faster way to change sound name?

• Aug 2, 2014 - 16:59

During playback, I change, audition, and select sounds a lot in the ""Display-->Mixer-->MuseScore: Part List: Sound" drop-down list. I don't like the way it makes me arrow through every sound between my old sound name choice and my new sound name choice. Is there a way I can see *ALL* sound names of all 128 possible sounds in *ONE* radio button grid?


Comments

First, wouldn't that be a *huge* grid? Especially duplicated for each instrument in the Mixer? Second, how is that really different from the drop down list that is there currently? You don't need to use the arrow keys; just click and select from the list by clicking again. Sure, you may need to scroll a little, but depending on your screen size, you should be able to see quite a few instruments at once.

Would be neat, I suppose, if Qt allowed a combobox to display long lists in a mutliple column format, so the entire list could fit on screen at once. I guess there are probably ways of hacking that behavior.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

I would like to use the chart below during playback to click on and "audition" different sounds in my ensemble of different parts.

Piano
  1. Acoustic Grand Piano
  2. Bright Acoustic Piano
  3. Electric Grand Piano
  4. Honky-tonk Piano
  5. Electric Piano 1
  6. Electric Piano 2
  7. Harpsichord
  8. Clavinet
Bass
  1. Acoustic Bass
  2. Electric Bass (finger)
  3. Electric Bass (pick)
  4. Fretless Bass
  5. Slap Bass 1
  6. Slap Bass 2
  7. Synth Bass 1
  8. Synth Bass 2
Reed
  1. Soprano Sax
  2. Alto Sax
  3. Tenor Sax
  4. Baritone Sax
  5. Oboe
  6. English Horn
  7. Bassoon
  8. Clarinet
Synth Effect
  1. FX 1 (rain)
  2. FX 2 (soundtrack)
  3. FX 3 (crystal)
  4. FX 4 (atmosphere)
  5. FX 5 (brightness)
  6. FX 6 (goblins)
  7. FX 7 (echoes)
  8. FX 8 (sci-fi)
Chromatic Percussion
  1. Celesta
  2. Glockenspiel
  3. Music Box
  4. Vibraphone
  5. Marimba
  6. Xylophone
  7. Tubular Bells
  8. Dulcimer
Strings
  1. Violin
  2. Viola
  3. Cello
  4. Contrabass
  5. Tremolo Strings
  6. Pizzicato Strings
  7. Orchestral Harp
  8. Timpani
Pipe
  1. Piccolo
  2. Flute
  3. Recorder
  4. Pan Flute
  5. Blown bottle
  6. Shakuhachi
  7. Whistle
  8. Ocarina
Ethnic
  1. Sitar
  2. Banjo
  3. Shamisen
  4. Koto
  5. Kalimba
  6. Bagpipe
  7. Fiddle
  8. Shanai
Organ
  1. Drawbar Organ
  2. Percussive Organ
  3. Rock Organ
  4. Church Organ
  5. Reed Organ
  6. Accordion
  7. Harmonica
  8. Tango Accordion
Ensemble
  1. String Ensemble 1
  2. String Ensemble 2
  3. Synth Strings 1
  4. Synth Strings 2
  5. Choir Aahs
  6. Voice Oohs
  7. Synth Choir
  8. Orchestra Hit
Synth Lead
  1. Lead 1 (square)
  2. Lead 2 (sawtooth)
  3. Lead 3 (calliope)
  4. Lead 4 chiff
  5. Lead 5 (charang)
  6. Lead 6 (voice)
  7. Lead 7 (fifths)
  8. Lead 8 (bass + lead)
Percussive
  1. Tinkle Bell
  2. Agogo
  3. Steel Drums
  4. Woodblock
  5. Taiko Drum
  6. Melodic Tom
  7. Synth Drum
  8. Reverse Cymbal
Guitar
  1. Acoustic Guitar (nylon)
  2. Acoustic Guitar (steel)
  3. Electric Guitar (jazz)
  4. Electric Guitar (clean)
  5. Electric Guitar (muted)
  6. Overdriven Guitar
  7. Distortion Guitar
  8. Guitar Harmonics
Brass
  1. Trumpet
  2. Trombone
  3. Tuba
  4. Muted Trumpet
  5. French Horn
  6. Brass Section
  7. Synth Brass 1
  8. Synth Brass 2
Synth Pad
  1. Pad 1 (new age)
  2. Pad 2 (warm)
  3. Pad 3 (polysynth)
  4. Pad 4 (choir)
  5. Pad 5 (bowed)
  6. Pad 6 (metallic)
  7. Pad 7 (halo)
  8. Pad 8 (sweep)
Sound Effects
  1. Guitar Fret Noise
  2. Breath Noise
  3. Seashore
  4. Bird Tweet
  5. Telephone Ring
  6. Helicopter
  7. Applause
  8. Gunshot

In reply to by Gene Gaunt

Bear in mind that not all soundfonts are GM and so this list would not fit them all.

In particular if you are using a GS or XG sounfont or a GM2 soundfont then each Program number will have sounds from several different banks to select from.

Admittedly the current interface is not ideal, but we would need to think a lot more about how to implement a better one.

There are currently discussions about merging the Create instrument and mixer windows, and this may be a better way forward, where you can list all the possibilites for a particular instrument in the Create dialogue rather than have to make a separate visit to the mixer window.

I do think that you will be seeing imrpovements eventually, but I doubt very much whether they will make it into MuseScore 2 which is already very overdue.

In reply to by Gene Gaunt

I think the answer to that is that all soundfonts are out of date. The world of digital music has moved on to VST technology.

There are still plenty of soundfonts around though, including some great ones :)

In reply to by Gene Gaunt

Still, that only *barely* fits on my fairly large monitor, and that's just for one instrument. Do that for each instrument in the mixer and it becomes impossible to see all your instruments at once because 128 radio buttons *per instrument* won't fit on screen. So doing simple things with the Mixer like change volumne - which is far more common than changing instruments - become much harder. That's why I suggested instead the idea of a multi-column combobox, so you wouldn't have to look at that large set of options for each instrument all the time - only the instrument for which you are actively changing the sound.

Not sure if you were implying I was flaming you in my earlier reply, but that wasn't my intent. Just pointing out an aspect of your suggestion that I think you hadn't considered.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thanks Marc for the great info, but I am still frustrated. Currently, I observe the drop down list, to select a sound name, lists only the first TEN sound names beyond the current name. TEN? Only TEN? Currently, is there any way possible I can hack this to lengthen the drop down box to include more than just TEN?

In reply to by Gene Gaunt

You only see ten? I see maybe 30-40. Must be system dependent. Not sure if it's about OS or screen resolution ir what. Anyhow, a multi-coulm list within the dropdown menu would solve this nicely, if someone were to want to implement it (doesn't seem to be supported natively). Or a second popup dialog with radio buttons instrad of the dropdown.

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