I count 19 objects used by NWC2 as of Beta 2.13:
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.0,Single)
|Note
|Rest
|Chord|Pos:,
|RestChord|Pos2:
|Bar
|Clef|Type:Bass
|Dynamic|Style:p
|TempoVariance|Style:Fermata
|Flow|Style:Fine
|TimeSig|Signature:4/4
|Instrument
|Key
|MPC|Controller:tempo|Pt1:0,0
|PerformanceStyle|Style:Solo
|Ending|Endings:1
|Tempo|Tempo:
|SustainPedal
|Text|Text:"X"
|DynamicVariance|Style:Crescendo
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End
Every one of them uses some text except a barline without a repeat.
|Text:,
|Font:,
|Wide: and
|Pos: has no effect on most of them. I'd like to see that change.
I'm not asking for the
user interface to be changed in any way, but ...
If the
paste parsing routine would allow it, the program could gain much power and flexibility:
- For Note and Chord, 2 characters could define the notehead and flag. |Wide:N could be a signal not to add any space after the note (or rest), allowing the user to give it a tighter spacing.
- For Rest and RestChord, Text would simply be output at Pos: and the normal Rest character supressed.
- If Clefs could use |Font:User1, but default back to System Font after a SysBreak, there would be a solution to small clefs.
- Dynamic positioning would benefit. e.g., |Dynamic|Style:p|Text:" p"
- |TempoVariance|Style:Fermata|Font:User1 could be made to simulate a marcato or staccatissimo
- For Flow, some of us might like larger symbols
- Grainger fans might like: |TimeSig|Signature:7/8|Text:"3½/4"|Font:User1
- |Instrument|Name:"8va"|Trans:12||Font:StaffItalic|Pos:11|Visibility:Always would be helpful.
- Key might be configured to suppress displaying naturals.
- MPC's would finally be able to explain themselves.
- PerformanceStyle could be non-italic for those that prefer it.
- Tempo could directly show Swing indicators. Any text would suppress the "d=80" marking.
- I like my Pedal Markings a bit larger than NWC
- DynamicVariance could be "fp" or something small when it is used to position hairpins.
And finally, Ending:
They are seldom in the right place.
Pos: would fix that. Another use:
|Ending|Endings:2|Text:"to next strain."|Font:StaffItalicWhen I give music done in NWC to others, the most common question is:
What is this
D. in the second ending? I'd rather not be asked.
I'm sure that other users would invent other uses. In time, some of these would make it into the User Interface. Some might cause problems. these could be resolved or filtered out over time. For the casual user, none of this would make NWC2 more complicated.
Interesting ideas. How many of them would be solved by having two choices for Staff Metrics?
In other words, you;'d have the default, but could highlight a certain range of staff elements, choose Properties, and select a second font for staff metric in the highted range only.
G'day Rick,
I find some interesting ideas here...
I shall need to contemplate some of them but off the top of me head I think there is much merit in your suggestions.
While many of the issues you suggested can be worked around using text entries it would be much more satisfying to have it built in.
With no control over the string displayed, nothing could be horizontally positioned "on the fly".
You would gain noteheads, but no flag or width control.
Clef, Key and TimeSig might be made to work.
TempoVariance could do marcato or staccatissimo, but not both with the same font.
Endings wouldn't benefit at all.
Your plan would leave users to the mercy of font designers, mine would open new vistas to anyone who could cut, paste and use NotePad.
Thanks to both of you for responding. This idea may be too radical for
Beta. I regret not becoming active in the program earlier.