This quote from Lawrie, in his response to a recent posting in the general NWC forum, got me thinking.
A lot of suggestions have been made here for improvements to NWC. Many of these have been suggested several times and discussed at some length. There is general agreement on several that they would greatly enhance the NWC experience. But all this has been somewhat randomly presented, mixed in with tips to newcomers (and to each other), discussions of musical philosophy, reports of experiences, bug reports, defenses of NWC and comparisons of it with other notation programs, jokes, etc., etc., etc., to the point where it is difficult to sort things out.
The wish list has been somewhat randomly presented, too.
Eric has been great at leaping on actual bugs that have appeared in each new release, and at adding some things (such as the recent additions to the right-click menu) that make a lot of sense and are easy to implement. But this process seems to be somewhat random as well. We don't know what his development priorities are. And I'm not sure he really knows ours, either.
With that in mind, I have gone back through a year or so of this forum and have compiled a list of suggested improvements to NWC. This list is probably incomplete, but it is a start. I've organized the list by whether the suggestion is an improvement in notation or an improvement to the interface, and I've broken each of these categories down further into things to be added and things to be improved. I haven't tried to put the items within these subcategories in any particular order, but I have boldfaced the items that seem to me to be particularly important or particularly easy to implement. Others will surely disagree with many, if not all, of my priority choices. That's fine - we all use the program in different ways. What I am hoping for, here, is not unanimity, but a discussion that will help Eric focus on what we, as users,
really, really want.
Here is the list:
NOTATION:ADD- native n-tuplets
- native multimeasure rests
- native breves
- broken slurs
- broken barlines
- phrase marks as well as slurs
- beams across barlines
- different staff metrics in the same score (small notes)
- rehearsal letters as a property of barlines
- system "do NOT break" barline property
- courtesy time sigs/key sigs/accidentals
- different staff spacing in different systems
- line drawing
- beaming both upward and downward stems in the same passage
- differing numbers of staves in different systems in the same score
IMPROVE- adjustable special ending brackets
- vertical control over articulation placement
- handles for the ends of hairpins
- handles for the ends of slurs
- better control over front matter (extra lines; adjustable height)
- ability to shift notes left as well as right
- barline numbers user-changeable
- improved handling of slurs across system breaks
- orchestral bracket improvements
- control over position of triplet bracket (stem or notehead)
- vertical control over clef placement
INTERFACE:ADD- cue points
- goto rehearsal letter (need to add native rehearsal letters first)
- show insertion point in the status bar
- pause button for playback
- save paper orientation
- check all/uncheck all options in dialogue boxes
- ignore flow on playback (optional)
- [CTRL][A] selects all (instead of creating a new staff)
- on-screen ruler
- visibility button
- slur and tie direction buttons
IMPROVE- radio buttons replacing some drop-down menus
- measure numbers on top displayed staff (as well as top absolute staff)
- default MPC settings match staff defaults
- tools operate on selections (transpose; audit enharmonics; etc.)
- accept/reject enharmonic corrections
- improve enharmonic audit tool (sharps & flats determined by local context)
- "cancel" returns to original state
- measure numbers default to present, plain
- "preserve width" unchecked by default for instrument patches
- maintain score position while hiding/unhiding staves or changing object properties[/b]
- highlight current playback position when playback is stopped
Hope this helps
somebody....
Cheers,
Bill
multistaff select/copy/cut/paste
Hi, Bill.
You should really have started something with your Wish List summary.
Could I add:-
A proper printed manual.
Combining two staves (like layering, but for real)
Inserting a new Staff with all the characteristics of an old one
Automatically joining two staves end to end - one from one File, say,
and the second from another
Providing an automated facility for trills and rounds and mordents
("tr~~" and "^^^^") and chord arpegios
Providing a printable note symbol where the stem is crossed to
indicate that the note is played as lots of rather smaller notes;
violins do this all the time
An alternative way of showing this for a "chord" of notes is to have
the larger notes grouped and "beamed" with the lines corresponding to
the smaller notes
Like those for staccato (.) and tenuto (_) note styles, providing a
keypress for that note length usually defined by the "'" (apostrophe)
symbol
Automating beaming as the notes are actually entered
Allowing Bar/Measure Numbers to start from a value less than zero - a
negative value - so as to showlead-ins
Having the Status bar could show all sorts of other running features
- eg the current dynamic and tempo values, the instrument, the time
signature, the key ...
