Using Voice Commands with Sibeius?

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appreciatethehelp
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2016 6:38 am
Sibelius Version: 6.1.0
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Post by appreciatethehelp » Sun Aug 18, 2019 9:16 am

Hi everyone, just wondering if anyone on this forum has had success with using voice commands/recognition software in conjunction with Sibelius?
I've been considering for a while now just how useful it would be to be able to input notes using a voice command. I'm not sure that this feature is inherently available in Sibelius; perhaps some type of third-party software is capable of this?

I have heard elsewhere of a program called DWVAC (http://www.dwvac.com)- can anyone vouch for using this successfully with Sibelius? Perhaps there is something more user-friendly available these days?

I am reasonably computer-saavy but am not a programmer, so if given the choice I'd prefer to go with something a little less complicated, if at all possible.

Thanks for the help!


andyg
Posts: 1727
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Sibelius Version: 7.1.3 and 6.2
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Post by andyg » Sun Aug 18, 2019 11:28 am

I doubt if there's anything out there that could possibly integrate with all the features Sibelius has. And would you really want to anyway, and why?

"Sibelius, go to Note Entry, Treble Staff, Voice 1. Input crotchet G, input quaver rest, input quaver B, input crotchet B, add interval 3rd......."

Quicker to type it?

But you never know, I'll ask Alexa. Oh, she says "Hmmmm. I don't know that!" :)

appreciatethehelp
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2016 6:38 am
Sibelius Version: 6.1.0
Operating System: Mac

Post by appreciatethehelp » Sun Aug 18, 2019 12:54 pm

andyg wrote:I doubt if there's anything out there that could possibly integrate with all the features Sibelius has. And would you really want to anyway, and why?

"Sibelius, go to Note Entry, Treble Staff, Voice 1. Input crotchet G, input quaver rest, input quaver B, input crotchet B, add interval 3rd......."

Quicker to type it?

But you never know, I'll ask Alexa. Oh, she says "Hmmmm. I don't know that!" :)

Hey Andy, thanks as always for the response!
Mainly it's because I use Sibelius mostly for drum notation, so it's much simpler!

Plus, I'm sure that if Sibelius were configured to respond to voice commands, sections of the command input could be concatenated/shortened: rather than "Sibelius, go to note entry, Treble Staff, Voice 1" etc., one could give a shorter voice command such as (in the case of a single-instrument score): "V1 (for voice 1); three 16ths/rests (notes/rests & number required); C3 (note position)", which, provided Sibelius responds in a timely manner, could potentially be faster, particularly when switching between different subdivisions- no clicking on the keypad required!

I timed how long it took me to say "V1 three 16ths C3", and it took me between 1.5-2 seconds on multiple tries (depending on how clearly I enunciated each word) which is pretty darn quick!
To overcome any difficulties with the software recognising the words, software that learns how one speaks, and familiarises itself with phrases that are repeated often, (one of the features of some of the recent iterations of "Dragon" voice recognition software, so I'm told) could be implemented.
In addition, specific code words could further shorten the speech process and help prevent the software from misunderstanding: note values could be represented by letters of the alphabet (e.g A for whole notes, B for half notes etc.), so the previous example could be presented as "1(voice 1)E(16th notes)3(# of notes)S(for snare line)"- only takes me around 1 second to speak that phrase, which would be a tough time to beat, even for prodigious users, and perhaps the interleaving of numbers and letters between one another would help with voice recognition issues too.

Anyway, thanks again for your input, Andy! The more opinions, the better.

MikeLyons
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Sibelius Version: Ult. 2024.3.1/7.5
Operating System: Windows

Post by MikeLyons » Mon Aug 19, 2019 6:58 am

[shift][alt]1[ctrl][numpad 3]g[ctrl][up-arrow]gggggggg [esc]
[alt]2
[ctrl][numpad 4] click on f 5(top row) [numpad 0] f 5 (top row) [numpad 0] [esc]
click bar press r as necessary

Drum part done! :D
Sib 6.2, 7.5 and 2023.6, Windows 11, 32GB RAM, 16TB 7200RPM Storage, 2TB SSD, Note Performer 3.3.2, EWQLSO, EWQLSC, Harmony Assistant and some others. mike@mike-lyons.co.uk

appreciatethehelp
Posts: 72
Joined: Wed Aug 17, 2016 6:38 am
Sibelius Version: 6.1.0
Operating System: Mac

Post by appreciatethehelp » Mon Aug 19, 2019 2:59 pm

MikeLyons wrote:[shift][alt]1[ctrl][numpad 3]g[ctrl][up-arrow]gggggggg [esc]
[alt]2
[ctrl][numpad 4] click on f 5(top row) [numpad 0] f 5 (top row) [numpad 0] [esc]
click bar press r as necessary

Drum part done! :D
Certainly not too shabby, for sure!

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