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Topic: Adding key shortcuts (Read 3947 times) previous topic - next topic

Adding key shortcuts

Is there a way to add shortcuts to commands that don't have them? I make a LOT of use of the Audit Bar Lines command and I hate having to use the menu all the time. A keyboard shortcut for this command would be heaven. I believe all products should have this automatically available so that the user can customize the system the way they want to.

Jon Rosen

Re: Adding key shortcuts

Reply #1 –
You could use a macro.
Try the NWC Scriptorium.
I think there are some macros and access to the Windows macro recorder there.

Macros are simple to write (you supply the key strokes and the recorder records what you input.
A set of macros can be assigned to different key combinations (eg TAB/A for Audit barlines, CRTL/T for transpose to trumpet pitch etc.).

They can sure cut down the time required to carry out tasks like transposition, clef change, producing triplets etc.

NWC is about the only music program I know that provides keyboard input for most commands making it very suitable for the macro approach.

Re: Adding key shortcuts

Reply #2 –
If you don't mind dictated commands, I have been using Dragon Dictate for years. Very easy to set up the key macros under a verbal command (i.e. "sharp" "flat" "key" "clef" "up" "down" etc.

Re: Adding key shortcuts

Reply #3 –
Thanks for the replies. I actually just made the second most cost-effective software purchase ($29.95) I have ever made last night, the first best being the $39 I spent on Noteworthy Composer :-) After just 6 hours of trying out EZ Macros, I decided it would be another $30 VERY VERY well spent! It solved not only my problems with Audit Bars but allowed me to do some incredibly fast and sophisticated music entry quite accurately. I will describe below for anyone interested:

I am transcribing musical theater scores which have fairly regular note patterns, but often quite complex ones. I have found that I can't play the keyboard well enough to record the music (even one staff) into MIDI and then open it in Noteworthy and get a good transcription. My timings are always off enough that even with very large quantizing, I always end up with lots of changes to make. I have found it easier to simply pound the notes at no specific tempo into Noteworthy directly (with MIDI input active but not recording MIDI). The problem this creates is a stream of notes of a single duration with no rests. If I had enough hands, I guess I could add the rests from the computer keyboard while playing the notes on the piano keyboard, but it would be tough (BTW, I liked the idea of using voice input to do some of this and I might try that soon too).

In any case, typical bass lines in my scores will be a stream of rest/quarter/rest/quarter... for most of the page. Before this meant typing in a rest in between each note after I was done entering the notes.

With EZ Macros, I was able to easily create a keyboard macro that added the rests in the right place and the appropriate bar line immediately after the bar. By positioning the cursor at the front of the stream of notes, I was able to convert this bass line in about 1/10th the time it had taken me previously!

I had even more spectacular success with a treble clef phrasing which needed to be: dotted eighth, sixteenth, dotted eighth, sixteenth (tied to), dotted eighth, sixteenth, quarter, bar line. Converting that sequence one note at a time was back-breaking. I created an EZ Macro that did the whole seven note sequence in one keystroke! Amazing!

Why did I use EZ Macros instead of the Microsoft one suggested in the Noteworthy User Tips section? Well, I tried that one and it was not very reliable, and it had a relatively poor interface. It also didn't allow for easy editing of the macros manually (very important I found, recording the macros added a lot of spurious mouse movement commands that couldn't be eliminated). I downloaded EZ Macros from American Systems and tried it out, and within a few hours, realized that I would need this to make Noteworthy even a more powerful product.

I am NOT a shill for American Systems, I promise. I just think it, like Noteworthy, is a terrific, small, reliable piece of software and it adds tremendous value for almost no money.

Link to their website is: http://www.americansys.com/

Good luck and thanks for all the comments.

Jon

Re: Adding key shortcuts

Reply #4 –
Glad that worked for you Jon.
I forgot to mention that I never use the mouse with the Windows macro recorder - everything can be accessed in NWC using keystrokes eliminating the need for mouse movement.
 

Re: Adding key shortcuts

Reply #5 –
Why not just the normal Windows menu shortcuts?

E.G. Alt T B for Audit Bar Lines.

- seb