Do I really have to manually draw in velocity info to get Sibelius to play musically?
I have Sibelius Ultimate. I am working on a quartet that starts with a supposed legato espressivo quiet piano passage and it bangs out every note on playback regardless of the added written Expressions and dynamics.
I finally have gotten the velocity faders up and drew in some phrasing on the first phrase. That worked. I guess I can copy and paste some of that but there must be a better way.
I cannot stand to listen to Sibelius playback without dynamics and banging out every note. I have been trying to compose in Ableton and then notate in Sibelius for this reason.
If you have any tips to get Sibelius to adapt and play written dynamics please share them with me!
If you don't want to let us test your sib file, try putting an "f" on the 4th beat after the cres and hiding it if you don't want to see it. I presume that sib only increases velocity by one step (i.e."p" to "mp" when there is no specific velocity marked. Apart from that, maybe I'm wrong (not being a pianist myself) but I'm pretty sure that the pianoforte cannot cres or dim thru'out a long note in real life, only decay.
The hairpins in your first two bars will have little effect, partly because you have not specified a target dynamic for the crescendo and partly because cresc or dim on a sustained piano note is meaningless.
Thanks for the helpful feedback. The issue is clear now. The score is so simple I did not think an upload was necessary and it seems it is not.
It appears that for every phrase I want to use crescendo or diminuendo I have to add a starting and ended volume such as p mp f etc for it to playback.
I find this to be so unfortunate and cumbersome.
I either have to deal with playback that bangs out notes unmusically or add excessive and constant dynamic markings to my score such as p mp f for phrases to play back musically.
Thanks for helping me find the solution as it stands.
Also I have no idea what is meant by the comment that "a hairpin on a piano score is meaningless." That has not been my experience.
> Also I have no idea what is meant by the comment that "a hairpin on a piano score is meaningless." That has not been my experience.
>
Pianos cannot, physically, crescendo through a long or held note. Physics dictates that a long note can only decay. For it not to, you have to re-strike it (but then it's not a long note).
You can reassign the volume of each dynamic, but you only have the numbers 0 to 127 to play with. This is a limitation of MIDI.
When I was taught to read music, I was told that a hairpin with no end dynamic raises or lowers the volume by one step. The starting volume being the current dynamic for the part. I don't think I know a musician who doesn't recognise that as the 'rule of thumb'. If you want it to be bigger, write bigger.
I think you are expecting too much of an computer notation program. A human can interpret according to the current context. Unless you want to pay megabucks for an AI musical analysis program, it is what it is. No other affordable program can do any better.
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Win 11 Pro x64, Sib Ultimate 2022.3 (build 888) 2.6GHz Intel Core i7 9750H, 32GB,16TB (SSD + 7200rpm HDD), Scarlett 2i4, Sib 6.2,7.5, NotePerformer and others.
Si me castigare vis, necesse est me intellexisse.
mike@mike-lyons.co.uk
It seems pretty trivial to add a slight increase or decrease in volume playback to reflect hairpins without cluttering a score with superfluous named dynamics.
Sibelius could be programmed to do what you say, just increase or decrease volume from whatever dynamic is initially marked for hairpins. It would not be a difficult feature to add IMO and would improve playback dramatically and avoid a score with unneeded additional dynamic marks.
This would be a pretty small fix for this otherwise flexible and intelligent software.
And thanks but I actually know how a piano works...........
A hairpin without explicit dynamic targets is a subtle effect. A live player will interpret it as 'expression' rather than a dramatic change of dynamic.
If you WANT something more dramatic, and for some reason don't want to notate specific levels, you can select the hairpin and adjust its playback effect in the Inspector.
Or maybe you'd enjoy using NotePerformer as your playback device. Its 'expression' feature suits some styles of music better than others. But it's quite affordable, and there's a functioning, free demo version. Try it!
OK. Here's a challenge. Starting with a dynamic of 0, keep crescendoing until you reach fff and then crescendo some more. When you get to 127, the next number for MIDI is - wait for it - 0! In actual fact, the end result is somewhat unpredictable in effect. The current playback settings in the dictionary are not 100% ideal IMO, but they are enough to give the effect. As I said before, if you want it bigger, write it bigger. Or maybe put it through a DAW, where the limitations of MIDI no longer hold sway.
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Win 11 Pro x64, Sib Ultimate 2022.3 (build 888) 2.6GHz Intel Core i7 9750H, 32GB,16TB (SSD + 7200rpm HDD), Scarlett 2i4, Sib 6.2,7.5, NotePerformer and others.
Si me castigare vis, necesse est me intellexisse.
mike@mike-lyons.co.uk
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