The RMS team has created sample banks that replicate the sound of each show in our catalogue. Every single line of the original orchestration is accounted for and you can use the instrument to support a variety of acoustic combinations.

CLICK HERE to listen to an example.

If you've licensed a show through R&H, get in touch with us. We'll be happy to give you a price quote and set you up with a contract for InstrumentalEase.

If your show is licensed through MTI, contact your MTI representative. They will issue you a contract for OrchExtra.

Keep in mind, Sinfonia is an instrument. It is meant to be played and performed over the course of the show. It is not a playback device like a tape deck or CD player. The most basic way to play Sinfonia is through the "Play" keys. By fingering the play keys, as you would a piano, at your desired tempo, you propel the song according to your individual interpretation. The process is analogous to conducting in the traditional sense; as you beat time, Sinfonia responds. You can speed up and slow down to follow the performance, moreover, you can create deep rubato passages or taut accelerandos. 'Playing' is the essential way to breath life into Sinfonia. So for starters, try using the play keys to perform some songs.

For all intents and purposes, they are the same. Sinfonia is our patented software that powers InstrumentalEase and Orchextra. InstrumentalEase is the brand Rodgers and Hammerstein licensed titles. Orchextra is the brand for titles licensed by Music Theatre International. In all cases, the technology under the hood is identical.

Absolutely not. Sinfonia is a fully functional instrument that is to be played at all times by a musician. There may be sections in rehearsal where the player can hit "Go" and have it play by itself according to the tempo set in the tempo map. This is not how the instrument was intended to be played.

Sinfonia is a new musical instrument. While it does not require the years of training for mastery that, say, a piano or violin demands, you should be familiar with the basic vocabulary of music. You should be able to follow along with a musical score and understand the concepts of meter and tempo. Sinfonia does not require computer or related technology experience. You simply need a willingness to learn and work with things that are new and on the cutting edge. Those with prior technology experience tend to embrace the potential more readily, and therefore may pick it up faster. But, if you have never touched a computer before, don’t be intimidated by Sinfonia. Go at it with a sense of adventure, invest some time, and you’ll be a pro before you know it.

You don’t need a lot of time, but there should be at least a few days away from the pressures of rehearsal for the Sinfonia player to familiarize him or herself with how it works. With anything new, there may be some initial confusions. The player needs some quiet time and space to get a basic understanding of the instrument. Once the foundation is there, the more time spent practicing Sinfonia, the better.

Sinfonia is rented for a minimum duration of either 4 weeks or 2 weeks beyond your performance run (whichever is longer). The weekly rate depends on a few parameters, basically reflecting your performance license. If you contact us, we can generate a specific quote.

Unfortunately, we do not. Payment can be made via check or credit card (via Google Checkout).

Typically we rent the system for a period of four weeks (including your production dates), or for longer productions, two weeks prior to opening night. This way we can ensure that you have the system long enough to prepare and practice outside of rehearsals for the best experience and smoothest performance(s).

On the back of the firewire audio device, there are two 1/4" outputs labeled Output 1 and Output 2. You will need to get two 1/4" audio cables (these cables may be either balanced or unbalanced; we recommend using balanced cables if possible) and connect these 1/4" cables from Outputs 1 and 2 to the inputs on your theater’s sound system.

We ship:

1. a laptop computer – preloaded with your show and preprogrammed with all the edits notated in the score.
2. MIDI Keyboard – in essence, your piano interface with the system. Each key is labeled and assigned to perform a specific function to help ensure a smooth performance (regardless of stage mishaps).
3. An audio box that sends the audio from the laptop to your sound system.
4. A number pad – to help relocate to different sections within a song. And 
5. Miscellaneous cables, a score and documentation.

The Sinfonia software and all of the show data are tied into our rental package structure. Sinfonia lives in a very specific environment (hence its availability as a rental product); nonetheless, we are at work on a downloadable version of the software which we hope to be able to release soon!

Sinfonia’s default setting is to produce the music in stereo: the left side comes out of Output 1 and the right side out of Output 2. If you use only one cable, you will just be getting 1/2 of the audio signal, and you will lose a lot of the richness and depth of Sinfonia’s sound. If you absolutely cannot get a second 1/4" cable, you can change Sinfonia’s default sound to be a mono signal so that everything comes out of one cable. Note that a stereo signal (two cables) will sound better than a mono one!

1/4" cables can be bought at any store that carries audio equipment, and are relatively inexpensive.

Sinfonia’s default is to have just Outputs 1 and 2 designated for playback, but you can always change this to have a multi-channel set-up (for example, having the strings come out of Outputs 3 and 4 and the drums coming out of 7 and 8). You can have up to 8 different 1/4" audio outputs with Sinfonia.

Probably not. The only Sinfonia device that we include a power cable for is the laptop computer. The MIDI Keyboard and audio interface devices do not need separate power cords, as they are powered up when they are connected to the computer and the computer is turned on.

Sinfonia is controlled by the MIDI Keyboard, and it sends MIDI information over the USB cable which connects it to the laptop computer.

By playing a number of different "Play" keys at your disposal you can perform the instrument at whatever tempo is required by the conductor. The musicality and nuance of every song can be expressed in this way.

Absolutely not. Our editor allows you to choose from a multitude of rhythms so every gesture in the music can be played with the organic nuance it requires. 

We have already gone through the score and put in rhythmic "tapping patterns" that we think are appropriate. By no means are you limited to the pre-programmed values, however! You can easily change the patterns to best fit your production.

There are a lot of reasons why you may not be hearing sound. Here are some troubleshooting steps you can try.

• Press the GO key on Sinfonia's MIDI keyboard. If you do not see any movement in Sinfonia’s player window, see the steps below regarding resetting the MIDI keyboard. (Be sure that you are playing a song that is sufficiently long and loud to test this!)
• Make sure that your theater’s sound system is turned on and working properly. Try connecting the 1/4" cables you are using with Sinfonia to some other music device (like a synthesizer keyboard).
• Note that with the Firewire 410 audio device, there are a series of green lights in the front which indicate that the Firewire 410 is receiving a signal from the computer. If you see the two leftmost green lights lighting up, the Firewire 410 is likely working- please check the connections to your sound system.
• Plug the headphones you are keeping near the Sinfonia system into the headphone jack of the firewire audio device. Make sure the headphone volume for that jack is turned up. If your headphones have a separate volume knob, be sure the headphone volume is turned up as well. If you hear sound in your headphones, the firewire device is likely working- please check the connections to your sound system.
• When the firewire device is properly connected and turned on, you will see a solid blue light in the top right corner. If you see a blue light that is flashing, the device is plugged in, but not turned on. Press in the power switch next to that blue light and restart the Sinfonia computer.
• Listen closely to the laptop: are you hearing the sound coming from the laptop speakers? If so, do the following:

1. From the player window of the laptop: hold down the Command key on the Apple keyboard and press and release the Tab key until Terminal is the highlighted option. (The Command Key also sometimes has a clover symbol and/or an Apple symbol.)
2. Hold down the Command key and press Q to quit the Terminal. You will be prompted with a box asking if you want to close the session; click "close".
3. Move the mouse down to the bottom of the screen and click on the icon "Audio MIDI Setup". When the Audio MIDI Setup window opens, click on the tab labeled “Audio Devices”.
4. In the top right corner. you will see two drop-down boxes for “system Output” and "Default Output". Change both boxes so that either Firewire 410 or Profire 610 (2) is set in each box.
5. Click the red button on the top right corner of the Audio MIDI Setup window to close the window.
6. Move the mouse down to the bottom of the screen and click on the icon “sinfonia script”. Sinfonia should relaunch and the sound should play back out of the selected firewire audio box.

If none of these steps solves the problem, try the following:

1. Quit Sinfonia by clicking on the Quit button, and shut down the computer.
2. Unplug the firewire cable which connects the firewire audio device to the computer. The blue light on that device should go off.
3. After the light goes off, wait 3 seconds, and then plug the firewire cable back into the device and the computer.
4. Restart the computer, and click RMS to relaunch Sinfonia.

While you don’t need to plug in headphones for Sinfonia to work, we highly recommend having headphones near the system for practicing and troubleshooting. Note that the headphones to be used with Sinfonia should have a 1/4" plug (which is bigger than the 1/8" plug found on the headphones which come with most portable music players). Most electronics stores sell inexpensive 1/8" to 1/4" plug adaptors.

Yes. The firewire audio device we include with Sinfonia has a headphone jack in the front and the two (or more) outputs in the back. The headphone and rear outputs have separate knobs which control their levels, and you can have sound coming out of the rear outputs while you have headphones plugged into the front.

Absolutely. Assuming the keyboard has a MIDI Out (which most keyboards do), you can use that keyboard (with your own MIDI cable) in lieu of the keyboard provided by RMS. Once you have connected the MIDI out of your keyboard to the MIDI In port of the audio device we have enclosed, you can use the functions in the MIDI tab of the editor to make your keyboard the primary MIDI controller. Furthermore, you can use the Remap button to put the different real time functions such as 'Vamp', 'Play', 'Stop', etc... wherever you want.

There is a known bug relating to the operation of this device and how it communicates with the Apple operating system. Occasionally, the internal settings of the Firewire 410 may change so that the music it plays back appears to be a little more than a 1/2 step higher in pitch from how the music should normally sound. If you discover this to be happening, do the following:

1. From the player window of the laptop: hold down the Command key on the Apple keyboard and press and release the Tab key until Terminal is the highlighted option. (The Command Key also sometimes has a clover symbol and/or an Apple symbol.)
2. Hold down the Command key and press Q to quit the Terminal. You will be prompted with a box asking if you want to close the session; click "close".
3. Move the mouse down to the bottom of the screen and click on the icon "Audio MIDI Setup". When the Audio MIDI Setup window opens, click on the tab labeled "Audio Devices".
4. Be sure that in the Audio MIDI Setup window, the "Properties For" selection is set to "Firewire 410".
5. Towards the bottom of the Audio MIDI Setup window (in the section labeled Audio Output) is a setting labeled "Format". The current setting for 
Format may be "48000.0 Hz". This is incorrect. Click on that box and select "44100.0 Hz" to be the Audio Format.
6. Click the red button on the top right corner of the Audio MIDI Setup window to close the window.
7. Move the mouse down to the bottom of the screen and click on the icon "sinfonia script". Sinfonia should relaunch, and it should play back at the correct pitch and sample rate.
8. The issue here is that the sample rate can sometimes change by itself, possibly related to a power surge or similar event. Make sure to test the 
system before starting rehearsal (and especially before starting a 
performance!). If you notice the same half step discrepancy, repeat the steps above.

The following steps will reset the MIDI keyboard and get it working for you again:

1. Be sure the MIDI keyboard is turned on and plugged in. If you do not see any lights on the MIDI keyboard, check the USB cable which connects the the back of the MIDI keyboard. Next to the USB cable will be a power switch, be sure the power switch is set to the “On” or “USB” position.
2. Unplug the USB cable from the MIDI keyboard. Hold down both the + and – buttons on the MIDI Keyboard (not the Transpose Up and Down buttons), and while holding the + and – buttons down, plug the USB cable back in.
3. After the MIDI Keyboard lights up, you can release the + and – buttons.
4. To confirm the Keyboard is working, go to the Sinfonia editor. Click on the tab labeled MIDI. The first drop-down menu in that tab is for MIDI Input, and it should show the MIDI Keyboard you are using as the default MIDI input. If it does not, select the MIDI Keyboard you are using from the drop-down menu.
5. Click the Player button to return to the player. Your MIDI Keyboard should work as normal.

Your Keyboard probably got transposed by one or more octaves. Hit both Transpose Octave buttons at the same time; this should reset the Keyboard into the proper position. If this hasn’t solved the problem, do the steps in the post above to reset the MIDI keyboard.

Dedicated power means that the Sinfonia system is plugged into a power circuit that is providing power to no other devices. This means more than just having Sinfonia plugged into a wall outlet (with nothing else plugged into that outlet). Wall outlets will often be on the same circuit as other wall outlets in different parts of the room. It doesn’t help to have Sinfonia plugged into a wall outlet if that outlet is also on the same circuit as the light board and the popcorn maker! If you have any questions about whether an outlet is capable of providing dedicated power, please consult your school or theater electrician.

All sound effects cues which are meant to be played from within the orchestra (such as sound effects triggered by a keyboard player or percussionist) are covered. We do not include sound effects which are only indicated in the script.

Whenever we send out a system, we always send out a clean version of the show based upon the printed sheet music (scores and parts). However, this may not be what you are expecting. Please keep in mind the following:

1. The tempos you hear programmed in Sinfonia are based upon the printed sheet music, and often may also reflect the tempos set by a music supervisor who sat in with us when we did this programming. These tempos may not necessarily be the same as the cast recording you are listening to (and furthermore, there will likely be differences in the tempos and the music arrangements from the cast recording to the printed materials.)
2. Sinfonia is designed to be played in real time by a musician, not by a technician in a booth just hitting “GO”. Hence, there may be instances (such as with sections marked to be played rubato) where what is programmed in Sinfonia does not seem to fit your staging (as the rubato effect will only be achieved by real time live performance, not by just pressing “GO”.) While tempos can be adjusted in the tempo editor, you will have a far better (and more musical) experience if you have a live performer playing Sinfonia as it is designed to work.
3. Our clean version will still contain some programming designed to simplify your playing experience. For example, if a song goes from a fast cut-time tempo to a slow 4/4 feel, the default “PLAY” rhythm settings will reflect this (half notes for the cut time; quarter notes for the 4/4). This may not be what you desire, though: you may prefer to keep everything in half notes or quarter notes to simplify your playing experience. We encourage you to customize the show settings to fit your desires for how to play the show!

