Missing Instruments?

• Jul 30, 2015 - 22:58

In the instrument dialog, I don't see instruments I routinely use in my scores. For example, Pad 4 (Choir), MIDI # 92. I see an entry called "Pad Synthesizer," which I'm guessing has something to do with the MIDI Synth Pad family (instruments 89-96), but I can't figure out how to get to the specific instruments I want. Am I looking in the wrong place?

Access to standard MIDI instruments is on our "must have" list. If they aren't available, it will likely prevent us from converting to MuseScore.


Comments

In reply to by Dick Adams

Thanks for the link. Many MuseScore developers are familiar with the GM MIDI sounds as you might guess...

MuseScore doesn't expose the MIDI instrument names but their mapping in the selected soundfont. In FluidGM, the default soundfont, program 92 is called Space Voice. If you select this sound, the MIDI files will contain program 92.

MIDI doesn't define "Instruments", it defines sounds for playback. Actually, MIDI doesn't go that far, an additional standard called "General MIDI" does that. It defines a set of sounds that all GM-compatible synthesizers must support. Many of those sounds aren't instruments in themselves but particular sounds made by instruments. For example, "Trumpet" and "Muted Trumpet" are not two different instruments, just two different sounds made by the same instrument. Same with a variety of different sounds defined for guitars, basses, stringed instruments, percussion instruments, and most especially synthesizers. Also, there are *very* many more instruments than General MIDI defines a sound for.

So it is important to keep these things straight in understanding how MuseScore works. The Instrument list is where you select the basic instrument to be used in terms of establishing the initial clef, transposition, and playback sound, but the if you wish an instrument to make a *different* sound from its default, you choose that alternate sound in the Mixer.

Anyhow, all that said, even though Pad Synthesizer is *not* really a specific instrument, as a convenience, an entry *is* provided in the isntrument list for it. It's basically just a piano in terms of the main notation settings, but with the initial sound already set for you. To find this, switch to "All instruments" in the drop down at the top of the dialog, or just start typing a few characters of the name into the Search box at the bottom.

EDIT: I just tried it, and this "Pad Synthesizer" instrument actually does other interesting things. It defines nine separate "channels" for the isntrument to allow easy switching between eight different General MIDI sounds (88-95) via the same mechanism (Staff Text) that you can use to switch between trumpet and muted trumpet.

For more info, see the Handbook under "Sound and playback".

You should be aware that the GM patch definitions do not define a particular sound, but are a guideline to the kind of sound a musician should expect when choosing that patch number. This is particularly applicable to the synth sounds (#81-#104).....

http://www.midi.org/techspecs/gm1sound.php

If you are wishing to have a particular sound in your compositions, then you need to source and install a soundfont containing that sound into MuseScore.

Be aware, however, that playback on a MuseScore installation without that particular soundfont will not sound the same.

The default FluidR3Mono soundfont conforms to the GM Level 2 standard, and contains patches following the MMA guidelines, together with variation banks, again as defined in GM Level 2.

Individual patch control is accessible from the Mixer window.

Incidentally there are no MIDI standard instruments. There are, however, standard instruments defined in General MIDI Levels 1 & 2.

Hope This Helps.

In reply to by ChurchOrganist

Hello,
How can I find out the mapping of id names specific to Fluid R3 GM in the instrument.xml file to their midi GM equivalents (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_MIDI_Level_2)? I want to be able to evaluate all the sounds using a soundfont editor like Viena. However, the soundfont editors I have used list the instrument/presets in the Fluid soundfont by their GM midi names, not the custom instrument names used by Musescore. For example, what is the equivalent of the music box midi preset in Musescore's instrument.xml file. There is no id with the name "music box" in the xml file.

Thanks,
Sam

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