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Messages - Lawrie Pardy

3153
General Discussion / Re: icons
It must be possible somehow - I have seen different icons for XML files - they even open different applications. All you need to do is find out how - and I'm sure it involves a) fiddling with the registry, and b) Knowing technical differences between the two file formats (and since they're compressed, it might be awkward).

Normally, in windows, a document file is given the icon of the application that opens it.  This is dictated by the file association in the registry and is a function of the filename's extension.

If however, you create a "shortcut" to the document file then the option to change the icon becomes available...
3155
Tips & Tricks / Re: Cues
G'day Carl,
Is it possible to beam eighth notes etc. this way? I couldn't figure out how to do it, which is why I proposed my alternate solution.

Carl

Yes, provided all the grace notes are adjacent to each other I.E. no other notes between them.

While I haven't tested it, I imagine you could put text spaces with preserve width on between them to make them space the way you want.
3158
General Discussion / Re: Oddest bug....
G'day all,
for those that are interested and didn't already know...

In WinXP (not sure about other versions though I have seen reference to it in '98 articles) there is a "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth".  This is a softsynth (duh) that uses a wavetable licenced from Roland, it is just over 3 Mb and is from the Roland Sound Canvas stable.  The file is called gm.dls and is accompanied by gmreadme.txt which is the copyright notice.

While not up to the standard of the Yamaha Y-SXG50 softsynth I usually use (IMHO), it's not too bad.  It is certainly worth consideration if you have a soundcard that does not support soundfonts and funds are a bit short...
3159
General Discussion / Re: Oddest bug....
G'day Adam,
sorry, didn't make myself clear.

Could you go to control panel, click "Sounds and Audio Devices", select the "Audio" tab.  At the bottom you will see a section that will show your "MIDI music playback" device.  This device is what MIDI mapper points to.

What is this device please?
3161
General Discussion / Re: Oddest bug....
G'day Adam,
The sound card appears to be an integrated "AC97" device on the motherboard from what I can find quickly...  It probably does not have a hardware synth nor sound font capability.

Anyway, now we can try a test.

Assuming you are running Windows XP...

In NWC2, if you go back to:
|Tools|Options|Midi tab|
Only now check to see if you have listed in your "Available play devices" a device called "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth".  If you have double click on it.  This will place it in your "Devices used by play back" list.  Next double click the "Microsoft MIDI Mapper".  This will move the MIDI mapper back into the available list.

Once you've done that please try a playback of your suspect Pizzicato Strings and let me know if there is a change.

Again, assuming you are running Windows XP...

One other thing you could check... In "Control Panel" you have a "Sounds and Audio Devices" applet.  Run this and select the "Audio" tab.  The bottom section will show your "MIDI music playback" device.  This device is what MIDI mapper points to.  The above suggestion assumes that the device listed here is NOT the "Microsoft GS wavetable SW synth"

Please let us know how you get on.
3162
General Discussion / Re: Oddest bug....
G'day again Adam,
lets start out slow then:
  • What sound card are you using?  AND
  • In NWC2, go to |Tools|Options|Midi tab|.  What is listed in "Devices used by playback"?

When you have these answers, I'll have an idea what to ask next.

To explain a bit, output from NWC is in the form of MIDI commands.  These are directed to a MIDI playback device, usually a MIDI Synth(esizer) that is part of your sound card (or possibly a "soft synth" or software synthesizer), but it could also be a MIDI port to allow you to connect a MIDI keyboard or other external device.

In this case, I expect the output to go to an onboard synth on your sound card.  Now, in order for the synth to synthesize the sounds you want to hear, it must have some form of data to tell it how to create the sounds.  In many modern sound cards, you need to load a "sound font" which is a database of information that allows this synthesis to take place.  Normally this load is automatic during installation of the sound card's software but can be changed later.

It is entirely possible that the soundfont in use (if indeed this is the kind of synth you have) has faulty data for Pizzicato strings, it is also possible that your NWC.ITREE has an incorrect mapping... But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.  If you can answer the above 2 questions we'll see where we can go from there...
3163
General Discussion / Re: Oddest bug....
G'day Adam,
what synth are you using?  If it uses soundfonts, does your sound font have a problem with this "instrument"?

To test a bit further, assuming you are using soundfonts, try a different sound font, or even a different synth - if you have XP I'm fairly sure you have an MS soft synth you could use to test with.
3165
General Discussion / Re: Audit Bar Lines and pickup bars
G'day David,
I think the behaviour we're seeing is correct...  In all the multi-part music I've ever seen the pick-up bar length is always the same for all parts, some have rests, others have the notes, but the first full bar always starts at the same spot.

