Re: Notation for drums

[Jan Nieuwenhuizen]

On Tuesday, 10 October 2000, =?iso-8859-2?B?WmRlbuxrIEL2aG0=?= writes:

> at first time, I give thanks authors for very good program.

Thanks.

> I make notation for drums and I have a problem with MIDI
> output. I can set musical instrument by using \property Staff.midiIntrument
> (string), but for unpitched percussion instruments General MIDI defines
> channel 10.
> How can I select MIDI channel for Staff?

You can't.  The midi doco that I have, doesn't mention anything about
channel 10.  However, we got complaints that certain midi players
on windows refuse to set an instrument on channel 10.  That's why
we now have, in performance.cc:


      /*
        Aargh, let's hear it for the MIDI standard.
        MIDI players tend to ignore instrument settings on
        channel 10, the percussion channel by default.
       */
      if (channel == 9)
        channel++;

So, we don't use channel 10.  For percussion, you should be able to
use any track/channel, and just set the midiInstrument for the percussion
you want to have:

          /* 48 */ "timpani",

          /* (113-120 percussive) */
          /* 113 */ "tinkle bell",
          /* 114 */ "agogo",
          /* 115 */ "steel drums",
          /* 116 */ "woodblock",
          /* 117 */ "taiko drum",
          /* 118 */ "melodic tom",
          /* 119 */ "synth drum",
          /* 120 */ "reverse cymbal",

Does this help you?  If you have better information/doco about channel 10,
we could maybe define a virtual instrument 'percussion' that automagically
gets channel 10.  Problem is, we need a good instrument to set on channel
10 too, because otherwise, some midi players will just use the default piano.

Greetings,
Jan.

-- 
Jan Nieuwenhuizen <address@hidden> | GNU LilyPond - The music typesetter
http://www.xs4all.nl/~jantien       | http://www.lilypond.org