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Messages - MusicJohn

101
General Discussion / Re: Deleting tempo

   It would be good if you could search backwards as well as forwards.  This has, I think, been on the Wish List for some time, but has not been enabled.

   MusicJohn, 19/Jun/12
102
General Discussion / Re: Last Measure
   One of the problems with Help Files - and sadly Noteworthy is no different - is that they rarely tell you what you need to know - and, in particular, that they often discuss matters under one name and fail to link it to other names under which you might try looking.

   Of some assistance, however, is the pdf File nwc25guide.pdf, downloadable from the Noteworthy Website.  This File does quite well what it says on the tin - provides a guide to how to use Noteworthy.  And in this present case it tells you about page breaks (see under Boundary Change) and also about adjusting the appearance of the final measure of a score.

   I think you will find it quite helpful.

   MusicJohn, 7/Jun/12
105
General Discussion / Re: Intermittent layering of Vocal Scores

     Nice trick.  Thanks, both of you.  Now, let's see if I can "expand" that to cope with three or even four of the S A T & B staves layered or not - and also for cases where there's a double choir in SATB-SATB format.  [:-)]

     MusicJohn, 9/Mar/12
106
General Discussion / Intermittent layering of Vocal Scores


   Vocal Scores, particularly those by more modern Composers (such as Rutter), frequently change back and forth between "open" format (where, for example, each of the S, A, T & B voices has its own, separate, staff) and "closed" format (where typically the S & A voices share a staff, usually tail-up & tail-down, and the T & B voices also share a staff, again tail-up & tail-down).  Layering enables the four S, A, T, & B staves to become the two S & A and T & B staves, but - so far as I can see - only for the entire Score, not for some parts of the Score but not others.  Is the latter possible - can a Score be viewed and printed out (in one piece) with the open/closed format being changed either from page to page or within a page?  Would it, I wonder, be possible to make the Layering Tool an insertable object, like the Boundary Change object?

   MusicJohn, 9/Mar/12
107
General Discussion / Re: renaming the staff labels
        Hi, lighthouse.

   The Help Files are not tremendously helpful on this, are they.

   Look at F2 - in NWC2 this is in Staff Properties, under the Staff drop-down menu.  Here you can enter/change both the Staff name and the Staff label (and, in 2.5, add an Abbreviated name).

   MusicJohn, 22/Feb/12
108
General Discussion / Re: Can NWC 2.5 export in 1.75 format?

   Rick et al, you sound just like Microsoft.  "Why could you possibly want your nice new shiny Win7 to look like the 95/98/XP that you know and love"?  Win7 is all you'll ever need!"

   Some of us want what we know, and do not understand why "it" is not an available option.  And in this case, why can't the Noteworthy cursor be nice and thick and visible?  Why can't 2.5 export to 1.75 (or, indeed, 2.2), even if this means having to do without some bells and whistles?

   "I have XP looking like Windows 95", I think you said!

   MusicJohn, 18/Jan/12
110
General Discussion / Re: Can NWC 2.5 export in 1.75 format?

   And 2.5 Files cannot be exported to 2.2 format, or be read by 2.2.

   This is not good.  Indeed, for those of us dynosaurs still working in 1.75, this is a disaster!

   And as Richard points out in a separate thread, exporting from 2.5 to Midi, and then importing, is not the answer!

   MusicJohn, 18/Jan/12
113
General Discussion / Re: Strange Cursor Position?

        Hmmm.  Cross hairs certainly show up well, and I'll give them a try and see if they grow on me, but ... being an old stick-in-the-mud I'd still prefer a bigger, more obvious, cursor, along the lines of the old one.  Perhaps that could be an option?

        Mind you, I'm still rejecting the attractions of Win7 (!!) and sticking with W2K - if I could make Win7 look like W2k, or even XP, I would! - so I guess there's no hope for me.  [:-)]

   MusicJohn, 6/Jan/12
114
General Discussion / Re: Strange Cursor Position?
      
   It would also help if the cursor were a bit bigger - more like it used to be before the advent of the present 2.5 version.  At the moment it's really quite difficult to see, and pretty hard to find!

   MusicJohn, 6/Jan/12
115
General Discussion / Re: Forum Profiles
   And more greetings, from Cambridge, England - that's the old one in the UK, not the new one in the US.

  MusicJohn, 10/Nov/11
116
General Discussion / Re: Unmarked tempo change?
   Hi, John.

