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Topics - Peter Edwards

1
General Discussion / MPCs
Why are MPCs like volume and tempo reset at the start of a new playback, others such as expression, mod and pitch are not?

I couldn't understand why the second and subsequent playbacks were different from the first until I tried experimenting. The simple cure is to restore the controller to its default value as an additional line in the MPC. Pressing f6 twice also solves the problem but is tedious.
2
General Discussion / Hidden MMRs and Spacers
In the attached file the top staff is completely hidden so shouldn't affect the print-out in any way.

But, when the MMR bar lines and rests are 'printed' (third staff) then the spacers' shortening effect can only go as far as the length of the MMR bars as if they were actually visible.

To see this go into print preview and disable justify.

I discovered this inadvertently when the start of a voice part, which had lots of spacers to get it to fit and was preceded by a hidden MMR, wasn't showing the bar lines and rests at the start of the staff. I changed the properties of the MMR and suddenly the page layout was completely trashed :o 
3
General Discussion / Changing the Font Size
If you try to change the font size of, say, the lyrics you can only enter whole numbers, but if NW scales the sizes after a staff metric change then they appear as decimal figures. Can the input be changed to allow decimal figures anyway?

And getting rid of the decimal is tricky. You can't change 9.67 to 9 or 10 by clicking on those values. You have to click on some other number, close the font window, then reopen it and change the size to the required value. Somewhat tedious.
4
General Discussion / Double Bar Line Problems
Code: (nwc) [Select · Download]
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.751,Single)
|Clef|Type:Treble
|Key|Signature:F#|Tonic:G
|Tempo|Base:Half|Tempo:200|Pos:10
|TimeSig|Signature:AllaBreve
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:-2
|Bar
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:-1
|Bar
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:0
|Bar
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:1
|Bar|Style:Double
|Key|Signature:F#,C#|Tonic:D
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:1
|Bar
|Ending|Endings:1
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:2
|Bar|Style:Double
|Ending|ClosedBracket:Y
|Key|Signature:F#|Tonic:G
|Bar|Style:MasterRepeatClose
|Ending|Endings:2
|Key|Signature:F#,C#,G#|Tonic:A
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:-2
|Bar|SysBreak:Y
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:-1
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End

  • Playback is nonsense. It plays to the end of the first time bar, and then plays seven times up to the start of the FTB.
  • Printed output has the courtesy key signature (G) on the second stave instead of the second time bar key signature (A)
Both problems disappear if you replace the double bars with singles. Interestingly Behind Bars recommends this anyway, but Alfred and ABRSM both insist that the double bar is correct.
5
General Discussion / Melismatic Object and Rest Chord
Code: (nwc) [Select · Download]
!NoteWorthyComposer(2.751)
|AddStaff|Name:"Staff"|Group:"Standard"
|StaffProperties|Lines:5|Color:Default|BoundaryBottom:13|Visible:Y|EndingBar:Section Close|BoundaryTop:12
|StaffProperties|Channel:1|Volume:127|Device:0|StereoPan:64|Muted:N
|StaffInstrument|Trans:0|DynVel:10,30,45,60,75,92,108,127
|Lyrics|Placement:Bottom|Offset:-1|Align:Standard Rules
|Lyric1|Text:"Ah, ah, ah!\n"
|User|Melismatic.nw|Pos:-4|Class:StaffSig
|Clef|Type:Treble
|Key|Signature:F#|Tonic:G
|TimeSig|Signature:3/8
|User|LineSpan.nw|Text:"      "|Class:Span|Pos:-12.6|Cap2:none|Span:9
|User|Slur.ms|StartOffsetY:3|EndOffsetY:3|Pos:2.5|Strength:2|Span:9
|User|Trill.ms|Pos:9.5|Span:2
|RestChord|Dur:8th|Dur2:4th,Dotted|Opts:Stem=Up,ArticulationsOnStem,HideRest|Pos2:4
|Rest|Dur:8th,Dotted|Visibility:Never|Opts:Stem=Down
|Note|Pos:#3|Opts:Beam=First,Stem=Up|Dur:Grace,16th
|Note|Pos:4|Opts:Beam=End,Stem=Up|Dur:Grace,16th
|Rest|Dur:16th|Visibility:Never|Opts:Stem=Down
|Bar
|Note|Pos:6|Opts:Lyric=Never,Stem=Down,Beam=First|Dur:8th,Dotted,Accent
|Note|Pos:5|Opts:Lyric=Never,Stem=Down,Beam|Dur:16th
|Note|Pos:4|Opts:Lyric=Never,Stem=Down,Beam|Dur:16th
|Note|Pos:3|Opts:Lyric=Never,Stem=Down,Beam=End|Dur:16th
|Bar|Style:Double
|Marker|Pos:10.5
|User|Trill.ms|Pos:9.5|Span:2
|RestChord|Dur:8th,Dotted,Slur|Dur2:4th,Dotted,Slur|Opts:Stem=Up,ArticulationsOnStem,HideRest|Pos2:3
|Rest|Dur:8th,Slur|Visibility:Never|Opts:Stem=Down
|Note|Pos:#3|Opts:Beam=First,Stem=Up|Dur:Grace,16th
|Note|Pos:4|Opts:Beam=End,Stem=Up|Dur:Grace,16th
|Rest|Dur:Slur,16th|Visibility:Never|Opts:Stem=Down
|Bar
|Note|Pos:6|Opts:Lyric=Never,Stem=Down,Beam=First|Dur:Accent,8th,Dotted,Slur
|Note|Pos:5|Opts:Lyric=Never,Stem=Down,Beam|Dur:Slur,16th
|Note|Pos:4|Opts:Lyric=Never,Stem=Down,Beam|Dur:Slur,16th
|Note|Pos:3|Opts:Lyric=Never,Stem=Down,Beam=End|Dur:16th
!NoteWorthyComposer-End

