Use Play and MIDI settings to control how the music sounds in playback. The changes you make on the Play and MIDI settings screen also control how an exported MIDI file sounds when you play it using a MIDI player.
NB Staff settings affect only playback and MIDI. They have no effect on MusicXML exports. To change how MusicXML sounds when exported to a notation editor like Dorico, MuseScore or Sibelius, adjust the settings there.
On Play and MIDI settings, you will find a group of controls for each staff. The number of groups depends on the number of staves in the music.
Normally there will be one group of controls per staff. However if you have turned on Split-staffs in Document settings, two volume controls will be shown for each staff. To learn more about this see Play-my-part.
Instruments – Choose from one of 23 instruments.
Volume – Adjust volume for that staff. You can mute a staff by moving the control all the way to the left.
Transposition – Using he [+] and [-] buttons you can change the pitch through two octaves in either direction.
Tip: Don’t use these transposition controls to accommodate a transposing instrument playing with other instruments. To accommodate transposing instruments turn on Auto transposition under Document settings.
The only time you should set a transposition on the Play and MIDI settings screen for a transposing instrument is where
- The music is single-staff, that is just your part on its own without accompaniment
- You want to transpose a whole setting, for example to accommodate your vocal range
Pitch – The section marked Pitch at the bottom of the screen allows you to make fine pitch adjustments. For details see Fine pitch control.
Percussion and drums: If the music has one of more 5-line staves with the percussion clef (also known as the drum clef or the neutral clef), an additional volume control for percussion will be shown at the bottom of the Play and MIDI settings screen.