unison "sound"

• Oct 18, 2017 - 01:44

Hi all
When for example. you write 4 trumpets in harmony, you get the strong sound of 4 trumpets. However when you write a unison passage, you get a weak, 1 trumpet sound. Is there some kind of workaround whereby you can make it sound like more than 1 trumpet playing?

Attachment	Size
trumpets.png	70.25 KB

Comments

mike320

• Oct 18, 2017 - 01:49

The only work around I can think of is to use a similar sounding instrument in the mixer, such as a trombone, that uses a different channel than the trumpet. If you want to use it only for unison sections you can use staff text (make it invisible if you want) change the channel to mute. In the mixer change the sound of the muted trumpet to trombone. This will add depth to the unison but will make it sound a little odd for multiple trumpets. When unison is over use staff text and change the channel to normal.

worldwideweary

• Oct 18, 2017 - 02:19

Elaborating slightly on what Mike said, remember that there are many free soundfonts in cyberspace. You could load up multiple soundfonts instead of using similar instruments from just one soundfont to get different timbres, and they very well might work together. Experimentally you could also try applying a slight detuning to the unison notes in the Inspector. Finally, don't forget your options of panning/volume in the mixer and velocity variations of the individual notes.

xavierjazz

• Oct 18, 2017 - 02:36

Well that's really good. Nice ideas.

Am I wrong to think that if only one soundfont "sound" is used, you will still get a single instrument? TH
hey all have the same note.

mike320

• Oct 18, 2017 - 11:00

If you have two trumpets playing middle C, MuseScore will only send one "play" command of the trumpet to play middle C. Even if it sent two plays, it would be the exact same sound for both since. with one instrument in one sound font, it is the exact same sample.

I thought of something else. There are sound fonts that have solo instruments and group instruments. If you found and used one of those, you could us the group of trumptets for the unison parts in a similar way I suggested with the trombone.

Here is a post that contains one: https://musescore.org/en/node/240256

Jojo-Schmitz

• Oct 18, 2017 - 11:12

I could imagine MuseScore's playback to just increase the volume by a certain amount, when 2 identical instruments play in unison.
I've been experiencing the effect described in this thread in closed score SATB, where at the odd unison note the overall volume drops significantly as opposed to when all 4 voices have a pitch of their own.

onscuba

• Oct 18, 2017 - 11:21

some interesting ideas here. Apart from the the drop in dynamic level, (the workround for which is cleared up in this thread, thankyou) the "sound" is not of several instruments playing the same note. Perhaps a sound font containing a group of the same instruments might well be the way to go. I'm mainly interested in Big Band writing (for what its worth). I didn't know you could use multiple sound fonts in the same piece as has been suggested! Annoyingly I can't see the replies to credit anyone as I write this. Please keep your suggestions coming!

Jojo-Schmitz

• Oct 18, 2017 - 11:48

There are only few instruments where GM has them single and as a group, strings and brass section are those groups. Anything beyond that would also be beyond General MIDI

Ziya Mete Demircan

• Oct 18, 2017 - 16:20

Perfection is not always desirable.
There is really no difference between the orchestra's 4 trumpets and the software's 4 trumpets.
But none of these four real instrument players can make a full intonation. If they could, we would have heard the same effect.
For this reason: Sometimes we have to make some adjustments.

See attachment.

PS: 11.11 = half comma. (approx.) I set it lower than that.
You can try different settings for the effect you want.
100 cent = half tone, 200 cent = whole tone