Note input setup for percussion kits - Dorico Elements - 6.1

Dorico Elements Help
Product
Dorico Elements
Version
6.1
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en-US
Document type
Webhelp
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Inputting music for unpitched percussion instruments works differently than for pitched instruments. You can use any of the usual methods for unpitched percussion input, but using a MIDI keyboard or a computer keyboard is most efficient.

  • You can find options relating to note input for percussion in Preferencesand thenNote Input and Editingand thenNote Input.

To control which keys produce each percussion kit note, you can choose one of the following options:

Use percussion map

Allows you to input notes according to their definition in a percussion map. For example, in General MIDI percussion, C2 (note 36) produces bass drum, and D2 (note 38) produces snare drum, and so on.

Note

Use percussion map is normally only useful when you are inputting notes onto a drum set and you have already memorized the General MIDI percussion map.

Use staff position

Allows you to input notes according to their position on a five-line staff, as defined in the Edit Percussion Kit dialog. For example, on a drum set, the bass drum is normally positioned in the bottom space of the staff, while the snare drum is positioned in the third space from the bottom.

There are the following options for customizing staff position input:

  • Interpret as: Allows you to change the clef used to determine staff positions.

  • Input techniques from MIDI key: Allows you to set the MIDI key that you want to use for inputting playing techniques instead of notes. By default, this is set to MIDI note 48, which is C3 when using the middle C numbering convention that middle C (MIDI note 60) is numbered as C4.

  • MIDI Learn: Prepares Dorico Elements to receive MIDI input, allowing you to change the corresponding key using your MIDI keyboard.

  • Number of keys for techniques: Allows you to change how many keys above the key defined for Input techniques from MIDI key that you want to allocate for playing technique input.

    By default, one octave is allocated from the starting pitch of C3:

    • C3 (48): Previous playing technique

    • C♯3 (49): Next playing technique

    • D3 (50): First mapped playing technique

    • E♭3 (51): Second mapped playing technique

    • E3 (52): Third mapped playing technique

    And so on, up to:

    • B3 (59): Tenth mapped playing technique

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