Ottevanger's Omphaloskeptic Outpost

[Joe_Campbell]

Watch out for that steeple when you parachute. They come up on you!

[karlhenning]

Luke! Help! 

Two Three quick Sibelius questions:

1.  I started a treble-clef score, and the default playback sound is a piano.  How do I change that?

2.  Ties? Slurs?

2.  Double-bars?

3.  In cut time, I have a bar which is half-note triplets, in which the first half-note value consists of an eighth-rest plus a dotted-quarter-note;  how do I do it? 

Thanks!

Whittled these down . . . .

[karlhenning]

3.  In cut time, I have a bar which is half-note triplets, in which the first half-note value consists of an eighth-rest plus a dotted-quarter-note;  how do I do it? 

I found out a way, which seems to me a bit convoluted.  So if there's some easier way, great . . . .

[karlhenning]

1.  I started a treble-clef score, and the default playback sound is a piano.  How do I change that?

This still eludes me.  Thanks!

[lukeottevanger]

The triplet question:

1) enter a half note (or half note rest)

2) triplet-ize it (quickest is to use ctrl+3, but for more options, more complicated tuplets, or to change settings re. brackets, ratios and so on right-click -> tuplet -> [whatever you want to do]; when you click out of this, your cursor will be 'loaded' with your new tuplet, so click on your half note and it will become a triplet)

3) divide your first triplet half note (or rest) however you need to.

The important principle is to work top-down - create the largest division first, then work within it. This is how you can create innumberable levels of 'nested tuplets' for instance.


The playback question:

I'm less good at this sort of thing. A quick cheat would be to create a right-hand only piano stave (in 'instrument' dialogue, you have options to delete one or other hand (piano [a] and piano [ b])). But what you really need to do is go to Play -> Edit sound sets -> choose the appropriate device -> etc. Or, what usually works for me, Play -> Devices -> choose a different playback option.

[lukeottevanger]

Sorry, misread your playbeack question - thought you wanted a piano sound. To change it you need to fiddle around with your sound sets (rarely seems to work for me, though!), but it's easier just to choose the instrument you want initially i.e. rather than 'treble stave' choose 'oboe' or whatever. Treble stave, I suppose, is just a default for music examples, theory work and so so.

[karlhenning]

The triplet question:

1) enter a half note (or half note rest)

2) triplet-ize it (quickest is to use ctrl+3, but for more options, more complicated tuplets, or to change settings re. brackets, ratios and so on right-click -> tuplet -> [whatever you want to do]; when you click out of this, your cursor will be 'loaded' with your new tuplet, so click on your half note and it will become a triplet)

3) divide your first triplet half note (or rest) however you need to.

The important principle is to work top-down - create the largest division first, then work within it. This is how you can create innumberable levels of 'nested tuplets' for instance.

All right;  that's what I should have guessed, only I was diffident about altering that initial half-note to the eighth-rest-plus-dotted-quarter-note.

My roundabout solution was to alter the meter of that measure to 3/2, enter my notation "straight," 'tupletize' it, then restore the meter to 2/2.

I've known that what I really need to do, is just spend time with it . . . last night was a productive session, really.

[karlhenning]

Sorry, misread your playbeack question - thought you wanted a piano sound. To change it you need to fiddle around with your sound sets (rarely seems to work for me, though!), but it's easier just to choose the instrument you want initially i.e. rather than 'treble stave' choose 'oboe' or whatever.

Yes, broadly the same in Finale.  Menu drilldown is necessarily somewhat different.

Changing the initial patch for a given staff in Finale was (well, is, I must suppose) a bit weird . . . it would look like changing one drop-down field would do it, but no, it wouldn't, there was another drop-down field which is the real driver, and you have to be sure to change that one.  And it is up to you (after the initial document set-up, that is) to manage channel numeration, another area of potential patch-change failure.

Thanks for your patience, Luke!  Will try some more this evening, and will report!

[karlhenning]

At the point last night where I decided to stop, though . . . I need to add a fresh metronome marking. Help?

[lukeottevanger]

Right-click -> Text -> Metronome mark -> click where wanted -> whilst cursor is flashing, right-click to access noteheads for the metronome mark.

[lukeottevanger]

All right;  that's what I should have guessed, only I was diffident about altering that initial half-note to the eighth-rest-plus-dotted-quarter-note.

Yes, as long as you create the triplet on the fundamental half note first.

My roundabout solution was to alter the meter of that measure to 3/2, enter my notation "straight," 'tupletize' it, then restore the meter to 2/2.

Wow, that's nearly as roundabout as some of my methods!

I've known that what I really need to do, is just spend time with it . . . last night was a productive session, really.

Good - feel free to ask more questions and I'll try my best, though can't guarantee that my solutions are the 'official' ones (nor that I'll be able to provide solutions every time!) 

[karlhenning]

Yes, as long as you create the triplet on the fundamental half note first.

I'm still "missing" how to make such an alteration, even as I am sure it is embarrassingly simple! 

Wow, that's nearly as roundabout as some of my methods!

A comfort! 

Good - feel free to ask more questions and I'll try my best, though can't guarantee that my solutions are the 'official' ones (nor that I'll be able to provide solutions every time!) 

Well, but it is of value to garner 'unofficial' solutions from the heat of battle (where someone else has already won that ground) . . . I'll stop that runaway simile now, thank you . . . .

[karlhenning]

Made lots of (graphic) progress this morning . . . just added 18 (very 'notey') measures . . . .

[lukeottevanger]

I'm still "missing" how to make such an alteration, even as I am sure it is embarrassingly simple! 

Assuming you have made the triplet, you now have three half notes (or half note rests) in the bar, under the triplet bracket. You can then change them just as you would change any note. That is - select the note[ s] to be changed and then, using the keypad, select  the change you want to make.

Sometimes, for complex reasons which are hard to describe but which will shortly become intuitive, a highlighted note doesn't alter when one selects something on the keypad (that's quite useful, of course). If this occurs, and you want to make the alteration, press Esc once. Pressing twice deselects the note and the keypad entirely.

[lukeottevanger]

Looks great - the trumpet piece, yes?

Looks so good, in fact, that I begin to think you must be able to do all the things I've been trying to help you towards - and therefore that I've misunderstood the nature of your problem. Let me know if so!

[karlhenning]

I've got to ship off to the MFA, or I'd go straight to Sibelius to try it out.

It'll keep until this evening, though  

Thanks again, Luke!

[karlhenning]

Looks great - the trumpet piece, yes?

Looks so good, in fact, that I begin to think you must be able to do all the things I've been trying to help you towards - and therefore that I've misunderstood the nature of your problem. Let me know if so!

Thanks! It is indeed the trumpet piece . . . still not quite half what I've drawn up in MS., which itself is far from the complete piece.

Well, I'm still not sure how I should alter that initial half-note to a rest-plus-note . . . though (thinking on the fly) I could make the initial 'event' of the triplet a half-rest, and maybe that's the answer?

[karlhenning]

Luego! 

[lukeottevanger]

I'm confused - was I trying to answer the right question? Though yes, as I said, you need to start creating the bar by entering a half note of some sort...

[karlhenning]

I'm confused - was I trying to answer the right question?

Sorry to have confused you; yes, your answer is sound!