Change the Percussion Set Input Note panel

• May 5, 2019 - 05:51

Hi, Gang!!!

I'm testing Musescore 3.1.0 Beta in Ubuntu Studio 18.04.2 LTS (64 bit Linux).

But, this issue is also valid to version 2.3.2.

When we use "Edit" menu, "Instruments" option, and we select "Percussion Set", whatever the kind of instruments we use (common, pop/rock, orchestra... etc, etc.), we always get the same very limited Percusion Input Note panel showed in the attached image.

You can see, clearly, that in that panel are not all the percussion instruments the General MIDI offers.

Even more, the "Percussion Set" should have 2 staves (treble and bass clefs) because there are a lot of different sound in the MIDI percussion kits!!!

The development team should change this panel and add ALL the possible percussion instruments, according (at least) with the General MIDI Standard Percussion Chart. See this pdf document: https://musescore.org/sites/musescore.org/files/General%20MIDI%20Standa….

Just an idea.

Blessings and Greetings from Chile, South America!!!

JUAN


Comments

BTW: I wonder... Why the input mode would have to change when we use percussion instruments? ???

Everybody knows that the percussion sound are just... MIDI patches!!!

So... It is absolutely the same that any other kind of instrument, but each score pitch represents different percussion sounds.

Why Musescore uses this different way to input the notes when it is a percussion set? ???

Wouldn't be more and extremely easy to input the notes, into the percussion staves, like any other instrument staff? ???

Just a question...

In reply to by Ziya Mete Demircan

Hi, Ziya!!!

I was not talking about the absolute position of the percussion instrument notes in the final score.

I am talking about which way of input note is more easy to the user.

I think any software has to find the most easy way to the final user, in the majority of that software functions.

In this case... I don't think the most easy way to the user (to enter percussion notes) was the today Musescore way.

Just my opinion.

In reply to by jotape1960

Some ideas to make percussion entry easier:

When user is in note input mode on a percussion staff, disable single letter shortcuts. This would allow drumset shortcuts to be from a-z. This would allow you to define a drumon the 2nd space with an x notehead with the shortcut of j. The user could then move the input cursor to the correct beat and the note would always be entered in the appropriate voice with all of its other attributes. There would then be a limitation of 26 drums (which should never be exceeded) rather than 8, which is very insufficient.

In reply to by mike320

Good point, mike320!!!

But... I think it would be more easy to have all the possible percussion instruments split in 2 staves (treble and bass clefs), without the today limitations.

To be honest: I learned to not use the "Percussion Set" kind of staff, because I learned that in the symphonic orchestra each percussion instrument has each own staff, full separated from others. BUT... Maybe, is more easy to the new people using Musescore to use this kind of staff, I don't know.

In reply to by jotape1960

That would be complicated. Which drums do you put on which staff? Percussion parts are written is such a way that a percussionist has a few drums on their part and the number of parts is decided by the composer. The current method has a lot of good features related to flexibility and what you are suggesting seems it would limit the flexibility.

If you want, you could create two drum sets and split all of the instruments between them, but I don't see this as any advantage. If you are not aware, you can save and load drum sets to prevent the need to recreate a commonly used drum set for every score.

In reply to by mike320

No, mike320. I don't ask something like this.

If you think in the General MIDI specs, each of the percussion instruments (sounds) has each own number (patch), from B0 to A4.

I'm talking about to represent that range in a very normal way, from B0 (bass clef) to A4 (treble clef), like any other kind of instrument!!! Without the need of any other additional panel (like the today percussion right panel with a very limited set of sounds).

That's all!!!

In reply to by Ziya Mete Demircan

Well, it is a very great idea, Ziya!!!

But, to be honest, I'm not enough clever to think that.

I'd prefer to eliminate the percussion input note panel itself, and to use the exactly same way to input note like any other instrument is.

In other words, the same way you can enter notes to..., let' say..., a violin, you should be able to enter notes into that "Percussion Set" grand staff, without any extra panel. You just have to hear the percussion sound the note position into that grand staff gives you to know if it is what you want, or not.

That's all!!!

In reply to by Ziya Mete Demircan

Please... See the attached file.

I use an standard Piano grand staff, but I use a "Change Instrument" at the first point of the first bar, and I use the "Percussion Set" new instrument.

As you can see in that file, you can enter the note you want, without limitations and without the necessity of any extra panel. The sound you will get depends ONLY in the pitch of the note (and it is full related with the soundfont file you are using).

Of course, anyone can add the notes he/she wants in that staves, without the need to any extra panel.

I insist it is the best way to enter notes into that percussion set staves!!!

Of course, we are talking about the NOT MELODIC percussion instruments ONLY.

Attachment Size
Proposed Percussion Set Staves.mscz 8.67 KB

In reply to by jotape1960

If that's exactly what you want, you're already doing it.
But the problem is that the percussionists don't understand anything!
To write a valid/universal percussion note, we need that panel (or a more advanced one).

eg:
* Some percussion is written in a single line staff, some in two lines.
* The drums are written in some other rules.
* Some percussion forms aren't insightful (treble is bottom of the line, bass is top of the line; etc.).
* In the same line, the different note-head in the space refers to different instruments or different strokes.

In reply to by Ziya Mete Demircan

You are absolutely right, Ziya!!!

That is because I don't use the "Percussion set" (because I learned the percussionists have their own way to write and read this and it is not a single "percussion set" staff).

The only one question I have... Is it absolutely tested that "ALL" the possible not melodic percussion instruments are included into the Musescore individual staves? ???

In reply to by jotape1960

That's just not how percussion music is notated. We don't place each note on a different line or space; we re-use lines and spaces for different sounds with different heads to mean different things. Having to manually do correct this as well as remember which MIDI pitch (the vast majority of MuseScore users have no idea what MIDI is) would be far more difficult, that's why MuseScore and most other notation programs instead implement a special mode streamlined specifically for the unique requirements of percussion notation.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Hi, Marc!!!

I know what you're saying.

BTW: I'm talking about the "Percussion set" which is in the "Instruments" section. I don't use it because I learned that is not the standard into the percusionism world. BUT... There are more than one MIDI software that use that way. In this line is what I was talking about. Maybe... Musescore could erase that "Percussion set" option, at all... I don't know.

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