In the case of Josh's composition, I believe that the syncopation should have been achieved by moving the delay into the bars proper.

NWC would have done this automagically if the initial barline in both parts had been a double one, and had been positioned in the delayed part by placing it after the correct number of rests to have lined it up with the first barline of the other part.  An audit barlines would have done the rest.  Certainly this would have resulted in tied notes across barlines but I believe this would have been correct notation to achieve the desired result.

Interestingly, my friend Alfred has nothing to say about pickup bars other than to define the term "Anacrucis" as an "upbeat" or "pickup"...
3168
General Discussion / Re: Need a good sound card
G'day J.P.

I'm looking for a good sound card for my PC I'm running a gaming CPU.

This is what I am running:
AMD,Sempron  3000+ 1.8GHZ
Seagate 80G HDD
512MB DDR RAM
ATI Raedon 9800 pro 256MB 128 bit graphic card
On board sound,using Klipsch 2.1 pro media speakers.


on board sound card sounds ok but I can do better.
the Klipsch 2.1 pro media speakers has the THX registered logo as well as the LucasFlims registered logo,
good pounding bass and clarity
 can some one point me in the right direction on what kind of sound card would be best suited for under $100 if possible

you may not need a new sound card.

While I don't know what US prices are like (assuming you are in the US) the Creative Live 5! and Audigy range are reasonably good, you just need to make sure you're using the very latest drivers and then find a soundfont(s) you like!

If you are primarily concerned with the MIDI synth then a softsynth of some variety will probably solve your problem

Do a search for softsynths and/or sound fonts on the forum.  Lotsa discussion and links.

If you can locate a copy of the now discontinued Yamaha syxg50 softsynth you won't be disappointed.

3169
General Discussion / Re: Eligibility for NWC2
G'day Steve,
I don't think you'll regret it,  apart from the native improvments you'll have access to some truly marvellous user created tools.

Check the Noteworthysoftware home page for the user tools starter kit then check the scripto for updates and additional tools.  You'll be amazed.

Lawrie
3170
General Discussion / Re: Fairground Organ ( aka Band Ogan) in NWC??
G'day K.A.T.
Lawrie, when I mouseover the initials, I just get a "highlight/cut/copy" type of cursor - I get no extra text.  My system's been a bit weird lately - I'll try again after a reboot.


OK, what I get in IE is a normal arrowhead pointer until I reach the acronym.  At that point my cursor changes to the usual "I" beam you normally see in an editor - is that what you mean?  Once the cursor changes, if you wait about another 1/2 second, the additional text should appear in a box that has a 'straw' or pale yellow background.

In FireFox (FF or Fx depending on where you are I guess) the acronym appears to have a dotted underline and when you mouseover it the cursor changes in exactly the same way as IE and the text then appears in a litlle box.

I've also noted that the "Glow" works differently in IE on WinXP to FF on linux.  On the latter it looks like the background has had a colour change, it isn't the coloured outline that IE on WinXP gives.

Lawrie
3171
General Discussion / Re: Fairground Organ ( aka Band Ogan) in NWC??
Hmm, Interesting...

I've just 'ad a look at this thread with FF on my linux box and would you believe, the acronym feature [glow=red,2,300]does[/glow] give a dotted underline in FF.  Just not in IE on my Windows box...

Josh, the code for an acronym is:

[ acronym=Test of acronym feature ]TOAF[ /acronym ] (modified with spaces between the brackets so the tags will show instead of being executed)

Which will give:
TOAF

or my second example with the manual underline:

With a manual modifier:
[ acronym=Test of acronym feature with a modifier ][ u ]TOAFWAM[ /u ][ /acronym ]

which gives:
TOAFWAM


BTW, in order to put the NWC2 clips into scroll boxes, you need to surround them with # code tags:
I.E.
[ code ]
clip text
[ /code ]

again, I've added spaces between the brackets so the tags will show instead of being executed.
Lawrie
3172
General Discussion / Re: NWC2 Clip Text in the new forum
G'day David,
Lawrie,  
I just installed Mozilla Firefox and find I can run both IE and FF at the same time.  You probably could access this forum with FF, running it alongside IE, without making it your default browser.


Thanks for the tip.  I'm a bit reluctant to manage 2 browsers but if I find that the limitations of IE on this forum become too annoying I'll certainly take it up.

Lawrie
3173
General Discussion / Re: Fairground Organ ( aka Band Ogan) in NWC??
G'day K.A.T.
<snip>
[glow=yellow,2,300]sidebar: Eric, is the acronym feature still available somewhere?[/glow]

Just found it!  Works [glow=blue,2,300]nearly[/glow] like the old forum but doesn't automatically highlight in a way that you would realise that there's an acronym there..