   If there's a next time, you could do worse than start from Tina's (Tina Billett's) "Finale" to

Beethoven's Ninth, which you'll find in the Scriptorium.  It has a Staff for every instrument you

could possibly need!  It will make one serious template!

   MusicJohn, 6/Nov/11
117
General Discussion / Re: Something to lighten the mood...


   In Peter Gritton's a cappella Work "Three Minute Messiah" there are, towards the end, the following "instructions":-

After horrid dischordancies, and while the Choir has petered to a stop, and is silent:
   "The conductor continues beating time in vain, looking worried"

and

As the Choir repeatedly sings "Amen":
   "The conductor turns triumphantly and bows in the rests, carrying on bowing while the Choir continues regardless"

   OK: so it's probably better when you actually see/hear it.

   MusicJohn, 3/Oct/11
119
General Discussion / News Groups problem?

  
   I've been unable to access the Noteworthy News Groups for a couple of days now, getting error messages like

Your 'noteworthy.composer' folder was not polled for its unread count.  Account: 'news.noteworthysoftware.com', Server: 'news.noteworthysoftware.com', Protocol: NNTP, Port: 119, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10061, Error Number: 0x800CCC0E

   If it's not me, does anyone know what the problem is?

   MusicJohn, 30/Sep/11
120
General Discussion / Re: Extra fonts in the NWC installation pack?


A little has been said here about Copyright.  I think it might be worth observing that Copyright is all about actual copying, not about making something that just happens to look the same.

Moreover, going back to a font old enough that it no longer enjoys Copyright, and actually copying (items in) that font, is not an infringement, for there is no longer any Right to infringe.  This is true even though there may be a later version of the font (items) young enough that there might be thought to be some extant Copyright.

Furthermore, while slavishly copying (items in) a font in which there is Copyright would be an infringement of that Right, devising (the items in) a font independently is NOT infringement even though the devised font looks the same.

Reading http colon-slash-slash nwalsh.com/comp.fonts/FAQ/index.html might be interesting.

MusicJohn, 26/Sep/11
121
General Discussion / Re: Why do you use Noteworthy?

   My turn!

   Once upon a time - back in the later 40s/early 50s - I was a golden-voiced Treble, leading the Decani section of my school choir.  Learning stuff was a doddle in those days - after all, we Trebles had the tune, and reading the top line of the score was no problem.  In due course, however - and in fact rather later than normal; all that singing has an effect! - my voice broke, and though I turned up for the Treble section practices I found myself attempting to sing the Tenor part ... until, just before the School Carol Service, the Choirmaster took me to one side, grabbed me by the throat, and said, quietly but menacingly, that I could stay in the Choir until after the Service but if so much as a single sound passed my lips he would personally kill me.

   So for the next 30 or so years I was a mere Congregation member, and sang nothing outside the occasional Church Service.

   But then my son, given the opportunity and encouragement, enthusiastically used his talent as a Treble in his school choir (St John's, Cambridge), and in the fullness of time became a solo-quality Bass (at Uppingham) , singing with his Cambridge college choir (Caius) - and now, ten years later, as a Lay Vicar with Salisbury Cathedral.  Somewhere along his way I thought, encouraged by his success, that perhaps I could get back into the Choral business myself.  And so I joined my local village (Haslingfield) choral society, and prepared to sing away joyfully and lustily as a Tenor.

   The Work was Mozart's "Coronation Mass".  Imagine my dismay when I discovered that learning my part, and reading the Tenor line in competition with all the other Voices, was really quite difficult, and that I needed help.

   I felt that technology should come to my assistance, but in those days - the late 80s/early 90s - "technology" was analogue rather than digital, and to start with I reached both for my trusty cassette tape recorder and for the flying fingers of my local piano teacher.  With the two of us listening to a recording of the Work, and her fingers tinkling out the Tenor line, I recorded - on a second recorder - the combination of the two, so that what I ended up with was a rather hissy recording of Mozart's Mass overlaid with my (Tenor) part.  And it worked fine (though, for all the sections of the Mass, it did take quite some time to get things right); at the cost of a box of chocolates and a bouquet, from then on I could listen to, and sing along with, my combination tape while reading the score.  Excellent.  But ... next term's Work was Messiah, and I balked at persuading the piano teacher - who did, after all, have other things to do, by which she earned her living - to help me with all of the 20 or so choruses. Surely, I thought, technology could come to my aid again?

