Banjo playback register

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ewindels
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Post by ewindels » Sat Jul 15, 2017 4:46 pm

Windows 7, Finale 2014.5

Trying this question here, as I think it straddles Playback and problems and I haven't gotten an answer in the Playback forum.

Having worked on this document for a while, I finally addressed the issue that the banjo seemed to be playing an octave too high. Went in to Score Manager, changed the Transposition to Up Octave. It doesn't seem to have affected the playback, which all sounds way too high, and now the entire part is showing "out of range" (but it is playing back). I tried moving it down via the Transpose function, but I suspect that doesn't affect rhythmic chord notation. Any suggestions? I'm hoping I don't have to re-enter the entire thing.

Sorry I can't attach the document, it's too big.

Thanks!
ewindels
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motet
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Post by motet » Sat Jul 15, 2017 4:54 pm

Is banjo notated like guitar, sounding an octave lower than written?

Bill Stevens
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Post by Bill Stevens » Sat Jul 15, 2017 5:54 pm

Are you writing for tenor banjo or 5-string banjo? I believe that tenor transposes and 5-string does not.

You wouldn't have to attach the entire document. You could make a copy and delete everything except the first page or so.

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zuill
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Post by zuill » Sat Jul 15, 2017 6:10 pm

Finale is infamous for getting plucked strings wrong, quite often. It sounds like the Garritan sample is for tenor banjo, as the lowest note is G, a 12th below middle C. So, if written an octave higher, that would place the written G the G below middle C. Ignore the out of range note indications. Those are not for Tenor banjo, obviously. The programmers need to get on top of this.

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zuill
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Post by zuill » Sat Jul 15, 2017 6:58 pm

I just poked around Finale: SmartMusic Softfont Banjo, Garritan Banjo, and the Tablatures. What a mess. That's all I have to say. One will need to tread on one's own here, and make the best of the mess. Be prepared to make your own Tablature, if TAB is needed.

Zuill
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ewindels
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Post by ewindels » Sat Jul 15, 2017 11:21 pm

Hi everyone,

I am writing for an (eventually live) 4-string jazz banjo. In creating the master template that this document is an iteration of, I don't quite recall which Garritan line I accessed (it was a while ago). I assume I went Document Wizard -> Plucked Strings -> Banjo. I doubt if I chose Tenor Banjo, I don't think I would have known the difference at that point. (Is there a way to assess this?)

Bill: very clever. Banjo only document attached.

Motet: oddly enough at the start of this document, no: the transposition was not set to Up Octave. I assumed that would have happened automatically when the template was created, as that's the default for banjo. Having done that after the fact, it doesn't seem to have made any difference. The part is playing back painfully high.
Attachments
7 Sir Josephs barge is seen BANJO ONLY.musx
(160.2 KiB) Downloaded 156 times
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zuill
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Post by zuill » Sat Jul 15, 2017 11:56 pm

Tenor Banjo is written an octave higher than sounding. The standard tuning is CGDA. The Irish tuning is GDAE (like a violin or mandolin, but sounding an octave lower. The Garritan sample has the low G of the Irish tuning range. However, Finale has the "out of range" "advanced" lowest note as middle C, which is an 11th higher than the actual instrument range. Ignore the orange (yellow) out of range notes, as long as they sound.

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motet
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Post by motet » Sun Jul 16, 2017 4:30 am

On my system if I pick plucked strings->banjo, it is indeed at pitch, but if I then set Transposition to "up octave," all seems fine.

Since you are not a beginning composer, I would turn off whatever feature colors out-of-range notes yellow and be done with it.

ewindels
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Post by ewindels » Sun Jul 16, 2017 3:08 pm

Hi Zuill and motet,

They do sound, but per my original post, I feel like they're playing an octave too high in this number (only). In the rest of this project it's fine.

I'd really like to get the entire part to sound down one octave, is there no way to do that with rhythmic notation and chords?
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N Grossingink
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Post by N Grossingink » Sun Jul 16, 2017 3:27 pm

ewindels wrote:I'd really like to get the entire part to sound down one octave, is there no way to do that with rhythmic notation and chords?
Chords down an octave? In Utilities > Change > Chords there is a transposition checkbox. Give that a try.

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ewindels
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Post by ewindels » Sun Jul 16, 2017 4:05 pm

I think that worked, N... though there is now a very odd, thick reverb in the banjo playback which was not there before.
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zuill
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Post by zuill » Sun Jul 16, 2017 9:47 pm

Ah. I was just thinking about the playback of written notes. I usually turn off chord playback as it is lame.

Zuill
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