E.G.
As standard:
TOAF

With a manual modifier:
TOAFWAM

"Mouseover" both sets of initials and you will see the extra text.

*ping* Eric.  Mate, I wonder if the forum could be modified to automagically add a broken underline for acronyms allsame as the old forum?

BTW, is everyone seeing the NWC2 clips above inline, or in a scrollable box?  I'm getting them inline which makes this a [glow=red,2,300]very[/glow] long thread to navigate through.  I'm aware that you're supposed to encase clips in "code" tags, but I thought Eric had automated that, or was he just talking about possibly, maybe doing it...?

Lawrie
3174
General Discussion / Re: Eligibility for NWC2
G'day Steve,
unfortunately you really do need the 1.75 CD as the NWC2 preview install requires files from it.

That's at least one reason why the eligibility requirement that you hace 1.75 on CD exists.

There have also been discussions on eligibility at different times in the past so a search of the forums (fora?) will reveal more...

For the official info go here:
http://www.noteworthysoftware.com/nwc2/

Lawrie
3175
General Discussion / Re: Some basic help & advice needed regarding .ncw --> .mid --> .wav
G'day Phil,
another method avoids the MIDI file altogether...

If you use a recording package like, say, Audacity, or the recorder that came with your sound card (many do) or even Windows Recorder (though it needs some tweaking" you can go straight to a .wav file by starting the recorder and then telling NWC to play.

This avoids the problems that NWC has with exporting some things like Fermatas and Breath marks to MIDI.

Lawrie
3176
General Discussion / Re: moving alto clef
G'day again Miranda,
it just occurred to me, which way are you counting?

If you're counting up from the bottom of the staff, then the explanation above is your best bet [until someone thinks of a better way :)  ]

However, if you're counting DOWN from the top thus making the second line from the TOP middle C then this is what a Tenor clef does, and you have access to one of them!  The symbol is the same as an Alto clef, just spaced up one line, as they are both "C" clefs.

Hope this is a better solution for you!

Lawrie
3177
General Discussion / Re: moving alto clef
G'day Miranda,

I've been trying and trying, but I can't find a way to move the alto clef.  Is there one?  I need to move it to make the second line middle C.  I need to do it this way because it's for an assignment, I can change the way it's written.  Thanks to anyone who can help me.

If you use Erics' reply RE transposing the MIDI part, you can also display a "C" clef (an Alto clef is a "C" clef on the middle line) by setting the NWC font (NWCV15.TTF) as a user font and selecting the correct character, a "c" (lower case c) as text.

Step wise you need to:
  • Hide your Alto clef - highlight the clef, press <Alt-Enter>, click the Visibility tab, and select Never from the "Show on printed page" list
  • Open Page Setup (|File|Page Setup|), Select the Fonts tab and make a user font equal to NWCV15, set the size to be about 5/4's the staff size in the Options tab also in page setup
  • Wherever you want a "C" clef on the 2nd line to appear place a text entry <x>, <c>, select the correct user font, <Enter> (make sure "Preserve Width is selected)
  • You will also need to place text entries for your key signatures <x>, <d> for sharps or <f> for flats, select the correct user font, <Enter> (make sure "Preserve Width is selected)
  • In both cases, highlight each entry and move vertically as required
  • You may need to play with combinations of staff size and font size to get the best placement.

The down side?  As these clefs and key signatures are text entries, they will not automatically appear at the start of each staff.

Another problem, the text key signatures will be for display purposes ONLY, your best bet is to create a hidden, sounding staff using a normal Alto clef etc. and mute the visible staff.

Hopefully this will suffice...

Lawrie
3178
General Discussion / Re: Drums staff
G'day,
How do you add drums? I can see them in extracted midis with the instrument patch as the Grand Acoustic Piano, but of course when I put {001} into the staff it just gives me piano sounds and not drum ones.

You need to set the midi channel for the staff to 10 for most sound cards.  If you have a very old sound card, it may be on channel 16.

The clef should also be Bass (or Percussion in NWC2).

When you installed NWC, there was a sample file called DRUMREF.NWC placed in "C:\Program Files\NoteWorthy Composer\SAMPLES".  This will tell you what drums are available on what "note".
3179
General Discussion / Re: Triplet placement
G'day Frank,

The default placement of a triplet is too high and the size of the font is too big, but I can't find anything that lets me change either.

It looks like the font size is governed by the font selected in Page Setup, but that will also affect all expressions and I only want to adjust the triplet. Selecting the notes in the triplet and hitting Properties does not bring up a menu to change the triplet.