   And lo, the Angel of the Lord ... no, sorry, it was actually Personal Computer World (at the time Britain's biggest computer magazine, but now, sadly, defunct) ... appeared to answer my prayer.  The specific answer came in the shape of an Ad for a free computer program of my choice, from a list, and all I had to do was pay £2.50 for the cost of the disk (a 3.5in floppy) and post and package.  And what was on the list?  Why, a "demo" version of Noteworthy Composer 1.1.  So I sent off the dosh, duly received the disk, installed it (in my old Windows 3.1 machine), and - Hurrah! - it worked perfectly, effortlessly, and was exactly what I needed.  Almost.

   Almost?  Ah, well, first the demo version would only allow me ten saves - but that was a mere irritation, for I discovered that I could open a second, new, Noteworthy score File window and copy and paste the "old" score into the new one and so carry on for another ten "saves" (don't worry, People: once I'd finished Messiah this way - boy, what a job! - I very happily coughed up my $49 and moved up to ... Version 1.3, I think, but that's lost history, and on a much older machine I don't have any more).

   And second?  That derives from why I wanted to do this at all, and how my ideas developed.  Unlike many Noteworthy users, I wasn't at all interested in printing out a score, merely listening to it playing so that I could practise.  My initial purpose, you will recall, was to help me learn my part - the Tenor line in whatever my Choir was singing - and that meant, really, that the Tenor line had to stand out when the file was played, and yet, preferably, all the other parts, and indeed all the backing (usually a piano reduction, most often not played as a piano but "converted" into orchestral sounds), had to be there as well, audible but sufficiently in the background so as not to confuse things.  I needed, then, to selectively emphasise the Tenor so that when I played the File - or, as was more usually the case, an audio recording of the File's output - it was the Tenor line that I actually heard, and could listen to and learn.  Unfortunately, the Noteworthy Composer of those far-off 1.1 days didn't seem to have a native ability for relative output volume adjustment (or if it did I was unable to find it!).  Now, of course, I can see that the MultiPoint Controller provides both Volume and Expression control, and apart from some problems these can help me do what I want.  But then ... I found myself begging for some sort of Mixer Desk system - and this has been a Noteworthy Wish List item for many years - and in due course my prayers were answered by a Freebie version (with an issue of, I think, Practical Computing) of a Sequencer program from Midisoft called "Recording Session", which allowed all sorts of changes of a Midi File on the fly, including savable-adjustment of the output volume.  So, all I had to do was save/output the Noteworthy File in Midi format, load it into "Session", adjust the volume sliders appropriately for each staff/channel in turn, and ... Bob's your Uncle; except for some very odd things introduced into the Midi File by Session, there I was with a suitably emphasised File, and the world was my oyster!

   It was so great having the world in oyster form that I thought that I should share my pleasure, and all my output, with the world.  And more: that if I could make Tenor-emphasised versions of a Work for me, then, in the same way, I could make Alto-emphasised versions for the Contraltos, Bass-emphasised versions for the Basses, and even Soprano-emphasised versions for the Sops (whatever I may have said above about the advantages of being a Treble, there are times when it's surprisingly difficult to pick the Soprano line out from a combination of all Voices).  And so in the early 90's there was born John's "make-and-flog-you-a-voice-emphasised-cassette-tape-for-a-tenner" business which did well, though not well enough for me to give up the day job.

   People were pleased, and grateful.  Well, fairly grateful; some felt that even a fiver was too much!  So eventually I burnished up my halo and decided to set the data base free - to throw open my efforts to the wide world by way of the World Wide Web.  And so in 2004 there was born "John's Midi File Choral Music site", currently residing at www dot learnchoralmusic dot co dot uk, and an ever-increasing collection of (mostly) great Choral Works in Midi form (with versions for all the appropriate Voices) became freely downloadable - a good complement, I hope, to the efforts made by the likes of CPDL, Choralia and CyberBass.

   But I would still like Noteworthy to include a Mixer Board!

   MusicJohn, 3/Sep/11


122
General Discussion / Re: Viewing upper octave?



   A pleasure to be of assistance.

   However good Eric's Help Files are - and with all respect to Eric, they're not that good! - they can never answer all questions.  I find it pays systematically to go through every section of every pull-down menu, and every tab of every sub-window, and play with everything to find out what it does.  With luck I remember - at least, that something exists - and can make use of the info when I'm in trouble or need to know how to do something.

