new instrument: define b flat clarinet NOT justified to concert c

2010-08-23 03:15 pm

Can someone tell me how to define a b-flat clarinet, not justified to the concert c, that I can add to the predefined instruments? Please be detailed in your explanation as I know very little about midi.

Thank you very much in advanced

Jerry

Re: new instrument: define b flat clarinet NOT justified to concert c

Reply #1 – 2010-08-23 03:36 pm

First make sure the staff has a key signature, even if it is C (will appear with a "hidden" f-natural in the signature). With that staff selected, click on Tools then select Transpose Staff. Take it down two semitones and keep the Update staff play back transposition checked.

BTW, if you are doing a permanent key change, leave that box unchecked.

HTH

Re: new instrument: define b flat clarinet NOT justified to concert c

Reply #2 – 2010-08-23 06:42 pm

   I don't think that's quite what Jerry had in mind. I think he's talking about the use of the Insert Instrument command - Alt I I - and how to insert something equivalent to a Bb clarinet.

   I've never done this sort of thing myself, but it seems fairly clear from the Help page for Instrument Change properties. Thus, after suitably positioning the cursor on the staff, and invoking the command, first you select the clarinet from the list of predefined instruments, then - because that assumes each instrument plays exactly what is shown, and thus a displayed "C" is played as a "C" - you go to the Transposition box and enter -2 (the Help File says this for a Bb trumpet, you'll notice) so that what looks like a "C" actually gets played two semitones down, ie as a Bb.

   And to make it clear that this instrument you've inserted IS a Bb clarinet, you alter the name to reflect that - to say "Clarinet Bb". And then you hit "Enter".

   Voila!

   MusicJohn, 23/Aug/10