note and whatever comes after it. It doesn't copy articulations, Live data etc. but by the sound of it you don't need that.

It is a very rough-and-ready plug-in written for my own use, and with some flaws (which I just put up with). I've never had time to make it suitable for public use. But it might be helpful to you even so.

I am having severe problems with my own computer at the moment and I'm finding access to my files a bit difficult, but I suggest that if you're interested you send me a private message in a few days (to jog my ailing memory) and I'll let you have a copy, if I can find it and if it still works

[Akiraaah]

Good evening Ian.
I sent a private message to you about your plug-in, but I'm not sure that you received it. I'm very interested, so I hope you were able to recover it.
Thanks in advance if you're still ok to share it.
All the best

[Ian Cugley]

I can't get access to the plug-in, but I have dashed off another one which does much the same job. However, it is written in Sibelius 6, and I haven't any means of testing it with earlier versions. If it doesn't work for your version it may require more patience (to wait until I find the other one) or a re-write by me to get out the worst of the bugs.

I've attached two zip fies which contain some notes about how the plug-in works, and the plug-in itself. If you don't know how to install a plug-in, ask again.

I'd be intereted to know if this plug-in is helpful for what you're wanting to do.

[Akiraaah]

Hello Ian

Thank you so much, i will try this out as soon as I get out of work.
By chance I'm using Sibelius 6 (microtones were not imported from MusicXML in Sibelius 5) so it should work.
I began to read the Manuscript Reference, it doesn't seem so complicated, though musical datas and functions are not represented so clearly than with CommonLISP in PWGL. At least this will help me to look at your code.
I'll let you know if I have any problem.
Thanks again, all the best.

[Ian Cugley]

I'll let you know if I have any problem.

There have been a couple of problems reported already. I'll fix these, along with any others that emerge, in due course (if I can!) and either post a revised copy here or have it placed on the official Sibelius download pages.

[Akiraaah]

Hi Ian

Which kind of problems were reported ?

The only problem I have seen until now is that the plug-in doesn't take into account microtonal accidentals. Do you know how this information is described in Manuscript language? In theory it should be with floating midi-cents, so 62.5 would equal D quarter sharp.

If it is, there is may be some rounding function somewhere in the code that prevents for copying these accidentals.

If they are not described within pitch value, a possible solution would be to test for each note if they have microtonal accidentals, eventually translate them temporarily into floating midi-cents, then "resynthesize" each note (standard midi pitch value) with its accidentals if present.

I didn't have the time to look at your code, do you think it is possible?

[Ian Cugley]

Which kind of problems were reported ?

The plug-in currently stops if it encounters a bar with just one note (and no rests). Also, it takes no notice of ties in the target note. I'm sure other flaws will come to light.

. . . the plug-in doesn't take into account microtonal accidentals.

Microtones are not stored as accidentals internally by Sibelius — they are almost treated like articulations. The variable which contains them recognises only quarter-tones, and is found in the note.Name field. This field is Read Only, so I can read quarter-tones but not write them — at least, I haven't yet found a way to do so. If anyone knows of a way, please let us all into the secret!

Microtone accidentals are not played back by Sibelius. There is a plugin (in Plug-ins > Playback) which plays back quarter tones on most devices, but for anything other than quarter tones you would need to insert appropriate MIDI messages by hand (or write a plug-in to sit your needs!).

[Akiraaah]

This is annoying, I've just seen that symbols were read only too.
Seems to be unresolvable...

Do you know why some parameters like these are not writable?

[Ian Cugley]

Do you know why some parameters like these are not writable?

ManuScript is just a scripting language, and is, or at least originally was, Sibelius's way of allowing macros. Originally only a small range of internal variables were exposed to plug-in writer, but over the years we have gained access to a wide range of functions and settings. But it's not yet like a full-blown Programmer's Interface which would allow access to just about anything inside the program.

Historically I would guess that microtones were not part of the original Sibelius engine and quartertones were added at a later date. That would explain why they are treated differently to other accidentals. The Name field is made by Sibelius 'on the fly' from the MIDI pitch, Diatonic Pitch and accidental as notes are input, so ManuScript can't write to it directly.

[Akiraaah]

Ok, it seems we must wait for a providential update of Manuscript to make your plug-in really perfect…

By the way, i was thinking about a temporary solution you may include in your code if you have some time and interest. I don't think it would be very complicated, and it could help to handle large passage with microtones, really boring to retype one by one…

The method would be to mark with colors, in the result of your plug-in, the notes that should have a microtone accidental, according to their note.Name.
For instance, quarter sharp ("monèse") would be green and three quarter sharp ("trièse") would be blue. This way, it would be easier to locate them afterwards and to apply the proper symbols with multiple selections.

After looking at your code, I'm afraid it would be very hard if I tried to do it myself right now… Do you think you could?

[Ian Cugley]

The method would be to mark with colors, in the result of your plug-in, the notes that should have a microtone accidental, according to their note.Name.

That thought had occurred to me, though only as a highlight which didn't distinguish various kinds of microtones. Sibelius reconises four, so I'd need to use four colours.

When I've ironed out the other bugs I'll do this

[Ian Cugley]

When I've ironed out the other bugs I'll do this

If anyone is interested in the idea of colouring notes, you are welcome to try the attached version. You'll be guinea pigs — it's untested. It will show up in your plug-in lists as MicroMapper, so if you hate it you can still use the (defective) earlier version.

A few points:

1. from Version 6, Sibelius cannot colour single notes within a chord. So if there is a microtonal accidental the only way to indicate its colour is to colour the whole chord. For monophonic music, this is fine. Where chords are being copied, it can be a bit confusing.

2. I've chosen four colours almost as random ro represent the four microtonal accidentals recognised by Sibelius plus another to show that there is more than one present. If anyone wants to suggest better colours, feel free.

3. Sibelius cannot play back a chord containing more than one microtonal pitch (unless they are all the same degree of infection).

4. Sibelius does some odd things to approximate doublet accidentals when it writes microtones, which can themselves be confusing and is somethig to watch out for.

[Akiraaah]

Wow, you were really fast…
As far as I can tell, this new version seems to work beautifully !
I will use it intensively during the next days and tell you how it goes…
Thanks very much !

(Little error I remarked before to send this : the attribution of colors for each accidental is distorded when the target sequence already has colored accidentals from previous executions of the plug-in. Different accidentals can share, in this case, the same color.)