Selective playback of repeated notes

[thorrild]

Has anyone found a way of getting correct playback of the notation attached below? The intent is to have the repeat continue until a certain point, where someone (in this case, a voice pickup) triggers the continuation of the music. Any suggestions?

[posssu]

In terms of notation you should probably have the voice-pickup in a second repeat so that the first vamp doesn't contain the vocal notes and the second repeat is the exactly what you have above now (with vocal notes). So that the first vamp can be repeated as long as wanted without the vocal notes coming and then you can finally advace to the second and have the vocal notes play. For real players you can just write this in the first repeat:"Repeat 1st until a signal from vocalist" or something. (I can't say that in English, you know what I mean...)

I don't really know if there's a way to get that playback it repeat X times in the notation mode, but in performance mode you can hit ENTER while performing and this makes the vamp repeat until you then hit TAB. (I just read directly from the manual, didn't try just now. But it's there.)

Is this what you meant?

[thorrild]

Juhani, tack så mycket för hjälpen.
Yes, you confirm my suspicion that correct playback can only happen if a second ending is created. Too bad, since this is the standard (and on paper, the most efficient) way of notating this in my field of work (musicals). I guess I'll put this in the pile of feature requests...

[posssu]

I would think having two repeats is the best way for musicians, since this forces the lead vocalist to lead them to the second repeat which means that the musicians will know at least one bar before when they're going to exit the vamp. If you notate all in one bar instead, they have to wait for the cue and then instantly jump forward and there's a risk someone doesn't catch on.

But to solve your problem, you might also try having only one vamp (like you have now), then selecting the vocal melody in that bar, right-clicking and selecting "Notes->Show as cue notes". This disables their playback, which means you can at least loop the bar without having the vocal notes playback. This will also indicate the musicians better that the notes are from another instrument and not for them to play and you can even write the notes on their staffs. Just add some literal instructions what the cue notes mean (=singer) and you're good to go.

[thorrild]

Your comments are appreciated, but since this kind of music is dependent on very quick timing, where an actor in a musical will speak several lines of dialogue over the vamp, then switch seamlessly into the vocal pickup, the accompaniment cannot predict this 2 bars in advance. Which is why simply adding measures is generally not the solution. This unwanted playback is also a problem if the vamp occurs at the end of something (vocal or instrumental), like a held or final note, which is inside the repetition marks but only intended to be heard the first time through.

Turning music which is supposed to be heard into cue notes (which are silent) is not a solution either, at least in this situation.

I guess this post is not so much a question about how to notate this: I am an editor, not a composer, and I am generally not at at liberty to add bars to the music I work on. No, I simply wanted to point out that here is a notational practice which Notion, to my knowledge, cannot handle in playback. And playback is what I am concerned about, since this is where Notion's strengths are. If my concern were simply what's on the printed page, I can get the desired result much better, and with almost infinite control, in Finale, Sibelius, or even Score.