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Topic: WISH LIST (Read 12701 times) previous topic - next topic

WISH LIST

Hey! I'll bite! I think a thread on desired features for NWC might make for some great discussion about where Noteworthy Artware's devoted followers (I am one) would like to see the products go. Here's some starters:

1) I'd love to be able to extend the text facility so that I could insert musical symbols that aren't yet supported by NWC (eg trills, mordants, appogiaturas, arpeggios, etc). I think Noteworthy would need to supply the font, though, so that things would be consistent when sending files from Beijing to Belize.

2) I'd be overjoyed if the above musical diddlies (crushed notes, trills and arpeggios especially) were supported by NWC. That would be a world- first! (I imagine it's also pretty hard).

3) Some form of global control of dynamics. Either a) a conductor stave, which other staves obey if not told otherwise, or b) a cut/paste facility that only pulls specific events, and overlays when pasting. This second one could be good for stripping controllers, or even separating and merging voices (if implemented in a good generic fashion)

That's enough for now, or it'll get so big you won't read it.

Andrew

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Reply #1
On that note ... I've been beggin' for the option of playback in "swing tempo" since version 1.0. It's unreasonable, if I'm arranging in 4/4, to have to reconstruct a copy in 12/8 just to get a jazz tune to sound like a jazz tune. But other than that, I have absolutely no problem with Composer in the slightest.

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Reply #2
My wish list would include the ability to enter chord letters (currently entered as text) above the staff, such that if you transpose the staff to a different key, the chord letters follow the key change. I like to notate the music in its original key, then transpose it to a more guitar friendly chord (since they hate those flat keys). But I have to then manually change the text for each guitar chord above the staff. I would like to do something like "Insert Chord", and have it accept A through G with modifiers like #, b (flat), 6, 7, maj, min, dim, etc.

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Reply #3
Here is an addition: 1) Ability to create a special staff for drums ( I don't quite know the word for it, but here is a picture below). |-------------------|------------------| 2) Wizards when you start a new file (choose staves, clefs, etc.)

3) Ability to customize title bar

4) MIDI imput support.

That's all for now, I'll give you more later.

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Reply #4
I too would like to add ornaments to the text mode. I have published two collections of 18th century carillon music, and have had to put anything but "~" in by hand. More than 250 pieces of music!

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Reply #5
Lots of great ideas (especially the chords)!

Add the following to the list:

1) Graphical crescendos, diminuendos, etc. 2) Allow rests of any size to be put into chords of any size 3) Allow notes with stems pointing down to be higher than notes with stems pointing up (possibly do this with several layers of music so I can have a measure in piano music where one hand is playing octave whole note C's and a quarter note melody in between) 4) Support multi-measure rests when printing out subsets of a score

-Chris

 

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Reply #6
Great idea for multi-measure rests.
But what would be really useful too is the ability to add a staff in the middle of the score, typically when a Tenor voice suddenly splits into 2 voices...
Currently I'm duplicating the staff...
But I know this would be much work to do it.
Thanx for such a program !

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Reply #7
Two more wishes. Retrograde and inversion

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Reply #8
This wish list item is a small change that will make a big difference:

I want it to be easier and quicker to put notes on the staff. Here's one way it could be done:

Be able to drag a note from the toolbar to the staff. You click on the note you want (half, quarter, eighth, etc), and drag it to the proper position.

Currently, you must click on the note in the toolbar, right click on the position, release, then right click on the popup menu.

If you think "Big deal, not much difference." try it. Imagine that you can click and drag, and you'll pretend to notate a song. You'll immediately see how much nicer it is.

- Alan

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Reply #9
I have two suggestions:

1) Grace Notes

2) Drum Rudiments

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Reply #10
With regard to a quicker way of entering notes, I have a few suggestions. I am blind, and therefore compose by ear and have a bias for the keyboard rather than the mouse. One way to enter notes faster with the keyboard is to enter the letters of the notes. This technique may cause conflicts with shortcuts such as "c" to insert a cleff, but most functions are available from menus or the toolbar anyway, so it wouldn't be too big a problem. Another solution is the use of macros. Has anyone been able to successfully use a keyboard macro program to, for example, play a note on entry, or enter and play a relatively complex musical phrase?

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Reply #11
I would like to see the ability to insert a multi-measure rest for printing individual instrument parts. The only way I have found is to either insert a separate masure for each rest (looks rather stupid to have 8 full measure rests in a row) or to draw it in by hand in place of a single measure rest.

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Reply #12
Let's see... (Sorry if I'm repeating anything)

1] Guitar tab.
2] Guitar symbols to go with tab (As with Encore V4)
3] Cresc. & Dim. hairpins.
4] Shortcut for marcato changed to Ctrl and something -
I keep missing the shift key!
5] Compressed rests.
6] 'Select All' feature for any given staff.
7] Staff Wizard for instruments, style etc.
8] Control over which fonts are used for text and stuff.
9] Going back to the tab - it could work in a similar
way to lyrics, i.e. unless otherwise stated one number
could be for one note / chord.

PS If this message has ended up in the wrong place could
someone please tell me where to send all this. Cheers.

