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Messages - Fred Nachbaur

52
General Discussion / Re: midi to wav or mp3
Spring here is the first of September !!

Really? You don't mark the seasons to coincide with the solstices and equinoxes?

(Nice to see you're still around, Barry.)
53
General Discussion / Re: Opening 1.75 files with 1.70
No, there isn't. Thus far, all releases of NoteWorthy Composer are reverse compatible, in other words V1.75 will open even V1.3x files.

But going the other way is impossible. There is no way that early versions could possibly predict what the file format would be in a later, greatly improved version.

I'd suggest upgrading to V1.75. Assuming that you're a licensed user, this is free; and as indicated above, will work perfectly well with your older files.
54
General Discussion / Re: percussion, and only percussion
Hey lynx, you'll have to excuse Clara. She can't help being that way, she's not a drummer.

If you want to do drums, and only drums, NWC probably won't give you what you need. At least not easily. There has been a replacement font written (by Robert A, a frequent contributor to the forum) that gives you the x-noteheads. You can accomplish slashes by using other "User" fonts such as the Boxmarks or other music fonts available at the NWC Scriptorium. Same with other decorations like flams and rolls (trills).

So given enough care and attention you can make a drum staff that is visually correct. You'll want to "mute" that staff for playback purposes, because the way that drum instruments are mapped in midi don't correspond with anything in the "real" world.

For the sounded aspect, it's probably best to have a separate staff (hidden from view but sounded) that contains the actual midi track. Have a look in your Samples folder; DRUMREF.nwc is your friend.
57
General Discussion / Re: A few things...
PS - for multiple voices on a single staff, you don't necessarily have to use layering. You can use the chording function (add notes to a chord using CNTL-Enter). I'd suggest studying the help file on the topic to learn the "rules", and perhaps do a bit of experimenting to get a feel for when it's appropriate, and when not.

Historically, the chording funtion came first. However, partly because of the inherent limitations of this approach, the layering option was developed. Still, the "legacy" multi-voice functionality is still quite useful in certain less complex situations.
58
General Discussion / Re: A few things...
One warning about the octave-up solution; making the clef invisible will also suppress its appearance on subsequent systems. Workaround: At each measure that falls at the beginning of a new system, add a normal clef (visible) followed by an octave-up clef (hidden). This looks goofy in the editor, but works out fine in printing.

The problem is that if the layout changes, or if you end up printing parts, the system break may no longer be at the same place. Nonetheless, it's still a workable approach if there aren't too many octave shifts in your score.

If there are frequent excursions to/from 8va, a better approach is to use two layered staves. One is used for the normal octave stuff, and the other for the 8va stuff. In the 8va staff, either do the upward transposition in Staff Properties | Midi tab (+12) or else use the hidden treble-up clef. When all done, make invisible all the full-bar rests and barlines in the "tacet" portions of each of the layered staves.
60
General Discussion / Re: Percussion - please in german
Translation of previous post
I'd like to write scores for percussion, but can find neither the special clef {2 strokes}, nor the percussion notes {x/}. Can someone help me along, in German please?

Hallo Michael,

Leider gibt es zur diese Zeit weder Notenköpfe, noch der speziellen Schlüssel für Schlagzeuge. Vielleicht eines Tages... wir können also hoffen.

Mann könnte vielleicht den Schlagzeugs-Schlüssel ungefähr als Text schreiben, also "II".

Translation

Hello Michael,

Unfortunately neither percussion noteheads nor the special clef are available at this time. Maybe one day... we can always hope.

One could perhaps approximate the percussion clef using text, that is "II".
62
General Discussion / Re: Caliope
Poor Calliope. Always has had a (probably undeserved) reputation for loud and raucous noises.

"But when, Calliope, thy loud harp rang--
In Epic grandeur rose the lofty strain;
The clash of arms, the trumpet's awful clang
Mixed with the roar of conflict on the plain;
The ardent warrior bade his coursers wheel,
Trampling in dust the feeble and the brave,
Destruction flashed upon his glittering steel,
While round his brow encrimsoned laurels waved,
And o'er him shrilly shrieked the demon of the grave."

Calliope is a "natural" as the muse of heavy-metal and rock musicians.
65
General Discussion / Re: Crescendo within one note
MPC's are one of the most powerful features of NoteWorthy Composer, allowing a lot of control over the actual sound of your midi files.

F1 is your friend. So is the NWC Command Summary

There has also been considerably discussion on this forum, if you do a search on "MPC" I'm sure you'll find plenty to keep you busy.
66
General Discussion / Re: bad sounding instruments
you could download and install a decent soundfont for free

As far as I know, none of the ESS chipsets support soundfonts. They have their own proprietary midi drivers, a step up from the FM synths of the SB16 era, but not even up to SB-PCI128 (Ensoniq) quality.

