Grouped instruments
I really don't know the answer to the question here, even though I've been using MuseScore for several years now.
"Does MuseScore have a feature to group instruments together?"
What I mean is the ability to group instruments into smaller ensembles, either for practical performance purposes, or for placing instruments together to help the players, or "simply" to improve the layout of scores.
For "standard" orchestral scores instruments are usually arranged in the order woodwind, then brass, percussion, then strings. Sometimes composers introduce new or unusual instruments.
For unusual instruments there might not be an established order, so is it possible to define a group and then to copy that into other scores, or even rearrange it within a score? I'll try to give an example where this might be useful.
Suppose that a piece requires an offstage band, which might include wind and brass instruments. The score has standard sections for wind and brass, but when the off stage band is to play the score has additional staves for the off stage players.
It would be helpful if the staves for the sub-group could be labelled as such (e.g. Off stage wind band 1) and then treated as a group within the score. Also separate parts could be produced for the smaller ensemble.
The score could be written one stave at a time, but using ensemble groups could avoid a lot of unnecessary work [for example, the off stage group might echo the themes from the main orchestra] and this could be very helpful in some situations.
I don't know if this is a feature in MS 3.6 - it may be - but I've not met it yet. Also, is there likely to be a feature like that in MS4?
Comments
You can create parts with multiple instruments
In reply to You can create parts with… by Jojo-Schmitz
It is not at all obvious how to do this. Do you have more information?
In reply to It is not at all obvious how… by dave2020X
See my reply, or the Handbook section on parts.
In reply to See my reply, or the… by Marc Sabatella
I have loked at the section on parts and could not find anything sufficiently relevant.
MuseScore groups within the score automatically according to standard conventions - eg, it puts all your woodwinds together, all your brass together, all your strings together, regardless of the order you actually add these into your score in. You can of course override this as needed in the instruments dialog. MuseScore also brackets everything automatically according to the usual standards, and again, this is customizable.
As mentioned, you can then optionally create a "part" for any given collections of instruments, in File / Parts (click Single Part, add the instruments you want - see Handbook section on parts for more info).
In reply to MuseScore groups within the… by Marc Sabatella
What does Musescore do if instruments are added to an orchestral score which are not generally included in a "standard" classical orchestra? I see no evidence that it puts them in any pre-ordained pattern of layout. I haven't deliberately tried to catch it out with respect to more standard instrumentation.
In reply to What does Musescore do if… by dave2020X
Actually now I can see that it does have an ordering for unusual instruments in an orchestral score - though where that is defined I don't know.
In reply to Actually now I can see that… by dave2020X
https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/blob/3.x/share/instruments/order…
In reply to https://github.com/musescore… by jeetee
That's helpful though raises more questions.
Re 2 how are the instruments linked? For example, if I wanted to put in a new instrument, say "gribbledash", I could assign it to the flute family and generate XML for that, but some process still has to link the instrument to the family. I guess it also has to link to soundfonts and other parts within MuseScore.
In reply to That's helpful though raises… by dave2020X
It's part of the MuseScore installation. On windows for example, it can be found in
C:\Program Files\MuseScore 3\instruments. Make sure to create a backup copy of that file before changing it. Save the copy outside of the MuseScore installation folder if you don't want to lose it during a software updateinstruments.xml (https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/blob/3.x/share/instruments/instr…)
You can create a copy of that file into your user folders, then remove everything from it but a single instrument. Adjust that instrument to be the "gribbledash" you want it to be. The link to sound is done via Channel > Program tags, which correspond to the General MIDI standard.
In reply to That's helpful though raises… by dave2020X
While it's technically possible to customize the isntruments.xml, it's not "supported" in the sense of something that is documented, and definitely not recommended except for very special purposes like introducing new instruments that you need to reuse often enough that simply adding a flute and renaming it to "gribbledash" would become so laborious over time that it's worth the extra time and trouble of learning to customize instruments.xml. i wouldn't risk shooting yourself in the foot by fiddling this just to experiment with score ordering - way too easy to break your installation. Just renaming your flute to gribbledash if that's the goal, use up/down buttons to rearrange things as needed, and save a score as template if you intend to write for an ensemble that includes the gribbledash often. Far far far far far easier, far far far far far less risky.
In reply to What does Musescore do if… by dave2020X
If you are adding an instrument not generally included in a standard orchestral score what standard would you judge MuseScore against to see if you can "catch it out"? If it is not part if the standard you are surely free to put it wherever it seems most appropriate to you.
In reply to If you are adding an… by SteveBlower
I wasn't really trying to "catch MS" out - but just didn't actually notice when and where MS put the instruments into order. After starting this thread I now see that happens when a new instrument is added - though I've not tested and checked all possibilities.
In reply to What does Musescore do if… by dave2020X
You can select between different types of layout - orchestra, rock, jazz, etc - with the dropdown at the top of the list. But indeed, if you are writing for a custom type of ensemble not covered by any common convention, you may need to use the arrow buttons to arrange some things manually if the defaults don't work the way you'd like. The default ordering is built into MuseScore and the instruments definition file, BTW.