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Topic: Merging staffs for vocal scores (Read 4083 times) previous topic - next topic

Merging staffs for vocal scores

Hello, I'm currently evaluating Noteworthy, mostly it's very good and I am almost certainly going to register it, but there's a couple of things... maybe some of you experienced Noteworthy users can help me out.

I'm trying to notate a 4-part vocal score that uses 2 staffs, i.e. the soprano and alto is together on the top staff (stems up / stems down) and same for the tenor and bass on the bottom staff.
I imported them from a sequencer as 4 separate midi tracks but couldn't find a way to merge them together. I seemed to be stuck with 4 staffs. Is there any way to do this? I see mention of an experimental staff layering system - tell me more!

So then I imported them as 2 tracks, all the alto stems were in the wrong direction, as you would expect. But I had to delete and re-enter all the alto notes to get stems down. Is there any way of changing the stem direction of one note in a chord?

And... I had some quavers (eighths) beamed together for the sopranos, is there a way of beaming the equivalent quavers for the altos? Because I seemed to be stuck with individual "stems down" notes, even though I could beam or not beam the upper notes.

Maybe it's obvious and I'm missing it...

Re: Merging staffs for vocal scores

Reply #1 –
Firstly download the file Xprmntl.zip from

http://www.noteworthysoftware.com/composer/usertip2.htm#layer

Unzip it and load xprmntl1 into NWC. Select and Delete the Bass
staff (You will need to delete twice). Delete all the contents
of the remaining staff. Without closing this file, load your MIDI
file. Select as much of the Soprano line as you wish to work with
and Copy (CTRL+C) it to the clipboard (complete with clef, key and
time signatures). Then bring up the experimental file and Paste
(CTRL+V) the copied Soprano line. Select all the notes and click
the stems up button.

Now set up a new staff (Staff - New Staff). Copy a matching section
of the Alto line from your MIDI piece, then set all the stems to down.
Now go back to the Soprano staff and set Staff Properties - Visual -
Layer with next staff. Voila!! (Hopefully!). Then set up two new
(Bass Clef) staves for the Tenor and Bass lines, Copy, Set stems and
Layer.

You will probably find some hiccups - slurs out of place etc., but
further editing has a good chance of success. The system is still
experimental so don't expect the Sun, Moon and Stars. There have
been a number of discussions which include the experimental files,
https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=438 is a thread worth reading. Have fun!

The above will take care of your beaming query, regarding changing
the stem direction of a note within a chord, you have to delete
(CTRL+Backspace) the offending note and re-enter it (CTRL+Enter).
Not always possible, depending on the remaining contents of the chord.

Re: Merging staffs for vocal scores

Reply #2 –
Tim,
to make all the stem down on all the notes of a staff, it's really simple :
1. go to the beginning of the staff (kbd: Home)
2. select all the items of the staff (kbd: shift+End)
3. put all stems down (kbd: shift+Down)

That's all ! :-) quick and easy.

Hope this helps !
                    MAD
P.S. read the inline help, you'll learn much. reading it first is annoying as usual, but since you fingered a little with NWC you'll get much interest in it. I still discover some hints in it from time to time. And in the forum too :-). Hope I'll be able to get the news forum some day :-(