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Messages - Mike Shawaluk

101
Object Plugins / Re: ChordPlay.nw
I show that there have been a couple of custom variations of Chordplay.nw created by members here:
  • Chordplay.fl, created by Flurmy, which allowed solfeggio chord names, several additional chord types, and corrected a minor bug
  • Chordplay.lp, created by Lawrie, which extended Flurmy's version by adding a number of SwingChord types, and changed the default font to SwingChord
Most of the changes were made in a backward-compatible way, such that the original object's functionality is still present,

Anyway, there is a facility to embed a user tool within the object itself, so that installing the object automatically adds the tool to NWC's menus. The Chordplay objects all include a tool that converts text chords to ChordPlay objects, but an object can have multiple user tools. Adding a Transpose tool should not be too difficult, I would think. But I am most familiar with object coding; tools were never my strong point.

It would be nice if there were a way to merge most, if not all, of the changes back to the parent object.  But that is an aside.
103
Object Plugins / Re: Trill.ms (2.2)
This is from a Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. chart, but it doesn't say which publisher engraved it. 

Here, the trill has no descriptor at the beginning of each new system.  I have no preference, but if there is to be a descriptor, an accidental could help the user.
"Behind Bars" gives two examples: the "(tr)" notation that my object uses, and a plain wiggly line like in your example, but it says the "(tr)" is the preferred method. It would be fairly easy to remove the "(tr)", and a little more work to add the accidental. However, the object supports 4 styles, only 3 of which are mentioned in BB. The 4th style (enclosing the accidental in parentheses after the "tr") wouldn't work very well I think.

I would make the argument that the (tr) means "continue the previous trill" and therefore doesn't require the accidental. If it were going to change, you could start a new trill on that note.  But, let's see if anyone else weighs in with an opinion on this before I start making code changes. I will probably end up adding an option to enable/disable this new behavior anyway. Maybe make it 3 options: (tr), (tr) with an accidental (inside the parens), and no (tr) at all.
104
Object Plugins / Re: Trill.ms (2.2)
I'm using Mike's trill object for the first time.  Hey, it's only been available about 7 years, these things take time. 
Has it really been 7 years? How time flies...
Where the trill lasts past a system break, I see (tr) at the beginning of the next system just before the wavy line.  Perhaps on the next update, that could change to show the accidental too?  Otherwise someone reading the chart might wonder if the trill is supposed to change to a normal trill at that point.
That's a good idea. Generally I used "Behind Bars" as my reference on how to implement objects, and maybe she didn't include that scenario. If you can find a piece of sheet music that does this, that I could use as a sample, I'll make this change.
That aside, what a wonderful tool, once again.  A little late, but thanks, Mike.
Thanks for the kind words, and you're very welcome.
106
General Discussion / Re: Discord channel
I run a Discord server for another of my hobbies, so I can speak from experience about the pros and cons that have been raised here. It's nice to have more immediate interaction with the people in the chat, and for problem solving, that can be a plus, where you don't need to wait an hour or more for an answer. On the other hand, there is the time zone issue, and in our community, we have people in the US, Europe, Australia and other places, which can make it more difficult to find a time when the person you want to reach will be online the same time you are.

To answer a couple of questions, the discussion in Discord is archived and searchable, so that discussion that takes place when you aren't online is still there when you return.  A server can be configured with multiple channels, much like the separate forums on this site. Within each channel, there is the general stream of discussion, as well as the ability to create a "thread" for a specific topic. Images and sound files can be uploaded and viewed, although there is a limit to the size of such files (25 MB). Another option that is available is multi-user voice chat, and it's also possible to have video chat, either with a webcam or with a view of your computer screen. This can make it possible to demonstrate a program in real time.

