Hey everyone

I am using Sibelius 6 and I've noticed that some of the buzz roll sounds are VERY loud during playback.  It's mostly medium crescendo buzz rolls and dry crush buzz rolls.  How can I get the sound of the buzz rolls during playback to not be so harsh???

Thanks!

Brian

All of the buzz rolls should blend pretty well with the other sounds and techniques that have been recorded - not sure what it is exactly that you're experiencing. Something that might be helpful information is that the peaks of the crescendo and decrescendo buzz rolls were recorded/programmed so that the peak volume of those rolls would match regular hits of the same velocity e.g. a fortissimo crescendo buzz roll (short, medium, and long) will end at fortissimo.

However, if you feel you want more control, you could try experimenting with [b]Live Velocity[/b], which can be found in the Playback tab of the Properties window. Each sample in VDL was recorded at multiple dynamics, and the way that translates to electronic music is through velocities (see this post from Jim about [url=https://www.tapspace.com/forums/index.php?topic=3068.msg16248#msg16248]volume vs. velocity[/url]). To use Live Velocity, make sure you have Live Playback turned on via [b]Play > Live Playback[/b].

Not sure why you would think that the buzz rolls sounded ";harsh";, but hopefully this will help you dial them in to your liking. If you think about it, a crush technique played from the same ";height"; as a hit of the same dynamic would sound a bit louder anyways.

Hope this helps!

Hi Bryan

Thanks for the help!  I'll make sure to give it a shot.

Well I'll explain what's happening.  It's actually in the tenor drum voice.  Drum #4.  It only happens once in my entire score.  There's a forte attack Sustained Buzz on Drum 4, and it sounds like a chainsaw.  haha  I have numerous spots throughout the piece where there's the same type of buzz, same dynamic, same drum, and the sound is perfect.  It's only in this one spot.  I actually tried changing it to a dry crush, fat crush, etc.  But I kept getting the same sound.

Must be some strange glitch or something.

The good news is that I switched from Finale to Sibelius.  The playback is MMMMMUUUUUUUCCCCCCCHHHHHHHH better.  I still can't get the flam sound perfect, but it's better.  It actually sounds like the flam is too tight and the grace note is REALLY loud.  Am I able to adjust that?

First issue: do you have any technique text before the chainsaw buzz that you don't have elsewhere in the score? If so, what is it? Try turning it off using the Play On Pass check box in the Playback tab of the Properties window. If this doesn't fix it, perhaps a more detailed account of what notehead/articulation/etc. you are using will shed some more light on the problem.

As far as flam playback in Sibelius goes, just refer back to this post that you found at one point: https://www.tapspace.com/forums/index.php?topic=3270.0.
If you experiment enough to the point that you get your preferred grace note spacing, that'll work every time.

Hey Bryan

I don't have any technique written before the chainsaw buzz.  I do have sustained buzz rolls written before and after, but it only happens on that one note.  I did go to the Play On Pass check boxes you mentioned.  There were 8 boxes to check or uncheck.  I tried unchecking each box, one at a time, to see if that made a difference and it didn't. 

As far as giving you more information, I'm not sure what to tell you.  The tempo is at 162, I'm using the Tapspace Template I purchased from the website.  It's a quarter note sustained buzz on tenor drums, drum #4.  The dynamic is Forte.  I have the same type of sound used prior to this measure, and after, and there are no sound issues. 

Do you think there's some more info I should be looking for?

I'm still writing for this piece and it hasn't happened again.  I may just try and re-write this measure and see what happens. 
:-)

Ok well maybe we will never know what happened.  I just re-wrote that same measure and everything is good to go.  Not really sure what happened.

Bryan, will you be at any of the Texas DCI shows this coming weekend?  If so, I'd like to buy you a drink!!!  You've been nothing but AWESOME on these forums.  You've dealt with my OCD and impatience like a champ.

Thanks again for all the help.  I'm sure I'll find you on here at some point again!

Glad to hear that you were able to get the demons out of your score! I would've like to know what the notehead number and articulation were on the offending note. I'm willing to bet that somehow the combination of notehead number and articulation might have been altered from what you thought it was, thus causing the problem.

Regardless, I'm glad you were able to get it worked out! I will not be at any of those DCI shows, as I live up in Louisville now. However, I do always accept donations via PayPal ;)

Smiley (same Smiley from SoCal that was on that documentary and ended up playing with the Cadets?),

For the flams in Sibelius I just click on the grace note and drag it closer to the note it's associated with.  On my score my flam grace notes are really close to their ";owner"; notes but when I print out the individual parts it spaces it out nicely so it's easy for the students to read.

Hope that helps!!

Rob