You won't find a suspended cym sound in Sibelius 4. Sib. 4 uses your computers midi unless you have arranged it to use an external library (which I suspect you haven't).
As far as I am aware, this sound isn't even included with GPO - if anyone knows different, or can suggest another way of obtaining it without spending a fortune, I for one would like to know about it.
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Peter Smith
Sib 5.1.0, Windows XP Pro SP2, Sibelius Gold, GPO, Athlon 64 Dual Core 2.4 Ghz, Audiophile 2496; 4Gb RAM
This is such a common sound in orchestras and bands that I'm surprised it isn't included in the standard libraries (I'm using Sib.5.2); you can add me to any list of people who'd like it as a VST instrument or whatever the terminology is.
I agree, it's ridiculous! I've just spent a fair amount of time over the last two weeks trwawling the web for better drum kit sounds to incorporate into my sound font for jazz orchestra. I downloaded many dozens of fonts and separate samples in order to get the best results for snare, toms, cymbals and so on.
It took me a long time get snare drums (hits and matching rolls) that didn't sound all horrible and electric or like heavy rock, hardly appropriate for 1930s jazz. I have yet to find any decent cymbal rolls.
I haven't found any decent samples that I can put together to make a "mallet" kit, let alone mallet cymbal rolls, to go alongside the standard "sticks" kit and "brushes" kit that I have assembled.
There IS a suspended cymbal roll in Sounds Essentials.
So, in Sibelius 5, it's as simple as adding a tremolo to the Orchestral Unpitched Percussion Cymbal and using Sibelius Sounds Essentials 16 or 32 for playback.
Please try the attached score with Sibelius Essentials 16 (or 32) and you will hear both a suspended cymbal with soft sticks and a clashed cymbal. You can, of couerse, also Create a dedicated suspended cymbal instrument in House Style->Edit Instruments...
Mike
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Sib.5.2, GPO, Sonar 4, Encore, PC Win XP 1.5G Ram, Vista laptop 1.5Gb Ram - Keyboards & modules galore.
I agree that it should suspended cymbal should be included in the regular list of instruments - in "all instruments" of course and also in "orchestra instruments."
In the meantime, if you have Sibelius-5, the sound is available as a Virtual Drumline sound in Sounds Essentials for you to create your own instrument using edit instruments and call it "suspended cymbal" or anything you like. Sounds Essentials is free, so you might as well use it where you need it. “Free” means the price is included with Sibelius-5.
I responded to a similar request in another thread ten days ago. I explained how to get a suspended cymbal instrument in 5.2. That doesn’t help Gary, but it will help you, Gareth.
In that post, I incorrectly stated that you would find the new instrument you created in “all instruments” because “that’s what you chose to begin your creation operation…”
In checking further in order to reply here, I discovered that the new instrument will be in the panel labeled “instruments not in an ensemble.” It will, of course, be included in “all instruments.” You can also move it into any other grouping by placing that group into “instruments in family” and adding the new instrument to that family.
Peter, depending on what you mean by “a fortune,” you might invest in the Sibelius-5 upgrade and find many, many, many improvements besides the suspended cymbal sound for your money. Check the system requirements before you shell out for the software. It may require a new computer also.
> Peter, depending on what you mean by “a fortune,” you might invest in the Sibelius-5 upgrade and find many, many, many improvements besides the suspended cymbal sound for your money. Check the system requirements before you shell out for the software. It may require a new computer also.
Terry - You'll see from my signature that I already have Sib 5 and GPO.
I don't think the trill effect applied to the cymbal produces a true roll, by which I mean one where the individual strokes can barely be heard separately.
And what the original poster asked about was a roll with soft sticks, which to the best of my knowledge is not available with Essentials, Gold or GPO.
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Peter Smith
Sib 5.2.0, Windows XP Pro SP2, Sibelius Gold, GPO, Athlon 64 Dual Core 2.4 Ghz, Audiophile 2496; 4Gb RAM
Peter said: "And what the original poster asked about was a roll with soft sticks, which to the best of my knowledge is not available with Essentials, Gold or GPO."
Now you know differently. That is, I am telling you it can be produced to sound like a roll with soft sticks.
Try the procedure I outlined in the other thread, not a tremolo on the normal cymbal staff that you choose from the unmodified instrument list. You need a tremolo on a "suspended cymbal" sound on an instrument that you create. (or an instrument that you modify) You can make it blast you out of your seat with no discernible beats.
You're right, Terry, thank you. That's certainly a big improvement over what I was getting before. I hadn't previously looked at those VDL samples which come with Essentials. I still haven't got it sounding quite right, but I haven't any more time to fiddle with it (and probably won't have for the next couple of weeks.)
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Peter Smith
Sib 5.1.0, Windows XP Pro SP2, Sibelius Gold, GPO, Athlon 64 Dual Core 2.4 Ghz, Audiophile 2496; 4Gb RAM
Suspended & Clashed Cymbal.sib