Ensemble Mode & the Stage

Solo vs. Ensemble

Every instrument slot starts in Solo mode: one player, one MIDI channel (or Omni). Flip the SOLO / ENSEMBLE toggle and the slot becomes a section — up to 16 members, each with their own channel, keyswitch, position, and feel.

Members

Each member row carries:

• S / M — solo or mute the member.
• Pan and width — the member's position in the stereo field and how wide its own image is (members are created at 100% width; narrow them if you want each player to read as a point source).
• Volume fader with live level metering.
• Roll toggle and speed — per-member roll, so inner players can sustain while others strike.
• Technique and MIDI channel — members answer only their own channel, which is how one slot plays a whole section from separate staves.
• Keyswitch — each member can hold a different implement. New members start on the keyswitch that was active in Solo mode (or the first one, when Sibelius creates the member automatically).

+ Add Member appends a member on the next MIDI channel. Auto-Pan spreads the section across the stereo field — first member hard left, last hard right, everyone else evenly between.

Global controls

Applied across the whole section for a human feel:

• Detune Amount / Probability — random per-note detune (cents) applied to a percentage of notes.
• Timing Randomization / Max Delay — the percentage of notes that get nudged, and how far (ms). Defaults: 33% / 25 ms.

Ensemble presets (the Preset button next to the toggle) save and recall entire section configurations.

The Stage

The Stage page (top bar) is a top-down view of every instrument and member in the plugin — the listener sits at FRONT. Drag dots to place players; position is sound:

• Left–right sets pan.
• Front–back sets depth: farther back is quieter, narrower, darker (air absorption), and wetter in the shared stage reverb. All four cues scale together.
• Auto-Space distributes players evenly across the width (per instrument, depth preserved). Marquee-select a subset to space just those. When Sibelius creates instruments automatically, they arrive pre-spaced.
• Snap Grid constrains dragging to a grid; Snap Row aligns a dragged player's depth to a nearby player's row.
• The legend identifies each instrument's colour; numbered dots are ensemble members.

Stage Reverb is one shared room for the whole stage — algorithmic presets or convolution IRs, with Amount, Size, Damping, and Pre-Delay. Depth drives each player's send into it, which is what makes the back row sound like the back row.

The power button next to the Stage toggle turns the whole stage system on or off from anywhere — with it off, pan still applies but the depth cues are bypassed.