I personally think that a Discord server could be a nice adjunct to what we have here in the forum, without trying to replace it.
109
Object Plugins / Re: Trill.ms (2.3)
... small hiccup: The help text for the Rate parameter still says that the minimum is 16.
Also, there's a playNoteRate array (whose purpose I don't see on my quick glance) - would it now like to heave an Eighth entry?
You are correct about my failure to update the help text. I realized that right after I posted the update. It seems a shame to waste another version number just to fix the help text.  :P

The playNoteRate array is only used by the audit() method. As you might recall, the Trill object used to have a PlayNote parameter which had a text value of Sixteenth, Thirtysecond or Sixtyfourth.  I later changed the object to have a numeric Rate value, which is also used by Arpeggio.ms. The audit() method uses the array to convert the old text value to the correct numeric Rate value. Since the old object never had a text Eighth value, there's no need to add it to the array for conversion purposes. Does that make sense?
110
Object Plugins / Trill.ms (2.3)
The Trill.ms object has been updated with the following changes:
  • If the trill is applied to a chord with playback selected, it will play the top note of the chord, instead of the bottom one (courtesy of @Flurmy).
  • The minimum value for the Rate parameter has been changed from 16 to 8, as requested by @hmmueller
111
General Discussion / Re: Beaming with another note in the sopranostaff
Personally, I don't think your source is an SATB, I think it's a piano score with the lyric line and melody included in the right hand with the chords, and a simple left hand with the root note of each chord in the bass.
I agree with this. It is possible to convert a piano/vocal score into a SATB score, but it can be a lot of work. Besides isolating the right-hand chord notes into alto and tenor notes (you already have the melody, which can become the soprano part), you will have to redo at least some of the left-hand notes so they match the vocal rhythm. You might also consider having part of the song in unison (such as the refrain) and the rest of the song in parts (the verses), or vice versa. It's up to you as the arranger.

I have done this once or twice when I used to sing with a church choir. Sometimes it sounded okay, but other times it didn't feel like a proper choral arrangement. I'm glad I didn't quit my day job.
112
General Discussion / Re: Beaming with another note in the sopranostaff
Hello,

I was trying to keying the note from the song sheet. I see in the song sheet that from the alto staff is beaming to the sopranto staff for the sake of good look. How can we do it in the Noteworthy. See attached i put the one from the song sheet and the one from the one that I keyed in in the Noteworthy.
More over, here in the song sheet, soprano, alto and tenor use one type of keysignature, why they put it like that.

Anyway how can I send a pdf, so that anyone can see the whole song, because, I do not know how to match the wordings with the note of Bass, It could be not the same syllable

Thank you.

Frank
It's possible to do this song with just two staves, as shown in your attachment. I don't think this arrangement is multi-voice (SATB) but rather is a piano-vocal arrangement with the melody in the right hand piano part. You could do this in 3 staves, with the top staff being just the melody, and the bottom two staves being the piano.  I'll attach the first few measures.
113
General Discussion / Re: Chords with opposite tied
This instead is ineffective:
Try removing and re-adding the tie via the "/" key just in case it has somehow gotten "stuck".
This "ineffective" fix is something I remember doing a long time ago, but not recently. Maybe it was a workaround on one of the many beta versions prior to the 2.75 release. But since then, I've gotten the behavior I want just by setting the Tie Direction property on the leading chord.
114
General Discussion / Re: Chords with opposite tied
If you look at the notation properties of the semibreve chord, make sure that the Tie Direction of the chord is Default, not Upward or Downward. When it is Default, the tie directions will be opposite as in the first chord tie. If you have a single (non-chord) semi-breve, the Default tie direction will reverse based on the direction of the invisible stem, but when it's a chord, it should give you the "good" appearance. Try removing and re-adding the tie via the "/" key just in case it has somehow gotten "stuck".
115
Object Plugins / Re: GuitarChord.ms (2.1)
I've just started needing to add more obscure chords to my scores and this object looks as though it should do that for me, however, having loaded it I cannot find the help text or see how to write or construct the new chords. Nor can I find anything other than 35 chords! What am I doing wrong?
I just noticed that the help text was never updated, and still says there are only 35 chords available. If the version says 2.1, you have the latest version with 132 chords. If you have an older version, you'll need to refresh the object to the latest version. Go to Tools -> Manage Objects... and click the "Online Synch..." button. A dialog will pop up, confirming that you want to scan for new plugin downloads. Click the "OK" button and it will scan for changes and indicate how many are available. Then click "Install Updates..." to complete the refresh.

