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The instruments view [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist]
The instruments view lets you specify the name and playing
characteristics associated to each staff of the score. Most
parameters will influence the way in which Pizzicato and your
synthesizer will play the score. You can access it with the
Instruments item in the windows menu.
- Start Pizzicato and open the
instruments view. The following window appears:

It can be moved, but its size is fixed. It can be closed by
the usual closing box. Below its title bar, you find the title of
each column. The window has one line for each staff of the score.
We will examine each column in detail. Because the starting score
has two staves here, there are two lines in the instruments view.
This window may display 10 lines at the same time. When the score
has more than 10 staves simultaneously played, the vertical
scroll bar located to the right of the window lets you go down to
access the other lines. The first column numbers the staves
starting with 1.
- In the upper left corner you have the
icon. Click on
it and a configuration menu appears:

Each item represents a configuration of the instruments view,
enabling you to visualize the various playing parameters. The
current configuration is checked right in front of the name, like
here, Instruments.
The instruments view title has 3 parts: the name of the
document, the name of the musical score and the name of the
configuration.
- Each configuration contains different aspects. Select the
Volume and effects item of the above
menu. The window resizes and is redrawn to display four
series of sliders:

The third part of its title shows the name of the
configuration : Volume and effects.
The elements of a line may be represented by a text box, a
slider, a popup menu or a check box.
- Select the configurations one after the other in order to
see what they contain. The first column always shows the
sequence number of the staves and the second column
indicates the abbreviated name, so as to easily locate an
instrument.
Elements of the instruments view [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist]
We now will examine the various elements composing the
configurations, by explaining for each one the effect it produces
on the playing score.
Open again the Instruments configuration:

- The first two columns display the staff name and the
abbreviated name. As we have already seen it, you can
modify this name by placing the text cursor in this area.
When you add staves, the names and the abbreviations are
initialized with the sequence number of the staff. These
names are written in front of the score view and the
sequencer view staves.
- The next column, called P for Play,
shows if the corresponding staff must be played by
Pizzicato. A check box lets you switch it on or off. By
default a staff is played. If you want for example to
listen to a score and play yourself the main melody, you
can disable the staff which contains this melody so that
Pizzicato will only play the other instruments.
- The next column, called S for Soloist,
put a staff in solo play. By default, no box of this
column is checked and all staves play according to the P
column. When at least a soloist box is checked, only the
associated staves are played by Pizzicato. You can easily
listen to a soloist instrument in an orchestra by
checking its S box. This column is complementary to the
previous one, because you can also disable all the other
instruments of the orchestra to achieve the same result.
- The three next columns are similar to column P,
but they act on the individual rhythmic voices inside the
staff. For instance, if you have two rhythmic voices
inside the same staff, you may disable the V2 (=voice
2) check box to only listen to voice 1. By default, all
voices are active.
- The two (three for the Professional and Composition
Pro versions) next columns contain menus. They are
used to select the instrument playing the notes of the
staff on a synthesizer or sound card. Pizzicato Professional
and Composition Pro first contain a menu
used to select the MIDI output port where the notes will
be sent. This menu contains the assigned name(s) of the
MIDI ports installed in Pizzicato. Then (for all versions)
a menu lets you select the instrument family. When this
choice is made, the second menu lets you select among all
the instruments belonging to this family. Families and
instruments depend on your synthesizer or sound card.
This method lets you quickly find a sound among all the
sounds available in your synthesizer (sometimes several
hundreds). If these menus are disabled, this means that
the staff contains a virtual audio instrument, so the
MIDI parameters to select the sound are no more active.
See the lesson entitled "The virtual instruments".
- The next column indicates MC for MIDI Channel.
The notes of a staff must be sent on one of your
synthesizer's 16 MIDI channels to be heard. The menu lets
you select a channel between 1 and 16 for each staff.
- The next column indicates AC for Automatic
Channel. It is linked to the previous column. This box is
checked by default. It specify that Pizzicato will handle
the MIDI channel assignments. When this box is checked
for all staves, you should not care about MIDI channels.
Select the families and the instruments and Pizzicato
will adapt the MIDI channels so that the notes are sent
to the correct channels of your synthesizer. This
assignment is not made when you change the instruments,
but is automatically done just before playing. In some
cases, it can be useful to select yourself the assigned
MIDI channels. You then need to uncheck the AC column and
Pizzicato will no more modify the MIDI channel of this
staff. If you wish to manage MIDI channels yourself, be
certain to understand the guiding principle of MIDI,
otherwise you may obtain strange results. In most cases,
an automatic management is the ideal solution.
- The next column indicates Trans. for
transposition. The associated menu lets you specify a
value between -24 and +24 half tones. By default, it is
set to 0, which means no transposition. By selecting a
value different from 0, Pizzicato automatically transpose
all notes of the concerned staff by adding to it the
indicated number of half tones. You can thus raise the
notes up to 2 octaves (+24 half tones) or lower them up
to 2 octaves (-24 half tones). This menu is used in
particular for the transposing instruments.
Select now the Volume and effects item in the
configurations menu (icon :
):

