I did a search and don't believe this has been posted.  I'm working on writing some bass lines with 6 basses and I would like to have bass one rolling while the other basses play a pattern underneath.  Is is possible to write separate stems in the same line without them merging or cancelling each other out?  I appreciate any feedback.  Thank you.

Steve

Hi Steve,

You can accomplish what you're wanting to do using what are known in Sibelius as ";Voices."; You could put the stuff for the top bass pattern in Voice 1 and the bottom bass pattern in Voice 2. The stems for Voice 1 (and 3) will point up in the case, and the stems for notes in Voices 2 (and 4) will point down. The direction of the stems will hinge on whether or not you have sounds in the corresponding dual layer layout.

For those of you wanting to do the same thing in Finale, it can be accomplished using what are known in Finale as ";Layers.";

ah perfect!  I'm still learning and exploring sibelius, thanks for answering what 'may have been' a dumb question. 

Follow up Question:  will it let me write seperate dynamics for each voice?

Thank you very much for your help.

Steve

No prob.

Yes, you can assign dynamics on a voice level. Dynamics added using Expression text will automatically be added to the voice in which the notes exist. However, Hairpins affect all four voices by default, so if you want to have a mixture of hairpins in the same bar, you need to select the one you want to change and assign them to the desired voice.

Check out the section in your Sibelius documentation on Voices, Hairpins, and Expression text for some more detailed info.

Also, since I didn't mention it before, welcome to the forum!

Thanks!

I'm teaching myself the program over time so I've missed a few things, now that I know this though its really intuitive.  I'm not entirely sure how I got by not knowing this aspect for so long lol.

Thank you for the help.

Steve

Should the stems not point the way you want, you can also manually flip them with the ";x"; key.

yeah I came across that one, but its a great tip none the less.  Thank you :)

steve