Changing the Instrument Sound of a Track

For each track, you can specify what kind of instrument sound will be used by specifying the MIDI device, channel, bank, and instrument sound (MIDI program number). You can change the sound of a track while the song is playing.

Typically, a track uses a single instrument sound throughout the entire song. But you can also insert instrument sound changes (MIDI program changes) at any time locations throughout the track. Also, some MIDI files that you import will have such mid-track instrument changes. You can make these instrument sound changes temporarily visible in the score, and change or delete them, or insert additional sound changes. For details, see Inserting a Sound Change in the Middle of a Track.

Use the MIDI Device Configuration Window to determine what devices, banks, and patches are available in your current configuration of MIDI devices.

NOTE: If this is your first time using Composer, and it does not produce sound from your soundcard, then follow the procedure as described in Quick MIDI Device Setup.

Special Note Regarding Imported MIDI Files:

A track may include MIDI "program" (patch) events that are not visible to you in the printed score. Although not visible, the MIDI program events can be heard as changes of instrument sounds during the playback of the track. Musician enables you to specify initial MIDI program (patch) events at the beginning of a track, but does not enable you edit other MIDI program events later in the track. If you change the MIDI program (patch) for a track, any MIDI program events after the beginning of the track will be removed. Said another way, if a track changes instrument sounds at different times in the song, and you assign a new instrument sound to the track, the new instrument sound will be applied throughout the entire track.

Notation Software's MidiNotate Composer offers full control over the editing of MIDI mid-track program changes.

There are two ways you can change the instrument sound of a track. The first method is convenient for changing the sound for one track. The second method is convenient for changing the sounds for several tracks. The first method has the advantage that you can change instrument sounds while a song is playing.

To change the instrument sound for a single track (even during playback):

1.      Make sure that the track controls are visible at the start of the track, by choosing the Show Track Controls option from the View menu, or by typying "qstc" for "Quick Show Track Controls". The track controls look like this:

Then click the Track Selection button.

- OR --

If you do not wish to display the track controls, use the right mouse button to click any empty area in the track's staves.

Composer will display a pop-up menu such as illustrated here:

In the pop-up menu, choose the Instrument Sound command.

Composer will display the Track Setup dialog, such as shown below. The most important setting that determines the sound of a track is the "instrument sound". Select the instrument sound from the list at the bottom of the window.

3.      Choose a device from the list of choices. The available devices will be those MIDI output devices in the current MIDI device configuration.

4.      Choose a MIDI channel, 1 to 16, or Auto Channel. Here are some important guidelines in choosing the right MIDI channel:

     If the MIDI file plays well, and you only intend to change the patch for a track, then you probably should not change the MIDI channel.

       If the device is a General MIDI (GM) device, and the track is intended to play General MIDI drum sounds, then assign channel 10.

       If your song has more than 16 tracks that must share the same MIDI output port, then assign all of the tracks to Auto Channel. One exception is that the General MIDI drum track must still be assigned to channel 10. For more information, see Assigning Auto Channel.

5.      Choose a bank from the list of choices, which will depend on the type of device selected.

6.      Choose an instrument sound from the Patch table. The list of available patches will depend on the type of device and specific bank selected.

TIP:      
To search for an instrument sound, click anywhere in the list of patch names. Then type the first letter of the instrument name, such as "V" for Viola. If another instrument is selected, such as "Violin", then type "V" again for the next instrument name that begins with that letter.

7.      If this track is for one or more drum instruments, then following these steps:

(a)      Set a checkmark by Drum Instrument.

(b)       For some devices, select from the Patch list a patch that specifies one of possibly several available "drum kits". For other devices, it does not matter which patch you select. For more information about this, see Managing Drum Note Lists.

(c)      Choose either the "5-line staff" or "1-line staff" option. If you choose the 1-line staff option, then only one drum instrument sound will be available for that staff line. If you choose the 5-line staff option, then you can have any number of different drum sounds in the staff. The drum sounds will be distinguished by pseudo (MIDI) pitches, with possible accidentals. Percussion players will prefer the 1-line staves.

(d)      If you choose the 1-line staff option, then choose the drum sound, that is, one the the drum notes that has been specified for this device. For information about how to configure drum notes for a device, see Managing Drum Note Lists

(e)      Optionally, choose a percussion notehead style for the drum track.

8.      Click the OK button to complete the assignment of the instrument sound to the selected track.

To change the instrument sounds for several tracks at a time:

1.      Choose the Track Setup command from the Track menu.

-- OR --

Type "qts" for Quick Track Setup.

Composer will display a Track Setup window, such as the following:

2.      Each row in the Track Setup table offers the same choices as those described above for the single track setup procedure: device, channel, bank, and patch. When you click one of the cells, Composer will display a list of choices for the device, channel, bank, or patch.

3.      Click the OK button to complete the new sound assignments.

To assign all tracks to the same device and MIDI bank:

1.      Choose the Track Setup command from the Track menu. Composer will display a Track Setup window, such as shown above.

2.      Click the column header for Device. Composer will display the following dialog box:

3.      Select the device and MIDI bank to be assigned to all tracks, and click the OK button.

Note, non-General MIDI patches generally differ among alternative devices and MIDI banks. Therefore, after you assign the new device and bank, you will also probably need to reassign patches on a per-track basis.

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