   Failing that, there is, as you see, always the Forum.  [:-)]

   MusicJohn, 2/Aug/11
123
General Discussion / Re: Viewing upper octave?


   Or perhaps more simply merely increase the visual space above the staff - select the staff, then F2, the Visual tab, and then increase the number in the Upper Vertical Size box.

   MusicJohn, 2/Sep/11
124
General Discussion / Re: How Old are You?
   Hi, brado.

   You say you're highlighting a Voice by "giving it ff where the other voices are set to p(iano)".  That's OK, but it means you can't properly use whatever dynamic markings there are in the score.  A better way of emphasising a Staff is to use the Multipoint Controller - Insert|Multi-Point Controller - and adjust the output volume using either the Volume or the Expression control (I normally use the latter for a "blanket" Staff volume adjustment, putting it right at the beginning of the Staff, while I use the former to allow the control of individual [groups of] notes).

   You'll see the use both of dynamics and of Expression and Volume MPC control if you look in the Scriptorium at, for example, my choral version of the Kyrie of Palestrina's "Missa Brevis".  I used Expression MPC to reduce the overall output volume of the Alto Staff, and Volume MPC to modify the volume of various long (held) notes - and I was thus also able to make use of the normal dynamic markings.

   Good luck!

   MusicJohn, 7/Aug/11

PS   Your Choir might find useful any of the Choral Works on my Website - wwwDOTlearnchoralmusicDOTcoDOTuk.  These are presented in ready-emphasised Midi form, but I am usually happy to let people have the Master NWC versions if they want them.

125
General Discussion / Re: Staff won't layer!
   Hi, Tony.

   You need to tick the "layer" box in two different places - both in the Staff Properties (Staff|Properties|Visual) and in the Page Setup (File|Contents).

   Perhaps you left one unticked?

   MusicJohn, 5.Aug/11
127
General Discussion / Re: music recognition/transcription?


   Getting a computer to use the real sound - or a WAV or MP3 or the like file of real sound - of a performed musical work to make a printed score (or PDF File or the like) or to make a MIDI File (or similar) is a desideratum that occupies many.  While making the score or MIDI File from the notes is no longer the problem, actually acquiring the note and instrument information is a serious difficulty.

   In general, attempts to achieve this assume that the right starting point is to look at and analyse the waveform of the sound, and from that to identify both the note(s) - frequency, duration and amplitude, and so on - being played and the instrument(s) doing the playing, and in theory, and given enough computing power, this ought to be eminently possible.  So far, however, it has proved remarkably difficult, even when attempted for a single instrument - such as a recorder - playing notes one at a time.  For a combination of instruments (such as an orchestra), or for a single instrument (such as a piano or guitar) playing several notes at once, it seems at present to be well-nigh impossible.

   Why?  Well, as previously pointed out, not only is the sound from individual instruments for the most part extremely complex, resulting in a waveform representation that is not easy to analyse with the degree of accuracy required, but the extraordinarily elaborate waveform representing the output of multiple instruments playing multiple notes simultaneously has so far defied attempts to extract meaningful data from it.

   The nature of the problem is often likened to that of separating a cake into its original components (flour, fruit, and so on) or scrambled egg back into separated white and yolk, but actually those are not appropriate analogies, for in each case the cooking changes the ingredients in such a way that the original components no longer exist as such.  A better analogy is that of separating a simple but intimate mixture of essentially non-interacting substances, such as one of sand, salt and petroleum jelly (while it is true that sound waves combine and interfere, and thus "interact", nevertheless the original sound is still there, and can in theory be separated out).  With enough effort it is possible to pick out from the mixture every particle of sand and every grain of salt - and with some lateral thinking a little less effort will extract the salt by dissolving it in water, and the jelly by dissolving it in petrol (gasoline).  Filtering can also help.

   The sound of an orchestra is an incredible mixture, and yet we humans can pick out, can recognise, all the individual instruments - an expert musician (the conductor, say) will do this better than the rest of us, and will be able not only to identify, for example, the clarinets, and distinguish them from their neighbours the oboes and the bassoons, but also to listen to the notes they are playing almost as if they were doing so in isolation.  And if we can do it, why shouldn't the computer be able to?  Why shouldn't the computer be able to analyse the waveform representing the real sound, match it to the known wave forms of individual instruments, and separate them out, note by note.  It's not impossible; it's just that it is a very hard computational problem, rather like the three body problem, but it can be cracked if enough effort (and money) is thrown at it (a lot of expensive and intensive, and iterative, computing deals with the three body problem, and allows NASA et al to know how to ensure that satellites and space probes go, to the necessary exactness, where they're wanted). 