When you are adding or editing a chord and the Notation Properties are displayed, you will see all of parameters for the chord in question. Click the "?" in the dialog title bar and then click one of the property fields for help text on that parameter. If you create a few sample chords and look at the parameter values for those chords, it shouldn't take too long to figure out how to create your own chords.
116
General Discussion / Re: two problems
Problem 2 can be addressed by using Mike's Slur.ms (strange I know) . See the attached file for both of these solutions. (I have not notated the middle measure, nor have a entered the whole note in the third measure since I did not want to complicate with layering.

That is definitely a creative use of a slur object. Other than the ends of the line being pointed (because of the slur's shape) it does work okay, but I would probably use a glissando instead. I'd put it on the lower staff between the two half-note chords, remove the "gliss." text and offset the height of the endpoints to get the alignment you want.
117
Object Plugins / Re: Trill.ms (2.2)
What was the need to mute the note in the score? Maybe the clash between the starting note of the trill and the note of the score?

Every other object I've written whose playback replaces the notation (arpeggio, tremolos, glissando, acciaccatura) requires the notes be muted in order to sound right. In some cases, not muting the notes will still sound okay, but as you have noted, there might be some double or overlapping of the playback. Of course, special care needs to be taken when there are ties, but this is noted in the instructions for the affected objects.

Since you are happy with your fix, I'll hold off on making the change official, in case someone else has a suggestion or other feedback to offer. Maybe I'll make the change for the next release of NWC :)
118
Object Plugins / Re: Trill.ms (2.2)
I just saw both of these messages, and since it's been 3 years since I last updated this object, I needed to refresh my memory a bit, reconfigure my code environment, and then figure out what you had changed in the code. Having now done that, I see that your change was very straightforward and should work as expected.

When I added playback to Trill.ms, I obviously did not try to implement chord playback, which might have been possible, but I can't think of any instruments that can play trill chords. If someone needs to do that, it could be notated using Tremolo.ms (which can also do a single note trill).  I chose the lowest note of the chord for playback because it seemed like a safe choice. Playing the highest note is also a safe choice. However, different scores might want different results, so the "proper" way to implement this would be with an additional parameter, to specify lowest vs. highest. For backward compatibility, the lowest note would be the default value for the parameter. Does that make sense?

As a side note, the reason the chord doesn't play during trill playback is because the chord is normally muted. You can unmute the chord and it will play, with the trill playing over the entire chord, but that is probably not what you want. Separate staves will give you the most control for that situation.
119
General Discussion / Re: beat repetition
Regarding RepeatMark.ms, I have a GitHub repository of all of my NWC objects, both active and obsolete. You can find the obsolete ones here:

https://github.com/MikeShawaluk/ms-nwcplugins/tree/master/Obsolete

There are no guarantees or warranties of any kind on this material, but it's there for anyone who wants to see it. Because of how GitHub works, there is also history information if you know how to use GitHub, so you can look at prior versions if that is your thing.

But here's a quick tip that should be able to help you with your score with 245 unknown objects. It is my understanding that RepeatMark.test was created to be backward compatible with RepeatMark.ms (@hmmueller, can you confirm this?)  If that is the case, you could navigate to your UserPlugins folder and copy the file RepeatMark.test.nwcuser.lua to RepeatMark.ms.nwcuser.lua, and then your old score should work fine. Another point, when I removed RepeatMark.ms from the NWC forum, it won't remove the object from peoples' computers if they had previously installed it. If it's not on your computer anymore, you must have reinstalled NWC from scratch and not copied your UserPlugins folder from your old installation.