In music with associated lyrics, where a note may be held (tied) or
slurred across a bar (measure) line, allowing any associated word (or
part of a word) also to extend across the bar line
Providing a backwards "Find"
Being able to force a note NOT to be included in any beamed group -
in the same sort of way that a note can be forced NOT to have a lyric
syllable attached to it
More choice for the staff visual style - esp the first bar of each
system ... Upper Brace, Upper Bracket, Upper Brace and Bracket, Lower
Brace, Lower Bracket, Lower Brace and Bracket, Standard, Orchestral,
Open
More help with "acciaccaturas" and "appoggiaturas"
Providing a real-time Mixer Board (as in Midisoft's Session/Studio)
Allowing real time adjustment of each channel's Midi effects like
volume, chorus, pan, instrument, channel number
You can fit these into your List in whichever sections seems
most appropriate.
MusicJohn, 22/Aug/08
I should hope that his first priority is selling software. The revenue stream feeds the fount from which all blessings flow.
That list was an excellent compilation--thanks for doing it.
In line with differing numbers of staves in different systems in the same score, I would like to suggest an attribute for bar lines if not all objects of being collapasable: usually applied to very long rests. If all objects on a given part and a given staff had that attribute, that part would not be printed. Some examples: no accompaniment during a capella passages, space saved when a solo is used in only part of a piece, and only the principal part would be shown during a cadenza.
A bar line with a "force system break" could also turn on or off layering for the next staff. For SATB music, two pairs of layered staves could display all the parts during a chorale but later give each part its own line during a fugue.
Octava
Tremolo (e.g. beamed minims)
Distinguish between appoggiatura and acciaccatura
Before or after the beat
With user specified duration
There have been suggestions that a "proper" user manual ought to be prov1ided. Desirable as this is, for a budget priced program such a document would be too expensive. Typesetting, printing etc, and posting to buyers would be far more expensive than copying and posting a CD.
But I hope that there will be an update of the "Command Reference" written for NWC 1.70 as soon as NWC2 reaches some sort of finality.
Tony
For the most part I concur with the suggestions listed - of course we all have different priorities.
For me, I would like to add more flexible MPC control with access to ALL controllers - there was considerable discussion of this some time ago but I've been unable to find the one I was looking for.
I'm inclined to think that line drawing should actually be a very high priority because if it were implemented, it would make workarounds for many other notation things much easier. However, I mostly agree with everything else.
Having just read [url]https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=6529.0[/u], perhaps a lyrics editor capable of handling rich text?
I'm with Kahman on this, but would describe the line he requests as a curve.
It should have three handles so it can be pulled flat or bent up or down, with endpoints placed where wanted. The curve characteristics should be configurable - solid, dotted, dashed, thick, thin, able to swell in the middle (for when you want to use it as a slur or tie).
Such a curve would be useful as a workaround for many things we have been asking for for a long time - slurs and ties that display properly, extensions of the special ending top line, etc.
It would be nice if the end points of the curves were intersectable, too. That way two flat curves could intersect at right angles to form a bracket.
I think you just described exactly what I was thinking, I should have posted a link to another topic which I was am too lazy to find.
Or, as Rick has just suggested in a different thread,
If I eventually redo the list I posted at the beginning of this thread, this suggestion will definitely be in boldface.
Cheers,
Bill
...not forgetting the breve....
I seem to recall a lot of people wanting a grace note property for whether to steal time before or after the following note. I know I would like it.
PLEASE don't forget the breve!
And also, "force system break" that does not force the line to full width. Then we can put multiple small pieces on one page.
Negative values in the "Extra note spacing" would be really useful, but it looks so easy that there must be some strong technical problem for not allowing it, so alas...
But there is so much good stuff in 2.0 that I wouldn't want the release date to be put back for any of these.