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Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: Keith Mckenna on 2013-12-12 08:15 PM

Title: Any improvemnt on diting slurs?
Post by: Keith Mckenna on 2013-12-12 08:15 PM
Greetings Folks;

Have been away from NWC and transcription in general. Been doing mostly Gregorian Chant and it is a SERIOUS pain in the neck.

For me the biggest problem with NWC has always been how it handles slurs. Yes I know that there are a number of messy work arounds, but there should be an easier way to place and edit them. My first time back doing anything with NWC has brought me back face to face with it again.

I figured I would ask to see if there has been any improvement in this area in the ear or so I have been away.

Regards
Keith
Title: Re: Any improvemnt on diting slurs?
Post by: William Ashworth on 2013-12-12 11:25 PM
Nope. Not in the last few years. There's a new version of NWC coming out shortly, but it won't do anything about the slurs, either. Lots of other good changes, though.
Title: Re: Any improvemnt on diting slurs?
Post by: David Palmquist on 2013-12-13 01:42 AM
Quote
Yes I know that there are a number of messy work arounds, but there should be an easier way to place and edit them.
Are you familiar with this one, which I think came from Rick?  Insert a muted grace note at the offending end of the slur arch and use it to push the curve arc up or down. Make it a headless note and change note properties to stem length= 0, muted and no leger lines.  

It doesn't give you a perfect arch, but it's not hard to do and it is probably acceptable to most.
Title: Re: Any improvemnt on diting slurs?
Post by: William Ashworth on 2013-12-13 03:06 AM
Are you familiar with this one, which I think came from Rick?  Insert a muted grace note at the offending end of the slur arch and use it to push the curve arc up or down. Make it a headless note and change note properties to stem length= 0, muted and no leger lines.  

It doesn't give you a perfect arch, but it's not hard to do and it is probably acceptable to most.

To add a bit to David's excellent advice, you don't need to do anything with the stem length if you use a whole note as the grace note. As long as it's muted, it won't affect anything except the shape of the slur. And you can insert them anywhere the slur needs to be adjusted, not just at the ends. Save all your slur work for one session, and then, after you've created the first muted grace note slur handle, just copy-and-paste and adjust as needed.
Title: Re: Any improvemnt on diting slurs?
Post by: David Palmquist on 2013-12-13 06:55 AM
Quote
a whole note as the grace note.

Why didn't I think of that? 
Title: Re: Any improvemnt on diting slurs?
Post by: Mike Shawaluk on 2013-12-13 05:14 PM
To add a bit to David's excellent advice, you don't need to do anything with the stem length if you use a whole note as the grace note. As long as it's muted, it won't affect anything except the shape of the slur. And you can insert them anywhere the slur needs to be adjusted, not just at the ends. Save all your slur work for one session, and then, after you've created the first muted grace note slur handle, just copy-and-paste and adjust as needed.

I'm not at my NWC-installed computer right now, so I can't play with this... I did know that a hidden grace note could be used to bend a slur upward/downward (i.e. make the arch steeper), but I wasn't aware that they could be used to adjust the end points of the slur. Specifically, if I have a stem-side slur, the anchor points are always just beyond the end of the stems, instead of being closer to the note head. Is there any way to adjust this without the layering tricks?
Title: Re: Any improvement on editing slurs?
Post by: Rick G. on 2013-12-13 05:36 PM
Is there any way to adjust this without the layering tricks?
No.
Title: Re: Any improvemnt on diting slurs?
Post by: David Palmquist on 2013-12-14 09:13 AM
I'm not at my NWC-installed computer right now, so I can't play with this... I did know that a hidden grace note could be used to bend a slur upward/downward (i.e. make the arch steeper), but I wasn't aware that they could be used to adjust the end points of the slur. Specifically, if I have a stem-side slur, the anchor points are always just beyond the end of the stems, instead of being closer to the note head. Is there any way to adjust this without the layering tricks?
I didn't say the end-points could be adjusted.
Title: Re: Any improvement on editing slurs?
Post by: Rick G. on 2013-12-14 04:16 PM
Insert a muted grace note <snip>. Make it a headless note and change note properties to stem length= 0, muted and no leger lines.
You can also make the grace note Visibility:Never. This has fewer side effects in Print Preview.
Code: (nwc) [Select · Download]
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.51,Single)
|Boundary|Style:NewSize|Upper:1|Lower:1
|Note|Dur:4th,Slur|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:2
|Note|Dur:4th,Slur|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:2
|Note|Dur:4th,Slur|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:2
|Bar
|Boundary|Style:NewSystem|NewPage:N
|Note|Dur:4th,Slur|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:2
|Note|Dur:4th,Slur|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th,Grace|Pos:2|Opts:StemLength=3,Muted|Visibility:Never
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:2
|Note|Dur:4th,Slur|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th,Grace|Pos:2|Opts:StemLength=4,Muted|Visibility:Never
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:2
|Bar
|Boundary|Style:NewSystem|NewPage:N
|Note|Dur:4th,Slur|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:2
|Note|Dur:4th,Slur|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th,Grace|Pos:5z|Opts:Stem=Down,StemLength=0,NoLegerLines,Muted
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:2
|Note|Dur:4th,Slur|Pos:0
|Note|Dur:4th,Grace|Pos:6z|Opts:Stem=Down,StemLength=0,NoLegerLines,Muted
|Note|Dur:4th|Pos:2
|Bar
|Boundary|Style:NewSystem|NewPage:N
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End
Title: Re: Any improvemnt on diting slurs?
Post by: William Ashworth on 2013-12-14 04:26 PM
You can also make the grace note Visibility:Never. This has fewer side effects in Print Preview.
Code: (nwc) [Select · Download]
!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.51,Single)
[/quote]

Yes, you can. And I've sometimes found that using invisible [i]rests [/i]is the most useful way to shape the slur I'm working on. In that case, the slur goes on a separate layer, of course.