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Topic: NWC2 viewer (Read 12360 times) previous topic - next topic

NWC2 viewer

Good morning from Norway, Here is a little poser!!  I have at long last managed to get a few people in our choir to start using the viewer after a lot of persuasion, however they experience many problems with this.  I have sent them a shorter SATB arrangement  (4 staves) straight from the composer (NWC2).  They can now play THE WHOLE SCORE without end but there is no possibility for them to play just one stave (soprano for example), or to play two staves to help in practising.  This means that I have to setup everything for them beforehand by muting some of the staves in the arrangement.  This isn't too bad as this I will willingly do, but the worst part is that they can only start at the beginning and carry on to the very end, there being no possibility for them to chose where to start and stop or repeat.  For a large choir arrangement (the one we now are working on is over 600 bars long) this means that the viewer as is just cannot be utilised.

Or am I missing out somewhere?  Has the viewer for example more capabilities than I have found?  which may well be the case.  I would like to give them the possibility to chose a stave by muting those they don't want to hear and then being able to start anywhere within the arrangement with eventual repeats.  For a choir this is almost mandatory for the learning of difficult passages.  I could get everyone to install NWC2 and give instructions on it's use as it isn't that expensive, but this seems to be a bit farfetched for our needs.

Anyone got an answer to this, or am I asking for too much?

Re: NWC2 viewer

Reply #1 –
Hello back to Norway.

The items you wish for, particularly being able to start at any point in the viewer, are items that many have wished for.
Like you, I use NoteWorthy among other things, for choir rehearsals and you will find plenty of rehearsal scores on the Scriptorium . But unfortunately, you cannot do what you and I, and many others would like to do.

We can only hope that one day, this might be a future development although I suspect that if it was going to happen, it would have by now.

Rich.

Re: NWC2 viewer

Reply #3 –
Good evening Rick, from Norway again...  
Thank you for the information on the "strings" concerning the NWC viewer.  Very interesting reading, and some of what was written made me laugh, but even so, what happens now?  I really am being "pushed" to find a good solution for one of the choirs I sing in (and do arrangements for as well as "convert" old handwritten arrangements into NWC format).  Like others I have the problem that a good deal of the choristers do not read music as such and neither have good familiarity with Personal computers.  However a version of NWC with reduced facilities which one paid for would enable NWC to really "spread its wings" I think.  NWC is such a fantastic and extremely reasonable piece of music notation software that I would prefer to use this rather than any thing else for the choirs.

At the present time I produce CDs through the use of midi export and the muting of different staves in order to present difficult passages to each of the voices (SATB).  This means that most of our choristers can learn their parts in a simple way.  This is however very time consuming and having a better viewer (as many others have suggested) would solve an immense problem with the NWC use by choirs.  I am very sure that I could sell many extra copies of NWC2 software to other choirs if the viewer was better (and there are at least 11 choirs in my immediate area who I know would benefit from this). 

I think that this for the moment is the "end of the line" for me as I really have sort out a solution within a few days.  Whether it will be CDs or another solution remains to be seen.

I wonder though, is there anyone on the NWC software team who read these comments and would care to write something on the subject?

Re: NWC2 viewer

Reply #4 –
   Hi, ac080938.

   As you will see, your problem is not unusual, yet despite many requests Eric has not yet seen fit to remedy it.  So?

   The answer is surely for you to provide multi-voice Midi Files in which some of the voices are not muted but merely relatively diminished, so that the required voice stands out; each of your colleagues can then choose the version appropriate to him or her.  Alternatively, the answer is to provide a single Midi File, and encourage your colleagues to play it using a Midi File Player that allows suitable control - emphasis - of a chosen voice (as typified by Session or MidiPlay or van Basco's).  Have a look at my website - http://www.thehoopers.demon.co.uk - to see what I mean.

   MusicJohn, 23/Sep/09

Re: NWC2 viewer

Reply #5 –
Perhaps a solution is to use vanBasco's Karaoke player.  This software will play MIDI's for you and you can selectively mute or highlight channels during playback.  Distribute a MIDI created from NWC, and as they play back with vanBasco's they can mute or hoghlight as required.  It's easy to use.

http://www.vanbasco.com/

I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: NWC2 viewer

Reply #6 –
Hello again from Norway,   I have been using Synthfont for the last two years directly from NWC and produce MP3 and audio files with reduced and accentuated volume to help in voice training for different arrangements.  The MP3 files have been used to send arrangements to other choirs in other countries where our choir(s) will be visiting and singing the same (norwegian) arrangement.  As you can imagine though, this is very time comsuming and when a few choristers in a choir (the Oslo one) asks directly for a playback posibility on a PC what can I say. 

