On Sep 17, 2005, at 10:03 AM, Andrew Stiller wrote:
Well if that's the tack we're taking, then the elimination of percussion maps has to go at the top of the list. Just last week I had a long back-and-forth w. someone at MakeMusic who had the greatest difficulty even imagining the idea that someone might want to enter percussion notes on a plain old ordinary staff and have them play back properly based on instrument names placed in the score as note expressions or staff names, without the user having to configure a balky, rebarbative, and entirely counterintuitive database behind the scenes.
Part of the idea of the percussion staff is that you CAN enter a note, either through Speedy/Simple Entry or a MIDI file (that presumably is already playing a sound mapped onto a synth or sampler) and have it appear on the correct staff line, with the correct note head, and have it play back correctly. Because there are so many standards out there for all three of those criteria, they supply a few common ones and leave the rest up to us.
I agree that the UI could be improved, especially the way type-in boxes react, but the basic idea is sound, IMHO. (I also don't like the JazzPerc font, so I have turned that off, losing certain noteheads that might prove useful, but that is another issue.)
If I create a note expression reading "snare drum" and attach it to a note, Finale shd. be intelligent enough to automatically give me a snare drum sound from all recurrences of that "pitch" until further notice.
What if he hits a snare and a tom at the same time, attached to the same stem? Note-attached expressions are actually attached to the bottom-most note on a stem; how would we get the note-attached expression to recognize ALL the notes and play them back properly, without a percussion map?
What if you want different sounds on the same notehead, like snare playing back with RLRL, accents, rimshots and the like? Percussion maps allow you to have several different sounds that are ENTERED differently, but APPEAR the same, so that you get proper playback and appearance. I use this for top space kit items like cymbals (x-heads) and cue notes (regular noteheads) that don't need expressions attached defining them, but need to appear differently.
Also, I should be able to switch from, say, snare drum to vibraphone and back again without having to invoke staff styles.
OK, I don't understand this objection at all. Staff styles are the EASIEST way to make switches of this type, so I don't get why you think it is so inconvenient. You get the clef, key sig, staff name, and sounds all in one shot, once you have set it up. I even use staff styles to change from soprano sax to clarinet, that have the same everything, just so that I can get the abbreviated staff name to show up properly without screwing around with it. Assign the staff style to a metatool, and you have one-click instrument switching.
Christopher _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
