Scheme to rename "Electronic Instruments"
I'd like to propose a scheme to rename the "Electronic Instruments" listed in the New Score Wizard/ Instruments dialog. The idea is to make them more descriptive while keeping in mind the kind of names familiar to synth users. The attached pdf contains a list of possible new names.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| electronic_instruments.pdf | 53.27 KB |
Comments
Those are *sound* names. They are not *instrument* names. The instrument is called a synthesizer. it is capable of making the different *sounds* you list, but the instrument is still an synthesizer.
In reply to Those are *sound* names. by Marc Sabatella
The whole point of raising this issue is to make the Instrument names more descriptive and helpful to users so they are not left guessing. Currently that is not the case: the names are often unhelpful and misleading.
In reply to The whole point of raising by geetar
But you're supposing to rename the sounds, not the instrument, unless I miss something
In reply to But you're supposing to by Jojo-Schmitz
Why not rename the instrument? If that helps the user. (Obviously, you don't change the sound names. They are preset according to the soundfont set(s) you are using, AFAIK).
In reply to Why not rename the by geetar
Ah, I see, these are indeed instrument names in instruments.xml. I guess thouig that these are derived from either the names defined by MusicXML or those defined by GM
In reply to The whole point of raising by geetar
I don't know how to be clearer: the instrument is called a synthesizer. It is not called a saw wave. You don't write music for saw waves, you write music for synthesizers. No one shows up at a gig and pulls a saw wave out of the case - they pull out a synthesizer. People who play the synthesizer and read music written for synthesizer know their instrument is called a synthesizer. I don't see the point of pretending a saw wave is an instrument when it isn't. *That* would be confusing.
Now, if someone wanted to propose a new system to make it easier to specify how synthesizer *sounds* are selected, that would be fine. But we should be clear about the reality: the instrument is a synthesizer. What you listed are names of *sounds* that can optionally be played on that synthesizer. Everyone who owns or plays this instrument would be well aware of that and be confused by a composer who tried to suggest that things were otherwise.
Also, keep in mind there are literally *thousands* of different sounds synthesizers can make, and each model of synthesizer has a different set. It's crazy to imagine we can provide a different instrument for each sound a synthesizer is capable of making, even were we to decide it made sense to make the attempt.