Pardon my lack of knowledge, but how do I get a snare drum sound out of NWC? I see it done in the DrumRef.nwc file, but i can't seem to duplicate it. Any help would be appreciated.
There's actually a couple of different snare drum sounds available as shown in the drumref file. Assuming you have a standard windows soundcard, you have to set the staff to channel 10 to get it to play percussion sounds.
Sorry, I should also have included that to set the staff to channel 10, you need to...
1. Highlight the staff
2. Select "Staff Properties (keyboard shortcut: F2)
3. Click the "Midi" tab
4. Change the channel selection box to 10
Oh, by the way, I forgot to ask. Is there any way to do a drum roll?
Some sound cards do support a true drum roll sound, but many do not. If you use 64th notes and insert a bit of reverb, you can get a somewhat credible snare drum roll using D below the bass clef staff.
Depending on you tempo, 64ths may be too fast.
You may need to try 32nds or 32nd-note triplets.
Also, the reverb doesn't achieve the desired effect on all soundcards.
I use a sustain pedal (yeah, you read that right) sometimes for snare, and always for timpani and cymbals.
if (C4="middle C")
=> C1# - Snare Roll
60 - C4 ="High Bongo"
59 - B3 ="Ride Cymbal 2"
...
48 - C3 ="High Tom 2"
47 - B2 ="Mid Tom 1"
...
36 - C2 ="Standard Kick 1"
35 - B1 ="Standard Kick 2"
...
26 - D1 ="Finger Snap"
25 - C1#="Snare Roll"
This will probably not be available on all sound cards/synths