- The first column contains the abbreviation of the name in
order to locate the instruments more easily.
- The next column has a slider to adjust the sound volume
of this staff. The current value is displayed just to the
right of the slider. It can vary from 0 to 127 and its
default value is 100. By changing these values, you can
balance the volumes of the various instruments, as on a
mixing table. When you ask Pizzicato to play the score,
the volume values of each staff are sent to the MIDI
channels of the synthesizer.
- The next column is used to adjust the balance of
instruments, i.e. the position of those instrument in the
stereophonic space. By moving the slider to the left (the
right), the sound will be more and more present in your
left (right) loudspeaker and less and less present in
your right (left) one. The central position is value 64,
which is also the default value. You can this way
simulate the distribution of a group or orchestra
instruments on a scene.
- The next column lets you adjust the level of
reverberation for the staff. It is a sound effect which
makes the sound resound, by giving the impression you
play in a large room. Its value may vary between 0 and
127, 40 being its default value. Used with moderation, it
makes synthetic sounds more natural. Most synthesizers
offer this effect, but not all of them. Pizzicato does
not create itself the reverberation, it does nothing but
to give orders to the synthesizer to modify the
reverberation. If the synthesizer does not provide
reverberation, this slider will remain without effect.
- The next column lets you adjust the level of chorus. It
is a special effect which modifies the sound of the
instrument by introducing vibrations in it. You can
adjust it between 0 (default value) and 127.
Select now the Various effects item in the
configurations menu (icon
):

- The Vel. column (Velocity) has a slider allowing
you to specify the value of the velocity used to play the
notes. Its default value is 64 and it can vary between 0
and 127. It is the hit force of the note on the keyboard.
The notes introduced using the mouse are played with this
velocity. On the other hand, when a note is recorded in
MIDI, the original velocity is memorized with the note
and this slider has no effect for them.
- The next column indicates Start. It lets you time shift
the attack of the notes by adding a fixed delay to it.
This interval is determined by a menu with values from
-480 to +480 units, which corresponds to the duration of
a quarter note (in advance or late). Value 0 indicates
that there is no shift. By slightly shifting some
instruments, you can create a more realistic orchestral
effect. The musicians of an orchestra never play with the
exactitude of the computer and it is one of the reasons
why a score encoded and played with the precision of a
computer seems too monotonous and artificial. By adding
slight shifts, you can improve this aspect. Use low
values for the shift, otherwise the effect will be
exaggerated.
- The next column is called Dur. and represents
the Duration of the notes expressed as a percentage. The
default value is 100 %. Pizzicato thus plays the total
duration of each note. A quarter note will last exactly
the duration of a quarter note. You can adjust this value
between 5 and 200 %. If you take for example 85 %, the
duration of the quarter note will be shortened by 15 %. A
value of 50 % will transform all quarter notes of this
staff into eighth notes, the 50 % surplus being replaced
by a rest. It does not modify the speed of the play. The
value you select with this menu is used only when you
listen to the score and will not affect the measures.
- The column PB lets you fix the value of the
Pitch Bend. On most synthesizer keyboards, you will find
a wheel or a lever allowing to modify the pitch of the
sound during the play. This effect is called the Pitch
Bend. The value you select using this menu simulates this
effect. Its default position is 0. The menu offers you a
scale varying between -64 and +63, and the corresponding
pitch variation goes from -2 half tones to + 2 half
tones. By shifting this value slightly, you can detune an
instrument compared to the others and to increase again
the realism of an orchestral unit. By strongly shifting
an instrument compared to another, you can compose music
which uses the quarter tone system or even other
divisions of the sound pitches. Use for example 5 staves
with the same instrument and place 5 different values in
the PB column. According to the staff where you write the
notes, the notes will be played a fraction of a tone
higher or lower.
- The next column also corresponds to a wheel or lever
located on the synthesizers. It activates the modulation,
which very often corresponds to a vibrato, i.e. a note
having its pitch slightly moving around its normal level.
It adds naturalness to the performance. Its default value
is 0 and it can go up to 127.
- The VB column means Visible Bars. When
you open the piano roll view, the notes are displayed in
the shape of small coloured bars. Only the notes of the
staves checked in this column will be visible in the
piano roll view.
- The next column lets you determine the colour of the bars
for each staff in the piano roll view. They are red by
default. By clicking in this coloured area, the colour
selection dialog box appears and invites you to select
one of the available colours.
- The five next columns are the continuation of colums V1,
V2 and V3, but for rhythmic voices 4 to 8
of a staff. It is quite rare that a measure contains more
than 2 or 3 rhythmic voices, but in this case, columns V4
to V8 may be used to disable them.
Select now the MIDI Parameters item in the
configurations menu (icon
). The view displays
the main MIDI specifications as well as some columns specific to
advanced Pizzicato versions:

