SFZ: Channels of the Instruments in the Mixer and Change Instrument BACK Text

• Jan 18, 2020 - 21:39

I posted this in the Issue Tracker as well, but I don't know where it belongs.
Well, the thing is:

I was trying to add more channels to various instruments in the mixer, as I'm using the SFZ "Virtual Playing Orchestra" by Paul Battersby. Some instruments in this SFZ have quite a few types of sounds (Ex. Strings have 8 different sounds and French Horn has 10) and each one needs a channel inside an instrument in the mixer. However, the default number of channels in MuseScore is 3 for Strings and 1 for French Horn.
I don't want to play around with instruments.xml as I know nothing about code (in case there's code in there), and even if I did, I don't know if that's a secure thing to do while having an existing score instead of an empty score.

I found that the "Change Instrument" text adds more channels into the same instrument in the mixer (depending on what instrument you change to), thus having the possibility to use the rest of the sounds of the SFZ. But even if I did that, if I happened to want to go back to an articulation or sound used before putting the "Change Instrument" text, I would have to create another "Change Instrument" text and edit the sounds again, as if I were creating another instrument instead of using the previously made one (and that could end in a really long list instead of a simple N-item list).

So there's no option of going back to a previously used instrument (as far as I know) and I'm not sure about modifying system files.

Then I found this node about a user having a similar problem:
Instrument change - back to primary instrument

Has there been any advance about this after this three years?
And... Any suggestion?

(PD: Excuse my English, feedback about this is welcome as well)

Comments

jeetee

• Jan 18, 2020 - 22:14

Nothing has changed towards not being able to change back to previously added channels.

Definitely don't change the "system" instrument.xml file.
Do copy it, keep only the instrument you wish and add your desired channels and save it in your user directory somewhere. Then add it as a 2nd file in the preferences.

Kai Vinter

• Jan 20, 2020 - 00:35

And how do I keep the instruments I wish, and how do I add the channels?
Is there any information about how I should modify the copy of instrumens.xml?

jeetee

• Jan 20, 2020 - 00:44

Not really no.
Open (your copy) up with a plain text editor and search for <Instrument id="violin"> to get an idea of how the current violin is defined.
Look at <Instrument id="effect-synth"> for an example of an instrument with more channels.

Remove all those instrument blocks of the instruments you do not wish to redefine, keeping only your changed instruments within this file. Don't change their id values. Channel names can be called whatever you want.