Oh, also, the triplet location follows the direction of the stem and the manuscript I'm copying has them opposite (stem down, triplet above).

Suggestions?

The only thing I can think of is a bit fiddly...

  • Set a colour to white
  • Set a user font to WingDings
  • Use a character(s) to overlay the triplet number and bracket (if necessary) in the white colour
  • set another user font to the font and character size you want
  • place a text entry "3" where you want it to be

At this stage I cannot help you with the "bracket" but I'm working on an update to the Boxmark2 font that will include a "reversed" 8va end mark that could be used in conjunction with the 8va end mark to create the "bracket".  No timeframe as yet, I'm concentrating on my own SwingDings font first...

Lawrie
3180
General Discussion / Re: Sound Issue
G'day BR68,
my guess is that you need to download the latest drivers from Creative.  A lot of their shipping drivers - especially for the Audigy range just plain suck.

I might add that before I bought my first Audigy, I had a "Live 5" which worked perfectly with NWC.

The Aussie Creative download site is here:
http://au.creative.com/support/downloads/

Follow the prompts and download the driver.  Be warned, if you have loaded sound fonts or changed any other settings like EAX stuff etc., you will need to re-do them.

Lawrie
3182
General Discussion / Re: beams across barlines
G'day William,

...
Now comes the logical follow-up request: when the "layer with next" box is checked, could NWC not check the size of the staff to be layered with and adjust accordingly? When the two staves to be layered differ in upper and lower boundaries, the smaller boundaries should be adjusted to match the larger ones. It seems as though this could be made automatic with a minimum of programming...

Actually, I think I would resist making this automagic...  There are times when you actually don't want the staves to have the same boundaries. 

E.G. Only in the last few days someone (please forgive me, I forget who it was) wanted to have a set of orchestral staves (or was it grand???) with barlines that did not meet because it did not suit his preference for layout, and interferred with several markings - Dim. and cresc. "hairpins" were the main problem.

The solution was to hide the barlines in the main orchestral/grand staves and use the barlines from the layered, standard, staves.

I'm fairly sure it came up in the news group.


It might help to have the staff sizes (and possibly types) added to Score Review.

An option to show all or just visible staves might be useful as well.


This suggestion is more to my liking...

Lawrie

3183
General Discussion / Re: beams across barlines
G'day William,
...the barlines on the layered staff don't quite connect to the barlines in the staves above and below - vertical gaps are left that are roughly the width of the space between two ledger lines at the current score's font size (there's the bug).

It sound to me like you're using orchestral staves, or perhaps upper and lower grand staves and the layered staff does not have the same upper and lower boundaries, or the layered staff is standard rather than orchestral or grand.

Lawrie
3184
General Discussion / Re: New Forum - Nice look.
Hmm.  OK, I've just logged back in after about a 13 hour break and I can no longer see the modify link on my last 2 posts.

Does anybody know when the ability to modify one's posts ceases?

Lawrie
3186
General Discussion / Re: New Forum - Nice look.
G'day David,

Thanks for your earlier replies, Eric. Some more questions/comments for your consideration:

1/
I know I'm going to feel stupid when I learn the answer, but where the heck is the Modify button?

2/
Is there any way to have each thread stay on one page?  This change page feature at the bottom is awkward. 

3/
The topic summary which appears below the window you write in while composing a message only contains a few of the messages in the thread.  It would be better to show the entire thread, because often a person will be discussing points raised by several contributors. 


1 - Yeah, I can't spot it either...

2 - You can select the page at the thread entry point on the discussion area page and also at the top of each page in the discussion.  I can see the value in multiple pages, but I would like to see many more posts per page... perhaps as many as 30 given that few of our discussions seem to last that many posts.

3 - I like the idea of a new window/tab opening when the reply or quote link is clicked - like the old forum.  To that end I usually right click the link and select "open in new window"

Lawrie
3187
General Discussion / Re: NWC2 Clip Text in the new forum
G'day Eric,


In IE, large code blocks should now use a vertical scroll bar.


Got the scroll bars, but the triple click is not a happening thing for me yet :(

Unfortunately I cannot easily move from IE due to limitations in some of the products I need to support.  Thanks to M$ "customisation" of what should have been a standard they simply don't work properly in Mozilla/FF etc. yet - some day perhaps...

Hmm, just realised that the "Acronym" tag is missing - is that a feature that can be implemented in this new forum software?

Lawrie
3189
General Discussion / NWC2 Clip Text in the new forum
G'day all,
I just did a quick test using preview and found that NWC2 clip text is not handled the way of the old forum.  (I kinda expected that but I did hope)

I confess that I found that feature very useful for quick demo's.