With quite some effort I achieved more or less what I was trying to copy in the first two bars. The main point being to get the grace notes to sound before the bar line.

Trying to use Melismatic (3rd and 4th bars) is not an obvious success, not least because it only extends for the length of the rest in the rest chord.
6
General Discussion / Chord Problem
Code: (nwc) [Select · Download]
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.751,Single)
|Clef|Type:Treble
|Key|Signature:C|Tonic:C
|TimeSig|Signature:Common
|Chord|Dur:8th|Pos:2|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=First|Dur2:4th|Pos2:1
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:2|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=End
|Chord|Dur:8th,Triplet=First|Pos:2|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=First|Dur2:4th,Dotted|Pos2:1
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet|Pos:2|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet=End|Pos:2|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=End
|Chord|Dur:8th|Pos:1|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=First|Dur2:4th|Pos2:2
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:1|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=End
|Chord|Dur:8th,Triplet=First|Pos:1|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=First|Dur2:4th,Dotted|Pos2:2
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet|Pos:1|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam
|Note|Dur:8th,Triplet=End|Pos:1|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=End
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End

What's going on with the fourth (dotted) crotchet?
7
General Discussion / Hidden Articulation Marks and Slurs
A small bug. If you hide the articulation the slur is still positioned as though it was visible.

A fix is to move the articulation to the stem, but that's a bit of a pain. You could instead add a second marker (slur) to fix it.

As an aside, it would be useful to have a marker (for slurs or triplet) selected when you enter it (shift@) since you invariably have to reposition it.
8
User Tools / Sforzando Implementation
Code: [Select · Download]
Option Explicit
Dim StdErr, StdIn, StdOut, LineIn, Look, Matches, Match, Head

'Name:    Insert Sforzando
'Command: wscript scripts\Sforzando.vbs

Set StdErr = WScript.StdErr
Set StdIn = WScript.StdIn
Set StdOut = WScript.StdOut
Set Look = New RegExp
Look.Global = True
Look.IgnoreCase = True

While Not StdIn.AtEndOfStream
  LineIn = StdIn.ReadLine
  Look.Pattern = "^\|Note|^\|Chord|^\|RestChord"
  If Look.Test(LineIn) Then
    StdOut.WriteLine "|Marker|Target:Articulation|Visibility:Never"
    StdOut.WriteLine "|DynamicVariance|Style:Sforzando|Justify:Center|Placement:AtNextNote"
    If Instr(LineIn, "Accent") = 0 Then
      Look.Pattern = "(Dur[^\|]+)"
      Set Matches = Look.Execute(LineIn)
      Set Match = Matches.Item(Matches.Count - 1) 'the last one
      Head = Match.FirstIndex + Match.Length
      LineIn = Left(LineIn, Head) & ",Accent" & Right(LineIn, Len(LineIn) - Head) 
    End If
  End If
  StdOut.WriteLine LineIn
Wend

This inserts a sforzando mark and accents the note and hides the accent with an invisible marker.