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Reply #13
I KNOW I've posted this one before, but i'll add it again -- the ability to add at least chord names, and maybe even the guitar fingering symbols (like Cakewalk). They don't even have to be 'smart' (i.e. -- transpose themselves with the music) -- just decorations.

I was just responding to a question in the music.theory newsgroup that was looking for a notation program recommendation. As always, I recommended Noteworthy composer very highly, but again, as always, had to add that my one reservation was that it does not support this VERY common requirement.

As far as Im concerned, if they add this, I'll throw out Cakewalk. (And, if they add tab and n-tuples -- I can throw out Finale as well).

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Reply #14
Great grace notes, but if you want to put them in a beamed group it splits up the group. Is there a chance of adding them without splitting the group. Also adding boxed or circled letters (or numbers) for reference points ( "Let's take it from 2 bars before letter C" ). Currently you can add the letters or numbers above the staff, but you can't box or circle them. I have a font of boxed numbers but once you get into double or triple digits it looks pretty foolish. And don't forget about attaching diddle slashes or other musical symbols to notes (they don't necessarily have to play back, just print out(this is after all mainly supposed to be a scripting program not a playback program)).Simply a notation for multi-bar rests even if it plays back like a single bar of rests. A symbol for a crescendo and diminuendo (possible different lengths). Again the don't have to play, only print. The ability to change the appearance of the ending bar line. If you want to repeat, say, an exercise, then the repeat bar line is printed then the closing bar line. The zoom on the print preview is great, but it would be nice to be able to maximize the window in order to see the whole line at the same time. also nice would be the ability to edit in preview mode but I realize that I'm really pushing it on this one.
Whew!!! I could go on and on if I really tried but this is from someone who just registered and now I'm going crazy with suggestions. Really just a huge list of characters, symbols, chord names, chord symbols, etc, etc, etc, that could be placed in the score (but don't have to play)

Thanks long-winded-ly

Warren Barnett
wbarnett@yesic.com

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Reply #15
I forgot to add notes with different head shapes ( x, circled x, etc, etc, to denote different pecussion stuff (rimshots, playing on cymbals, stick clicks, playing on rims or shells, plus a miriad of other possibilities for other instruments).

Warren Barnett
wbarnett@yesic.com

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Reply #16
My current wish list:-
More flexibility in adding rests, like being able to use rests with the same, or greater duration than the associated note
Ability to force ties and slurs either above or below the note, regardless of the stem direction.

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Reply #17
Slashes with stems to denote rhythm as opposed to pitch for chord charts.

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Reply #18
I entered this in the wish list link, but I'll put it here too.

I'd like to be able to force a fixed length for measures so I can
force a fixed (usually four) number of measures to print on a line, thus
making the form of the song easier to follow when reading (AABA, or whatever).

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Reply #19
Couple of things I would like to see, or to get info from others who have thoughts on these subjects....

1) Using a MIDI map which will allow me to write drum kit parts on a bass clef stave with notes in the correct locations! example...first space on stave (A) should be bass brum and 3rd space (E) should be snare. I guess Microsoft MIDI mapper will help, but how....?

2) It would be nice if, when printing a single part (rather than a multi-part score) consecutive measures (that's bars to me) would be printed as a single measure with a number over it. A soloist part with 32 bars rest is a bit of a nightmare to follow!!!

3) Back to drums. ANY help from anybody about rudiments will help...!!!

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Reply #20
First, I think Noteworthy is great! However, I'd like to add my vote for being able to place guitar chords above the staff -- doesn't matter if it's a chord diagram or just the chord name -- and having those chords transposed when the staff is transposed. I do a lot of music for a seniors' guitar class and often have to transpose the original more than once. Doing the transposition is fairly easy, but entering all the new chords, every time we transpose a piece, is both tedious and time consuming.

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Reply #21
-
Wow! What a bump! :D The newest message was posted 2 years before my time!
_

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Reply #22
If you use the lyric editor, the job is easier.  Create a new staff immediately below the one you want to have chord symbols on.

Open the lyric editor for it (Ctrl-L), choose line count 1, Alignment Top, and then select the Lyric 1 tab.

There, enter all your chord names in upper case except for lower case b for a flat sign.  If there's a natural breaking point on the staff,  press enter when you've finished writing the chords to that point, so the chord after the rehearsal letter will start on a new line in this window.  This makes it easier to find and fix mistakes later.

Close the lyric editor, and fill it with quarter rests and bar lines, sufficient to match the length of the song.  Then wherever you want a chord symbol, replace the rest with a quarter note (any pitch will do).  Every time you enter a note, the next chord symbol will appear in that spot.

Once you've got them all done, mute the staff and make all its elements invisible, go to the staff you want the lyrics to match.  Press F2,and set staff properties to Layer With Next Staff. Back in Page Setup select Allow Layering.

Your chords will appear where you want them.

Now to transpose them, here's a workaround.  Open the lyric editor, copy all the chord names, open a word processing document and do a search/replace routine.  Make sure you select "match case."

Assuming you want to transpose up one tone, start with replacing all G's with H, then F with G, then E with F, etc., and finally all H with A.  If you don't use H and don't follow this order strictly, you will scew it up.

Good luck, it takes more time to describe the procedure than to do it.

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Reply #23
But rests can have lyrics attached to them, so there's no need to muck about with muted notes.