I have a bit of a problem, minor, but still.
I’ve been trying my hand at the Play mode functions. It’s all quite new to me as I’m used to only working from a score/engraving program. Horizontal bars are… intimidating to me!
Anyway, I’ve been getting good results with shortening notes here and there (mostly down bow chords in the strings, which sound funny when there’s no break between chords).
However, I’ve gotten to a passage that is in tremolo (generated, I presume, by NotePerformer). The tremolo plays back perfectly. However I’d like there to be a tiny bit of overlap between the notes, so that the transitions from one tremolo note to the next are not quite so choppy.
However, when I grab the end of a note (the horizontal bar, that is) in Play mode, I can drag it to the right to overlap, except it keeps snapping back to its original position. Regular notes don’t do this, only this particular sequence that also happens to be tremolo.
Does anyone have a simple explanation, and possible solution?
I’m jumping into dangerous waters where I haven’t really experimented - but there is a setting in the Play tab => Playback Options => Timing => Tremelo that controls the duration of un-measured tremelo and the minimum number of strokes. My guess is, that in the case of tremelo, dragging in the piano roll may be different since you aren’t dragging the actual individual trems?
just to be clear, this isn’t a question of the repeated notes within a single tremolo note. (ie: x-number of repetitions per second)
if I have a quarter note, with tremolo slashes, I’d like to be able to drag that quarter note so that it overlaps the next beat a tiny bit.
ignore the tremolo for now.
I’m talking about a sequence of notes where I cannot, in Play mode, drag the ends of notes to make them overlap with the next note.
When I drag, no matter how far, they “snap” back to their original length.
It just so happens that these notes have tremolo articulations on them.
Right… I was just trying to think of any circumstances for “why” that you might adjust- of where the behavior for tremelo notes might be different from the others you mentioned. And only brave since you hadn’t had a reply. :_ Sounds like Marc has the better answer on the sound, but usually the only time the midi roll seems locked is when it is under the control of something else in Dorico.
I removed the tremolo slashes from the notes in violin 1, left the tremolo marks in violin 2.
in Play mode, I tried dragging the end of a note in violin one, to overlap the next note. Had no problem, it dragged, and remained where I dragged it.
I did the same thing to a note in violin 2 (which still has its tremolo marks), and the note refuses to drag. it drags as long as I’m holding it, but the second I release it snaps back to its original position.
So it’s something to do with the tremolo articulation.
I think, other like with normal notes, where you’d want to create finger legatos for piano or shorten the notes a little to give more air in between for articulation, notes with tremolo slashes are representing already many notes. So shortening them doesn’t make sense musically, neither does lengthening them. Either you want the tremolo for exactly this duration, or you’d write another duration. Similarly, things like finger legato etc. doesn’t apply here.
the written durations are correct.
the issue is the playback.
Dorico cuts each note just short of its full length, which makes the tremolo notes all detached one from the other. (and I don’t mean the repeated notes within each note value, I mean the total note value)
So if I have two half notes, there’s a brief cut between the two notes which adds an unwanted artificiality to the sound.
I’d like to be able to extend the duration of each note a tiny bit… like a small fraction of a beat, to avoid this annoying break in the sound.
in Play mode I can even SEE that the notes are shortened from their full value.
I only want the FULL value of the note.
There is a setting in Expression Maps to modify the default note duration for each programmed articulation (in case you programmed unmeasured tremolo as an articulation, for example) as well as for the entire map in bulk for notes of certain types (normal, staccato, etc). If you set it to more than 100%, they should start overlapping automatically. I don’t remember how EMs work with Note Performer, but this might be something to investigate?
Can you attach a sample here, just a few measures that illustrate the situation? You can send a short sample, a cut-down Dorico file, and even change pitches to long as it represents the difficulty you have discovered.
the tremolo articulation is automatically pulled back with NotePerformer, probably because it would make no musical sense for even the tiniest overlap. I can certainly confirm that. However all tremolos – I’m taking here about standard three stroke unmeasured are shown in the PLAY window – are full length, not slightly shortened which is the case for many other NP articulations. I also don’t hear any gap between tremolos either. Unless you’re referring to something different here and we’re thus at cross-purposes, I’m sure the easiest is to send a project sample as agreed.