Quarter tone entire instrument?

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nickvasallo
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2010 9:33 pm

Post by nickvasallo » Fri Aug 27, 2010 9:38 pm

Hello fellow Sibelius users,
I need to create a scordatura instrument which will be tuned 1/4 tone apart from the rest of the ensemble. Rather than input every note with a 1/4 accidental - is there a way to have the instrument play every note 1/4 down?

Any help will be much appreciated

thanks
Nicholas Vasallo, D.M.A. (ABD)

http://nickvasallo.com


Sebasian
Posts: 1476
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 5:46 pm

Post by Sebasian » Sat Aug 28, 2010 9:10 pm

nickvasallo wrote: is there a way to have the instrument play every note 1/4 down?
The answer depends a bit on the sounds you are using, but the MIDI message ~B0,32 in (say) Technique text at the beginning of the scordature staff should work for most devices.

nickvasallo
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2010 9:33 pm

Post by nickvasallo » Sun Aug 29, 2010 10:27 pm

Sebasian wrote:
nickvasallo wrote: is there a way to have the instrument play every note 1/4 down?
The answer depends a bit on the sounds you are using, but the MIDI message ~B0,32 in (say) Technique text at the beginning of the scordature staff should work for most devices.
Thanks for replying, I just want to make it so I have 2 violins playing 1/4 tone below normal tuning the entire time. I have Sibelius 6. Can you please tell me the steps I need to take in order to get this?
thanks again
Nicholas Vasallo, D.M.A. (ABD)

http://nickvasallo.com

Sebasian
Posts: 1476
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 5:46 pm

Post by Sebasian » Mon Aug 30, 2010 7:29 am

nickvasallo wrote:I just want to make it so I have 2 violins playing 1/4 tone below normal tuning the entire time.
Did ~B0,32 not work? In v.6.2 most sound libraries will respond to this. What playback sounds are you using? (For some devices the message may need to be ~B, 32 and there are some other quirky ones, such as Kontakt Player 2 which need other numbers to work).

Or do you mean that it affects all the notes on that staff? Pitch bend (which is what it's called) will apply to all voices on that staff (and indeed all staves routed to the same MIDI channel).

I'm only guessing here, but maybe you want a single staff for violin, with some players playing 1/4 tone flat (with some sort of text instructions to tell the players this). You can't do this directly, but:

Create another Violin staff
Copy the Violin part to it
Insert the ~B0,32 message at the beginning
Selec the whole staff (trible click on it) and Hide
While it's still selection, use Layout > Hide Empty Staves

nickvasallo
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Aug 27, 2010 9:33 pm

Post by nickvasallo » Mon Aug 30, 2010 3:06 pm

Sebasian wrote:
nickvasallo wrote:I just want to make it so I have 2 violins playing 1/4 tone below normal tuning the entire time.
Did ~B0,32 not work? In v.6.2 most sound libraries will respond to this. What playback sounds are you using? (For some devices the message may need to be ~B, 32 and there are some other quirky ones, such as Kontakt Player 2 which need other numbers to work).

Or do you mean that it affects all the notes on that staff? Pitch bend (which is what it's called) will apply to all voices on that staff (and indeed all staves routed to the same MIDI channel).

I'm only guessing here, but maybe you want a single staff for violin, with some players playing 1/4 tone flat (with some sort of text instructions to tell the players this). You can't do this directly, but:

Create another Violin staff
Copy the Violin part to it
Insert the ~B0,32 message at the beginning
Selec the whole staff (trible click on it) and Hide
While it's still selection, use Layout > Hide Empty Staves
Hi Sebasian,
So basically I have a chamber orchestra piece where there are 2 violin scordaturas. They are tuned 1/4 tone below the rest of the orchestra. I am indicating that in the score, so an open G will sound like a G 1/4 tone flat even though it is notated as a G natural.

I just want to make it so any note I place on the violin staves will sound a 1/4 flat in playback while the rest of the orchestra is standard.
Nicholas Vasallo, D.M.A. (ABD)

http://nickvasallo.com

jefmyers
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 7:16 pm

Post by jefmyers » Mon Aug 30, 2010 8:26 pm

~B 0,32 would be a half step down. ~B 0,49 is a 1/4 step (12:11). ~B 0,54 is a 1/6 step down (8:7)

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