G'day David, actually, the tool is Andrews work. I couldn't cut code to save my life, but thanks for the compliment anyway...
As for bar numbering, turning it on or off is purely cosmetic. It doesn't affect the operation of the CCAPM tool at all.
That being said, a couple of quotes from Andrews help file should help to clarify things:
NB: it is very handy to have Measure Numbers set to something in Page Setup - this of course helps you to know where you're up to when setting the operating parameters for the tool.
<first>, <final> and <destination> are all positive integers indicating the measure number [starting with 1] from the start of the selection, or from the start of the staff if no selection is made. So the first measure is 1. This corresponds to the default bar numbering starting at 1. It is suggested that if you have measure number starting at a number other than one, you change it back to one for the use of this tool
G'day MIDI man and Rob, I know you guys have mentioned user tools that help but have expressed frustration with keeping track.
While I do sympathise, I think you have overlooked a feature of the user tool mechanism: The ability to use a dialogue box and enter a persistent expression.
Andrews "Cut Copy And Paste Measures" user tool available here on the scripto http://nwc-scriptorium.org/nwc2scripts_ccp.html will allow you to consistently move bars on successive staves.
After creating a "CCAPM (with dialogue)" tool in the list the sequence would be:
Select first staff
<Alt-F8>
Select the CCAPM (with dialogue) tool and press <Enter>
Create the command sequence in the dialogue (E.G. cut 4 8 2 will cut bars 4 to 8 inclusive and paste them before bar 2)
<Enter> to execute the command
<Page-Dn> to go to the next staff
<Alt-F8> <Enter> <Enter> runs the tool - no editing is necessary as NWC "remembers" the last tool used and the commands in the dialogue box when you use this method.
Repeat steps 6 and 7 to the end of the work.
Assuming you got the command right in the first place this is pretty much foolproof.
G'day Norm, just to make sure you're doing what I think...
As suggested in Mike Kimbers post, you have, say, 2 songs on the one staff. The barline that divides the 2 songs you have highlighted and set the "force system break" attribute on it.
As a result, the 1st song which is 12 bars long, has 5 bars on the 1st printed staff, 5 bars on the 2nd staff and 2 bars on the 3rd.
Your 2nd song starts on the 4th staff.
Am I OK so far? If so, then the product seems to be behaving as designed. The only problem is that the "staff size" and contents of the bars of the 1st song allows 5 bars per staff and you would like to make it 4 so that the printout looks better.
OK, that's easy. On the barline at the end of the 4th and 8th bars simply set the "force system break" attribute, all same as the barline that divides the 2 songs. This will force NWC to limit the 1st 2 staves to 4 bars each and you will then have 3 staves each with 4 bars for your 1st song.
Hopefully thats cleared it up a bit. [as mud probably ]
Clare, Oops, I read it but I didn't comprehend it, brain must need another shot of caffeine - my apologies, I see the problem now.
Peter, Yes, I see what you mean.
Rob, Unless there is a valid reason for these patterns to be [abbr=I haven't been able to identify one]possible[/abbr] I suggest a bug report should be made rather than another control in note properties.
G'day Clare, I just tried to replicate your problem...
I can only get what you describe if I force the first [abbr=16th]semiquaver[/abbr] off the beat. I used a dotted [abbr=8th]quaver[/abbr] rest before it.
Normally the beaming is set up so that beamed notes make a grouping that starts on the beat. As you don't normally get a beam starting from the "and", NWC does not to do this automatically.
You can force this if you highlight the notes you want beamed and then click the beam button on the tool bar or you could press <Ctrl-b>.
Also, if you have an existing beamed group, the automatic beam will NOT break it. Even when the beam is not "conventional". So if you copied a beamed group and adjusted the note pattern without breaking the beam then it will not re-beam correctly.
