Can I create a piano with one staff (not a grand staff)?

Dorico
1

I would like to create an instrument that:

  • has a single staff
  • has no range set (I don’t want the notes turning red because the note is too high / low)
  • ideally something Noteperformer will play a piano sound by default

Dorico lets me add a bunch of different instruments. But, I haven’t found anything that meets those criteria. I also haven’t seen how Dorico defines those instrument settings in the first place.

Is there an instrument in Dorico’s instrument list that will do what I want? If not, can I add my own instrument? Perhaps they’re defined in a configuration file somewhere and I can just add my own.

(I know I can right-click a staff and “remove staff” to hide it from a flow. But unless I’m mistaken, I have to do that for every single flow.)

2

You can use any single-staff instrument and rename it. Then just turn off range colors, and assign it manually to the piano sound.

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3

I don’t want to do that manually every time I add an instrument :slight_smile: Also, I like range colors – I just don’t want them applied to this specific part.

Anyway, I dug through /Applications/Dorico 2.app/Contents/Resources and was able to figure it out.

For anyone interested, it’s possible to create new instrument definitions by modifying some XML files. If you’re comfortable with that, here’s some information on what to do: dorico custom instruments · GitHub

That configuration creates a new treble-staff-only piano called “Part” under the “Keyboards” instrument group.

At some point I’ll create my own instrument group to have parts all set up the way I want… but this is a good start.

4

Okay! For anyone interested, https://gist.github.com/patmaddox/2ae77c51d1a96bc60a3a495a664c011d (warning, long page!) contains a configuration that provides a new “Parts” instrument group at the top of the list, and Treble, Alto, and Bass parts to create single-staff pianos defaulting to those clefs.


dorico-custom-instruments.png
dorico-custom-instruments.png700×395 38.4 KB

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5

This very comprehensive work you did certainly underscores the need for an easier way to create a single staff piano from scratch (without needing this excellent workaround)…
D.D.

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6

If you know how many flows you are likely to want, remove the staves in the first one and then duplicate it (right click the flow in setup mode).

7

@notpat I just now tried your modified instruments configuration using the xml you posted to Github back in 2019—very often I want generic “part” staves when starting a new score, so this sounded perfect.

Unfortunately I get an “invalid file format” error on the instruments.xml file. It’s easy to see why—your post of the altered file is indeed truncated, even the raw version that comes up via the “view the full file” link is clicked. It’s the same for the instruments.xml file in the downloaded zip of your gist. Any chance you can repost a corrected/complete version of that file?

While I’m at it I should ask if these files need any revisions for Dorico 5.

Thanks!

[On my computer running Windows 11, Dorico 5 is installed in Program Files\Steinberg\Dorico5\ and that main folder contains two of the target files, instrumentFamiliesDefinitions.xml and instruments.xml. Subfolder …\Dorico5\l10n contains instrumentnames_en.xml. ]

8

Just an FYI, the ability to create instruments exists:
Library->Instruments
… choose a suitable template, click the [+], rename and modify as needed.

If you want to use it in other projects, click the star (which saves it for future use).

9

Welcome to the forum (and Dorico?), @StephenC.

It might be worth noting that you’ve revived a 5-year-old thread. Dorico has evolved significantly in that time, so you might start with a more up-to-date and less “esoteric” approach to what seems like it’s probably a relatively simple task.

Can you share a bit more detail about what notational result you want and workflow goal you hope to meet?

10

@judddanby Understood as to the age of the thread and the esotericism of the approach. I’ll just say I couldn’t find a simple answer for this seemingly simple problem searching the documentation and the forum—except the one offered some time back by @notpat. I’m sure I missed something, perhaps a la @derAbgang. But I decided to try notpat’s solution. When it didn’t work I tried to write him directly but couldn’t find a way to do that, so I posted here. Today I see Message buttons on people’s profiles, so either I somehow missed that or messaging privileges were granted in the interim. I’ll post a new question if I don’t get notpat’s files working and/or if derAbgang’s approach doesn’t work. Thanks.
PS: Yes, brand new to Dorico. Score / Encore / Finale / Sibelius / Lilypond / MuseScore previously.

11

I can think of at least three different ways to do this:

  1. Use a Sketch Treble (or Bass) staff Player (this defaults to Piano sound)
  2. Use a piano, but hide the empty staves (Layout options>Vertical Spacing>Staff visibility - and check the box for multi staff instruments) - the clunky option!
  3. Create a new instrument to suit your needs (Library>Instruments)
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