Beam Highlight color

Topic: Beam Highlight color (Read 6822 times) previous topic - next topic

Beam Highlight color

2005-11-16 02:03 am

I really appreciate the updates in the new version (slurs, cres/dim) but was bummed out to discover that one of my pet peeves still exists: the beam on beamed notes does not accept the highlight color. I use highlight color all the time for optional notes in salsa charts. It is a small problem, but one that puzzles me as to why the beam itself would remain the default color.

Greg Smith

Re: Beam Highlight color

Reply #1 – 2005-11-16 08:43 pm

Yes - I use light grey for cued parts as my work-around for small notes. The players have learned to live with black beams!

I think it happens because the beams are drawn as graphics, rather than being sourced from a font.

Re: Beam Highlight color

Reply #2 – 2005-11-16 09:26 pm

If you put your notes on a grey staff and layer it with a normal staff with hidden rests, I think you will get the effect you are looking for.

I could post an example in the newsgroup if you can access it.

Re: Beam Highlight color

Reply #3 – 2005-11-17 01:20 am

Excellent! The order of staves in the layer is important, but it doesn't take much to figure it out.

I've also been using colour for analysis - magenta, red, brown, and blue beams are now possible!!

Re: Beam Highlight color

Reply #4 – 2005-11-18 04:25 pm

There is an example in https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=2316 on using the same font as NWC to insert cued notes. Won't work for beamed notes or changing stem direction, though.

Re: Beam Highlight color

Reply #5 – 2005-11-20 07:22 pm

Yeah, I've tried just about every suggestion going for cue notes. Changing colour is the best compromise I could find - the players need the cue notes to look like real music too, so faking notes with fonts won't work - then need beaming. Grace notes don't work, as the spacing has to be correct.

In my view, reading music shouldn't be a mind-bender! When the notation gets in the way of the notes, there's something wrong.

I'm hoping that in the full release of NWC, scaling (i.e. reducing or expanding by a user-defined percentage) becomes a standard part of the edit box for all objects. I'd love to see it on the Visibility tab. "Oh, look! Was that a flock of pigs?", he writes humourously, hoping that the NWC people won't take offence.