…then paste it into the sound ID change for 8 tremolos. Copy the sound ID text “+tremolo.unmeasured” from the “16 tremolos” or “32 tremolos” articulation: The easiest way enter this text is via copy and paste. That way, if the current sample playback library has an unmeasured trem or roll sample for this instrument, Sibelius will use that sample as its first choice. While we are here, we also want to specify unmeasured tremolo in Sibelius’ SoundWorld ™ language, using a Sound ID change. We’ll address that in a moment. If you click on “Subdivide” you will see an option to change the effect to “Unmeasured”. Redefine “8 tremolos” to be unmeasured: You’ll note that no Sound ID change is defined for the 8 tremolos articulation. By default, when you choose the articulation called “8 tremolos” (that’s the three stroke tremolo in Sibelius), you will see that the definition is to “Play repeated notes: subdivide 8 times”: In the Articulations panel of the Playback Dictionary, you will see Articulations in the left pane and a corresponding set of Effects in the right pane. In Sibelius 7, locate the Dictionary in the Interpretation group of the Play tab, then navigate to Articulations. In Sibelius 6, the tremolos are found in Play > Dictionary > Articulations.

Playback of articulations (and many other objects) are controlled in the Sibelius Dictionary. So, how can we get these three stroke tremolos to play back properly? Let’s take a look. This is a case where the software has introduced a possible bad habit for young composers and arrangers, because in order to get correct playback by default, one has to resort to using the 4 or 5 stroke tremolos.Įlaine Gould, in her book “Behind Bars” (page 224), states “The standard indication for unmeasured tremolo is three tremolo strokes.” I think the percussive 30 caliber M1919 Browning analogy is a good one. At faster tempos, this can sound ok, but this quantized “fast measured” effect sounds patently incorrect at slower tempos. By default, Sibelius plays back three stroke tremolos as “8 tremolos”, which means that it is simply subdividing the note it is attached to 8 times. Is there a workaround to achieve (reasonably) proper playback of both, without co-opting an incorrect looking symbol on the printed page? I don’t want to have to use the alternate 16 tremolos (4-line), or 32 tremolos (5-line) for correct playback.Ī: Yes. The four line tremolo (called “16 tremolos”) typically sounds best for strings, but I want to use the three line tremolo for unmeasured tremolo, which is visually correct. Properly notated (on printed page) three line tremolos for timpani, drum rolls, and mallet percussion play back (somewhat) correctly at faster tempos, but sound like an M1919 Browning machine gun at slower tempos. Q: I would like to use three line tremolos for all unmeasured tremolos, and have them always play back correctly.

Vdl soundset sibelius ultimate