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Topic: Tremolo/Mandolin Parts (Read 5131 times) previous topic - next topic

Tremolo/Mandolin Parts

Any tips or short-cuts please to notating tremolo parts for mandolin such that the MIDI output also refects what it should sound like. I have given a little bit of attention to editing the raw MIDI event records but concluded that macros to convert the 'score' in ABC notation would be somewhat easier for me to achieve. I would appreciate your inspired thoughts. Regards, John

Re: Tremolo/Mandolin Parts

Reply #1 –
The tremolo can be accomplished in midi output simply by playing many successive 1/16 or 1/32 notes (depending on the desired speed of tremolo). If you don't like the visual aspect, hide the "played" staff and have a separate visual-only (muted) staff for printing.

Re: Tremolo/Mandolin Parts

Reply #2 –
Thanks Fred. Re the actual notation I was hoping that there may have been a method which reduced the very many keystrokes involved in this operation, perhaps some form of macros written to convert a particular valu note to (say) sixteenths. The other tip to hide the score would be very useful. Regards, John

Re: Tremolo/Mandolin Parts

Reply #3 –
To enter a repeated series of identical notes:

(1) Enter the first note.
(2) Select the note and hit CTL-C.
(3) Position the cursor after the entered note and hit CTL-V.
(4) You now have two identical notes. Select them,
and hit CTL-C.
(5) Position the cursor after them and hit CTL-V.
(6) You now have four identical notes. Select them,
and hit CTL-C.
(7) Position the cursor after them and hit CTL-V.

...

Get the picture?

- seb

Re: Tremolo/Mandolin Parts

Reply #4 –
Hmmm. Seems to me the ideal solution is to have a proper sampled mandolin tremolo for the midi instrument. The pieces I'm working on have Mandolin parts tremolo'd for the entire piece. If anybody out there happens across a Mandolin midi sample please pass it on. So far, the closest I've come up with is Dulcimer or Acoustic Guitar (steel) guitar. Bleh.

Re: Tremolo/Mandolin Parts

Reply #5 –
Erm... To enter repeated notes, strike Enter repeatedly...
But if you want to enter pair of notes, enter the first one, the second, and then copy/paste as Steve explains.
Note that I usually do this like that:
- place the first note
- place the second note
- Shift-Left twice (this select the two last notes entered)
- Ctrl-C (or Ctrl-Ins), but no move
- Ctrl-V (or Sihft-Ins) : this replace the selection by...itself
- Ctrl-V (Ctrl-V, Ctrl-V...) to duplicate them.

* Note that you can make a macro that does this: take the last two notes, make them 64th or 32th, then copy/paste them the number you need for a complete beat.
Note that Ctrl-Z (undo) undoes actions one by one, so you may remove the pairs one by one ;-), not note per note.
BTW, do not forget to push the undo-limit to its maximum value (100, it's set to 16 by default).

Just in case it may help.
                    Marsu

Re: Tremolo/Mandolin Parts

Reply #6 –
Thank you all for the replies. I have just wriiten a series of macros for ABC that does a fairly good (but incomplete) job of writing 1/16ths. There are some ABC conventions that I won't waste a lot of time trying to convert via macro, but will fix manually.

I guess that what I had in mind for NWC would operate something like:

Highlight the notes of a particular value in a given stave
Run the macro
Nominate the new (shorter) note value
The macro deletes the current note and inserts the appropriate number of notes of the chosen value.

The ABC macro I have written converts all notes which are an exact multiple of 1/16ths to the required number of 1/16ths - not as flexible as the routine above but acceptable enough for my purposes.

CHANGE OF SUBJECT - One of the handy features of ABC when notating jigs and strathspeys is the ability to change a pair of existing equal value notes to dotted/half or half/dotted values. Does this function exist in NWC.

Thanks for your patience. Regards, John

Re: Tremolo/Mandolin Parts

Reply #7 –
Many users of NWC use the Win3x Recorder to run macros that do just the tasks you describe.
For example I use one macro to convert the 16th/8th/16th combination imported from 8th triplets in midi files to true 8th triplets.
And another to convert imported dotted 8th/16th pairs to straight 8ths.

There are some macro routines available at the scriptorium and the Recorder can be downloaded as OLDDOS from Microsoft.com.
If you would like some macros (or advice on their use) Email me.

Barry Graham

Re: Tremolo/Mandolin Parts

Reply #8 –
Thanks Barry for the advice - I'll do the recommended digging first and will contact you again when I know a little bit more about what I'm tackling. Regards, John