Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: Stepwise Playback - Possible?  (Read 7751 times) previous topic - next topic

Stepwise Playback - Possible?

I know that I can enter notes either in real time or stepwise.  I have a MIDI interface between my digital piano and my laptop, and NWC works fine accepting and playing back notes.

However, I need to do stepwise playback.  (I don't know the real name of this function.)  I need to enter a series of notes or chords, and have it play them back one at a time when I hit enter, space bar, mouseclick, etc. 

That way I can do playback accompanying a singer and stay right with her. 

Can NWC do this?   

Re: Stepwise Playback - Possible?

Reply #1 –
Not that I can see...
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: Stepwise Playback - Possible?

Reply #2 –
Not directly. You can sort of do it if you play it back using the browser plugin, which has a pause button. A pause button for the editor and the viewer has been a top item on the wish list for many of us on this forum for a long time, but so far it hasn't appeared. Noteworthy Online tells us that the playback technology used by the browser plugin is different from that used by the other two, so the code can't simply be transferred directly. <sigh> maybe someday.....

Bill

Re: Stepwise Playback - Possible?

Reply #3 –
Okay, if I can't do it with a built-in NWC function, how else could I do it?

I know it can be done, I just don't know how.  Some kind of midi sequencer program?

Re: Stepwise Playback - Possible?

Reply #4 –
If you're going to be sitting at your computer with the NWC file open in front of you, and you want to play it back note by note, you could add another staff at the top of the score. 

Instead of using playback (F5), just make sure the option to play the note on entry is turned on, and notate each note with the singer. 

Re: Stepwise Playback - Possible?

Reply #5 –
To be honest, I'm not sure I fully understand the need...

Surely the singer is capable of maintaining tempo?  Songs simply don't flow with constant changes to the tempo on every note...  If the playback tempo is wrong then change it...  A stepwise playback seems to like it would be very jerky and unnatural (not that MIDI is ever REALLY natural... ;)  )

Perhaps a description of the real problem is in order.  Is it simply a case of not having the correct tempo set?
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: Stepwise Playback - Possible?

Reply #6 –
Quote from: Lawrie Pardy –

Perhaps a description of the real problem is in order.  Is it simply a case of not having the correct tempo set?

You're right, I didn't explain it well. 

This is for a church service long enough I can't learn it all.  (27 pieces in one service, 3 services to prepare) I want to combine what I will actually play with what I will have to pre-record.  I did an entire year of church service music by writing it out in NWC, using playback to record it as wave, and burning a CD.  During that time I was practicing piano, and at the end of the year mostly transitioned to playing it live. 


Some things lend themselves well to a fixed tempo.  For example, hymns.  With a little experience it is not hard to pick singable tempos.
 
Other pieces do not work at all.  For example, chants and other responsorials.  For these, you will hold a chord for a number of syllables then change.  The number of syllables differs on every verse in an unpredictable way, and there are many verses.  Singers and the congregation are pretty much unpredictable for this kind of stuff.

I had a keyboard once that would do what I want.  It had a manual play feature.  I could record into its memory and either play it back in tempo, or play it back one note at a time by pushing a button.  

There are people who use virtual orchestras for opera, even for some productions, and they have this kind of manual stepwise playback feature in their software. 

I have done a lot of googling looking for this feature and can't find it.  I think it is because I don't know the correct name. 

Re: Stepwise Playback - Possible?

Reply #7 –
ah-Haaa! Now at least I understand your wish. This, indeed. would be a lot harder to accomplish: "next chord at the tip of your fingers". Hmmm.
The downside of it is, as far as Noteworthy goes: no effing way.
Having said that, these pieces are by far the easiest to play on the organ. Just a few chords, really, and by definition not in quick succession.
So my advice would be: simply play these on the organ (can't be all that many, and they can't be all that hard to play) and the rest is doable by Noteworthy.

Even if you had a program to do that, you would have to restrain yourself with every syllable, NOT to go for the next note - until the next note!

Re: Stepwise Playback - Possible?

Reply #8 –
This kind of feature is common in MIDI sequencers, including stand alone hardware sequencers. Here are some terms that would help your Google search:

Quote
midi clock sequencer sync real time click track synchronize tempo "time code"

Re: Stepwise Playback - Possible?

Reply #9 –
Reckon I agree with Rob.  You're gonna be manually controlling it anyhow, might as well play it...

OTOH, Noteworthy has supplied some useful search terms that might help...  Still reckon I'd just play it.
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: Stepwise Playback - Possible?

Reply #10 –
Hello Everyone,,,

I need this feature too as we do all our A cappella on NWC and its
rarely sung " in strict tempo "

With a feature like step playback,, We could work directly with NWC
as an aid to sight reading which would be absolutely wonderful for us
in the choral community in general,,,

Is it possible to develop this feature as an add on???

I would purchase this add on in a heartbeat if it became available,,,

Re: Stepwise Playback - Possible?

Reply #11 –
If I understand the challenge, it is to print the music "correctly" but have the playback play it somewhat rubato, even to the point of making some notes last much longer than their written value.

I think the easiest thing to increase the note duration is to put an invisible fermata on it.  Put your cursor right before the note, then press e for tempo variance. Select fermata and a value for the fermata in the drop window, then go to the visibility tab and make it "never."

If you need a rubato effect, then insert new tempo markings whenever you want to move faster or slower.  Again, just set their visibility to never.  You also could use the tempo variances accellerando and ritardando . if you have a starting and ending tempo.  Those tempo markings and the accel. command would again be set to visibility=never.

I think a tempo variance or a tempo change in any particular bar of one staff will affect all the other staffs.  If I'm right, instead of setting all these visibilities to never, you could fill a new staff with quarter or eighth rests, and put the tempo variances on this staff.  You simply would not display it when it's time to print.


Re: Stepwise Playback - Possible?

Reply #12 –
Quote from: johnnybot
With a feature like step playback,, We could work directly with NWC as an aid to sight reading which would be absolutely wonderful for us in the choral community in general,,,

I have to disagree with this statement. Sight reading includes more than just getting the pitches right - you have to get the rhythm right as well. Far better to take it ve...r..r..ry slo..o..o..owly, but in time. You can do that, as David suggests, with a tempo track. Add a hidden track with a slow tempo on it. If there's more than one tempo in the piece, keep the proportions the same (e.g., if the piece goes from 120 to 140, the "learning" tempi might be 60 and 80). Make a second version of the track with the correct performance tempi and store it in a separate file. Then it will be a simple matter to change tempi back and forth as needed.

You will still have to use an extreme rubato to "tune" the choir and get the individual chord sonorities correct prior to performance, but by the time you're doing that the singers should already know the piece.

Regards,

Bill

Re: Stepwise Playback - Possible?

Reply #13 –
I use Noteworthy for choral rehearsal - but only with small groups. Tenors only, maybe tenors and basses (bases? keep forgetting - the other ones might be fish)

So, how do I do that? Play the bits we want to sing. If it's not all that difficult, sing along guys! Too hard? Listen again. Got that? Now try it... wait for it... F5, go. Hop on the bandwagon.
Pick out the difficult bars, re-rehearse them. Now: Noteworthy supplies only a starting chord. You're on your own, fellers. Da capo. Go! 
I have my tuning fork handy, too.
Needless to say, Noteworthy is fine for me as it is, in this respect.

Re: Stepwise Playback - Possible?

Reply #14 –
There are some pretty fishy basses in some of the choruses I sing in, but they all have two s's (three between them)! Bases are for baseball!
Robin