One of the oldest questions from percussion arrangers/composers since computerized notation has been: ";How do I get better sounding flams?"; Well, here is a simple solution for any people using Sibelius. This will depend on your preference with regards to how open/closed you like your flams.

For the purpose of this explanation, the tempo will be quarter=120. And you will need to make sure that Live Playback is turned on. That can be found in the Play menu.

1) Write a flam, then use the [b]Live start position (LSP)[/b] (found in the Playback tab of the Properties window) to set your flam at your preferred spacing. I prefer tighter flams, so I set my LSP at -7. The -7 simply means that it will start 7 edus before the downbeat on which the grace note was applied.
2) Divide the tempo (120) by the chosen the positive version of the LSP (7) and get a number and round to the nearest integer (17).
3) From now on, just divide the tempo by that number (17) by the tempo, change it to a negative, and you'll get the appropriate Live Start Position.

The reason you'll need this is because EDUs are relative to tempo, so -7 at 120bpm would be different than at 200bpm. There are 256edu per quarter note, if you need a reference.

Enjoy!

Hi Bryan

You have been great help with all of your posts.  Thanks for taking the time.

I'm currently running Sibelius 6 and I did a search on the Tapspace forums to try and figure out how to get my flam sound the best possible.  I have read many posts and I'm having trouble finding the best best advice.  This particular post seemed very clear, yet it didn't help me much.  I can not find anything in Sibelius 6 that refers Live Start Position.

How can I adjust the EDU's for flam sounds in Sibelius 6?

[quote author=Smileysnare link=topic=3270.msg19803#msg19803 date=1278918974]
Hi Bryan

You have been great help with all of your posts.  Thanks for taking the time.

I'm currently running Sibelius 6 and I did a search on the Tapspace forums to try and figure out how to get my flam sound the best possible.  I have read many posts and I'm having trouble finding the best best advice.  This particular post seemed very clear, yet it didn't help me much.  I can not find anything in Sibelius 6 that refers Live Start Position.

How can I adjust the EDU's for flam sounds in Sibelius 6?
[/quote]

Live start position is located in your properties window (alt+command+P/alt-ctrl+P).  To adjust all grace notes already written at the same time, Go to edit>filter>grace notes.

[quote author=Cobybos link=topic=3270.msg19804#msg19804 date=1278927561]
Live start position is located in your properties window (alt+command+P/alt-ctrl+P).
[/quote]

See attached image. 1) Another quick way to get there. 2) Have the grace note(s) selected, check the box then edit the number to what is pleasing to the ear. (Use Bryan's mathematical process to get you started.)


[quote author=Cobybos link=topic=3270.msg19804#msg19804 date=1278927561]
To adjust all grace notes already written at the same time, Go to edit>filter>grace notes.
[/quote]

You can also create a keyboard shortcut in Preferences, very handy.


One other thing I'll add is that I often need to adjust the [b]Live velocity[/b] in addition to the [b]Live start position[/b] (same dialog). This may take some experimenting to find the right numbers - of which will change depending on what the velocity of the note the grace note is on.


Late
Hugh

Great tip, but who plays flams anymore? :)

Touch, Jesse. :)

I know this is an old topic, but is this still possible to do in Sibelius 7?  I wasn't able to find the same properties tab that used to be in 6.

See image.

It's in the Inspector. Select the gracenote then press Shift + Command + I (for Mac, I'd assume Shift + Control + I for Win).

Edit: Hugh in first for the win.

Thanks to both of your responses! 

Do these adjustments need to be added to each flam?  Or if you apply it to one does it apply to all?

Adjustments need to be added to each flam, because Sibelius applies a live start position on a per-object (i.e per-note) basis.

You can use the Advanced Filter (keyboard shortcut CTRL+ALT+SHF+f) to select all of your flams and only your flams once you are done writing, and then change the live start position of all of them at once. Or you can edit the properties of your first flam and paste that flam elsewhere in your score; the live start position property will copy along with the note.

Being that this is something I do quite often, I actually set my own keyboard shortcut to select all grace notes within a selection. I set mine to SHIFT+OPT+CMD+G on my Mac (or SHIFT+ALT+CTRL+G on a Windows PC). I'm always looking for ways to streamline my workflow and this is definitely one of them.

[quote author=Bryan Harmsen link=topic=3270.msg23065#msg23065 date=1340299309]
Being that this is something I do quite often, I actually set my own keyboard shortcut to select all grace notes within a selection. I set mine to SHIFT+OPT+CMD+G on my Mac (or SHIFT+ALT+CTRL+G on a Windows PC). I'm always looking for ways to streamline my workflow and this is definitely one of them.
[/quote]

Yup, this is a good one. I do this too.

Just joined the forum!  I looked around and can't seem to find the answer I'm looking for.

The placement of my flams are fine now, thanks to the procedures found at the beg of this thread. What I want to know is how to lower the volume of the grace note to the tap level volume.  In other words, when you accent a note where a flam is attached, sibelius incorrectly plays BOTH the grace and principal notes as accented. Is there a way to adjust the volume of all grace notes throughout? Or am I being too picky? :)

Thanks!