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Topic: no specific instrument; I hear an oboe (Read 2825 times) previous topic - next topic

no specific instrument; I hear an oboe

In my file I didn't insert any instrument for playing.
But when listening to the music, I hear an oboe (or on other staves other instruments).
How can I delete the automatic inserted instruments?

Regards,
Guido

Re: no specific instrument; I hear an oboe

Reply #1 –
Even if you did not insert an instrument change command, every staff has a default instrument. You can view this by doing a staff properties (F2) and going to the Instrument tab.

If you don't want a staff to have any instrument, you can always mute it on the Midi tab.

Re: no specific instrument; I hear an oboe

Reply #2 –
Quote
I didn't insert any instrument for playing.
...so it keeps playing with the last used for that channel.
Usually, if you don't have yet played anything, the default is "piano".
If you want a specific instrument select that instrument.

Re: no specific instrument; I hear an oboe

Reply #3 –
Quote from: Flurmy –
...so it keeps playing with the last used for that channel.
Therefore, it is more or less always a good idea to select an explicit instrument under Staff Properties->Instrument (either via "Predefined instruments ...", or by manually checking the "Send Patch" checkbox and select a patch number; 0 is for piano, 53 for voice ...)

Also, be careful: If you have more than one staff going to the same MIDI channel (e.g. left-hand+right-hand of piano; or visible and hidden staff for same instrument), then both should specify the same instrument - it is not clear who "wins" if they are different.

H.M.

Re: no specific instrument; I hear an oboe

Reply #4 –
Is there a place to read up more on this? I sometimes create a new staff via Cntrl  A and then discover during playback that it is on channel 10...you can guess the results. Quite humorous, but I'd like to avoid the effect, and figure out what I'm not doing right in the first place.

Re: no specific instrument; I hear an oboe

Reply #5 –
Quote
what I'm not doing right in the first place.
I would say: you simply missed some steps.
Each time you add a staff the channel counter is incremented, so you can expect that after a while the number 10 arrives.
We can argue that perhaps that channel can be skipped, but it's a very little detail.
And about the instrument: who can guess what you need each time? So it's up to you, for each staff, to select the instrument you want.
We could also say then that also the clef is missing (treble clef or what?), and the key signature (Cmaj?) and the time signature, and...

Re: no specific instrument; I hear an oboe

Reply #6 –
Quote from: SEBC –
Is there a place to read up more on this? I sometimes create a new staff via Cntrl  A and then discover during playback that it is on channel 10...you can guess the results. Quite humorous, but I'd like to avoid the effect, and figure out what I'm not doing right in the first place.
Well, you've already discovered the MIDI channel 10 specialness, so that's the first hurdle. All of the other channels are fairly generic, so there shouldn't be any odd side effects, as long as you pay attention to what has already been posted on the subject. Namely, when you have multiple staves that are playing different instruments, make sure you give them distinct (non-10) channel numbers. Note that if you have a staff which changes instruments on the fly (i.e. it starts out with flute, then changes to clarinet, etc.), you can use the same channel number for both of those instruments, since they won't be playing at the same time. Also, when you have multiple staves on the same instrument, it is usually okay to have them share a single channel, unless you are doing channel volume and you want to have control over the individual staves.