Change instrument without adding new mixer channel (revert to original mixer instrument)
Is there any way to utilize [Change Instrument] texts in MuseScore so that the original instrument/mixer is used again without adding a new mixer channel?
To clarify:
1) Have one instrument (e.g. flute) and have some measures of notes.
2) Then utilize a [Change Instrument] text and switch to whatever (banjo) with some measures
3) Now a few measures later switch back to flute
On switching back, is there any way so that there's no additional flute mixer added but instead utilize the default channel that was used before ever using a [change instrument] text? I can't seem to figure that out. If you were to utilize switching back and forth like 10 times, without being able to do so would result in 10 different mixers which isn't desired. Maybe I'm missing something?
Thanks
Comments
Not currently though I've seen implementing this idea discussed by developers in the past.
I agree that it seems odd and/or superfluous, but I don't think this is possible, as the instrument change is tied to the drop-in point in your score. I may be wrong, in which case I will be happy to be corrected. (thereby learning something new)
[EDIT] Mike beat me to it.
As of MS 3.3 changing instruments should not force a change of the staff name itself, but I have not verified this yet. There was a workaround to fix this in earlier 3.X versions, but hopefully that is no longer necessary.
In reply to I agree that it seems odd… by toffle
Starting in version 3.3, changing instruments does change the names on the staff from that point forward like in previous version. The change is that you can now right click a measure affected by the instrument change and edit the long and short names and they will be used as appropriate from the instrument change forward.
In reply to Starting in version 3.3,… by mike320
Hrm. Alright. Was hoping I was missing something :)
As a "feature request", one of the "fundamentals" of the reasons why I posted about this is because it would be nice to be able to "switch" the channel of a set of notes for external MIDI purposes. For instance, for a passage of staccato notes, to be able to do a "Change Channel" text to be midi channel 2 for instance, and then afterwards put another "change channel" text back to channel 1, rather than have to do this in a midi editor. Using a change instrument text would work like this because you can change the channels of the instrument in the mixer, but moving back to channel 1 then becomes possible only by having yet another mixer with another change of channel again instead of resolving to the original mixer with channel-1 being used. For a full score, this would be very tedious and practically not worth it: better to do it in an external midi editor unfortunately.
In my opinion this is going to have to change in the future for MS as it progresses.
In reply to Hrm. Alright. Was hoping I… by worldwideweary
...this is going to have to change...
Agreed.
In the mean time, you can add a channel to the instruments.xml for the instrument (I have strings with 4 channels and all brass with 2). You can then use the extra channel for things like this.
I actually use the Aegean Symphony orchestra instruments, which gives an extra channel for woodwinds also. It says dark, but you can assign a fast sound to it instead of dark.
I understand your request.
However, in a note writing software, I don't believe that constantly changing the instrument of the same staff means anything.
My advice: Add an additional staff and write there. (As with MIDI-editors, you don't have a 16-channel restriction here).
When the "Hide Empty Staves" feature is selected and the "page-breaks" and "system-breaks" are set up nicely, there will be not much redundancy in the sheet.
In reply to I understand your request… by Ziya Mete Demircan
The request has translated into being able to change, on command, the midi channel of a staff so that external programs can be triggered accordingly while using midi-out or exporting .midi files. For mere visual notation, of course this would be of no concern.