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Topic: New Upgrade (Read 13750 times) previous topic - next topic

New Upgrade

NWC, thanks for the word export feature in the new upgrade. One minor problem: you always (in Save Queen and Nowell) miss the first word...

Re: New Upgrade

Reply #1 –
PS. Wounderful new forum-update-after-message feature.

Re: New Upgrade

Reply #2 –
Are you sure that your player/viewer isn't the one skipping the first word? Hint, hint...

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Reply #3 –
Put another way, if you are using vanBasco's Karaoke Player, it doesn't show the first syllable in these songs, even though it is, in fact, there in the file.

Re: New Upgrade

Reply #4 –
I have just successfully made a karaoke file of "Baa-Baa Blacksheep", and played it on Van Basco - all the words were there, down to the last (and indeed the first) "Baa". What concerns me, however, is that when I re-import the midi file back into NWC, the lyrics are gone; is this supposed to happen, or am I doing something wrong?

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Reply #5 –
Yup, I'm using vanBasco. I wounder why it would do such a thing!

Re: New Upgrade

Reply #6 –
I suspect it's a bug in vanBasco. Might be an idea to let Baastian know about it...

Meanwhile, it's easy to work around. Put a short rest on each staff before the first note (hidden, if you wish), such that the first lyric syllable does not occur at midi time = 0. Viola. ;-)

Re: New Upgrade

Reply #7 –
Might be an idea to let Bastian know about it...

Done, report sent. (Mis-spelled Bastian's name in earlier post).

Re: New Upgrade

Reply #8 –
I also noted that if I saved an nwc file to the new format, exported to a midi, and then opened the midi to nwc, the lyrics were gone. (Curiously enough, the lyrics would show up fine if I opened the midi file in Midisoft Studio 6.5)

Seems it should work both ways. Wonder if something is getting lost in the trip back into nwc?

Re: New Upgrade

Reply #9 –
!(Seems it should work both ways.)

That would be nice. If this were the case, midis created using Cakewalk could be imported with lyrics into NWC. Only NoteWorthy Software can say for sure, but I suspect this will be the subject of a future update. ;-)

Re: New Upgrade

Reply #10 –
The original update that started this thread made no promise of the ability to import MIDI lyrics. However, a new update is now available that supports the import of MIDI Lyric events. For more information:

  • news headline #13: Announcing NoteWorthy Composer 1.75.4
  • faq #88: What is imported when a MIDI file has lyrics?
  • faq #87: How do I add lyrics to MIDI files?
  • faq #89: Does NWC support karaoke (*.kar) files?

Re: New Upgrade

Reply #11 –
... if you are using vanBasco's Karaoke Player, it doesn't show the first syllable in these songs, even though it is, in fact, there in the file.

Here is the reply I received to my bug report on this:

"Fred,

"this is actually not a bug. The purpose of this function is to remove copyright messages which are usually located at the first note. For most files this is not a problem as they have some kind of intro or a break at the beginning.

"Best Regards,

"Daniel
vanBasco Software"

So -- to insure that you don't get the first lyric syllable chopped off, put a short rest before the first note.

Re: New Upgrade

Reply #12 –
After importing a variety of lyric MIDIs, that seems like a pretty good feature.

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Reply #13 –
Regarding faq #89: Fred, or NWC support, I'm ready to bet that there is only one byte to modify (per syllable probably) to change the Text Meta Event used by .kar files into the standard Lyric Meta Event.
If it is the case, and if I knew how to locate that byte(s) in a .kar file, I could write a "converter" from the first to the second. Where could I find such information?
(...) I've sought myself, and found (among many others) that http://www.midi.org/ is a good reference site :-) Particularly !http://www.midi.org/about-midi/smf/rp017.htm and http://www.midi.org/about-midi/table1.htm ; but it didn't answer my question...
However, it's highly possible that changing this would lead to strange results regarding lyrics!

Re: New Upgrade

Reply #14 –
Hi marsu,

I think you're right, but don't have the time right now to chase after it. You might have a look at Jeff Glatt's Midi Fanatic's Technical Brainwashing Center which has way more useful info than midi.org (who just try to sell you The Book).

Another possibility is to simply use mf2t (or Jeff's Midi Disassembler) to convert the midi file to text, then use a text editor to globally replace "META TEXT" to "META LYRIC" (or vice versa) and then convert the result back to midi. Of course, it will also convert legitimate text items into lyrics... which is presumably why NW Software chose to implement the unambiguous lyric meta-command.

Re: New Upgrade

Reply #15 –
There is no need to do this. NWC will soon support importing *.kar lyrics.

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Reply #16 –
For completeness, it should be noted that changing *.kar lyrics to the SMF conforming Lyric meta event is not as easy as simply changing the meta event type. The format of each syllable, and how they are separated, is quite different in a *.kar file.

NWC 1.75 + Web Update 5 is now avilable (see news headline #14). This update adds support for *.kar lyric text import. It also improves the import of other non-conforming lyric text. Lyric text that uses the Lyric meta event, but does not correctly add syllable separators and paragraph marks, will now import more elegantly.

Re: New Upgrade

Reply #17 –
Thank you very much!!! It's better this way :)

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Reply #18 –
On minor problem. If you change a midi file with lyrics to a *.kar file, the lyrics don't import. Is there any way to automatically detect the file type. This situation happens with the samples included with vanBasco's Karaoke player, where the company names the files *.kar when they are really lyric midis. I don't know if the problem exists the other way around.

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Reply #19 –
I just confirmed that the reverse is also true.

Re: New Upgrade

Reply #20 –
Files with the *.kar extension are treated as karaoke files, and lyrics are only imported that conform to the karaoke format. Files with the *.mid extension are expected to conform to the MIDI spec for lyrics. The two are not interchangeable as far as NWC is concerned.

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Reply #21 –
a bit off topic, but IIRC, you can quickly change all .mid files into .kar files (naming only, of course!) with the following command under a DOS prompt:
ren *.mid *.kar
and vice versa:
ren *.kar *.mid

If a file already exists in the new extension, it's not overwritten. Just a warning message.

Re: New Upgrade

Reply #22 –
RE: Fred's reference to Jeff Glatt's website, reply 14.

Thanks, Fred, for recommending what looks like an amazing site for MIDI techno-freaks! Now I have my life back again (I've spent every spare minute of the last 4 months writing a dissertation), I shall be inspecting this site in minute detail with my new broadband connection (when I get it!)

RObin

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Reply #23 –
NoteWorthy, when did you add the feature that hides a staff after it runs out of notes? BRAVO! Now if only we could hide a staff until it has notes -- ie harmony that starts only after the first verse

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Reply #24 –
Francis, we've always had that feature. (I don't know what I was thinking.)

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Reply #25 –
Not exactly a feature though...the space for the staff is still occupied. It is simply blank area.