No. 557

Use Record Names to Identify Instruments in Document Setup Wizard

IWBNI instrument record names were used instead of instrument names to identify instruments on the Document Setup Wizard - Choose Parts dialog box. Here, "instrument record name" means the name used to identify (or label) an instrument record in the file instrument.txt, and "instrument name" means the value of the "name" field for an instrument record. The latter is used for the full staff name. For example, for the following record, the instrument record name is Baritone (Vocal) and the instrument name is Baritone.

[INS:Baritone (Vocal)]
Name = Baritone
Abbr = Bar.
useKeySigs = 1
Transposition = 0
StaffType = standard
Clef = bass
Patch = 52
As it is now, instrument names are used to identify instruments on this dialog box. As a result, the names of instruments within a given instrument group must be unique. For example, within the Brass instrument group, the following instruments are defined in the file instrument.txt:
[INS:Baritone (T.C.)]
Name = Baritone (T.C.)
Abbr = Bar.
useKeySigs = 1
Transposition = -14
StaffType = standard
Clef = bass
Transclef = treble
Patch = 58

[INS:Baritone]
Name = Baritone
Abbr = Bar.
useKeySigs = 1
Transposition = 0
StaffType = standard
Clef = bass
Patch = 58

The instrument names (i.e. the value of the Name field) for these instruments are Baritone (T.C.) and Baritone. In this case, the suffix (T.C) is required to distinguish these records for identification purposes. Consequently, the full staff name for the first instrument will be Baritone (T.C.).

If the suggestion proposed here is implemented, it would be possible to make the Name field of both of these records be Baritone. Specifically, the Name field of the first record could be changed from Baritone (T.C.) to Baritone.

[INS:Baritone (T.C.)]
Name = Baritone
Abbr = Bar.
useKeySigs = 1
Transposition = -14
StaffType = standard
Clef = bass
Transclef = treble
Patch = 58

[INS:Baritone]
Name = Baritone
Abbr = Bar.
useKeySigs = 1
Transposition = 0
StaffType = standard
Clef = bass
Patch = 58

By doing this, the staff name for both instruments would be Baritone. And, in the Document Setup Wizard - Choose Parts dialog box, these instruments would be listed by using the instrument record names Baritone (T.C.) and Baritone.



Created: May 31, 2000 (based on a submission from Riccardo Distasi)
Last Updated: May 31, 2000
Version: Finale 2000b