- The 2 columns following the abbreviated name duplicate
the columns MC and AC already explained
in the Instruments configuration.
- The next column displays the selection of the MIDI output
port and is only available in Pizzicato Professional and
Composition Pro (since the other versions only
have one MIDI port). It is the same as in the Instruments
configuration.
- The columns Bk (Bank) and Pg (Program)
determine the sound to be played by the synthesizer. In
most cases, you will not need to modify them, because
Pizzicato calculates them according to the choice of the
family, the instrument and the synthesizer. If you wish
to modify them, you need to select the first line of the
family menu (the line "------"). In this case
Pizzicato will no more modify the Bk and Pg
columns and you will be able to determine them yourself.
This is only useful for very specialized applications
because the system of families and instruments is a much
more effective and user friendly method.
- The next column indicates Ms for Messages
(Pizzicato Pro and Composition Pro). It
has an unchecked box by default and is used to ask
Pizzicato to send special messages to your synthesizer
before starting to play. The type of messages that can be
sent depends only of your synthesizer. By clicking on
this box, you call the following dialog box:

The list shows you the messages you send to your
instrument. At first, none are present. Click the Add button.
If your synthesizer has special messages, a line will appear
in the list with the name of the message. The menu located
just below the list is used to select the message to be sent.
Here is the contents for the Roland Sc-55
synthesizer :

Four text boxes let you specify parameters for the message
selected on the list. In the example above, the first
parameter of the General Volume message lets you fix its
value between 0 and 127. These parameters depend both of the
message and the synthesizer.
In this way, you can add several messages with their
parameters. To erase one of the messages, select it on the
list and click Clear.
The Export button asks you to save your messages
list so that you can use it later in another document. By
clicking this button, you will be able to specify a name
under which these messages will be recorded. The Import button
executes the reversed operation by asking you to load a
series of messages which you had previously saved.
By clicking in Use it, you validate your messages
and Pizzicato will send them to the synthesizer as soon as
you ask it to play the score. By clicking in Do not use
it, the messages will be memorized but will not be sent
to the synthesizer. In both cases, you return to the
instruments view. The corresponding box is checked if the
messages are used.
The use of these special messages is especially intended
for the MIDI professionals. We will further see that you can
create your own MIDI messages and then use them in this
dialog box. They let you modify the internal configuration
and the sounds of your synthesizer, but they require a very
good knowledge of the MIDI system.
- The next box is called Pr for
Percussions (Pizzicato Pro, Notation, Composition
and Drums). It is used to configure the
musical keyboard on the staff. By clicking on this box,
you get the following dialog box:

When a synthesizer has percussions (battery, bongos,
triangle, various effects,
), these instruments are
usually distributed on the musical keyboard, so that they can
be played with the corresponding notes. The default
correspondence is often not practical when writing these
notes on a staff, because the score takes a very complicated
aspect because accidentals needs to be added unnecessarily.
The resulting score is not really readable.
The above dialog box allows you to assign each notes of
the staff to a musical keyboard key. Its use is not limited
to the percussions. You can for example use it to create
original keyboards where the higher notes are located to the
left and lower notes to the right. By listening to a music
score, it can give funny results. Try it
On the left of the dialog box, you find the name of the
notes from C to B, with all half tones. The octave displayed
is determined by the menu located in the upper left corner of
the dialog box, right to the word Octave. The
octaves are numbered from -2 up. The octave 3 note C
corresponds to the following note:

