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One instrument for voice, another for chords?

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One instrument for voice, another for chords?

Postby G-Sun » Sat Mar 01, 2014 11:41 am

Can I have one instrument for voice 1 and another one for chords?
How?
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Re: One instrument for voice, another for chords?

Postby Surfwhammy » Sun Mar 02, 2014 6:29 pm

G-Sun wrote:Can I have one instrument for voice 1 and another one for chords?
How?


This video demonstrates using the NOTION 4 Acoustic Guitar for a melody and chords on the same staff:

[NOTE: Because (a) the melody is Voice 1 and (b) I added the chord symbols (above the staff) after I switched to Voice 2, the chord symbols are there solely for visual purposes. The purple chord notes are what you hear as chords, not the chord symbols. However, chord symbols can be played with notes but they need to be the same voice and the notes need to be changed to slashes or strum style notes, all of which is a bit complex conceptually, but so what . . . ]

"Acoustic Thoughts PT 1" (The Surf Whammys) ~ YouTube music video

This video demonstrates the same ditty but with a sassy Cuban trumpet playing the melody:

[NOTE: I revised the melody to fit the sassy Cuban trumpet, which has a different range than an acoustic guitar, which included adding a bit of pizazz; and I did not hide the "K5 Trumpet" staff, since it is easier to understand the technique when you know that there is a second staff which provides another instrument . . . ]

"Acoustic Thoughts PT 2" (The Surf Whammys ft. El Petardo on Sassy Cuban Trumpet) ~YouTube music video

If this is what you were wondering how to do, then let me know if you have questions or need help . . .

This is not difficult to do, and the key is to change the instrument for the specific voice using a voice from another staff, where for clarity purposes the other staff in the second YouTube video is shown, but it can be hidden so that all you see is the Acoustic Guitar staff with the sassy Cuban trumpet playing the melody . . .

More specifically, the sassy Cuban trumpet is from the Cuba Collection for Kontakt 5 (Native Instruments), and it is assigned to the second staff labeled "K5 Trumpet"'; and the staff labeled "N4 Acoustic Guitar" initially is assigned to the NOTION 4 acoustic guitar . . .

However, after the staves are setup, the sassy Cuban trumpet is assigned to Voice 1 of the "N4 Acoustic Guitar" staff; and as you can see in the YouTube music video, there is no music notation on the "K5 Trumpet" staff, because its sassy Cuban trumpet is playing what was the melody played by the acoustic guitar, albeit with a few changes to the melody to tailor it for trumpet . . .

This technique is very powerful; and instead of having only a single sassy Cuban trumpet on the "K5 Trumpet" staff, it is possible to have an entire horn section with as many as 64 instruments, all of which can be assigned to other NOTION 4 staves . . .

[NOTE: 64 instruments might a a bit much for one instance of Kontakt 5 to handle, but it depends on the computer and its processors and memory, as well as whether everything is done in 64-bit mode with Kontakt 5 configured optimally, but it is possible, where another way to do it is to have four instances of Kontakt 5, each of which has 16 instruments, where one instance might be a horn section; another instance might be a string section' and so forth. And this is not limited to Kontakt 5, because you can use any VSTi virtual instruments that provides multiple channels. The practical perspective is that I think it makes more sense to have smaller sections which are focused, because for example there are times when you only need a horn section but not a string section, woodwind section, or some other type of section. And there is an easy way to create your own user-defined score templates that are configured for specific types of songs or for specific sections, where you can copy and paste sections from your user-defined score templates, which makes the detailed configuration and setup activities a one-time thing, which from that point forward you can simply clone . . . ]

NOTION 4 and most, if not all, VSTi virtual instruments support this technique, which is fabulous . . .

Fabulous! :)
Last edited by Surfwhammy on Wed Mar 19, 2014 2:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
The Surf Whammys

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Re: One instrument for voice, another for chords?

Postby Admin » Mon Mar 03, 2014 10:39 am

If I understand you correctly, there are a couple of ways to handle this.

1. You can write your lead line out in Voice 1, and then go back in Voice 2 and writed the chords. The way to access voice control is to either select Voices in the palette, or press Command (CTRL) + 1,2,3,4. Tip: Press Shift + Command (CTRL) + V to turn on the Voice Colors so that you can see which voice you are writing in.

Palette Multi-Voice.png
Palette Multi-Voice.png (25.97 KiB) Viewed 9354 times


2. Another way to handle this would be to setup two staves. Write your lead line in a simple Standard Notation Staff in the Clef of your choice, and write the chords out in another staff. You could use a Grand Staff instrument like Piano or Harp, or you could use a Standard notation staff like Guitar or Bass (with or without TAB).

Staff Settings.png
Staff Settings.png (74.89 KiB) Viewed 9354 times


See the Staff Settings window by placing the cursor on a particular staff and press Shift + Command (CTRL) + T.

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Re: One instrument for voice, another for chords?

Postby G-Sun » Mon Mar 03, 2014 1:15 pm

Ok, thanks!

I was really hoping there was an easier way,
but it's good to know it's possible.
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Re: One instrument for voice, another for chords?

Postby Admin » Tue Mar 04, 2014 1:50 pm

What seems difficult about this? I guess what I am saying is, what are you wanting it to do?

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Re: One instrument for voice, another for chords?

Postby G-Sun » Tue Mar 04, 2014 2:41 pm

Admin wrote:What seems difficult about this? I guess what I am saying is, what are you wanting it to do?

-Admin

Well, compared to have melody in voice 1, have chords in voice 1 and just hit play,
optionally set different instrument for chords and melody,
Notions way of achieving this seems complicated.
Seems like Notion needs me to add another voice or staff, and write in rhythmic notation, right?
And that this also applies if choosing same sound for melody and chords, right?

I was planning to convert some old Finale-files over to Notion,
all typical in melody with chords.
But as it seems, I rather check out if Musescore handles this better.
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