Entering Notes from Keyboard

Topic: Entering Notes from Keyboard (Read 8186 times) previous topic - next topic

Entering Notes from Keyboard

13 years ago

A really useful feature is the automatic insertion of bar lines when entering notes stepwise from a midi keyboard. But there's a couple of snags.

To enter a rest you have to use the space bar. OK until the bar starts with a rest when it all falls apart. Is there any reason why computer keyboard entry can't use the same facility?
If you tie a note with an accidental (using the / key) then the second note will have an accidental too if the tie crosses a bar line. No problem if the tie is within the bar, and no problem if the note is programatically split because its duration is too long for the current bar

Re: Entering Notes from Keyboard

Reply #1 – 13 years ago

Hi Peter

Can you clarify why this is a snag, please?

Quote

If you tie a note with an accidental (using the / key) then the second note will have an accidental too if the tie crosses a bar line.

I don't see an accidental marking after the bar line unless accidentals are forced, but the behaviour is correct. I input with a QWERTY keyboard, though, and I don't know what a Midi keyboard does for input.

Re: Entering Notes from Keyboard

Reply #2 – 13 years ago

Quote from: David Palmquist – 13 years ago

Can you clarify why this is a snag, please?

I don't use MIDI for entry either. Peter's point is that NWC should not put an accidental on a tie destination. I agree.

Re: Entering Notes from Keyboard

Reply #3 – 13 years ago

Quote from: Peter Edwards – 13 years ago

To enter a rest you have to use the space bar. OK until the bar starts with a rest when it all falls apart. Is there any reason why computer keyboard entry can't use the same facility?

I for one do not want this activity to be the default. If it was optional that would be fine, but for me one of the wonderful things that separates NWC from pretty much all other notation packages is that it doesn't force barlines when I'm editing. Forced barlines ends up with strange ties and stuff as it shuffles things around when you're fiddling with the notation when correcting errors or just testing possibilities.

Re: Entering Notes from Keyboard

Reply #4 – 13 years ago

Quote from: Peter Edwards – 13 years ago

To enter a rest you have to use the space bar.

You can also add 'Insert Rest' to a toolbar. I added 'Insert Rest' to the beginning of my 'piano' toolbar.

Quote from: Lawrie Pardy – 13 years ago

I for one do not want this activity to be the default.

I agree.

Re: Entering Notes from Keyboard

Reply #5 – 13 years ago

Quote

Peter's point is that NWC should not put an accidental on a tie destination. I agree.

I agree too, but I'm still unclear as to what causes the error. Am I correct to assume when input is by Midi keyboard, NWC adds the unnecessary second accidental?

Re: Entering Notes from Keyboard

Reply #6 – 13 years ago

Quote from: David Palmquist – 13 years ago

Am I correct to assume when input is by Midi keyboard, NWC adds the unnecessary second accidental?

Not just MIDI, but with the Piano Bar Control as well.
With a blank score, click on 'Whole Duration' and 'Tie'. Click any black key on the piano bar control twice.

Clicking on C sharp twice, I get:

Code: (nwc) [Select · Download]

!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.5,Single)
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:#-6^
|Bar
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:#-6
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End

Peter argues that it should be:

Code: (nwc) [Select · Download]

!NoteWorthyComposerClip(2.5,Single)
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:#-6^
|Bar
|Note|Dur:Whole|Pos:-6
!NoteWorthyComposerClip-End

I agree, but don't see it as a big deal. Audit accidentals fixes it.

Re: Entering Notes from Keyboard

Reply #7 – 13 years ago

Not if you have courtesy accidentals too :-(

Entering notes from the piano toolbar also inserts bar lines as appropriate, but inserting a rest from the same place still doesn't work!

I'd be happy if the behaviour of the toobar rest matched that of the notes – if so, problem solved.

And it would be a nice tweak to make the rest symbol match the set duration. I naively entered minim rests when I wanted crotchets solely because a crotchet rest was displayed.

Re: Entering Notes from Keyboard

Reply #8 – 13 years ago

Quote from: Peter Edwards – 13 years ago

Not if you have courtesy accidentals too :-(

I would think that courtesy accidentals would be assigned long after note entry.

Re: Entering Notes from Keyboard

Reply #9 – 13 years ago

Quote from: Rick G. – 13 years ago

I would think that courtesy accidentals would be assigned long after note entry.

Not if I'm transcribing something... I usually work from top to bottom as much as I can.

Re: Entering Notes from Keyboard

Reply #10 – 13 years ago

Quote from: Peter Edwards – 13 years ago

If you tie a note with an accidental (using the / key) then the second note will have an accidental too if the tie crosses a bar line. No problem if the tie is within the bar, and no problem if the note is programatically split because its duration is too long for the current bar

Here's a little User Tool to fix that:

Code: (php) [Select · Download]

<?php
# rg_AuditTieAccidentals.php ver 1.0 13Mar2012 NWC2 User Tool
# Ref: http://my.noteworthysoftware.com/?topic=8118.0
require_once("lib/nwc2clips.inc");
$PlayContext = new NWC2PlayContext;
$clip = new NWC2Clip('php://stdin');
echo $clip->GetClipHeader(), PHP_EOL;
foreach ($clip->Items as $item) {
  $o = new NWC2ClipItem($item, true);
  if ($PlayContext->Ties) {
    $o_new = clone $o;
    foreach (array('Pos', 'Pos2') as $tag) {
      $notes = $o->GetTaggedOptAsArray($tag, array());
      foreach ($notes as &$pos) {
        $npp = new NWC2NotePitchPos($pos);
        if ($PlayContext->IsTieReceiver($npp)) {
          $npp->Accidental = '';
          $pos = $npp->ReconstructClipText();
        }
      }
      if ($notes) $o_new->Opts[$tag] = join(',', $notes);
    }
    $item = $o_new->ReconstructClipText().PHP_EOL;
  }  
  $PlayContext->UpdateContext($o);
  echo $item;
}
echo NWC2_ENDCLIP, PHP_EOL; 
?>