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Tempo indications

Is there a way to indicate q=120-132, or q=ca.120?
I know that for performance purposes, the MIDI aspect must have an exact number, but I'm concerned about the printout (i.e. the sound is not important in this circumstance.).
Any help would be appreciated.

Re: Tempo indications

Reply #1 –
Complex, but possible.
1) File=>Page Setup. From dialog, select fonts
2) Assign one of the user fonts eg. User 6 to the NWCV15 (at least that is on my system) by selecting, and pressing modify button. Select the font from the list on your system. and set the size. (start at about 20)
3) Now, insert 2 text items. the first with the text using the nwc font(with this one, make sure  'preserve width' is checked in 'Expression Placement' tab for better printable positioning), the second with the extra bits ( =120-132) using a diffrent user font with the size altered to match.
4) position both text items as you see fit.

For rough example (for a short time) see here

Hope this helps

Re: Tempo indications

Reply #2 –
Either choose the icon "quarter note=.." or press the letter "t".  Whatever text you want in there will be displayed and printed before the tempo marking so "Allegro, ca." would work for example.
Since 1998

Re: Tempo indications

Reply #3 –
Opps, I see PhilM beat me by two minutes.  I'd better check my math again.

Let's make that 1m 10s.  This crowd is brutal if you make any missnakes.
Since 1998

Re: Tempo indications

Reply #4 –
Misread calculator. 1:11
Since 1998

Re: Tempo indications

Reply #6 –
PhilM's solution is almost okay.  'Preserve width' creates a noticeable gap between the key sig. and the time sig. (or between the time sig. and the first note, depending on where you like it).  But if the quarter note is right-justified and "unpreserved," it seems to work okay.  Oddly enough, I tried this many months ago, and it looked fine in the editor, but the print preview showed different alignments for each of the magnifications, and I was unsure which one to trust.

Warren, your solution yields "Allegro, ca. q=120" instead of "Allegro q=ca. 120."
 

Re: Tempo indications

Reply #7 –
When in doubt, trust the print preview, since that's how it will look if actually printed out to hardcopy.

That being said, there can still sometimes be subtle alignment differences between Print Preview and actual printing. These will be negligible, however, if you do your final print previewing at the maximum magnification. Hint: to quickly go to maximum magnification, go back (right-click) one step from the minimum magnification (default). The sequence is circular. ;-)

Re: Tempo indications

Reply #8 –
Jacqueline, you are correct that I can't get the "ca" between the "=" and the value of the note, but there is also the matter of tradeoffs.  I have used the NWCV15 font on several occasions (a chart of which, using IE, is here), but it is a hassle to set up and use.  Besides, NWC has to be told the tempo somewhere.

If the user feels the position of the "ca" is important enough, that user would need to do something similar to PhilM's suggestion while inserting and hiding the real tempo indication.
Since 1998

Re: Tempo indications

Reply #9 –
When in doubt, trust the print preview...
...the print preview showed different alignments for each of the magnifications...
So, which size do I trust?  The maximum magnification sometimes has items misaligned as well.  Are you saying that it is the most accurate?

Re: Tempo indications

Reply #10 –
Okay, I have played around with it  a bit.
If you view as per the link in my first reply, you will see the effect.

What I have done is to remove preserve width from the first text, and padded the second with a few spaces before the '='.

Hope this is more suited.
Regards

Re: Tempo indications

Reply #11 –
The maximum magnification sometimes has items misaligned as well. Are you saying that it is the most accurate?

Yes. I've found that the maximum magnification agrees best with actual physical printouts. Any disparities are very minor (at least in my experience).

As a user of NWC for quite awhile before the Print Preview function was made available, I was quite used to doing my final adjustments using an external program (GSview), and frequently still do so for the final touchups. I "print" the file to a "virtual PostScript printer" connected to "File", then view the file in GSview. This has the advantage of allowing me to make changes in the NWC editor, and a simple ALT-Tab toggles me to the external "print preview" to look for the next misalignment. I can thereby fix up a bunch of things at a time, before making the next "test print." (GSview is smart enough to update the file if it's been modified.)

Since most of my "cosmetic" work is done for the benefit of publishing via PDF files, this helps to insure that WISIIWIG (What I See is indeed What I Get).

Re: Tempo indications

Reply #12 –
At maximum magnification, the main possible discrepancy between preview and the actual print is in the area of text expressions. Due to differences in text kerning (between screen and printer), sometimes the spacing of the text does not match between the two. However, the bars in each system, and number of systems on a page, should always match between the two.