Beside each note, you find 3 menus. The first two
associate a note and its octave. The third lets you directly
select the name of a percussion instrument on your
synthesizer, and Pizzicato associates the correct note
automatically.
Let us take a practical example. You wish to create a
percussion staff with the snare drum on the third line. In C
clef, the third line corresponds to the octave 3, C note. The
dialog box shows you that C 3 currently corresponds to High
Bongo, that C # 3 corresponds to Low Bongo,
By default,
the standard distribution of your synthesizer is used. The
first two columns thus indicate the same note, C3, C#3
We wish to place the snare drum on the B 3 note. On the
last line, click on the menu displaying Short High
Whistle. It then displays your synthesizer percussion
instruments list, of which here is an extract for the GM
(general midi) synthesizers:

By going up to the top of the list and scrolling the menu,
you will find the Snare drum 1 instrument. By
selecting this line, the bottom of the dialog box will now
display:

The first two columns indicate that the snare drum 1
actually corresponds to the D1 note for your synthesizer. The
result of this is that all notes placed on the third line of
this staff will automatically be transformed into D 1 that
your synthesizer will play with a snare drum 1 sound.
You can in this manner build your percussion staff, so
that its notation is readable and can be correctly played by
the synthesizer. The synthesizers sometimes have several
percussions models. The menu located at the upper right
corner lets you change the current percussion model (Percussion
model menu).
The Export button offers you to save your
percussion configuration so as to be able to use it later in
another document. The Import button does the
reversed operation by asking you to load a percussion
configuration previously saved.
By clicking on Use it, Pizzicato will use this
percussion configuration for the notes of this staff. By
clicking on Do not use it, the configuration will be
memorized but will not be used in, playing. In both cases,
you return to the instruments view. The corresponding box is
checked if the percussion configuration is used.
As you will be able to see it in examples documents, in
particular in the scores templates, Pizzicato offers you a
whole of staves already prepared for most percussion
instruments. The percussion reference card provided with
Pizzicato gives you a precise description of it. We advise
you to use them for your work and compositions.
- Column VM (Velocity Mode) has a 4 choices menu
specifying how Pizzicato must use velocity. When you
record a piece by playing it yourself on the keyboard,
the hitting force of each key is memorized with each
note, so as to be able to reproduce the performance
accurately. In addition, the Velocity column of
the Various effects configuration also provides
a velocity, which can be modified during the play by
graphic and MIDI symbols placed on the score. We thus
have two values of velocity for each note: the recorded
value (if any) and the value coming from the symbols.
- By taking the RV choice, Pizzicato will use
the Recorded Velocity when it plays the notes.
- The SV specifies the use of the Symbols
Velocity.
- The default choice, CV (Combined Velocity)
takes the recorded velocity when available and when
not, takes the symbols velocity.
- AV (Average Velocity) makes an average
between the two velocities. This last choice lets you
keep your original performance and influence it by
symbols added on the score.
- The next two columns (Pizzicato Pro and Composition)
are used with the arranger. They will be explained in the
lesson on the score arranger.
- The next two columns are used to specify the range of the
instrument. This feature will be used in future versions
of Pizzicato. Presently they are used only by the score
arranger.
- The column entitled Rtp means Real Time Play and
is used to specify how the virtual audio instruments are
played. See the lesson entitled The virtual
instruments for a detailed explanation.
In the configurations menu (icon :
), you will also find a
line entitled "Useful controllers" which
contains items that have been described already and that are
sometimes useful to have in one view to adjust the way the score
will sound.
Important note
The configurations of the instruments view determine the
value of the MIDI parameters at the beginning of the first
measure and remain valid until a MIDI symbol appears in a
measure. If you set for example the volume at 100, it means
that the start of measure 1 will be done with a sound volume
of 100. If you add a symbol decreasing the volume by 30 units
in measure 3, starting from this measure the volume will thus
be 70, up to the next change. This is valid for all MIDI
effects influencing the performance.
Modifying the staves order [Light] [Beginner] [Professional] [Notation] [Composition Light] [Composition Pro] [Drums and Percussion] [Guitar] [Choir] [Keyboard] [Soloist]
The instruments view also lets you
restructure the staves of the score by modifying their order.
To move a staff, click in the number of the corresponding
line (first column) and drag it to its new position. We will
bring staff 2 at the position of staff 1. Click on number 2,
in the left column and drag gently the mouse upwards. A
rectangle accompanies your movement. Drag to the top until
the cursor is at the height of the first line. Release the
mouse. The order is reversed. The first column always
indicates of course the sequence number and did not change.
In the same manner, you can move a staff downwards. By
releasing the mouse, the other staves go up automatically to
fill the vacuum and the staff will be in the required
location.