EDIT: There are also several user tools that will allow you to do mass updates of a score to replace one object with another, or add/edit/delete object properties. Check out the User Tools section for more information.
120
General Discussion / Re: beat repetition
Just a quick note about several of my objects that went away, for different reasons.

If you read the messages under the "RepeatMark.ms (DEPRECATED)" thread that Lawrie linked, it should be clear that I gave the code to @hmmueller so he could take over the development and add a number of features and capabilities that users were requesting, and then deprecated my version (and renamed the thread so people would realize this). He gave his version the name RepeatMark.test rather than RepeatMark.hmm, apparently because it was still under development. Even the test version has a number of improvements and new features compared to the version I had previously been working on.

Regarding the other two objects David mentioned (RepeatBar.ms and CourtesyAcc.ms), they are also objects that are no longer present, but for different reasons. RepeatBar.ms was present for a very short time, and came out at the same time as WingedRepeats.fso by @Lloyd. His version had a few additional features compared to the version I had created, so I removed mine. CourtesyAcc.ms was a very early object whose purpose was to draw courtesy accidentals. When that was added as a native feature to NWC 2.75, it seemed kind of silly to have an object for that, so I retired that thread also.
121
General Discussion / Re: Contacting Support
Lawrie and Richard, thank you.
I accidentally loaded the objects today (Friday) - I think they were installed when I downloaded and installed 2.8 Beta 1.

Hi David, installation of the 2.8 beta, AND I think 2.75 a2, and maybe a1, not sure about straight 2.75 will automagically install a starter set of objects.  The starter set are the only ones preloaded - the rest you have to explicitly install.
All versions of NWC 2.75 or later will include default objects when installed, but 2.75 a2 and 2.8 beta include a larger set. In either case, many of the objects in the forum have been updated since the releases, so people will want to select Tools > Manage Objects... and do an Online Synch following installation.

Once upon a time, I had created a dummy score which had a copy of all of the non-starter objects that I used, so that I could bootstrap all of the objects after a fresh install. But since I have copies of the files locally (and numerous backups), I haven't needed to do that.
122
General Discussion / Re: Rule of the stem up and stem
Important point to note, if there are any RestChords in the selection they will not be changed and you will need to recreate them manually.
Actually this is not true. In the latest version of NWC, the Shift+Up/Down keys will flip RestChords. However, the direction for the RestChord will be that of the rest, not the note stem. That is, pressing Shift+Up will put the rest on the top and the note on the bottom, with the stem pointing down. (And vice versa for Shift+Down).
123
General Discussion / Re: unsynchronized lyrics
The easiest way to do this is to slur the notes on the staves where you have inserted the extra hyphens. Then the hyphens can be removed.  This is normal practice when you are singing a single syllable for multiple notes.
124
General Discussion / Re: Final variant
I probably should have qualified that my previous searches were for a "native" way to position/align text to the start of a staff. Of course, all is possible with user objects :) Thank you for the enhancement to your XText object.
125
General Discussion / Re: Final variant
Thank you both.  I understand the difference between a transparent vs. hidden bar line.  In the original request posted by @lawrroc (see the attachment at the top of this thread), he wanted the text to be completely to the left of the braces and clefs in the gapped section. David's example puts the right edge of the text to the right of the clefs.

The scenario I've had difficulty with is positioning text at the start of a staff (for example, the text "Refrain" or "Verse 2"). I would like the text to be left aligned with the automatic clef at the start of the staff, but no combination of inserted objects has been able to do that for me. I have always needed to right-align the text and fudge with extra spaces to get the left edge where I want it to be.
126
General Discussion / Re: Final variant
An alternative to Mike's solution is just to treat the "variant ad libitum" as a text entry, vertically positioned at the same height as the lyric.  For horizontal alignment, put an invisible bar line just after the clef at the beginning of the lower line, and put the text to the left of the bar line, left or right justified as wanted, placed "at next bar."
Can you include a short example of this? I think I know what you are describing, and it's something I have tried to do before, but I've never gotten it to work.
127
Tips & Tricks / Re: Glissando
My own totally unfounded suspicion is that the PDF renderer he is using is the culprit. I would suggest trying a different PDF printer driver and see if it results in the same slurrectomy that he is currently seeing.
128
Tips & Tricks / Re: Glissando
If you highlight the object marker and choose Properties (Alt-Enter), you will see a number of parameters. The Start Offset X, Y and End Offset X, Y will shift the left and right ends of the glissando line up, down, left or right. By adjusting those values, you can have one end of the glissando in the current staff, but have the other end in the staff above or below. If you have layers, it does not matter which layer the glissando object is on, because it will show through.

