Sibelius articulations and 'full instruments'

[cjthibeault]

Hello,

I am looking at the articulations for some of the 'full-featured' instruments, for example, Flute 1 in the Woodwinds 1 package. There are articulations such as 'Grace notes', 'Staccato fast triplets', and 'Scale runs'.

When using these instruments with Sibelius, are these articulations automatic? For example, if I entered a grace note in a flute part, will it know to use the grace note articulation, or will it just used a legato unless I specific change the patch? Same thing for triplet staccatos, scale runs, or any of the other additional articulations.

If this is not automatic, how would I do this in Sibelius?

Thanks,

Chris

[andi]

Hello Chris!

Generally the articulations are automated with our Sibelius sound sets. However some articulations can't be automated, because Sibelius doesn't create individual SoundIDs for them. For example grace notes, note lengths or rhythmical subdivisions are not represented in the notes Sound ID.

However, staccato notes are triggered according to speed control. So you don't have to care about how to trigger the right ones here. According to the tempo the better fitting articulation will be chosen automatically.

For triggering scale runs and grace notes, I recommend enhancing the "Special" matrix (the one on keyswitch C#0) on the X-Axis (H-Span) for additional patches you want to use in a score. These articulations can be triggered with MIDI commands.

Here's an example.
Let's say you want to trigger the Flute 1 patch 01 FL1_grace-1 with Sibelius.
1.) Put the patch to cell 7A of the "W1-01 Flute 1 Special L2" matrix.
2.) Use the following MIDI commands in Sibelius to trigger it:
~N13,10
~N30,10
The first command sends the keyswitch for the "Special" matrix. The second one sends the keyswitch for cell 7A.
~N12,10 = keyswitch C0
~N13,10 = keyswitch C#0
~N24,10 = keyswitch C1, ...
You can find more details about MIDI commands in the Sibelius references chapter 4.17.

Best regards,
Andi

[cjthibeault]

Hi Andi,

Thanks for the quick reply. This seems like something that could be easily automated by a plugin for Sibelius. Has any thought been given to such a plugin?

Thanks,

Chris

[andi]

Sorry to say that there are no plans to create any Sibelius plugins at this point.

Best,
Andi