Change MIDI Program (patch) in the middle of performance
Unlike some who post to this board, I don't really care too much if the MuseScore file doesn't SOUND authentic and does not reproduce pizzicatos, trills, etc.
Having said that, I would like to assign a different instrument or sound to a staff midway through the performance. Maybe have my vibraphone "player" hit a few notes on a marimba in measure 59 and then back to the vibe in 60.
Is this doable?
Comments
It's doable with effort currently, will become easier in 2.0.
MuseScore supports change of patch for instruments where it expects this might happen - these case have been pre-programmed into the instruments.xml file that ships with MuseScore. So you can change between the normal to pizzicato violin sound or open and muted trumpet sounds. See Change and adjust sounds in the Handbook. If you want to be able to change between vibes and marimba, you'd just need to edit instruments.xml to tell MuseScore this is something you'd like to do, using the entries for violin or trumpet as models. From the on, you'd be able to change sounds for vibraphone just as you can for for violin or trumpet.