If those instructions are confusing, you could attach a score with the notes you have, and I can place the glissandos to match the screen shot you posted in the other thread. By looking at the properties you should be able to tell how I adjusted the positions to get them to point to the other staff.
129
Tips & Tricks / Re: Melody transfer
Assuming you are using the current version of NWC (2.75 or later), you can insert an object in your score by pressing the J key. If you have never used them, there may be a bit of a learning curve, but there is an entire section on the forum for using and configuring objects.
130
Tips & Tricks / Re: Glissando
Glissando.ms is what you want to use. You will need to add two of them, and offset one of them for the upper note pair. I attach an example score.
Code: (nwc) [Select · Download]
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.751,Single)
|Chord|Dur:Half|Pos:1|Opts:Stem=Up|Dur2:Half|Pos2:-3
|User|Glissando.ms|Pos:3|Class:Span|StartOffsetY:4.3|EndOffsetY:2.1|Pen:wavy|Text:
|User|Glissando.ms|Pos:3|Class:Span|Pen:wavy|Text:
|Bar
|Chord|Dur:8th|Pos:2,#4|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=First
|Chord|Dur:8th|Pos:#1,#3|Opts:Stem=Up,Beam=End
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End
131
Tips & Tricks / Re: Melody transfer
The Glissando.ms object can be used to draw this kind of line. Normally it auto-positions itself between notes on the same staff, but you can adjust the offset of either side of the line to get it to descend to the lower staff.  And you can adjust the line type to be dash, and erase the "gliss." text.
132
Tips & Tricks / Re: Dashed "No Breath" Slur
Use the Slur.ms or SlurCubic.ms object to do this. It allows a line type of solid, dash or dotted.

EDIT: Be aware that the slur objects are ornaments only; they do not have any effect on playback.
135
General Discussion / Re: Mid Export
What operating system version are you running? Also, what version of NWC are you using? I tried your set of operations on a sample score under Windows 11 and it behaved as expected. Perhaps there is something "odd" in your score that is triggering this behavior. Would you be willing to share the score for testing purposes?
136
General Discussion / Re: Oblique lines between two staves
I just wanted to mention that Glissando.ms can also be used to notate this sort of line, by applying a large end Y offset and removing the default "gliss." text. Of course, playback should be set at None.
137
General Discussion / Re: MIDI to score
When you say elsewhere, I assume you tried a few different programs, including MuseScore? Maybe other programs you haven't tried know how to handle MIDI files without tempo information?

Can the file be opened in a MIDI editor? If it can, perhaps do that, update/add the tempo info, and resave the file. Then see if it can be imported.