   Maybe the technique presently being used by Google to effect language translation might be applicable; this relies not on a real analytical translation, as would be done by a human interpreter, but a statistical comparison of word combinations in the source language to find known matches in the target language.  Though this might seem to be a technique which can only really be done by computer, and at which computers should be extremely good, in fact this is a typical pattern matching exercise, and is in many ways akin to how children learn a language.  And, come to think of it, even a human interpreter will match simple phrases from one language to the other rather than "translating" each word.  So, perhaps it might be possible, and helpful, to match a burst of orchestral sound output against an enormous database of known sound - "known" in the sense that its instrumental and note components are already recorded - and so deduce what notes are being played, and by which instruments.

   Bear in mind that the things you can do on a laptop today are things that 20 years ago you'd have been hard-pressed to do on a mainframe - and that 40 years ago would have been dismissed as quite impossible.  Perhaps we'll have it in 20 years' time ... like fully-controllable fusion reactors, perfect speech recognition, and no doubt a host of other things that are always just around the corner???

   MusicJohn, 22/Dec/10
128
General Discussion / Re: music recognition/transcription?
   Going back to Randy's original question - does anyone have any experience with any music recognition/transcription software, such as Sibelius's AudioScore Ultimate? - I assume, no-one having come forward to say they have - that the answer is "No".

   And presumably you, Randy, have not tried the free Demo version?

   I had a look round the Web.  There are several glowing reviews, but - like  others - I find it hard to believe the software is really able to live up to its promise.  And here are two very contrary reviews from the Amazon Website where the program is on sale.

   Enjoy

   MusicJohn, 21/Dec/10

========================================

This program claims to be able to transcribe audio to MIDI data in multiple voices by processing MP3, Wav files, or direct recordings. It certainly does put MIDI notes in place. Unfortunately, those MIDI notes only marginally resemble the original audio. I threw some very simple piano recordings at it, some acoustic guiter, etc., with no percussion and very little reverb. The program consistently failed miserably every single time.

I decided to go for the "ultimate" in simplicity. I recorded a track from scratch using the program's OWN metronome as the only sound. It's an audio click with a high pitch on beat one and slightly lower pitches on beats two, three and four. This program couldn't even transcribe this correctly.

AudioScore Ultimate might be worth $20, but I can't believe they actually try to get people to pay $250 for this piece of junk. Fortunately, I ran my tests on the free demo download rather than blindly buying the product.

This is pretty much false advertising for a product to claim it can transcribe multiple parts when it can't even transcribe one part.

===========

I too checked out the demo software for AudioScore and tested it the same way David did in the previous review. I second David's opinion... it's junk and don't waste your money.
129
General Discussion / Re: Request: Advanced player for choir members


   It is indeed very good, but ... only almost perfect.

   Were it to enable the output volumes to be modified so as to emphasise any one (or more) staff/channel/track relative to the others, as can Midisoft's "Recording Session" or Chris Hills' MidiPlay with Midi Files, then it would indeed be perfect.

   MusicJohn, 2/Oct/10

130
General Discussion / Re: new instrument: define b flat clarinet NOT justified to concert c
   I don't think that's quite what Jerry had in mind.  I think he's talking about the use of the Insert Instrument command - Alt I I - and how to insert something equivalent to a Bb clarinet.

   I've never done this sort of thing myself, but it seems fairly clear from the Help page for Instrument Change properties.  Thus, after suitably positioning the cursor on the staff, and invoking the command, first you select the clarinet from the list of predefined instruments, then - because that assumes each instrument plays exactly what is shown, and thus a displayed "C" is played as a "C" - you go to the Transposition box and enter -2 (the Help File says this for a Bb trumpet, you'll notice) so that what looks like a "C" actually gets played two semitones down, ie as a Bb.

   And to make it clear that this instrument you've inserted IS a Bb clarinet, you alter the name to reflect that - to say "Clarinet Bb".  And then you hit "Enter".

   Voila!

