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Topic: um...idea! (Read 4987 times) previous topic - next topic

um...idea!

Hey I have an idea, why not add a feature that lets you play one note at a time? i would like this for trying to get instruments in tone. of course it would be hard to figure out how to set it, maybe have a setting that categorizes different staffs into groups with the "same" pattern.

Re: um...idea!

Reply #1 –
NWC already has something you might be looking for:  it can play just a single staff, or you can make any of your staves muted.

To play just a single staff, select the staff using <Page-Up> or <Page-Down> then <SHIFT><F5>.  You can probably do similar things with menus or the dreaded mouse.

To mute staves, press <M>.  This pops up a list of staves.  Use the arrow keys to move to different instruments.  Use the <SPACE-BAR> to toggle between muted and unmuted.  <ENTER> will get you out of the pop-up.  You can use menus and mouse to do this, too!

Re: um...idea!

Reply #2 –
Minor addition to Ewan's advice.  Just create a bunch of new staffs.  Set them all to an instrument that will play without fading (not piano).  Place a different note on each one.  Make each a whole note, and tie it to a few bars of whole notes of the same pitch.  Now just pick the note you want to tune to, and play it back as Ewan suggested.

Re: um...idea!

Reply #3 –
Works fine. I saved mine as .mid and copied them to my phone so have a pitchpipe to use for a-cappella. (My phone uses Symbian unfortunately, so couldn't get pitchpipe software.) I also made a series of song files with a string of crotchets(quarter notes) set at different tempi and using woodblock on percussion channel created metronome clicks which I also downloaded to my phone.

Re: um...idea!

Reply #4 –
what i meant by that was not to play one instrument at a time but play it without moving on. just stop where you want and continue playing the note, insted of having to toggle with ties and whole notes and stuff like someone said.

Re: um...idea!

Reply #5 –
Aiken, I think you're saying you would like to be able, during playback of a piece of music, but be able to stop at a certain note and sustain that note until you turn it off.  Probably would be pretty complicated to program, since you'd have to find a way to easily designate which staff had the note you wanted to hear, and then make sure it had an instrument setting conducive to sustained notes (not a piano, for instance, because it decays).

Much simpler to create a "tuner" file - very easy with a fermata.

Set your staff to an instrument such as trumpet, tempo to quarter = 20 (or less), use a whole note,  and insert a fermata before the note.  With the fermata set to last the duration of 64 sixteenth notes, you will get sixty seconds of the sustained single tone.  If you want more than 60 seconds of sound, just copy the note with fermata into the next bar, and tie them.

To make it functional, most people using traditional western instruments will either tune to A or Bb.  Just have two staffs, one with the fermata preceding a whole note A, the other with it preceding a whole note Bb.  You could of course use 12 staffs with 12 different notes if you like.

Whichever is your active staff can be played just by pressing shift-F5.  When you want to turn it off, press F6.

Re: um...idea!

Reply #6 –
*sigh* i am saying why not let it run ALL staffs, the hope for me is so i dont have to write more.

Re: um...idea!

Reply #7 –
So, what you want is to be able to pause and hear the entire chord created by all the instruments in a multiple instrument score?

I like the idea.  May I suggest you copy it to the wish list?

A question and a comment:

How would you treat a situation where for instance, where the various instruments are playing different figures?  An example is where upper woodwinds and brass sustain a chord, but bass instruments are playing a moving cadence, or vice versa, where the bass instruments sustain a whole note while the upper voices are moving?  Often the top and bottom staffs on a score won't be in the edit window at the same time, unless you zoom out so far that you can't read the notes on the screen.

The user would need to be on the lookout sometimes for a sour note if it is in a hidden unmuted staff.
 

Re: um...idea!

Reply #8 –
Aiken, you could try inserting an extremely slow tempo just before the chord, and then removing it when you are done listening.