However, you can probably use soundfonts with "Timidity", if your computer is screaming fast. Do a search on this forum for "Timidity" for links and instructions.
67
General Discussion / Re: bad sounding instruments
First step would be to be sure you have the most recent drivers for your operating system.

Depending on which operating system you have, and the speed of the computer's CPU, you might be able to run either Wingroove or Yamaha Softsynth versions such as the S-YXG50 linked here. Either will give better midi sounds than the defaults that come with the ESS chipsets.
68
General Discussion / Re: rumor I heard.......
Well, here's your opportunity to improve the overall quality of the Scriptorium, which is after all a user-owned and -operated repository of user submissions.

Contact the author of the file(s) in which you find errors, if approached politely most contributors will be delighted that someone else takes enough interest in their work to proof-read/ -listen.
70
General Discussion / Re: Piano Composition...
Yes, NoteWorthy Composer allows three methods of input:

  • Using the computer keyboard and/or mouse.
  • Using an external midi (piano) keyboard in "real-time" mode, in which you play along with a tempo track, and
  • Using an external midi (piano) keyboard in "step" mode. Each keystroke results in a note of fixed duration, changeable by a click of the mouse.
71
General Discussion / Re: Multi-movement works in Noteworthy
No, you can't force a new section with indented first system (optionally with instrument names).

However, you can usually work around this by having two separate sets of files. The first is just the single, long file used for playback continuity. The second is a set of individual files, one per movement, for printing purposes. If you wish, you can start page numbering anywhere you like, so that each movement pick up where the previous one left off.
73
General Discussion / Re: Multi-movement works in Noteworthy
You can add text items anywhere you want, in just about any font or size imaginable.

The difficulty is that if you change anything later (even which printer you use) then positions can change. So it's best to make such layout enhancements as the very last thing you do.
75
General Discussion / Re: note is extended longer than it's supposed to be
A tie is always on the same note, by definition. When crossing a barline, you have to be sure that the same note is on both sides, otherwise you get the stuck sound you observed. The greyed-out accidental is provided as a courtesy to you, to help insure that it is indeed the correct note; it does not show up on the printout.

However, a slur is a different constuct, and can be applied to as many or as few notes as you like. It is to indicate phrasing (a more legato feel, in most cases*). You can tell the difference by the fact that a tie practically touches the noteheads, whereas a slur is drawn with a noticeable gap.

* One exception that comes to mind is guitar notation, in which slurs are used to indicate hammer-ons and pull-offs.
77
General Discussion / Re: Clipboard
No, this feature does not exist in NWC at this time.

The closest approximation would be to have a separate "tool box" file, in which you place your commonly-used items or strings of items, either all on one staff or on separate staves. Use the Window | Tile command to place both the tool box and your work file on the same screen, and copy/paste from the tool box into your work as required.
78
General Discussion / Re: Braces
You can indeed place objects outside of the system, for instance before the left edge of the staff. The trick is to follow your object (e.g. braces, text, whatever) with a string of spaces, and set justification to "right", and alignment as appropriate for your situation ("At next note/bar" is usually the most stable, IMHO).

Similarly, objects can be placed beyond the right edge of the staff by preceding it with a string of spaces, and using left justification.

Note that this requires that your font indeed have a whitespace in it. This means that the NWCV15.ttf font and others like it cannot be used for this purpose.

Also be careful that your margins are set conservatively. If they're not, the object(s) will be blithely placed where you put them, but may fall outside of your printer's printable area.
81
General Discussion / Re: how to decode a prn file
You can't just install any old virtual printer and expect the resulting files to be readable by GSview. You specifically have to install a PostScript printer.

Any of the "Applewriter" printers, connected to "File", will produce .prn files that are readable by GSview.

I'd also suggest renaming the .prn files to .ps, you can then double-click on the from Windows Explorer etc. to autiomatically launch GSview.
82
General Discussion / Re: Concerning slurs
Actually, the slurs in NWC do indeed act like slurs should; they give a more "legato" feel by decreasing the silence between notes.

You're apparently thinking of what's commonly called a "slide". This can be accomplished in NWC using pitch-bends. There has been quite a bit of discussion on this topic, a good place to start is https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=762. Other threads are linked to from there.
84
General Discussion / Re: PHP-Nuke
Needs a bit more explanation, I think. PHP Nuke? Whazzat?

As to the demo - the popup option gives a text approximation of the NWC file in a popup, the normal option works -- well, normally. I'm underwhelmed.

And why does that site try to set four separate ad cookies?
85
General Discussion / Re: Changing a note value.
Or, if you want to change the note value up or down one step, use the numeric keypad + (plus) and - (minus) keys.

Also works on selections containing different note values.
88
General Discussion / Re: Grace notes
This isn't directly possible using NWC. The reason is that grace notes always come before an real (actual) note, "stealing time" from the following real note. As a result, a grace note does not occupy time in the usual sense; it's therefore a very different entity than real notes, and can't be chorded with them.