There's one problem though. If you manually insert a dynamic variance it inherits visibility and position from the previous one. Inserting one with a user tool doesn't.
9
General Discussion / Musical Unicode Symbols
With an extended Unicode character set now available we can now use ♭ (x266D), ♮ (x266E) and ♯ (x266F) instead of somewhat unsatisfactory substitutes, and because they are in the normal fonts you don't have to have several text items with additional user fonts if used in combination with normal characters. Sadly the double sharp and flat symbols don't seem to work.

Neither does the South East Arrow ↘ (x2198) in the actual score although it does work in the Text Edit window and in Notepad and here in the browser.

None of them show up in Charmap – how do you enter them, other than by cut and paste?

Edited to correct Hex numbers
11
General Discussion / Beam Direction
Code: (nwc) [Select · Download]
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.75,Single)
|Bar
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:-2|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=First
|Rest|Dur:16th|Opts:VertOffset=-2
|Note|Dur:16th|Pos:-2|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:-1|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=End
|Bar
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:-2|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=First
|Rest|Dur:16th|Opts:Stem=Up,VertOffset=-2
|Note|Dur:16th|Pos:-2|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=End
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:-1|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=First
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=End
|Bar
|Note|Dur:8th,Dotted|Pos:-2|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=First
|Note|Dur:16th|Pos:-2|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:-1|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=End
|Bar
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End

The semiquaver beam in the first bar is obviously wrong. Split the beam (2nd bar) or replace Note/Rest with Dotted Note (3rd bar) shows the correct logic, so why the difference?

And is there a workround?
12
General Discussion / Lyric Placement on Layered Staves
You can move the lyrics up or down on a stave with a boundary offset which is good.

But if you layer that stave with another and put the boundary offset on the second stave it still moves the lyrics on the first stave. This is not good.

The song I'm working on (SATB on four staves layered into two) has most of the lyrics in the middle, but at one point there are alternate lyrics in the bass (below the stave) and on the next system alternate lyrics for the sopranos (above the stave) and they clash. So I thought I could change the boundary of the alto or tenor to separate them, but it just doesn't work!
13
General Discussion / Missing Slur at System Break
If a note is slurred over an "Open" bar line (i.e. Master/Local Repeat or Section) then it appears as expected unless the bar line is on a system break when the slur on the top system disappears. The lower one is still present however.
14
General Discussion / Slanting Beams
Code: (nwc) [Select · Download]
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.75,Single)
|Clef|Type:Treble
|Key|Signature:C|Tonic:C
|TimeSig|Signature:2/4
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=First
|Note|Dur:16th|Pos:1|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam
|Note|Dur:16th|Pos:1|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=End
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:0|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=First
|Note|Dur:32nd|Pos:1|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam
|Note|Dur:32nd|Pos:1|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam
|Note|Dur:32nd|Pos:2|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam
|Note|Dur:32nd|Pos:2|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=End
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End

The quaver/semiquaver group slants correctly, but the second group stays resolutely horizontal unless you adjust the first stem length. This gives two problems: one, you have to do it, and two, the stem lengths outside the staff are very often not the "7" that appears in the note properties so you have to guess what it should be.

Aesthetically too the demisemiquaver beams are too far apart which makes a score with lots of them look very heavy (this is true for the semiquaver stems too but they don't look too bad). The standard width of a beam should be half a staff space and the gap should be a quarter. Elaine Gould in Behind Bars (p17ff)gives a detailed explanation of the whole subject. Could we have an option (and preferably the default) to specify closer beams?
15
General Discussion / Grace Note Slurs
Code: (nwc) [Select · Download]
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.75,Single)
|Clef|Type:Treble
|Key|Signature:C|Tonic:C
|TimeSig|Signature:2/4
|Note|Dur:8th,Grace,Slur|Pos:4
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:3
|Note|Dur:8th,Grace,Slur|Pos:5
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:4|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=First
|Note|Dur:8th,Grace,Slur|Pos:5
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:4|Opts:Stem=Down,Beam=End
|Bar
|Note|Dur:8th,Grace,Slur|Pos:-2
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:-3
|Note|Dur:8th,Grace,Slur|Pos:-1
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:-2|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=First
|Note|Dur:8th,Grace,Slur|Pos:-1
|Note|Dur:8th|Pos:-2|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=End
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End

On downward stemmed notes the slurs go to the middle of the stem instead of the notehead (the upward stemmed ones are treated correctly). Curiously, slurs on  beamed downward stems (except the first) also go to the notehead.