I have never tried to use the viewer before and was very disappointed when I realised that it was virtually impossible to use(for a choir at least) in a sensible way.  So the result will be that I will have to admit defeat to the choristers in question (for the moment anyway) and do as I have done earlier - CDs and MP3s.  Thank you for the attention that this has produced and thank you all for your suggestions.

Re: NWC2 viewer

Reply #7 –
Greetings from Finland.

I share this frustration fully. In my mind the full program should be for those making music or arrangements, and the viewer for those who listen to the music, in many cases learning the music. Therefore at least basic editing should be possible. Ideally, the viewer should do everything the full program does, except saving.

If I could get the chorus singers to buy the full program, they could adopt learning files themselves. At the same time they would be able to change and spoil my rehearsal files, and this would happen, and happens. For this reason I would like to have the option to make the nwc files read-only.

--Christian
NWC on Ubuntu Linux/Wine

Re: NWC2 viewer

Reply #8 –
   So, what is the matter with my suggestion, repeated by Lawrie, that you use Midi Files that your several Choir members can play back with a Player such as van Basco's, which gives you all the control you desire?

   MusicJohn, 24/Sep/09

Re: NWC2 viewer

Reply #9 –
Quote from: MusicJohn –
So, what is the matter with my suggestion, repeated by Lawrie, that you use Midi Files that your several Choir members can play back with a Player such as van Basco's, which gives you all the control you desire?
You and Lawrie have about the only solution I can think of.  A number of years ago when I was singing in a chorus, I found or created NWC files of what we were working on and suggested that other chorus members play them with an unregistered copy of NWC before I was informed this was verboten.  At least one chorus member bought the full version that I know of before I dropped out.

It seems to me a no cost marketing tool is just being ignored.
Since 1998

Re: NWC2 viewer

Reply #10 –
I guess it's time someone pointed out that there's no pause control in the editor, either - although it's been asked for several times. The editor does have the ability to start in the middle, but you can't pause playback and then resume it from the same point. If you hit "stop" and then "play," the music starts over from the same point it was the last time you hit "play." A true pause button would be nice to have - or at least, it would be nice if the playback highlight remained onscreen after you hit "stop." That way you could at least position the cursor to the last note played. As it is, you have to guess from a whole screen's worth of notes.

To tie this back more firmly to the topic, something several of us have wished for is the ability to move back and forth easily between the editor and the viewer. That way you could watch the score as you listened to the music, without the distractions of invisible items, anchor points, etc. If the viewer had a pause control, and the switch back and forth from the viewer to the editor always kept the same portion of the score on screen in both programs, we might not miss a pause control in the editor.

Re: NWC2 viewer

Reply #11 –
I concur about the pause button. The logical key to assign to it would be the <spacebar>, but that would interfere with rest entry.

Quote from: William Ashworth –
To tie this back more firmly to the topic, something several of us have wished for is the ability to move back and forth easily between the editor and the viewer.
In NWC2, all that would seem to be needed is a playback mode where the anchor width is not preserved, hidden notation is set to the Screen color and all other notation in the default color is set to the Printer Default color. Some additional explanation <here>.

Special Endings would need to be fixed so that they don't preserve the width of their text in the editor, but that should be fixed in any case. AFAIK, all the other objects look the same in the editor as in the viewer.
Registered user since 1996

Re: NWC2 viewer

Reply #12 –
Quote from: Rick G. –
The logical key to assign to it would be the <spacebar>, but that would interfere with rest entry.
Another possibility would be to make F5 toggle between pause and play. But I'm not sure assigning it to the spacebar would cause problems, anyway, because one doesn't normally enter rests during playback. The spacebar could revert to its regular role of entering rests after it had paused the music.

Quote from: Rick G. –
In NWC2, all that would seem to be needed is a playback mode where the anchor width is not preserved, hidden notation is set to the Screen color and all other notation in the default color is set to the Printer Default color.
It would also be nice to have the option of always layering during playback.

Re: NWC2 viewer

Reply #13 –
Just to go slightly off the subject, has anyone encountered the problem of serving choir members who have Apple computers? Is there an Apple version of NWC2 viewer available or even envisaged?

Re: NWC2 viewer

Reply #14 –
There is currently no Apple version of any NWC software (including the viewer). As to future Apple versions, I can't speak for the developer, but my impression is that none is in the works. Sorry....

Bill

Re: NWC2 viewer

Reply #15 –
No Apple version of NWC Viewer, but..There is a free program called Melody Player, that is available for Apple computers AND Window.
What I do for the chorists is to export the NWC files into a midi file.
Melody Player accept this format and at the same time you have a solution for :
- positioning where you want to start
- change the volume of the staffs
- change the tempo
The Melody Player can be downloaded from: http://www.myriad-online.com/en/products/melodyplayer.htm