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Kiertotie

Sibelius notation software: How to change instrument mid-stave

Sometimes a player plays two instruments during a song. To write notes for her AND have the change happen in playback of Sibelius, it is desirable to change instrument mid-stave.

The basic version, Sibelius Artist, does not have button to change instrument mid-stave. (this button is in Sibelius Ultimate, Home - Instruments - Change.) In Sibelius Artist it is possible to use midi program change, if playback uses General Midi sounds. But few people are happy with GM sounds, if they have sample sounds (in my case Sibelius First Sounds).

The solution is to use General Midi playback only on that particular stave. Then one can use midi program change to change instrument mid-stave.

In this example the playback device is sample sounds, and document (partiture) is open.
1. Create new sound set (Play - Setup - New...) which includes both sample sounds and GM sounds (in my case, Sibelius Player and DSLMusicDevice)
2. In partiture, View - Mixer and maximise it.
Now, playback device for the instrument in question will be changed from Sibelius Player to General Midi:
3. For the instrument, in Mixer, between Channel and instrument name, stands S. Play (Sibelius Player). Change it to DSLMusicDevice. Select instrument by clicking instrument name, for entire stave.
4. Write program change (instrument change) mid-stave by selecting the first note of new instrument, specifying Technique and writing ”~P24”, for bandoneon for example. Write human readable staff text too: ”bandoneon”.
Now both human player and your Sibelius playback are satisfied. All the other staves play back using sample sounds.