Eric, is it possible to include that feature in the new code or are we relegated to attachments?

Also, some real smileys would be nice (not too many though).

TIA,
Lawrie  :)
3190
General Discussion / Re: Text buglet in Rev 1y
G'day Rick,
I was missing a step.  I wasn't copying and pasting the edited text entry...

I see the problem now and can reproduce it.

Sorry for being a bit dense  :)

Lawrie
3192
General Discussion / Re: Text buglet in Rev 1y
G'day Rick,
hmm, still can't replicate it :(

Is it repeatable on your system?  I.E. can you start a new song and make it play up?

Is anyone else having a look??

Lawrie
3194
General Discussion / Re: octave transpositions ("8va")
G'day William,
while its not perfect, I usually use 4 text entries:

  • The first is a centre justified 8va placed left of the first note in the section.
  • The next is a left justified row of ---- that is shorter than I need and placed immediately after the first note of the section.
  • The third is the Boxmark symbol to finish the 8va section, this is centre justified at next note/bar and placed just prior to the last note of the section.
  • The last is another row of ---- but which is right justified to just between the symbol from point 3 and the last note and long enough to overlap the row in point 2.
All vertical positioning is set for correct alignment.

Sometimes I can dispense with point 4 but this takes some judicious use of print preview.

I fully agree that a formal 8va, 8va bassa and 15ma function would be preferable.

Lawrie
3195
General Discussion / Re: Text buglet in Rev 1y
G'day Rick,
I've copied and pasted your examples so I know what you're reporting.  Actually, I've seen something similar at different times, usually when using a user tool that hasn't behaved "quite right".

I think I saw it most when Andrew was working on "scratch".

Unfortunately I've been unable to duplicate what you're reporting.

I entered text, edited the properties and deleted the contents of the Expression box, and got a blank text expression.

I then went, one by one, through the other parameters till everything matched what appears in the first example. I.E. I set the font to page small text, pos to 7, preserve width etc..

Each time I deleted the Expression box contents and only got a blank text expression.

Could you post your original text expression and I could try that? In case there's something peculiar about the expression itself, perhaps its length or something...

Lawrie
3198
General Discussion / Re: Dynamics between two tied long notes
Oops, Hi Mario,
just reread you original question and realised I got the cresc. dim. reversed.

Sorry 'bout that.  The solution is, of course, use the techniques described, but swap the p and ff parts, as well as swapping the controller values in the MPC example.

Lawrie
3199
General Discussion / Re: Dynamics between two tied long notes
G'day Mario,
if you have access to the Newsgroup (are you a registered user?) then there has been considerable discussion about this.

However, in short, the only effective way to do this is using volume and velocity overrides for the start and finish dynamics (which may be hidden).

E.G. the default volume on a staff is 127, the default velocity for p is 45, the velocity for ff is 108.

Now, suppose you want you swell to go from p to ff and back.
  • You need to place the first p with a velocity override of 127 and a volume override of 45.  This will give the same level of sound as the default p dynamic.
  • Now place your cresc.
  • At the start of the second note in the tied pair place your ff dynamic with a velocity override of 127 and a volume override of 108.
  • Now place your decresc.
  • At the end of the second note place another p with a velocity override of 127 and a volume override of 45.
  • and finally place another (hidden) p with a velocity override of 45 and a volume override of 127. to restore everything.
Another technique exists that uses volume MPC's.  it is a little simpler:
  • Again, you need to place the first p with a velocity override of 127 and a volume override of 45.
  • Now place your MPC - paramaters are:
    Controller = Volume
    Style = Linear Sweep
    Time Resolution = Whatever you want - say eighth
    Sweep Resolution = 1
    Initial setting:
    -Time offset = 0
    -Controller Value = 45
    Setting 2 (tick the check box):
    -Time offset = say 8 (the middle of 2 tied semibreves)
    -Controller Value = 108
    Setting 3 (tick the check box):
    -Time offset = say 8 (the end of a second tied semibreve)
    -Controller Value = 45
  • and finally place another (hidden) p with a velocity override of 45 and a volume override of 127. to restore everything.
Hope this helps.

Lawrie
3200
General Discussion / Re: ascending and descending gliss
G'day Mario,
...gliss of 3-4 octaves - in short, you don't.  At least not in NWC.

There is a technique that was proposed by Fred Nachbur and an example of which is on the Scripto http://nwc-scriptorium.org/ftp/helpful/gliss.nwc It works fairly well most of the time but I've had sound cards with which it is not always effective, and it would be very tedious for 4 octaves.

There is quite some discussion on this in https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=4953

Lawrie