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Notation Workflow : Tips For Moving Logic Files into Sibelius or Finale
For Logic users there may come the time that one needs to get a file over to Finale or Sibelius to finish a project. Logic has its own proprietary notation display formatting and doesn’t currently support Music XML. However, you can export a Standard MIDI File (SMF) and achieve good results. To maximize compatibility before exporting a SMF, you’ll need to do some adjustments, as described below.
The important proprietary formatting items are Display Quantize, Interpretation mode and to a lesser degree, Syncopation mode. These items affect Logic’s display only – playback remains unaffected. You may also need to deal with pedal markings (these do affect playback). Let’s look at what they do, and how to pass along this information in a SMF.
Finale Tip : Quickly Delete Duplicate Unison Notes in the Same Layer
A PRIME NON-SEQUITUR
Jack Butler: “Gonna rip these walls out and, uh, of course re-wire it.”
Ron Richardson: “Yeah, you gonna make it all 220?”
Jack Butler: “Yeah, 220, 221. Whatever it takes.”
from “Mr. Mom”, 1983
Sometimes, after certain editing operations, or when importing a midi file, you’ll wind up with doubled unison notes with shared stems in a single layer:
While there are some cases where doubled unison notes (on the same stem / layer) are appropriate, it’s more common to see either stems up / stems down divisi in two Layers, or single noteheads, with technique text indicating “a2″ throughout the particular unison passage, like this:
Fortunately, there are several solutions for eliminating duplicate unison notes appearing in the same Layer in Finale:
- Finale’s Explode Music Tool
- TGTOOLS Process Extracted Parts Plugin
- JW Chord Manager . . . Plugin
Let’s take a look at how each works :
Creating a New Score from Transposed Parts in Finale or Sibelius
Q: I’ve got a chart with just the parts and I’m re-constructing a score. I want to enter the notes as they are without going through transposing. Is there a way to just enter the notes onto a transposed score? It seems like there must be an easy way to do this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks . . .
A: I’ll walk through the steps for creating a score from an existing set of printed parts in both Finale and Sibelius. You can create a new score from existing transposed parts in either program, but as you’ll see, one notation program has a clear advantage in this particular area.
Preparing MIDI files for best import results in Sibelius 7
Getting good, clean MIDI file conversions from your sequencer into Sibelius is an important technique to learn, and is easy once you know the steps.
The MIDI clean-up starts in your sequencer program:
Real – Time Recording of Continuous Control Changes in Sibelius
UPDATED FEBRUARY 2, 2012
I recently had this question posed to me by fellow note-slinger John Hinchey, “Is there a way to overdub continuous control changes in Sibelius? Say you’ve got a staff with notes in it; now you want to insert just control changes, but in real time, using your midi wheels, pedals, faders etc.”
If your playback doesn’t sound very natural, you can add control changes, but in real time, using your midi wheels, pedals, faders etc. For example, you could “perform” the pedalling of a piano part in Sibelius.
OVERDUBBING CONTROLLER CHANGES IN SIBELIUS 6 or 7
Let’s assume you already have notes in the staff, which you’ve either entered in Sibelius, or perhaps you’ve imported using MIDI, Photoscore or MusicXML. At this point, you are ready to overdub Controller Changes onto the staff.
Sibelius 7 : Select the Note Input Tab of the Ribbon, then click on the little box in the lower right corner of the Flexi-time section to open the Flexi-time options dialog.
Sibelius 6 : From the Notes menu, select Flexi-time Options to open the Flexi-time dialog.
Sibelius 6&7: In the Flexi-time panel of this dialog, first uncheck “Record Into Multiple Voices”, then select the “Voice 2” radio button. If you have notes already in Voice 2, you can select Voice 3 or 4. Under “Existing Music” select the Overdub radio button.
Now, go to the Notation panel of Flexi-time options, and under MIDI Messages, check “Keep Controller Changes”.
OK the dialog, and that’s all there is to it! Select the bar to start recording in. CTRL-SHIFT-F (CMND-SHIFT-F) starts Flexi-time rolling, so you can record only the controller changes (CC) on this pass.
UPDATE :
This excellent YouTube video tutorial by David Healey of Total Composure from Northern England details how to record CC controller changes in Sibelius 7: