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Messages - RedDawgEsq

1
General Discussion / Vacation Hell
OK, I am a registered user on vacation without access to my installation disk or authorization number. I want to install and use NWC on my wife's laptop but can't figure out how to do it. I can access my home computer via TeamViewer but it's too klunky to manipulate the program by this method. I can open the program remotely but apparently my authorization number is not contained in the "Help" drop-down menu like it is for most programs. I can download and install the trial version on her computer but even if I had the authorization number, I don't see any way to insert it into the trial version in order to access all features. Am I not seeing something, or am I dead-in-the-water until I get home again?
2
Tips & Tricks / Re: Courtesy Accidentals
Well, however it is implemented will be welcomed. Barbershoppers as a lot are not trained musicians, in fact, I would estimate fully 95% have probably never had any formal musical training. Sight-reading skills are limited at best (some learn only by rote) so that anything that helps them figure out which way to move is useful. In my experience, most instances of the need for courtesys happens as you cross the bar line, but there are also plenty of examples where shorter note durations (8ths, 16ths) that are moving up and down within a measure can get confusing. Less confusion = better performance. Thanks Rick, I'll check out 2.5
3
General Discussion / "Step-Time" Playback?
Greetings everyone,

I am a several year user of NWC but a newcomer here on the forums. I formerly used Music Printer Plus until it essentially dried up on the vine. I then got interested in other pursuits and did nothing with notation software until about two years ago when I tried to get back into barbershop harmony arranging which is what I had primarily used MPP for. I then discovered my old Win 98SE machine that had sat around gathering dust and the MPP/LAPC-I installation was no longer functional. A friend of mine was using NWC and spoke highly of it, so here I am. So far it has done most everything I need; I did post a couple of messages today inquiring about the ability to have functional "courtesy" accidentals and caesuras without cumbersome work-arounds, so we'll see how those go.

Are there any other former MPP users here? Maybe we can comiserate the fact that it was never rewritten for true Windoze. The feature MPP had that I am missing most with NWC is the "step-time" playback capability. My use of MPP for barbershop charts was not only to produce legible spots (ALWAYS observing copyright restrictions, of course) but to also produce part predominent sound files for training purposes. The step-time feature made this a breeze: you could start the playback but also be in a quasi-record mode for the .PRM file of the composition which was basically the note-duration/tempo map of the song. Then, each time you tapped the space bar, the playback would move to the next chord or note change of the piece, so you could simply tap your way through the song and have all of your desired rhythm changes and rubato become a part of the .PRM file without having to manually insert a million tempo changes. (Barbershoppers tend to sing songs, particularly ballads, in a manner that maximizes the message and emotional content of the song, and the strict time duration values of the individual notes are only "suggestions" in how the song may be performed.) So, now I have two questions: 1. Is such a "step-time playback capability being considered for NWC and are there others of you that would find such a capability useful? 2. Is there the slightest possibility that anyone has written a program that would convert MPP's .MP1 (the graphical portion of the composition) to NWC format? I have back-up copies of all of my MPP songs that I would LOVE to get into NWC. I AM able to load them up in a barely working MPP installation I have in a "legacy" computer and save them in MIDI format that I CAN import into NWC, but of course a lot of the information (words, etc.) doesn't make the jump and I have to do massive editing to get anything useful. Anyone? Anyone?
4
General Discussion / Re: caesura
Is there any chance a functional caesura element is being considered for the next NW release?
5
Tips & Tricks / Re: Courtesy Accidentals
Why do we have to jump through all of these hoops to get suitable courtesy/cautionary/hint accidentals? I need them quite often in barbershop harmony charts and it's always a chore. If I place parentheses as text objects, it seems they never line up on the print and print preview screens as they do on the edit screen. Then it's a several minute exercise to get the alignment correct since you have to diddle both the horizontal and vertical spacing, and the vertical alignment always looks a bit off. These accidentals are also a bit smaller than regular ones. Now I realize I can probably find a font and point size that works better, but again, why is this necessary? There should be a simple check box on the Note Properties or User Tools drop-down menus that will make this a one-click done deal. I'm a failry new user of these forums so pardon me if this problem has been solved and I just haven't found it yet. (Links welcome if it has been.)