There is a thing called "cue notes", which are simply real notes in a smaller font size. They're generally used to help cue an instrumentalist (piano, etc.) to a vocal or other solo line. NWC doesn't support this at this time, but it's a functionality which could be very useful, so I'd suggest a jog over to the wish list.

You might be able to achieve the result you're looking for by using layered staves, with one of the layers containing grace notes and hidden rests. You'd have to experiment with the timing to make the grace note co-incide physically with the real notes on the other layer, so is likely to be quite fiddly.

Another possibility might be to insert grace notes as text, using the NWCV15.ttf font as a user font.
89
General Discussion / Re: Stupid Question
Did you reboot after installing the new version? That's been reported to solve the problem you're having.

If a reboot doesn't fix it, try uninstalling/reinstalling the V1.75 program.

It's really really worth getting V1.75 to work. There are so many wonderful new features compared to V1.55.
90
General Discussion / Re: Tempo
Oh, ok. The instructions should then read, "Where * is a little gray diamond, and N is a note. Unless you're on Casper's system, in which case use the ghostly blue diamond."
91
General Discussion / Re: Tempo
Hold shift while pressing cursor-left (or put the cursor before the item and hold shift while pressing cursor-right) to select the item, or click-drag to select with the mouse. Then press CNTL-E or ALT-Enter to get into the properties dialog for that item.

Use the same technique to edit any object in NWC.
92
General Discussion / Re: staffs again
Robert's comment is right on the money. Even the hack-by-hand PostScript concatenation only seems to work properly on discrete pages.
94
General Discussion / Re: staffs again
Ah, now I understand. No, sorry. There's no way of doing this using NWC at this time.

I've done something similar, but it was pretty fiddly. I actually made two NWC files, the first with only the piano intro, and the second with the rest of the song (with vocal and piano staves). I then "printed" them as PostScript files, and used a programmer's text editor to combine them. I then took that combined PostScript file and made a PDF out of it.

As I say, very fiddly. But there might be a more direct way of doing more-or-less the same thing. There's a program called "PDFedit" which claims to be able to combine PDF files. This, and the companion PDF generator program PDF995 might help you do what you've got in mind.
95
General Discussion / Re: Problems with NWC files with Slavonic text in Open Office
Do you have the current version of OO.o? There were significant font-related problems in 1.0, which were addressed along the way to 1.1. By the 1.1 beta most if not all of these were corrected. (The notable exception being the "Crescendo" font, which has trouble in other apps also.)

1.1 Final has now been released. The main difference AFAICT is that it's been considerably streamlined, and loads a lot faster than the beta did.
97
General Discussion / Re: How to execute 16th notes during 8th note swing?
Now things get harder...

The only way I can think of is to explicitly write the swing 8ths as a quarter and an 8th, tripletted together, whilst the straight 16ths are .. er.. straight. This will of course restrict you to the "default" swing ratio of 33%. (Other possibilities do exist; for instance, a dotted 1/8 and a 1/16, giving a rather frantic 25%, or 1/16 tied to dotted 1/16 and another dotted 1/16 (gives a more laid-back 37%).

If you want to keep the visual look of two 8ths, you'll have to write two staves; one sounded but hidden, the other visible but muted.
98
Version 1.75 Discussion / Re: Deteriorating performance
Well, it seems you have three separate issues here:

1) In Tools|Options, there's a checkbox for "Smart Properties Insert." Turn this off, and behaviour of the tabs should again be as expected.

2) The Crescendo font is indeed flaky. Some apps handle it alright, others bomb on it. OpenOffice.org doesn't like it, MS_Office does alright with it. (I even had it cause trouble under Linux, after importing my full set of Windows fonts!)

I've been installing it on an as-needed basis, then uninstalling it again once my current project is done.

3) Jaggies are normal in the editor, since the (fixed) screen resolution is much lower than printer resolution, and there's no anti-aliasing in the editor window. But it's not clear why you'd be getting jaggies in Print Preview -- at least not under maximum magnification. (At lower magnifications, again, you're looking at it with a much lower resolution, so jaggies will be "normal.")

To summarize, I don't think there's much, if anything, wrong with your install of NWC1.75. Have you installed the most recent web update? If not, that would be recommended; it has the exact same effect as a complete re-install (since the whole executable is replaced), except that it keeps your user settings.
100
General Discussion / Re: Saving Frequently Used Chords?
C#FG#!?!? What kind of chord is that?

C#sus(dim4)? :-p

More seriously, there are occasions when it's useful to use alternate spellings for chords. For instance, some would claim that there is no such thing as an augmented minor, but I beg to differ. For example: C. Eb. G#. Individuals steeped in equal-tempered tonality would argue that this is simply an inversion of the flat 6 (Ab) major chord. However, in certain progressions, it has much more of the feel of an augmented chord. For example, play this progression:

C Eb G
C Eb G#
C F A
D F Bb

Is the second chord an Ab major, or a C minor augmented fifth?

Cheers,
Fred