Groups

You can sort the different articulations you define for an expression map into one to four groups. Groups can be used to combine directions and attributes in more complex musical expressions by choosing articulations from the different groups, for example to play a note arco AND staccato AND with an accent.

The groups themselves are exclusive. This means articulations residing within the same group cannot be used together. Since some of the articulations cannot be combined – for example, a violin cannot be played arco (bowed) and pizzicato (plucked) at the same time – these articulations should be placed in the same group.

Furthermore, the groups represent the musical importance, with group 1 having the highest priority (expressions in group 1 are more important than those in group 2, 3, and 4). This setting is required when the expression map does not find an exact match for your data and tries to identify the closest possible sound. Let’s say you have added a staccato symbol and an accent to a note in an editor. In the expression map, you have specified that staccato is in group 2 and the accent is in group 3. The connected instrument, however, does not have a sample that corresponds to these settings. In this case, the program looks for a staccato sound, disregarding the accent.