BTW (and this can be adjusted with spacers) I do think there's too much space between a grace note and its main note.
16
General Discussion / Triplet Brackets
An oddity that doesn't seem to have come up before.

If you turn a quaver crotchet combination into a triplet then the bracket only extends as far as the crotchet, whereas Alfred shows clearly that it should extend to the end of the triplet range – i.e. as if there were three quavers.
17
User Tools / Collapsed MMRs
I wrote the following little script to insert a collapsible MMR in one go (instead of five separate components)

Code: [Select · Download]
'Save as ColMMR.vbs
'Command WScript Scripts\ColMMR.vbs <PROMPT:BarCount?=#>
'Writes out a collapsed MMR

Set StdOut = WScript.StdOut
Set Args = WScript.Arguments
With StdOut
  .WriteLine "!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.5,Single)"
  .WriteLine "|Boundary|Style:Collapse"
  .WriteLine "|Bar"
  .WriteLine "|RestMultiBar|NumBars:" & Args.Item(0) & "|WhenHidden:ShowBars,ShowRests"
  .WriteLine "|Bar"
  .WriteLine "|Boundary|Style:EndCollapse"
  .WriteLine "!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End"
End With

and encountered two snags.


You have to replace a dummy item (say a rest) or else it replaces the whole staff. I could process the whole StdIn stream to fix that, but if I'm inserting it, how do I know where the cursor is?

More importantly "Repeat User Tool" does precisely that. It doesn't re-prompt for the number of bars. :-(

Edited because the default MMR has "ShowRests" and "ShowBars" set, but if you miss these off the clip then they are not set!
18
General Discussion / Orchestral Scores
For my sins I'm notating the orchestral score for the operetta we are about to perform from handwritten, error stewn, somewhat indecipherable and conflicting instrumental parts. From the full score I want to produce a conductor's copy and the orchestral parts. No problem in principle, but several practical points to consider.

  • What size of paper
  •     for the conductor?
  •     for the parts?
  • and what font size
  •     for the conductor?
  •     for the parts?
  • and how do you bind the individual parts sheets?

Any help gratefully received.
19
General Discussion / Notating Repeats
I'm notating a song with three verses and need to show the repeat count on the individual instrumental parts. Normally with a piano score you wouldn't bother because you can see the verses.

Usually this would be done with a separate third time bar (with perhaps a different pick-up), but in this case there is no such difference.

Do I still need to notate a full separate bar or can I just put the  1/2¬ repeat mark up against the Repeat bar line?
20
General Discussion / Inconsistent Slurs
Why (when printed) does the second slur go to the notehead instead of the tail?

Code: [Select · Download]
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.5,Single)
|Clef|Type:Treble
|TimeSig|Signature:4/4
|Rest|Dur:Whole
|Bar
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:3|Opts:Stem=Up,Slur=Upward
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:3|Opts:Stem=Up,Slur=Upward
|Note|Dur:4th,Slur|Pos:3|Opts:Stem=Up,Slur=Upward
|Note|Dur:4th,Slur|Pos:3|Opts:Stem=Up,Slur=Upward
|Bar
|Note|Dur:4th,Slur|Pos:2|Opts:Stem=Up,Slur=Upward
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:-2|Opts:Stem=Up,Slur=Upward
|Note|Dur:4th,Slur|Pos:3|Opts:Stem=Up,Slur=Upward
|Note|Dur:4th,Slur|Pos:3|Opts:Stem=Up,Slur=Upward
|Bar|SysBreak:Y
|Note|Dur:4th,Slur|Pos:2|Opts:Stem=Up,Slur=Upward
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:-2|Opts:Stem=Up,Slur=Upward
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:2|Opts:Stem=Up,Slur=Upward
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:2|Opts:Stem=Up,Slur=Upward
|Bar
|Rest|Dur:Whole
|Bar
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:-2
|Bar|Style:SectionClose|SysBreak:Y
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End
22
General Discussion / Entering Notes from Keyboard
A really useful feature is the automatic insertion of bar lines when entering notes stepwise from a midi keyboard. But there's a couple of snags.

