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Topic: NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer Released - Free download (Read 20089 times) previous topic - next topic

NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer Released - Free download

NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer Released - Free download

NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer is a viewer/player for NoteWorthy Composer (*.nwc) song files. It will load, perform, and print files created by users of the NoteWorthy Composer program, including files created or last saved by version 2. The MIDI Mapper is used for all play back operations.

This new software uses NoteWorthy Composer Version 2 technology.

Further details can be found on the NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer page.

See also:

Re: NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer Released - Free download

Reply #1
I have just looked at one of my pieces through the NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer.
The new handling of beaming, note stem lengths, slurring and grace notes is wonderful.
BRAVO !
And thank you!

Re: NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer Released - Free download

Reply #2
I urge users of NWC1 to take a look at their music in the NWC2 viewer. Even though there is no change to the music file itself, NWC uses different algorithms for computing and displaying some things such as stem lengths. The visual appearance in NWC may be more attractive even if you don't use the added program features such as X-head notes or tilted slurs.

Re: NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer Released - Free download

Reply #3
It will ... print files...
but not necessarily the way you intend them.
The highlight colors cannot be changed, so my yellow is red, and my white is green.
Also, the jazz font, which is loaded on my system and works just fine in NWC, is ignored.
And having numbers every five bars is bogus.
I do agree that The new handling of beaming, note stem lengths, ... and grace notes is wonderful., but the slurring is still a little off (but MUCH better than before...).  An accent on the first or last note of a slur should be outside the slur, rather than inside.

and if only I could restart playing right where I left off when the phone rang...

Re: NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer Released - Free download

Reply #4
I can't agree that those new slurres are that good. For me they've gone from handicaped to plain ugly. I now have Sibelius 3 and I will continue using NtWorthy for what it does best, creating midis (the only program someone has absolute control over notes) but I won't buy Composer2 for so little more than Composer1.

Re: NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer Released - Free download

Reply #5
Regarding the new slurs in NWC2:

(1) The program does not anti-alias its slurs (or most other objects) on the computer screen. This makes the drawn objects look ugly. It is simply an on-screen phenomenon. When you print to paper (or PDF), the drawn objects (including slurs) look MUCH nicer.

(2) The algorithm used to compute the new slurs is very good in some situations, but not as good in other situations. This was discussed during the private beta test session. It is possible to "customize" the new slurs by attaching them to fake notes (hidden note-heads, shrunken stems) on a layered staff - this has the effect of creating free slur objects. Not elegant, but very versatile. The amount of arc can likewise be controlled by inserting fake objects for the slurs to jump over.

(3) To appreciate NWC2, you need a score with several staves and independent chords. SATB choral music (SA one one staff, TB on another staff) is a good application. Unlike NWC1, NWC2 makes some automatic adjustment to stem lengths, and allows the user to manually make arbitrary adjustments to stem lengths. This creates more vertical room among the staves - an important feature.

Re: NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer Released - Free download

Reply #6
I'm sure NWC2 is quite good (I can't get it yet though...), but my problems are with the NWC2 Viewer.
I sure hope NWC2 is released soon...

Re: NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer Released - Free download

Reply #7
Just looked at my files through NWC2 Viewer and they look a lot better!  I definitely will be purchasing an upgrade to NWC 2 when it's released to the general public. :)

Re: NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer Released - Free download

Reply #8
If you've already downloaded the new version of NWC2, does the viewer add something else, or is it part of the package that I downloaded as NWC2?

Thanks,
Peter

Re: NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer Released - Free download

Reply #9
If you have both NWC1.75 and NWC2 installed, the Viewer might be useful to you as a default application for opening *.nwc files. The Viewer includes toolbar icons for opening the file in NWC1 and NWC2, with NWC1 disabled when viewing a version 2 file.

Re: NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer Released - Free download

Reply #10
Thanks,
Peter

Re: NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer Released - Free download

Reply #11
After I installed the NWC 2 Viewer on my Win98 system, I found that my Noteworthy Composer files no longered displayed in my folders with NWC icons.  What's more, they opened in NWC Viewer instead of Composer.

(In addition, the "File -> New" no longer offered "Noteworthy Composer File" as one of the options.)

Since Windows offered no way to edit a file type's opener application  - you can edit an opener's file type but not the other way 'round; talk about STUPID - I had to go into the Registry, search for NWC entries, and delete the one that caused a .NWC file to open with Viewer.  After that, I was able to use "Open with..." (shift-right-click) to set /long/path/name/NWC32 as the opener application - clicking on the NWC32 icon only gave me the viewer again...

This is somewhat incoherent, but that's how fixing this was.

Be warned.

Re: NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer Released - Free download

Reply #12
Steve, we ran repeated tests on our Windows 98 test system and could not reproduce any of the problems that you describe here.

In our case, everything worked as expected after installing the NWC2 Viewer, either before or after installing NoteWorthy Composer 1.75b:

  • A new NWC2 Viewer shortcut was added to the desktop

  • *.nwc files continued to open by default in NoteWorthy Composer 1.75b

  • *.nwc files continued to show the NoteWorthy Composer 1.75b document icon in Windows Explorer

  • In Windows Explorer, right clicking on a *.nwc file included a new verb titled "Open with NWC2 Viewer" which when selected, opened the file in the viewer

  • Selecting File, New, NoteWorthy Composer Song in Windows Explorer was not affected by the installation of the viewer
Perhaps you have created a custom setup for *.nwc files. If you have a custom *.nwc file association setup, installation or re-installation of any NoteWorthy Composer application will alter your *.nwc setup, since the standard setup will be restored in this process.

Re: NoteWorthy Composer 2 Viewer Released - Free download

Reply #13
Dunno.  I may have redone the .nwc association by hand many moons ago.  This system has been through a lot of, um, stuff.

Anyway, all of the things you say should happen happened; it's just that other stuff happened too (or didn't, depending on your viewpoint).

Thanks for investigating.