Sib. 3.x: pizzicatos too loud, and not affected by dynamic markings (forte, or piano) Posted by John W DeVilbiss - 05 Jul 07:52AM Hide picture Yes, i have an old version of Sibelius (3.1) I prefer earlier programs because they do what i need and that's enough for me. When i add the 'Technique' indication 'pizz.', Sibelius 3.1 does indeed change a violin bowing sound to a violin pizzicato sound; but nevertheless the pizzicato sound ends up being 3 or 4 times louder than the rest of the bowed notes. This is a real problem at the end of an input session, because one cannot playback the volumes as intended. Thanks for any help. Attachment violin pizzicato volume much louder than the non-pizzicato for same voice.png (21K) Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 3.x: pizzicatos too loud, and not affected by dynamic markings (forte, or piano) Posted by Daniel formerly at Sibelius - 05 Jul 07:59AM Hide picture You could try entering an extra dynamic at that point and hiding it: select it and type Ctrl+Shift+H. -- Contact Sibelius technical help online: http://www.sibelius.com/helpcenter/contact.html Contact Sibelius technical help by phone (charges may apply): USA & Canada: +1 650-731-6106 UK: +44 (0)1753 658585 Australia: 1300 652 172 Other countries: www.sibelius.com/support Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 3.x: pizzicatos too loud, and not affected by dynamic markings (forte, or piano) Posted by John W DeVilbiss - 05 Jul 10:55AM Hide picture Yes, i tried putting an extra, same, dynamic marking on the pizzicato part (and hid it), but the volume of the pizzicato voice is still just as loud as ever, equally contrasting to the other parts, whether those are forte, or are piano. Sibelius ver. 3.1 seems not to have a controllable dynamic level for pizzicato, and i saw another forum question regarding (too loud) staccato notes, compared to the same notes but non-staccato. I thought of putting the pizzicato parts on separate staves/instruments, and see if that controls the pizzicato volume levels. Perhaps this bug appears in a 'fixed' list in later versions? Thank you so much for your suggestion, though didn't work in my version of Sibelius. I've gotten more expert on it, lately. (Actually, converting back to Finale 2002b might allow me pizzicato volume control, but i know that version of Finale does indeed require that we use two staves - one for the pizz. sections of one voice, and another for the bowed sections. Also a pain. Finale has been a constant pain since i bought it. Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 3.x: pizzicatos too loud, and not affected by dynamic markings (forte, or piano) Posted by Ronald Pearl - 05 Jul 11:17AM Hide picture Have you tried changing the Velocity of the note(s)? The standard default of 80 may be too loud. I think (?) that v3 had editable velocity values - give it a try. -- Ron Pearl 7.1.2 http://www.ronaldmpearl.com/ Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 3.x: pizzicatos too loud, and not affected by dynamic markings (forte, or piano) Posted by John W DeVilbiss - 05 Jul 11:29AM Hide picture Thanks for the second reply, from a different support person. Because i inputted my notes, not with a MIDI peripheral, but one at a time, by hand, there are not velocities to show for each note. It's neat that i could see 'velocities' of notes in MIDI files. (i learned how, now). Trying to make a audio demo of my score, but the pizzicatos are terribly loud. When the pizzicato voice is to be loud, it does sound great. But when the pizzicato voice is supposed to accompany the melody, it overrides it :) Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 3.x: pizzicatos too loud, and not affected by dynamic markings (forte, or piano) Posted by Ronald Pearl - 05 Jul 12:24PM Hide picture If you click on a note, is there a Properties panel that can be called up? I can't recall if that was available or not in v3. You can also click on a note, and go to View>Velocities, and lower the level on the blue bar - any of these will have an effect on the velocity. Do any of these help? -- Ron Pearl 7.1.2 http://www.ronaldmpearl.com/ Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 3.x: pizzicatos too loud, and not affected by dynamic markings (forte, or piano) Posted by John W DeVilbiss - 05 Jul 12:35PM Hide picture Yes, Sibelius 3.1 has a PROPERTIES pop-up which allows all sorts of things, but nothing on slurs though (except how they are drawn on the sheet music). Thanks, but my notes are inputted by hand, and therefore have no existing Velocity data to show under properties. But if the notes had (somehow) velocity data, i can see how it would allow for changing the value under Properties => Playback (i can see the dim little box that says: Live Velocity Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 3.x: pizzicatos too loud, and not affected by dynamic markings (forte, or piano) Posted by Ronald Pearl - 05 Jul 01:04PM Hide picture And if you select a note, that dim little box will become "live" - enter a number lower than 80, and you pizz will (should) be softer; higher number, up to 127, will get louder. -- Ron Pearl 7.1.2 http://www.ronaldmpearl.com/ Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 3.x: pizzicatos too loud, and not affected by dynamic markings (forte, or piano) Posted by John W DeVilbiss - 05 Jul 01:12PM Hide picture Sorry, selecting a note does not highlight the little box 'Live Velocity' --- i am not a pianist, so don't know beans about key stroke velocity. I'm a professional violinist. That's why we have bows, to play louder or softer :) Thank you for caring. Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 3.x: pizzicatos too loud, and not affected by dynamic markings (forte, or piano) Posted by Daniel formerly at Sibelius - 05 Jul 02:16PM Hide picture John, why not enter a *softer* dynamic, rather than the *same* dynamic? -- Contact Sibelius technical help online: http://www.sibelius.com/helpcenter/contact.html Contact Sibelius technical help by phone (charges may apply): USA & Canada: +1 650-731-6106 UK: +44 (0)1753 658585 Australia: 1300 652 172 Other countries: www.sibelius.com/support Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 3.x: pizzicatos too loud, and not affected by dynamic markings (forte, or piano) Posted by Martin P. Kellogg - 05 Jul 06:30PM (edited 05 Jul 06:43PM) Hide picture > Sorry, selecting a note does not highlight the little box 'Live Velocity' Do you have Live Playback switched on? I know the live velocity can be set in Sibelius 3, because I've done it. [edit: The change in appearance of the live playback checkboxes may be quite subtle -- just try checking the live velocity box.] "Velocity" in MIDI doesn't affect only the key velocity of a keyboard instrument. It determines how loud any instrument plays. -- Martin Sibelius 7.1.2 & 6.2, Core i5 M560 2.67 GHz, 8 GB, Windows 7 Pro SP1 64-bit. Sibelius 6.2, Core 2 Duo 2.26 GHz, 3 GB usable, Windows XP Pro SP3 32-bit (rarely used now). Shared second monitor (1920x1200), KeyRig 49, Echo Indigo IOx audio interface. Year 2012 Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 3.x: pizzicatos too loud, and not affected by dynamic markings (forte, or piano) Posted by John W DeVilbiss - 06 Jul 01:00AM Hide picture OK. I will continue to tackle this problem in my use of Sibelius 3.1. Right now i am implementing the ties vs. slurs problem i also experienced. I will play around with the properties of each note, to see if i can drop the volume of the pizzicato notes, and i did try to enter TWO different dynamic markings on the same note. i tried two of the same dynamic marking, and i tried entering a softer dynamic marking on the same note also. None of that worked. Somehow i have to figure out how to enter "velocities" (a very, very bad choice of term because in music velocity refers 'tempos') into the Properties of notes entered originally manually (not with a MIDI device). The Sibelius 3.1 help explicitly states there will be no velocities in the Properties for notes inputted manually. Thank you Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 3.x: pizzicatos too loud, and not affected by dynamic markings (forte, or piano) Posted by Ronald Pearl - 06 Jul 01:32AM Hide picture That means there will no Velocities pre-determined: they will have a default of 80, from which you can adjust up or down. You can select a whole group of notes and assign a number value in one fell swoop - you needn't do each one individually. Hope that helps. -- Ron Pearl 7.1.2 http://www.ronaldmpearl.com/ Back to top | All threads

Re: Sib. 3.x: pizzicatos too loud, and not affected by dynamic markings (forte, or piano) Posted by Martin P. Kellogg - 06 Jul 04:33AM Hide picture An attempt to explain how this works: Notes inputted manually have no live playback information associated with them. The playback velocity (meaning the MIDI value for attack and/or loudness of the note) is determined by the dynamic markings in the score, and by the effect of Espressivo, which varies the velocities slightly from note to note in an attempt to produce a more realistic playback. Turning on live velocity for a note sets its velocity to 80, and prevents markings in the score and Espressivo from changing the velocity. If you want a different velocity, you can change it in the properties window. Velocities vary from zero (silent) to 127 (loud as possible). Note that the velocity is *not* fixed at 80 until you turn on live velocity. You can certainly use live velocity to quiet the pizzicato notes, but if you set them all the same there will be no variation in loudness. You may instead want to write in a reduced dynamic and hide it, letting Espressivo do its thing. I hope this helps. I guarantee that I've played around with all the things I've described, and they all work. -- Martin Sibelius 7.1.2 & 6.2, Core i5 M560 2.67 GHz, 8 GB, Windows 7 Pro SP1 64-bit. Sibelius 6.2, Core 2 Duo 2.26 GHz, 3 GB usable, Windows XP Pro SP3 32-bit (rarely used now). Shared second monitor (1920x1200), KeyRig 49, Echo Indigo IOx audio interface. Year 2012 Back to top | All threads