   MusicJohn, 23/Aug/10
131
General Discussion / Re: Request: Advanced player for choir members
   Although I too would like the NWC Player/Viewer to do all the things Richard lists, and especially be able to pause and then continue, nevertheless we must surely admit that with the right Midi-playing software - Midisoft's Session, for instance (which is what I normally use), or my friend Chris Hills's MidiPlay (see HaitchTeeTeePeeColonSlashSlash freespace.virgin.net/chris.crhills/midiplay/index.html) - you can do all these things with a Midi File (and what is more the two I name show you the full score and let you select exactly where in it you want to start from)!

   And it's no real problem to write an NWC File so that things like fermatas, and rest-less pauses between sections, actually play as they should in the Midi version.  A combination of invisible commands and layering allows you do do almost anything you want so that a score both looks and plays OK.

   Incidentally, in my very considerable experience it is a BAD THING to read the score on the screen; much, much better to read your printed score while listening to the File play-back.  That way you get used to doing what you will in the Concert, AND you can act upon all the scribbled comments you pencilled into the score to remind you how your Leader wanted you to sing it!

   MusicJohn, 22/May/10

132
General Discussion / Re: Just installed NWC 2.1 & wish list

   Hi again, Jim.

   You say "Thanks for the transposing trick recommendation.  I found that post the day I was working with the MIDI file, tried it a few times, and the G-flats always reappeared, even if I went to a key with sharps and back.  So no luck there."

   Hmmm.  Well, it works for me.  With a treble clef, try this:-

Start from g minor key sig: key in G A B C D Enat F# G F E D C B A G  (a harmonic scale)

Convert to Midi, and then import.  You should get

           g minor key sig:        G A B C D Enat Gb Gnat F E D C B A G

This is what you don't want, so transpose down 2 semitones, minimizing accents in key.  This should give you

           f minor key sig:        F G A B C Dnat Fb Fnat E D C B A G F

Audit enharmonic spelling, and you should get

           f minor key sig:        F G A B C Dnat Enat F E D C B A G F

Transpose up 2 semitones, minimizing accents in key, and ... you're back where you started -

           g minor key sig: key in G A B C D Enat F# G F E D C B A G

        So, "midi" flats have been converted back to "NWC" sharps, which is what you wanted.

   Regards,

   MusicJohn, 18/Apr/10
133
General Discussion / Re: Just installed NWC 2.1 & wish list
   Hi, Jim.

   A year or so ago I remember someone posting a tip in the Forum about changing Sharps to Flats and vice versa.  I cannot find the original tip, and I would like to suggest that he/she repeat it, perhaps with whatever updates and expansions and explanations may be appropriate - and especially perhaps with some Noddy-level comments about how and why things are the way they are (although possibly only Eric knows why NWC works the way it does)!  Meanwhile ...

   I am not sufficient of a musician to understand the rules etc involved in this - and particularly how NWC applies them when using the transpose and enharmonic spelling tools, but so far as I can see what one needs to do - and what I recall the original tip saying - is as follows:-


   To convert Sharps to Flats:

1)   If necessary insert key signature.

2)   Transpose UP two semitones, favouring Flats.

3)   Use Enharmonic Spelling tool.

4)   Transpose DOWN two semitones, again favouring Flats.  Voila!


   And to convert Flats to Sharps (is almost the opposite):-

1)   If necessary insert key signature.

2)   Transpose DOWN two semitones, MINIMIZING Sharps/Flats.

3)   Use Enharmonic Spelling tool.

4)   Transpose UP two semitones, again MINIMIZING Sharps/Flats.  Voila!


   It is strange how transposing up or down only one semitone gives different results, as does not favouring (or not) the right accidental.

   I have found this tip - or possibly my interpretation of the tip - invaluable when, as seems often to be the case, I've "imported" in a Midi File which seems to use the "wrong" accidentals (or at least which NWC converts into a File with notes with the "wrong" accidentals); it's such a pain to change everything by hand.  Mind you, just now and again the conversion doesn't seem to work the way I expect ... probably because I have myself done something wrong.

   Regards,

   MusicJohn, 18/Apr/10

PS   Richard: you will recognise this!

135
General Discussion / Re: Is there a way to change the instrument of all the staves at once
   Hi, Roshan.

   If you use the same Midi Channel for two or more different staves/tracks, then beware: any short note on a visibly-lower staff/track will, by virtue of the Midi Note-off command sent out to end the note, simultaneously turn off any note of the same pitch then playing on all the visibly-higher staves/tracks, no matter what the nominal length of each higher staff/track note.  So for example, if visibly-higher staff 1 plays a semi-brieve (whole note) middle C while at the same time visibly-lower staff 2 plays a crotchet (quarter note) middle C, then when the crotchet stops so will the semi-brieve!!