G'day Béla, I just rechecked an earlier message of mine and found a link to be incorrect. Here is the corrected one for an article discussing extended gliss possibilities: https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=4953
A way to reduce the sharing problem when 2 synths are implemented: Include a text file explaining that for correct playback NWC should have 2 synths configured. Unfortunately I don't think this will help those who must use the player... For them John's suggestion of posting MP3s seems to be the best solution.
G'day Pierre, I've just visited the AOpen website. http://usa.aopen.com/Products/sound/cobraaw850.htm According to this page the synth is software. As it hasn't shown up in the available device list Im guessing that it didn't install.
I think I'd check the install CD for an installer. If you don't find anything useful perhaps you should visit the AOpen site and download the latest driver set. It may contain the missing software.
G'day Pierre, a couple of questions... Do you have any other options in the midi tab? If so what are they? What sound card did you actually install?
Ideally the sound card will have a hardware synth built in AND/OR it may have been supplied with a software synth. If it has neither then you may be stuck with the MS synth unless you acquire another softsynth like the Yamaha S-XYG50 or some such.
IIRC the MPU-401 device allows midi though a game port so you can drive an external midi device via the appropriate cable.
G'day Aure, there has already been quite some discussion about how NWC handles special endings. Including quite recently.
A couple of points to note:
In NWC an nth time bar is not a property for any or every bar that is part of the nth special anding. It is a single object within a given bar.
Rightly or wrongly, NWC interprets any decorated barline as a termination of an nth special ending so any kind of signature change cannot be accompanied by a double barline within a special ending.
You and David are quite correct - technically the horizontal line should extend past the first bar in a special ending but NWC does not do this. [abbr=it may never, but I hope this is not the case]Yet...[/abbr]
These are things I think I can safely say that we would all like to see improved.
Assuming you are working on a particular piece at the moment, is channel 16 (from your table) actually in use or could you stick an instrument patch in for the duration of the gliss?
Otherwise, you could use a second synth. Makes it hard to share your work but will overcome the channel availability problem for your personal listening.
With the Audigy II my total synth availability is: 2*H/W synths in the Audigy, 1*Creative Audigy softsynth 1*MS GS Wavetable softsynth 1*Yamaha S-YXG50 softsynth
That's 80 channels... Though they don't all sound the same.
Even without the XG and an Audigy I'm sure you could get two synths, one hardware and one software.
As far as possible I stick to 16 channels (1 synth) to allow for easy sharing.
G'day Josh, this sounds very similar to a problem I was having some time back. It turned out to be the drivers for my Creative sound card.
I fixed it by updating to the latest drivers from the Creative website - Assuming you have a Creative card; http://au.creative.com/support/downloads/ is the Australian support site for Creative...
Ah, well then... This is probably a silly question but you have checked to see if you can double up on channel usage elswhere? E.G. all the violins on one channel? All the Horns on one channel? etc. I believe you can usually get away with it.
As for ...there are no extra staves available. I think you may have missed something - AFAIK there is no practical limit to the number of staves you can use though there is a limit on the number of midi channels available.
For the pitch bend example; though it uses 3 channels, you could get away with 2 as the visible staff does not sound.
G'day Russ, what you're looking for is under the | Insert | Flow Direction | menu option.
You can just press <F> (keyboard shortcut) with the cursor at the appropriate point and the dialogue will appear, then select the "style" you want and voila.
It is of course possible to place a courtesy accidental as text. Simply select the NWC2STDA font as a user font and place a text object using that user font.
This way you can add your parentheses as well, you just need to add a second text entry with the correct font and position it such that the parentheses surround the accidental.
Not as neat as a proper courtesy accidental but functional from a players perspective.
I too agree. Mid stem starts and finishes for slurs are seriously lacking.
That having been said, I can appreciate that the coding mods required to achieve this are probably not trivial. Nevertheless, I believe that the effort will be well worth it.
I don't know whether the best answer is to allow start, finish and centre location control, or simply to add a parameter to the note properties where along with slur direction, a check box or pick list to define start and finish location is available.