  • To enter a rest you have to use the space bar. OK until the bar starts with a rest when it all falls apart. Is there any reason why computer keyboard entry can't use the same facility?
  • If you tie a note with an accidental (using the / key) then the second note will have an accidental too if the tie crosses a bar line. No problem if the tie is within the bar, and no problem if the note is programatically split because its duration is too long for the current bar
23
General Discussion / Notating Versicle and Response
This is usually written as a single staff for the intoner, than a gap and then several staffs in the system for the response itself. With the new gap facility this is nearly possible and would work if a coolapsed staff could disappear when bounded by gaps as well as is currently the case with system breaks.
Code: [Select · Download]
!NoteWorthyComposer(2.5)
|AddStaff|Name:"Staff"|Group:"Standard"
|StaffProperties|EndingBar:Section Close|Visible:Y|BoundaryTop:12|BoundaryBottom:12|Lines:5|WithNextStaff:Bracket|Color:Default
|StaffProperties|Muted:N|Volume:127|StereoPan:64|Device:0|Channel:1
|StaffInstrument|Trans:0|DynVel:10,30,45,60,75,92,108,127
|Boundary|Style:Collapse
|Rest|Dur:Whole|Visibility:Never
|Bar
|Boundary|Style:Gap|Width:200|SystemConnections:Y
|Clef|Type:Treble
|Boundary|Style:EndCollapse
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:-3
|AddStaff|Name:"Staff-1"|Group:"Standard"
|StaffProperties|EndingBar:Section Close|Visible:Y|BoundaryTop:10|BoundaryBottom:10|Lines:5|Color:Default
|StaffProperties|Muted:N|Volume:127|StereoPan:64|Device:0|Channel:2
|StaffInstrument|Trans:0|DynVel:10,30,45,60,75,92,108,127
|Clef|Type:Bass
|TimeSig|Signature:4/4
|Key|Signature:C|Tonic:C
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:3
|Bar
|Boundary|Style:Gap|Width:200|SystemConnections:N
|Clef|Type:Bass
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:-3
!NoteWorthyComposer-End

In this example I'd like to suppress the first bit of the top staff.
24
User Tools / Working Tremolos
Not being a fan of hidden playing staffs (too much scope for errors when something on a visible staff is changed) I thought it would be useful to implement 16th and 32nd tremolos on layered staffs instead, so that you get the minim noteheads and the (demi)semiquaver beaming.

To install the tool copy it to the scripts directory and take the ".txt" extension off. Add it twice to user tools with a command line of wscript scripts\newtremolo.vbs 32. The first time omit the 32.

Then you just insert two minims (optionally dotted ), select them and run the tool. Then you have to cut and paste half of the output to a layered staff.
The editor looks a bit messy but the printed output is exactly as required.

If you set stemlength for a note then it is preserved and articulations and stem direction of the first note are also preserved.

Edited 02/11/07 to correct "dotted" bug, and also the case of a note/chord tremolo.
Edited 23/03/13 to remove need for cutting and pasting from second staff.
25
Tips & Tricks / Parallel Time Signatures
This is a possible solution to a long-standing problem.

Two immediate snags. You can't tripletize a single dotted note, and you can't beam a rest/note combination so beamed quaver triplets are still a no-no.
26
Tips & Tricks / Courtesy Key Signature Change
NWC doesn't put a courtesy change of Key Signature on the preceding system when the change is at the beginning of the next system.

An almost foolproof way of achieving this automatically is to insert a double bar line (as is required at the change of key signature), then the key signature, and then an invisible single bar line.

If the change occurs in the middle of a system then the invisible bar line has no effect on the appearance, so does no harm, but if the system breaks at the invisible bar line then the double bar and key signature will appear on the system above with an open end to the staff, and then the key signature is repeated as normal on the next system.

The only time this fails is when the system breaks at the double bar itself, but that will happen comparatively rarely. The invisible bar isn't counted and doesn't upset the bar numbering because there are no notes or rests between the two bar lines.