   For this reason I would advocate always using different channels for different staves, even though all the staves relate to the same instrument.

   Regards,

   MusicJohn, 6/Mar/10

Modified 7/Mar/10 - Is that what you had in mind, Rick?


136
General Discussion / Re: Note stops playing
   Hi, Rob.

   The File you're looking at being one of mine, I'm saddened you didn't ask me ... though in fact in this case I cannot really help, but like Eric I suspect it's a problem with your playback synth.  I say this because on my machine the File plays perfectly OK.  I can hear it anyway, as written, but as a check I inserted a pp at the beginning of Bar 83 in all tracks except the Tenor, removed all the other dynamics in bars 83 and 84 except for the ff at the start of Tenor 83, and ... it played fine, the Tenor line sounding out OK.

   Still, as you say:-

   "It's not really a problem, either... I was just curious. I can still use Noteworthy and this piece for rehearsing purposes." 

So all is well-ish - rather like with the Christmas Oratorio, in fact (I would nevertheless appreciate your help with that, if you could spare the time!).

   And don't forget that these Files, and many others, are freely downloadable from my Website - http://www.thehoopers.demon.co.uk - as Midi Files in ready-emphasised form.

   MusicJohn, 2/Feb/10

137
General Discussion / Re: Playback in octaves?
   I think you missed a trick here - both in 1.75 and in 2.  In each case the treble clef itself can be set either an octave above or an octave below, without any need for transposition.  See "Insert|Clef - Octave shift".

   Mind you, you CAN transpose in 2 if you wish - it's just in a different place ... it's in "Staff Properties - Instrument".

   MusicJohn, 28/Jan/10

138
General Discussion / Re: crescendo/decrescendo on notes already playing
   I don't think it's that we don't believe him, Rick, more like we read but failed to take in the point you think he was making (and I now reckon you were right). 

   And then .. I have to say that when I play a "normal" whole note (a semibrieve) - that is, one that is neither legato/tenuto or staccato (or slurred or otherwise altered) - from pp to ff using the Multipoint Controller (over the full note time period) the total dynamic range seems to be there, despite the tiny gap between the end of the note and the next note.  Well, effectively.  But I readily admit that my ears are pretty rotten.

   Perhaps jeremygui/Jaycee c",) will now tell us what he thinks about our suggestions?

   MusicJohn, 13/Oct/09

139
General Discussion / Re: Is there a problem when you use too many staffs?
   As Rick says, the FAQ covers the topic well.  It might be worth it also saying, however, that while it is usually OK to have two or more notes starting together on two or more staves all with the same Midi channel, things come slightly unstuck when one note finishes before another, because the Midi "Note Off" command applies to ALL the notes sounding on that channel at that particular time.

   So, with two staves sharing a channel, a crotchet on one staff will sound together with an aligned minim on the next, but as soon as the crotchet note stops so will the minim note, despite the fact that it's a minim.  Incidentally, if you play the minim note staff by itself, then of course the note sounds the full length.

   MusicJohn, 13/Oct/09

140
General Discussion / Re: crescendo/decrescendo on notes already playing
   This does not strictly answer your question ... but I think it may solve your problem.

   Dynamic variations such as "crescendo" usually only work from note to note, rather than during a note, unless in the "Insert Dynamics" box you choose suitably to overwrite either or both of the velocity and volume for both the starting and the ending dynamic (remember that "velocity" corresponds to how hard you hit the note, while "volume" is how loud it sounds).  Without doing this, while a crescendo from pp to ff of a run of, say, quavers may sound fine, the same crescendo of, say, a semibrieve, or of two tied minims, will have no apparent effect at all - at least, not until the subsequent note!  The overwrite, however, will make the crescendo work during the notes as well as between them.

   Another way to change dynamics during notes is to use the Multipoint Controller - either the Volume or the Expression bit (I always use the former, but others swear by the latter).  This gives quite good control of both single notes and runs of notes.

   MusicJohn, 13/Oct/09

141
General Discussion / Re: Is there a problem when you use too many staffs?
   You may have 20 staves, but - unless you're using two different sound generators - you can only have 16 midi channels, one of which (usually No: 10) is reserved for percussion, leaving the possibility of only 15 different instruments at any one time.  Inevitably, therefore, with 20 staves you have two or more staves on the same channel, and this is regardless of the instruments you actually designated for each staff.