The current practice of stem side slurs starting and finishing at the end of the stem is, according to Alfred's, an exception rather than the rule unless the notes are beamed. When not beamed, stem side slurs should normally start and/or finish mid stem.
Please Eric, we would be grateful if you could give this some consideration.
Hi Tony, mate, claim any excuse ya want - they're all good
If you're so inclined, you could make your own cable - I did a bit of a search and found the following page - go to the bottom and you'll see the "good guts"... http://web.singnet.com.sg/~lau0cy/sb.htm - looks pretty straight forward and makes good sense.
Hi Moon, any sound (instrument) generated by your sound cards synthesizer can be used provided it is accessible via the GM (general midi) standard.
If you have created your own sounds, then putting them into a GM sound font (assuming your sound card is able to use sound fonts) would make them accessible to NWC.
G'day Tony, actually, there are no connections between MIDI and the audio input jacks of a sound card.
The 2 signal types are incompatible.
MIDI supplies information in digital form. It is a series of commands that turns notes on and off, determines pitch, instrument selection and quite a number of other parameters.
On the other hand, the audio input of the sound card is expecting analogue information - in short, a direct sound signal. Just like you might get from a microphone, or the "tape out" of your cassette recorder.
You simply cannot connect the 2 together an expect a useful result.
The conventional way to connect a MIDI keyboard is via the Game port - you need an appropriate cable (15 pin 'D' connector at one end and 2*5 pin DIN at the other) and drivers for the PC to recognise the game port as a MIDI interface.
Most sound cards come with a game port and appropriate software. The cable usually needs to be purchased separately.
Another alternative is, of course, a USB to MIDI converter as has already been mentioned. There are also serial to MIDI converters out there but I think the USB one would be better (easier) unless you don't have XP or '98 (Win2k and ME should be OK too).
Creative had a product called "WaveSynth" - it seems to be quite old and probably came with an old soundcard. Perhaps an AWE64?
WinXP installs an MS GS wavetable synth and my Creative Audigy installed a sw synth when I installed the Creative software. I don't recall whether older versions of Windows supplied a softsynth or not.
If you have a soundfont capable soundcard then there has been several discussions relating to sourcing soundfonts - just use the site search function, you'll find 'em.
Also there are trial copies of the Yamaha XG softsynth out there too. Just be careful, many of the sites hosting it seem to have exploits on them and there is a buggy version of the WinXP version that doesn't install/work (not sure which).
I wish I could take the credit for thinking of the answer but it just happens that that kind of issue has appeared with enough regularity to make the diagnosis easy.
You've got a good product to play with there, enjoy!
Hi Anna, my best guess at this stage is you may have a video driver problem - it would be worth searching for a driver update for your video card and trying it.
Hi David, no worries mate - I just couldn't resist the opportunity to be a smart alec...
Reminds me - I have a rather funny story about my father and one of his customers and mixing languages that I must relate someday - not now though, it's a bit long winded...
G'day Mark, If you do a google search, you can find quite a number of PDF creation products that are freeware or shareware.
http://www.pdfmachine.com/et/download.html is a link to Broadgun's "PDF Machine" which I use on the odd occasion that I need a PDF. I'm not particularly touting this product, it's just the one I happened to stumble on when I needed one.
G'day David, I've seen that text before, but the article that accompanies it is quite fascinating. Thank you for the link to a good read!
Just to continue off topic - I just about have myself convinced that Windows has a routine in it specifically designed to bugger up my typing..
I've lost count of the times I've typed "your" and upon re-reading the text seen "you". Something keeps swallowing my "R"s...
Hi John, hmm, not sure I want to go there...
...you're a good guy. - "I know.", said Lawrie whilst buffing his fingernails and smiling fatuously, "Thank you".
Seriously though, I just like to try to help. I reckon if everyone was more interested in helping others than satisfying their own, often petty, agendas this would be an even more wonderful world.
Sadly, no one's perfect, not even me...