As a separate issue, perhaps the next version of NWC can make a reasonable assumption about tempo if it encounters a MIDI file with no tempo information present.
138
General Discussion / Re: lyrics of verses in a block after the score /
Two questions about lyrics:
...
When a word consist of more than one syllable AND this word is placed over two staves, the first part has a dash. The second part (at the next stave starts with a dash. I want to omit this second dash.
Regular the second dash is no problem, but when using Versenumbers.ms, the second dash is printed before the verse number, which is not beautiful.
You can suppress the second dash if you insert a hard return after the syllable where the staff breaks.  An example follows:
139
General Discussion / Re: Page view
You're right, Mike. the smaller the window (not just the monitor), the more the zoom levels.
Odd that, for 4k monitor maximized, the zoom level is only one.
Odd indeed. On my other monitor (1920x1200) at the maximum zoom, the notes/text are larger than on my 4K monitor. Perhaps there is a memory limitation that is limiting how much I can zoom in, and NWC did not anticipate 4K monitors in its current version.
140
General Discussion / Re: Page view
I'm puzzled.
In "print preview" I have just two views. The first one is "full page", the second is ""screen wide" and, in the upper left, there is the caption "page x, zoom y/2" with y either 1 or 2, no matter which way I change the zoom.
It appears that the number of zoom factors available depends on your monitor. I recently upgraded to a 4K monitor, which I have oriented in portrait (tall) mode. If I do a Print Preview maximized on that monitor, it says "Page #, Zoom 1/1" in the upper left corner, and pressing + or - has no effect. However, if I resize the window to only take up part of the screen, then the zoom keys work. Depending on the size of the window, the second number in the Zoom #/# will change. Very odd.
141
General Discussion / Re: Thinking Through Flow
The hidden ppp is much easier, AND it is near enough inaudible as to make no practical difference.  At least that's how it's been in my scores.  The other, non ppp, instruments significantly over power it.
You can also change the Dynamic property of the ppp to Change Channel Volume = 0, so it won't sound at all. (Unfortunately, you can't set Custom Note Velocity to 0, since that corresponds to "note off")
142
General Discussion / Re: Ties up and down in a chord
What Lawrie says about the tie direction is correct, but another problem you will face is the stem length on the tied quarter notes, which will need to be shortened so they don't hit the lower tie on the other staff. It would also be nice to be able to bend the ties upward/downward as in your sample, but NWC does not allow this. You could remove the ties and use SlurCubic.ms instead for the ties, but then the notes won't play correctly.
143
Object Plugins / Re: Tremolo.ms (2.1)
Those old standalone user tools were written before NWC was updated to allow built-in user tools. I consider those older tools obsolete, but of course I can't delete them from peoples' computers :)
144
Object Plugins / Re: Tremolo.ms (2.1)
I get the same result. Flurmy, are you having a problem with the Tremolo.ms auto user tool, or is it something else you're experiencing?
146
General Discussion / Re: alternating number of verses
Hey Lorenzo,
just did a test and changed the "Class" to Standard instead of StaffSig and it seemed to work.

At least I think I'm seeing what you want.
The help text might not be very clear on this feature, but when Class is set to StaffSig, the verse numbers will automatically appear on subsequent staves. If Class is set to Standard, then the verse numbers will appear only once, at the location of the object.  Also, if you want verse numbers on every staff in the start of your song, but then you want to discontinue them at some point (i.e. at the refrain), you can insert a new VerseNumbers.ms object and set its Visibility to Never.

One more thing I forgot to mention in the help text: if you are using Special Text and you want the verse number to contain a space (such as "1, 2."), just put an underscore (_) character in place of the space. The _ will be replaced by a space when the verse number is displayed/printed.
147
General Discussion / Re: Melisma
It's not the "Span" that's causing the problem. If you look at the first note of the "re" syllable of "amore", you will notice that the lyric syllable property is set to "Always". If you change it to "Default", the melisma will appear. The same is true for the other missing melisma.

I don't think that the Melismatic.nw object implements the "Span" behavior; you should leave the Class setting at StaffSig unless you want melismas for just the current system.
148
Object Plugins / Re: MIDIcontroller
Now that the plugin ID "fl" is assigned to you, you should replace the zipped file with the unzipped file on the top message of this thread. That way the "Manage objects" command in NWC will be able to update peoples' systems when you release updates to the object.
150
Object Plugins / Re: Glissando.ms (2.3)
The Glissando.ms object has been updated to version 2.3, with the following changes:
  • Reorganize properties screen to combine X & Y offsets on a single line, to save space
  • Add EndNoteShift parameter, to handle glissandos which span a clef change or other staff transposition