   Mind you, usually it is the lower of two staves with the same channel that determines which instrument is used, so I don't quite see how it can be that in your case the lower staff sounds as the one above - unless you applied an Instrument Change command in the upper staff, for that would reset the channel - and thus both staves - to that instrument.

   The answer to your questions - is there a problem, and can you prevent this - is thus a qualified "Yes" followed by "No".

   MusicJohn, 13/Oct/09

142
General Discussion / Re: NWC2 viewer
   So, what is the matter with my suggestion, repeated by Lawrie, that you use Midi Files that your several Choir members can play back with a Player such as van Basco's, which gives you all the control you desire?

   MusicJohn, 24/Sep/09
143
General Discussion / Re: NWC2 viewer
   Hi, ac080938.

   As you will see, your problem is not unusual, yet despite many requests Eric has not yet seen fit to remedy it.  So?

   The answer is surely for you to provide multi-voice Midi Files in which some of the voices are not muted but merely relatively diminished, so that the required voice stands out; each of your colleagues can then choose the version appropriate to him or her.  Alternatively, the answer is to provide a single Midi File, and encourage your colleagues to play it using a Midi File Player that allows suitable control - emphasis - of a chosen voice (as typified by Session or MidiPlay or van Basco's).  Have a look at my website - http://www.thehoopers.demon.co.uk - to see what I mean.

   MusicJohn, 23/Sep/09

145
General Discussion / Re: midi file import
Noteworthy Composer is quite clever.

You might find that if, having imported the Midi File and found all those extra time signatures, you save it out (or export it) as a Midi File, Noteworthy strips out all the superfluous ones, so that when you then re-import it the File is OK.

MusicJohn, 9/Sep/09


146
General Discussion / Music Publisher, by Braeburn Software
   In the very early 90s there was born of Bernard Hill, of Braeburn Software, a piece of music software then called "Noteworthy".  Later it was renamed "Music Publisher" (whether that had anything to do with Noteworthy Composer I have no idea).  From a brief search I see that it has been mentioned a few times in the Forum, the last, rather dismissively, being in 2007.

   I've recently had a quick look at its website -
http://www.muspub.co.uk
- which has some simple but neat tutorial video clips, and judging by what I've seen in these the Program appears to have quite a wide range of features (some of which would look good in Noteworthy Composer!), and doesn't seem at all bad. 

   Has anyone had a play, or any other experience, with this software recently?

   MusicJohn, 3/Sep/09

147
Tips & Tricks / Re: MIDI Channel 10 - Change Instrument!
   Ah!  Having engaged brain, I think I now understand what you were telling us - that is, that there are several different drum kits notionally available - I didn't know that! - and that they can be selected by choosing which instrument patch is used as the notional driver for the channel 10 staff - I didn't know that, either.  Thus, instrument No: 0 selects the "Standard" kit, instrument no: 8 selects the "Room" kit, instrument no: 16 selects the "Power" kit, and so on.  The trumpet is instrument no: 56, and that selects the "sfx" kit.

   I live, and I learn.  Thanks, Rick.

   MusicJohn, 20/Jul/09

148
Tips & Tricks / Re: MIDI Channel 10 - Change Instrument!
   Hmmm.  I wasn't aware that I was switching between "kits" (whatever they are), just from using a piano to using a trumpet - I don't understand why that should make any difference.  Can you explain, please?  And ... would using a violin or a bassoon be different again?

   MusicJohn, 20/Jul/09
149
Tips & Tricks / Re: MIDI Channel 10 - Change Instrument!
   I'm confused, too - but for a different reason.

   Try this.  Take the harmonic scale example, and duplicate the staff to a second staff.  Set both staves to channel 10.  Then add a crotchet space at the start of the second staff, so as to stagger the notes.

   Now, normally whatever instrument each staff is set to they will when played together both only play the instrument of the second staff, because they're on the same channel.  But ...

   ... first, interpose between every note on both staves a crotchet rest FOLLOWED BY an instrument change - to a trumpet on the top staff and to a piano on the bottom staff.  The rests on each staff should be in line with the notes on the other staff; the FOLLOWING Instrument Change re-sets both channels to the new instrument for the next note on one of them while the other channel is silent.  Then change the tempo to something slower - 60, say - and play.

   On my set-up both staves play the same up to about the 13th note, and then ... they play differently!

   Strange, eh?

   MusicJohn, 20/Jul/09