Graham R. and Robin. Perhaps my compulsion to [abbr=interfere?]help[/abbr] is similar to your compulsion to correct.
Hi Steve, sorry - I used "horn" in a generic sense meaning any/all the instruments in the band.
I have been very frustrated in trying to find a realistic sounding brass font. They all seem just wrong somehow but I can't put my finger on exactly what it is...
As for creating a soundfont... To be honest, I don't know exactly what would be required...
I guess several samples from each instrument - perhaps each partial from the bottom C with all valves up/trom in 1st position - C, G, C, E, G, C - and maybe even further up if you have someone who can push a trumpet and a trombone up into the stratosphere
It would be good to have a real Fluegel Horn and Cornet to call on as well as a large bore Euphonium, Tenor Horn of course and a Baritone and especially a REAL trombone sound.
You would need to capture the attack correctly and have enough of the held note to enable a loop to be created for sustained notes.
The next step would probably be to ensure it was exactly in tune...
Then into Vienna with all the samples...
I really am guessing as I've never done this.
I think it would be a lot of work so don't enter into it lightly, or expect a quick result.
G'day Gary, I think there is a product knowledge issue that needs to be addressed first.
Unlike other music editors I've seen the NWC editor is not truly WYSIWYG. When editing a staff, you keep editing from left to right without wrapping down the page.
If you create another staff, it is NOT a continuation of the staff above. Rather it is another voice or instrument that runs in conjunction/parallel to the first staff.
Print time is when wrapping occurs. You can see what the layout will be in | File | Print preview | or just click the Print preview icon on the toolbar (looks like a page with a magnifying glass over the lower right corner).
You can control spacing in several ways but I think you should first try print preview to see what you will really be getting.
If it is not satisfactory, then the page setup dialogues will allow you to control the staff size in points and the size of the lyric font. Both of these can have a profound effect on the actual staff layout including spacing and wrapping.
You can also turn on extra note spacing in the properties dialogue of individual notes. It is also possible to turn off spacing that is proportional to note length. This is done in the Options tab of the page setup dialogue.
Another possibility is to force a system break (force the staff to wrap) by checking a setting in the barline properties dialogue. This particular property is only effective on the top staff. Important when you are notating multiple voices/instruments each on their own staff.
When you do this, the bars that are left on that particular "line" are stretched across the entire page. It is possible to have one bar take the entire page width in this way.
I suggest you check these things out and let us know how you got on. If you are still having problems we'll try to resolve them for you.
G'day Robin, hmm, looks like my communication wasn't as effective as I had hoped.
I too apologise. Clearly I failed to convey my, lets call it, amusement. On re-reading my last post it does sound somewhat snotty and irritable. I didn't intend it to be so.
Instead I was hoping to present my case and show that I was amused, hence the smileys. My preference is to entertain people, not put them down.
Hi Robin, your point is taken, however, I definitely recall being taught both usages at school! Less than 50 years ago. Actually, it was a bit less than 40 years ago... I would have been about 9.
In addition, my dictionary doesn't call the usage archaic, just former. It also doesn't suggest that it has become incorrect. I interpret the entry as meaning "no longer in common usage".
In any case - what benefit is there in pointing out typos? And if people really want to be "grammar pedants" why has no one pointed out that I should be using colons instead of dashes as often as I do? Or that I sometimes begin sentences with conjunctions?
English is a living language. It is changing before our very eyes! I might add that I, too, dislike many of the changes but I also realise that making a big fuss about it is pointless.
The real goal is effective communication. If we achieve that is there really a problem? Certainly rules of grammar and spelling are essential. We need standards, but standards that prevent innovation and development are no longer beneficial. They have become a straight jacket.
As for the possibility of my being below average intelligence... Well, you might be right but I certainly don't think so
Lawrie
PS: any errors, grammatical or otherwise, may be a sign of my diminishing mental capacity
Hi Peter, you are, of course, quite correct in the example you've given.
