Struggling with flow control

2013-01-06 03:10 pm

I know what I want to do here, and I've tried several methods, but I can't get NWC to play back the way I want to.

My song has three sections - a verse, a chorus and a mid-section. We'll call them A, B and C. The flow has to be ABABBCCBB; in layman's terms, verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus (twice), mid-section (twice), chorus (twice).

The problem arises, of course, because we all want to get the music onto as few pages as possible, so we don't want to write out the sections again.

I understand that after a DS or a DC command, all special endings and repeats are ignored, which is what makes it so difficult.

Any suggestions?

Alan

Re: Struggling with flow control

Reply #1 – 2013-01-06 04:58 pm

Hardly a standard flow. One approach is to use this template for the playing parts and use non playing layers to supply the decorated barlines and flow instructions of your choosing.

Code: (nwc) [Select · Download]

!NoteWorthyComposer(2.5)
|AddStaff|Name:"Staff"
|StaffProperties|EndingBar:Open (hidden)|BoundaryTop:9|BoundaryBottom:30
|Lyrics|Align:Standard Rules
|Lyric1|Text:"a b x\r\n"
|Lyric2|Text:"a b x\r\n"
|Lyric3|Text:"x b c\r\n"
|Lyric4|Text:"x x c\r\n"
|Lyric5|Text:"x b x\r\n"
|Lyric6|Text:"x b x\r\n"
|Text|Text:"ABABBCCBB"|Font:PageSmallText|Pos:10
|Ending|Endings:1,2|Visibility:Never
|Note|Dur:Half|Pos:-1
|Bar
|Ending|Endings:1,2,3,5,6|Visibility:Never
|Note|Dur:Half|Pos:0
|Bar
|Ending|Endings:3,4|Visibility:Never
|Note|Dur:Half|Pos:1
|Ending|Endings:1,2,3,4,5|Visibility:Never
|Bar|Style:MasterRepeatClose|Visibility:Never
|Bar|Style:Double
!NoteWorthyComposer-End

With instructions and lyrics, it might look like this:

Code: (nwc) [Select · Download]

!NoteWorthyComposer(2.5)
|AddStaff|Name:"Staff"
|StaffProperties|EndingBar:Open (hidden)|BoundaryTop:16|BoundaryBottom:10|WithNextStaff:Layer
|Lyrics|Offset:2
|Lyric1|Text:"_ b c\r\n"
|Ending|Endings:1,2|Visibility:Never
|Note|Dur:Half|Pos:-1
|Bar|Visibility:Never
|Text|Text:"Chorus"|Font:StaffItalic|Pos:7
|Text|Text:" "|Font:StaffSymbols|Pos:10
|Ending|Endings:1,2,3,5,6|Visibility:Never
|Note|Dur:Half|Pos:0
|Bar|Visibility:Never
|Text|Text:"repeat Chorus"|Font:StaffItalic|Pos:12|Justify:Right|Placement:AtNextNote
|Text|Text:"Fine"|Font:StaffItalic|Pos:7|Justify:Right|Placement:AtNextNote
|Bar|Style:BrokenDouble|Visibility:Never
|Bar|Visibility:Never
|Ending|Endings:3,4|Visibility:Never
|Note|Dur:Half|Pos:1
|Ending|Endings:1,2,3,4,5|Visibility:Never
|Bar|Style:MasterRepeatClose|Visibility:Never
|Boundary|Style:Gap|Width:75|SystemConnections:N
|Text|Text:"to Chorus"|Font:StaffItalic|Pos:8|Justify:Right
|Boundary|Style:Gap|Width:500|SystemConnections:N
|Bar|Visibility:Never
|Boundary|Style:NewSystem|NewPage:N
|AddStaff|Name:"Staff-1"
|StaffProperties|EndingBar:Open (hidden)|BoundaryTop:6|BoundaryBottom:14
|StaffProperties|Volume:-1|StereoPan:-1
|Lyric1|Text:"a1\r\n"
|Lyric2|Text:"a2\r\n"
|RestChord|Dur:Half|Opts:Stem=Down,NoLegerLines,Muted,HideRest|Dur2:Whole|Pos2:6z
|Bar|Style:Double
|RestChord|Dur:Half|Opts:Stem=Down,NoLegerLines,Muted,HideRest|Dur2:Whole|Pos2:6z
|Spacer|Width:1600
|Bar|Style:MasterRepeatClose
|Spacer|Width:50
|Bar|Style:BrokenDouble
|Spacer|Width:50
|Bar|Style:MasterRepeatOpen
|RestChord|Dur:Half|Opts:Stem=Down,NoLegerLines,Muted,HideRest|Dur2:Whole|Pos2:6z
|Spacer|Width:1000
|Bar|Style:MasterRepeatClose
|Boundary|Style:Gap|Width:50|SystemConnections:N
|Boundary|Style:Gap|Width:50|SystemConnections:N
!NoteWorthyComposer-End

Re: Struggling with flow control

Reply #2 – 2013-01-07 11:43 am

Thanks!

This does look complicated!

I've downloaded it and tried it, and it does do what I want, but I'm blowed if I can see how! What makes the tune go back to the beginning after bar 2 when there is no master repeat close bar line?

Does anyone know of a simpler solution?

Alan

Re: Struggling with flow control

Reply #3 – 2013-01-07 12:14 pm

It's not really that complicated once you realise that the whole staff is actually played each time with bits of it skipped according to the contents of the endings.

The jump back to bar 1 from bar 2 isn't actually what happens. In reality the jump is back from bar 3 each time but bar 3 is empty except for repeats 3 and 4.

Re: Struggling with flow control

Reply #4 – 2013-01-07 05:05 pm

Quote from: arolfe – 2013-01-07 11:43 am

Thanks!

You're welcome. Since you were kind enough to write that you wanted 'ABABBCCBB', it only took a couple minutes to produce the first clip. As I said, this is an uncommon flow. It jumps 5 times to 3 different locations. That it can be done with 4 special endings and one master repeat is about as simple as it gets. (and simpler than I thought it would be)

I have asked NoteWorthy for a mechanism to disable the playback effect of barlines, endings and flows. Such a mechanism would allow the music (but not the lyrics) to be done on one staff. More importantly, it would eliminate a staff that, if selected, will not play back properly.

Given your lyric structure, lyrics will need to be on 2 staves. Multiple verses with a common chorus require lyrics on multiple staves if you want them to highlight properly during playback.