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Messages - SimonJShaw

1
General Discussion / IS NWC dead?
This must have been asked many times.  Apologies.
Nothing heard since 2017.  And even the forum is almost dead apart from scriptorium updates.  If the original authors don't want to continue developing it, might the source code be put in the public domain like Audacity etc?
I think even for the most recent price (compared with Sibelius etc.) there is much to recommend NWC.  And as freeware it could still be a killer.  The Linux folks are keen on that kind of thing... (I don't know what music s/w runs natively on Linux).
Sorry if this is a repeat - I couldn't find anything else similar on the forum.
2
General Discussion / Is this software dead?
I'm sure this is an old topic since the last update was years ago.
I'm still using NWC at present, because I'm so used to it, and for certain very specific things that it does well.  So I would be disappointed to hear that no further development will be undertaken, but such is the fate of all software eventually.
- To whom does the company / product IP belong? 
- Could the product be given or sold to an enthusiast to develop further?  Or made open source?
Anyone with info please let us know?  Or (kindly) direct me to another thread.
4
General Discussion / Is there a way... to collapse and cancel it within a system?
I'm writing for choir - versicles and responses - and I don't want to start a new line every time the choir parts come in.
But if I collapse the staves and uncollapse them without starting a new line, then the empty staves are still visible.
I want something like the attached where they actually disappear until wanted.
5
Tips & Tricks / Re: Change dynamics font size
Thanks for the clear and prompt response Mike and, frankly, "ouch!" -
I'm hoping (probably in vain) that someone will have an easier trick.
I don't really want to go through the composition and change all the dynamics to text.  Let alone duplicate them all.  I guess it would only take 15 mins to do but seems unnecessary :-/  And I'd like a solution for the future as the relative sizing thing is pants.

I'm producing a melody version for congregational use of an SATB+accomp. mass setting, so it is smaller than the original and rather packed onto one page.  In that layout and form the dynamics are in the way and this would be quickly sorted by scaling them down slightly.  But not individually.  See attached.

Adding a choice of font and scaling for all dynamics would seem the right solution, but I wonder why it wasn't made a controllable font definition anyway ("staff dynamics") when they changed the other font size controls?
6
Tips & Tricks / Change dynamics font size
I would like my dynamics markings e.g. "mp" to be smaller relative to the staff size.
But it appears from other posts that these are always in the "system" font, not one I can control the size of like "staff italic".
Is there a trick for this?  Or am I missing something very obvious (apologies)?
7
General Discussion / Cut and paste all staves
I can see one or two references to this obvious request, e.g. wish list going back 15 years, but no definite answer.
When composing, as opposed to merely transcribing, moving passages around is essential.
That's really awkward one staff at a time.

Ideally we should be able to select multiple bar number(s) at the top and "rt-click copy" all items in all staves in those bar(s).
Then rt-click the target bar, and choose "paste before" or "paste after".

Is something like this under consideration?
8
General Discussion / "Force system break" appearance - feature request?
I'd like a new option, when forcing a system break on a bar line, to do so either with or without extending the previous system to the end of the line.

If I have a piece in more than one section (e.g. movements in a suite), or a number of snippets (e.g. choral responses), then each line often should not be extended to the page width - to do so makes it unreadable if it is just a few bars (measures).

I don't think this is possible at present.  Does anyone know a workaround?

This feature would be comparable with the page setup option "extend last system" - i.e. it could be called "extend previous system" (currently the default behaviour) and should be a check-box applicable when setting "force system break" on a bar line.

My requirements might not be typical of course.  But this would be really useful for me.  Currently I have to have separate song files for each snippet or section in a piece of music to achieve the printed appearance I want.
9
General Discussion / Re: Section break extends system
Well thanks for all the thought you've applied to the issue everyone. 
I have been using the "separate-songs + cut and paste into word-processor" solution up to now.  Very inconvenient it is too.

I hadn't thought of Bill's idea of multiplying the staves; this certainly gets a 'clever' mark, but as it doesn't quite work no 'solution' bonus :-)

I have also needed to do this for songs with multiple-verse lyrics to be printed separately underneath.  Any 'clever solutions' (TM) for that?  Tell me to RTFM if it is already there.

Architecture-wise, I would have thought that the 'attribute of a barline object' was fine, but needs this one detail, just as a slur needs 'up' or 'down' etc., so a section break needs a 'ragged' or 'justified' modifier.

Thanks again,
Simon
10
General Discussion / Section break extends system
I write some scores which have a large number of short sections (e.g. choral responses for use in church), and would like to be able to start a new system without the previous one becoming strangely elongated to the right margin.

Some years ago I made a suggestion that the system break should optionally extend the system to the right margin, or else finish in the middle of the line as it would naturally at the end of the whole piece. In other words, a similar control to the "extend last system" option.

I hoped this would be included in v2 but apparently hasn't.  NWC people, is there any plan to do this?
Is there any clever way round this problem people have found?