Pulso y Púa Sound Fonts & MuseScore Plugin

Sound Fonts and automation plugin for Spanish Plectro Orchestra (Orquesta de Pulso y Púa).

🇪🇸 Leer en español

alcala.mov

☝️ click to listen a demo sound, you can also try it in my musescore space

Table of Contents

• Sound Fonts
• MuseScore Plugin
  • Why This Plugin is Necessary
  • Features
  • Installation
  • Usage
  • Keyboard Shortcut
  • Important Notes

Sound Fonts

• Bandurria.sf2 Soundfont for Bandurria, it has only one channel with picked sounds and no tremolo
• Bandurria-Con-Tremolo.sf2 Soundfont for Bandurria, it has one channel, for selecting picked sounds use velocities 1-64, and for tremolo 65-127
• Laud.sf2 Soundfont for Laud, it has only one channel with picked sounds and no tremolo
• Laud-Con-Tremolo.sf2 Soundfont for Laud, it has one channel, for selecting picked sounds use velocities 1-64, and for tremolo 65-127
• Guitarra-Clasica.sf2 Sound font for Spanish Guitar.

MuseScore Plugin

Why This Plugin is Necessary

The Pulso y Púa plugin is essential for properly using these sound fonts in MuseScore because of how tremolo is implemented:

The Tremolo Challenge

Bandurria and laúd are unique plucked instruments where the characteristic tremolo technique is fundamental to their sound. However:

1. No MIDI Program for Tremolo: Unlike violin tremolo (which uses a different MIDI program), plucked instruments don't have a dedicated MIDI program for tremolo.

2. Velocity-Based Tremolo: These sound fonts implement tremolo using MIDI velocity:

   • Velocity 1-64: Picked/plucked sound (single note)
   • Velocity 65-127: Tremolo sound (rapid repetition)

3. Manual Configuration is Tedious: Without automation, you would need to:

   • Manually set velocity to 65 for every long note
   • Add tremolo symbols (cosmetic, for sheet music) and disable their playback to avoid the annoying synthetic tremolo sound
   • Disable playback of dynamics, articulations, and hairpins that interfere with tremolo
   • Disable tied notes playback (only the first note should sound)
   • Handle special cases (staccato notes, trills, short notes, etc.)

Why Disable Playback Elements?

The plugin disables playback of certain musical elements because:

• Dynamics & Hairpins: These affect velocity, which conflicts with the velocity-based tremolo system. If dynamics change velocity, the sound font won't switch correctly between picked and tremolo sounds.
• Articulations: Many articulations modify velocity or note duration, interfering with the tremolo velocity threshold.
• Tied Notes: Only the first note in a tied chain should play; subsequent tied notes should be silent.

Important: Disabling playback doesn't remove these elements from the score—they remain visible for musicians reading the sheet music. They simply don't affect MIDI playback.

Features

The Pulso y Púa plugin provides three main functions:

1. Add Tremolo

Automatically configures your score for tremolo playback:

• Add tremolo symbols to long notes (configurable duration threshold)
• Set note velocity to 65 to trigger tremolo sound
• Disable playback of tied notes (except first in chain)
• Disable tremolo playback (optional - keeps symbol visual only)
• Disable dynamics, articulations, ornaments, and hairpins playback
• Smart detection:
  • Skips short notes (staccato behavior)
  • Skips notes with staccato articulations
  • Handles velocity-increasing articulations intelligently
  • Detects and skips notes with trill ornaments

2. Remove Tremolo

Reverses all tremolo configuration: removes symbols, restores velocities and playback for notes, dynamics, articulations, ornaments, and hairpins.

3. SoundFont Manager

Built-in manager to download, update, and verify Bandurria and Laúd sound fonts, plus plugin self-update.

Installation

1. Download the plugin: PulsoPua.qml

2. Install in MuseScore:

   • Copy PulsoPua.qml to your MuseScore plugins folder:
     • Windows: %HOMEPATH%\Documents\MuseScore4\Plugins
     • macOS: ~/Documents/MuseScore4/Plugins
     • Linux: ~/Documents/MuseScore4/Plugins

3. Enable the plugin:

   • Open MuseScore
   • Go to Plugins → Plugin Manager
   • Check the box next to "Pulso y Púa"
   • Click OK

4. Download sound fonts (using the plugin):

   • Go to Plugins → Pulso y Púa
   • Switch to the "SoundFonts" tab
   • Click "Download All" or download individually
   • The sound fonts will be installed to your MuseScore SoundFonts directory

Usage

Basic Workflow

1. Select your score range:

   • For MuseScore 4.6 or until issue #31061 is fixed, you must select the entire score (Ctrl+A / Cmd+A) before running the plugin
   • The plugin only processes bandurria and laúd instruments

2. Open the plugin:

   • Go to Plugins → Pulso y Púa

3. Configure tremolo settings:

   • Minimum Duration: Choose the duration threshold (e.g., quarter note, dotted quarter, half note)
   • Check/uncheck operations as needed:
     • Add tremolo symbols
     • Set note velocity
     • Disable tied notes
     • Disable dynamics, articulations, ornaments, hairpins

4. Choose processing range:

   • Selected range: Process only selected measures
   • Entire score: Process all bandurria/laúd parts

5. Click "Add Tremolo & Close"

6. To remove tremolo: Use the "Remove Tremolo" tab with similar options

Keyboard Shortcut

If you use this plugin frequently, it's highly recommended to assign a keyboard shortcut:

1. Go to Edit → Preferences → Shortcuts
2. Search for "Pulso y Púa"
3. Click on the plugin and assign a shortcut (e.g., Ctrl+Shift+T / Cmd+Shift+T)
4. Click OK

Now you can quickly toggle tremolo configuration with your keyboard shortcut.

Important Notes

MuseScore 4.6 Selection Requirement

Due to MuseScore issue #31061, the plugin cannot programmatically access hairpins (crescendo/diminuendo) unless you:

1. Select the entire score first (Ctrl+A / Cmd+A)
2. Then run the plugin

This limitation only affects the official MuseScore 4.6 release. Custom builds with the curScore.spanners API extension don't require manual selection.

What happens if you don't select?

• The "Disable/Restore hairpins playback" checkbox will be disabled and show "(needs selection)"
• All other plugin features work normally
• Only hairpin processing will be skipped

Instrument Detection

The plugin automatically detects bandurria and laúd instruments by checking:

• Part long name
• Part short name
• Instrument ID

Only detected bandurria/laúd parts will be processed.

Sound Font Selection

After adding tremolo configuration:

1. Select bandurria/laúd staves
2. Open Mixer (F10)
3. Change sound font to "Bandurria-Con-Tremolo" or "Laud-Con-Tremolo"
4. Notes with velocity ≥65 will now play with tremolo sound

Customization

The plugin allows you to:

• Choose which operations to perform
• Set custom duration thresholds
• Process selected ranges or entire score
• Keep tremolo symbols visual-only (disable tremolo playback)

Support

For issues, questions, or contributions:

• GitHub Issues: Report a bug or request a feature
• MuseScore Forum: Discuss on MuseScore.org

© 2025 - Manolo Carrasco (do2tis)