More Percussion Sound options
While writing music, I like to occasionally add bowed parts (vibraphone, crotales, glockenspiel, and less often tam-tam), however, since there is not an option for this sound, I have to use the default while adding a staff text simply saying to bow the instrument. In addition, other very basic sounds are missing from instruments like the snare drum, tam-tam, and cymbals, as there are many ways to make sounds on these instruments that are used by other composers (for snare: Snares off, brushes, for Tam-tam: coin scrape, superball mallet, bowing, for cymbals: Suspended Cymbal is completely missing, and ride doesn't suffice). If these options can be supported in the future, it would make composing for percussion much better.
Comments
These sounds are already supported, if you can find a soundfont that contains them :-). See the Handbook under "Soundfonts" to learn how. MuseScore uses the universal General MIDI standard for defining instruments and their soubnds, and unfortunately the sounds you are talking about are not part of tht, so the GM-compatible soundfonts we normally use won't contain them, and any third party soundfonts you find that do will probably define them in ways that are not compatible with each other, so we can't proactively provide support.
In reply to These sounds are already… by Marc Sabatella
Since a bowed percussion isn't part of the GM standard, how would we define a program value in instruments.xml?
That would be neat... My situation is that I play violin, trombone, viola, and basic piano, so I know about reading and writing sheet music. however I don't know much about synthesizer type sounds... so it'd be neat to have the same instruments sounds in a list that match the tones for sounds on the casio or yahama keyboard... like the sequencer square, sequence pulse, saw sequencer, and saw synthesizer bass would be snazzy instruments to have listed... since even people who don't know much about music can around on the keyboard and are more familiar with the tones or sounds on a keyboard like casio or whatever else common keyboard brands people have
In reply to That would be neat... My… by Adria Sorensen
See Marc's comment: You've to find a soundfont which contains these sounds. Then it's possible to load this soundfount inside the synthesizer and to select the sounds inside the mixer.
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/soundfonts-and-sfz-files
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/soundfonts-and-sfz-files#synthesizer
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/mixer
In reply to That would be neat... My… by Adria Sorensen
Those aren't "instruments", they are "sounds" made by a single instrument. So don't look for them under Instruments; look for them in the list sounds found for each track in in View / Mixer. Saw waves, etc - all are part of the General MIDI standard and thus present in the default soundfont already.
In reply to Those aren't "instruments",… by Marc Sabatella
How would I get a sound font for a bowed chorale and vibraphone?
In reply to How would I get a sound font… by ajdmusic
By doing a web search and downloading whatever you find in the search results.
I am still at a loss to introduce drum brush sounds into my score. I have downloaded drumset_FR.drm and orchestral.drm (which file should they reside in?). I have added a concert snare drum instrument line, I have gone to the mixer and switched the sound field to orchestra kit, and various other things, without result. The percussion line simply plays a metronome line. I would be most grateful for a plain man's guide.
In reply to I am still at a loss to… by DLascelles
I'm not sure what those files you mention are supposed to accomplish - well, I have some idea, but it has nothing to do with brushes. Bursh sounds are available in the Drumset instrument, not the Concert snare drum instrument, and only if you install and select a SoundFont that provides those sounds. Then you'd have to consult the documentation for that SoundFont to learn which specific MIDI pitches yield which specific brush sounds, and use the Edit drumset dialog to assign those pitches to specific notes as described in the handbook in the chapter on percussion.
In reply to I'm not sure what those… by Marc Sabatella
Thanks Marc. Where do I find the soundfonts?
In reply to Thanks Marc. Where do I… by DLascelles
You'd need to do a web search to find brush soundfonts that suit your needs. There is one available within the default MS Basic but it isn't very useful at all - no swirl sound (well, not looped, so it's a very short swirl only). So you're better off finding a third-party option.