However there still needs to be some acceptable method of defining the conclusion of a final special ending in a repeated section. As I said, I was taught that this was one of the double barlines functions.
Perhaps the answer is to determine which special ending the double bar is contained in... or maybe add an attribute to decorated barlines so that you can control behaviour in this instance.
Another possibility is to add an attribute to special endings to control observance of the double bar...
Hi Steve, I too am looking for a decent brass font. If'n you ever find one please let me know.
Another alternative... As you have access to a brass band... Perhaps you could gather some samples of real horns. I've never created a sound font but perhaps if we ask really nicely someone else on the forum may be able to help.
Ya know, I've probably typed many thousands of words on this forum by now and though there has been a reasonable seasoning of typos etc. I think this is the first time anyone has picked me up.
To add to that the rules for the use of an apostrophe in " its/it's " are ambiguous at best. However, lets clear the matter up!
I quote from the "The Macquarie Dictionary, 2nd Revised Edition" - For those who don't know, this reference is the official dictionary of Australian English produced by the University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Page 930, approximately 1/3rd of the way down the 2nd column: its /its/, adj., pron posessive form of it. [poss. case of IT, formerly written it's]
I direct you to the last 3 words within the [] brackets. I suggest that I am old enough to be permitted to use the formerly written form.
Graham R. May I suggest there are more productive things to do than be the self appointed apostrophe police?
I respectfully submit that when you've typed as many words as I and others like me have without any mistakes at all, then you may have something to be picky about.
Until then, remember - people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
Hi Peter - just reread this and it reminded me of something...
While my Alfred's doesn't state it, in my youth I was taught that the final special ending of a repeated section was always terminated by a decorated barline, usually a double bar.
If this is the rule that Eric has applied then it makes perfect sense to me.
Perhaps others have other recollections or references that are clearer on the matter?
G'day John, not getting quite the exact playback required is a thing we live with... People are still smarter than computers
However, a little bit of creative thought goes a long way...
For example: At the end of section A but before the MRO place a hidden dynamic with a staff volume overide of 1. This will make what follows (pretty much) inaudible and verse 1 will not be heard.
At the end of the 1st ending but before the MRC place another hidden dynamic to restore the correct sound level. It's a while since I've needed to do this so I don't remember if you need to restore the staff volume with another override - experiment a little...
This way the part will playback all the time except for verse 1. Of course, if there are dynamics within the verse (and there probably are) this does not work so well. It also doesn't work so well if you have to play in the middle of verse 1.
In this case I have another work around that uses text dynamic markings and expression MPC's but it's a bit complicated for this post.
Of course, there is another way... This is to have a hidden, sounding staff that is written out in it's entirety - IE no repeats etc. are used - or used only where it doesn't matter. The visible staff is then muted.
Next, go to the part of the "hidden" staff that must be 15mb and select the affected notes. Using <ctrl-shift-dn> move the notes down 2 octaves [press <dn> 15 times while holding <ctrl-shift>]
G'day again Edouard, 15mb means to play 2 octaves below whats written...
As NWC will only allow you to use a clef to do a single octave shift the technique in my last reply won't do the job.
This one will require a "hidden, sounding" staff.
The easiest way to do this is to complete the "visible" staff with all the markings etc. including the 15mb.
Then create a new (to be hidden) staff with the same instrument and midi channel attributes as the original (or visible) staff and copy the "visible" staff to it.
Now mute the visible staff: | staff | mute staff | or just click the mute button on the toolbar (slashed circle over a speaker symbol)
Next, go to the part of the "hidden" staff that must be 15mb and select the affected notes. Using <ctrl-shift-dn> move the notes down 2 octaves (press <dn> 15 times while holding <ctrl-shift>)
Finally, go to | File | page setup | Contents TAB and remove the "X" from the staff to be hidden.
Now, when you play back, the hidden staff will make the sound and the visible staff will give the appearance you require.
