Beaters – different technique or instrument?

[PaoloT]

Hi,

I've this unresolved question while building my percussion presets for VI instruments. How to solve it is strictly tied to how I will use them in notation programs. Are beaters techniques or entirely different instruments?

- First of all: how I build presets of pitched instruments.

With my custom VI pitched instruments (including timpani), I create presets made of "matrices", that are groups of similar techniques. For example, I can have a matrix for sustains, one for legatos, one for repetitions, one for dynamic arcs. With timpani, I can have single hits, rolls, glissando, repetition, dynamic arcs.

Each matrix include the individual techniques, with all their nuances. An expression map selects a matrix, then a technique in the matrix.

- Then: non-pitched instruments.

With non-pitched percussions it is different: mostly you have a drum kit including all the techniques. Single hits, rolls. Everything is under a percussion map, with no need for further subdivisions.

However, there are also things that I don't know if are to be considered additional techniques, or totally different instruments. Bowed cymbals, brush vs. stick, different brands of timpani or cymbals, snare on vs. snare off, different mallets.

My preference would be to consider each of them a separate instrument/preset. An Instrument Change in Dorico would switch to that instrument/technique.

But is it correct? When invoking a different type of mallet, switch the snare wires off, taking a bow to play a cymbal, am I invoking an instrument change, or just a different technique?

I'm really confused on the boundary between the two methods. And this makes very hard to find a general method in building my presets. How would you do it?

Paolo

[PaoloT]

Still thinking: maybe I don't need to build standard presets. The available instruments, and the possible combinations, are too huge. What I would need, is just to work with single patches/kits.

1. Create a new VI preset based on the default one.
2. Drag the needed patch in the only cell.
3. Use a separate track to drive that patch/kit.

When a particular size of cymbal or drum, a particul beater, or a particular technique (stick, brush, bowed, scraped…) is called, just create a new single-patch preset, and assign it to a new track of the DAW. In Dorico, assign it to a VST Instrument, and add the corresponding instrument to a percussion kit.

Paolo

[PaoloT]

In the Dorico forum, I was suggested by the product manager that keeping everything in a single preset would be better, because I will then be able to manage beater changes inside the same instrument.

So, I think I will end up, as I did with pitched instruments, with a schema that will fit all percussive instruments. In the rows, there will be a first matrix including all hits (the most common technique), then one with rolls, then one with prerecorded dynamic arcs, and then all the more exoteric ones.

Columns will be reserved to beaters (including brush and fingers). I have 12-column matrices, so I can reserve a couple columns to each beater. Something like in the attached table.

Paolo

[PaoloT]

To complete (and reverse!) my thoughts on this matter, here is what I wrote in the Dorico forum.

I'm back at the drawing table. Keeping everything in the same preset and expression map may be overwhelming and redundant. Techniques are somewhat recursive, and I'm not convinced I'm doing the right thing in replicating them in the same expression map. I don't like the idea of having to write separate techniques for 'soft sticks > hit' and 'medium stick > hit'.

A premise: do percussionists use different beaters at the same time? If they do it sometimes for special effects, isn't it better to even write different beaters in different staves, to help the player understand where one is at that moment?

If different beaters are not used at the same time, shouldn't they be considered as different instruments played by the same player? As a consequence, one can change instrument on the same stave, and use the same expression map to select articulations.

Attached one can see how the general preset would look, and the techniques that the general Percussion expression map should select.

An alternative idea is to organize things in a different way in the preset. Beaters will be separated into matrices (rows) in the VI preset. A hidden Program Change message could select the row(s) corresponding to a beater, and the same expression map selecting the columns will remain in use even with beater changes.

Paolo