While this seems like a simple thing, it is not. RMS carefully develops each show with our own specially-developed sound set using a very strict protocol of patch changes and patch select hierarchy. As a result, non-RMS sound modules will not be compatible with Sinfonia.

When you rent the Sinfonia system, we include a thumb USB drive specifically for making backups of your show. To do this:

1. Within Sinfonia, enter the editor/utilities tab
2. From the drop-down menu, select (backup Sinfonia script) and hit "go"
3. plug in your thumb drive to an extra USB port on the keypad
4. Follow the on-screen steps to back up your show!

We recommend backup up at least once daily while you are in the rehearsal process, or any time you have made a large number of edits to your show file.

For more detailed backup instructions, please click here.

Before you make ANY edits in Sinfonia you should first go into the editor, load the act of the show you are working with, and use the "Save Show As" function. Any new show names should be less than 16 characters and should be set up for daily changes (i.e. Annie1 becomes Annie1a, then Annie1b, etc...) This way, if you make a mistake in the Tempo editor or with another parameter, you can always go back to an earlier version of your show. Show files or portions of those show files can become corrupted. If you save regularly you can get back to that earlier version and place your new edits in successfully.

Sinfonia is programmed so there is a wide dynamic range between loud and soft sections: Sinfonia is designed to be playing along with traditional acoustic instruments like trumpets and violins who are reacting accordingly to passages marked "ff" or "pp" in the score. However, this contrast may come across as too much (or not enough) for you depending upon the acoustics of your venue and whether the singers are using microphones. As a suggestion for helping to balance Sinfonia's overall level, choose a loud moment in the show and set your trim and fader levels on the mixing board to that level. This should allow you to level out the mix (giving you room to increase it or decrease it as necessary) and offer headroom if adjustments are desirable during the show.

As an alternative, you can add an external "compressor" to the audio coming out of the Sinfonia system. Speak to your sound technician about the best way to go about doing this.

The Ouput Test is one of the most important components of introducing Sinfonia to your pit/sound environment. In the editor, click on "Output Test". Then turn the test "On". At this time you can choose to hear each instrument play its sound or you can choose a Sine Wave. After that selection, click on each instrument one at a time to prove each channel is being sent to the mixing board. CAREFUL not to turn multiple instruments on when using the Sine Wave. This will distort your readings at the sound board by increasing the decibal level.

The headphone jack is there to be used by headphones. Plugging your speakers into that jack could result in blowing your speakers. Your sound technician should be able to provide you with the necessary tools to have a pit monitoring system and proper stage monitoring from the mix you are sending via Main L and R outputs in the back of the firewire audio unit.

Within the Editor, there is a preference where you can choose to have a black screen instead of blue. This will help out your lighting designer if the instrument screen is affecting the stage lighting.

In MIDI, each quarter note is broken up into 480 ticks. As a result, an eigth note is 240 ticks and a sixteenth is 120 ticks. You may want to add a meta-event such as "Atempo" or a "Rhythm" change in the middle of a beat for added nuances, so understanding which tick you want those changes allows you more control beyond the beats. Note that the first tick of a measure will always be tick 0 (the last tick will be tick 479 in 4/4, tick 239 in 6/8, etc.)

"Remap" allows you to do a complete remapping of your MIDI keyboard. Maybe you want the 'Play' keys moved to the left side of the keyboard for a left-handed player or are experienced enough with the instrument to make choices based on performance practices. After you activate the 'Remap" command, simply select the function and push the keys on your MIDI keyboard where you want that functionality.

The danger of relying on battery use is that you don't know exactly when the battery will run out. And you probably would be unhappy if it ran out in the middle of a show. Therefore we stongly urge that Sinfonia always be plugged into good, clean dedicated power (without sharing the power with any non-Sinfonia electrical devices).

For some useful information about MacBook power adapters, CLICK HERE.

One of the biggest factor in computer crashes is power fluctuations. Here are some rules to follow for setting up a computer in a theater:

1. Computers should always be on dedicated power. This means that you should not have the Sinfonia computer connected to the same outlet as any other pit or theater devices, including stand lights.
2. If the computer is plugged into a power strip, do not have any other devices plugged into the same power strip.
3. NEVER plug the computer into the same circuit as any lighting or other devices controlled by a dimmer. If you do, you can destroy the computer equipment.
4. Dedicated power means more than just an outlet in the wall with nothing else plugged into it. That wall outlet may be part of the same circuit as your lighting (or other) devices, in which case you will not have remedied the above problem.
5. When in doubt, speak to your theater's electricians before plugging things in.