Multiple Tunes in One File?
 

I am documenting the keyboard layout of various melodeons (aka button accordions, diatos, squeezeboxes) and can't figure out how to use a single .not file to contain the measures that display each button's notes.

The attached .pdf shows my end product, which is in PowerPoint and contains screen shots of Notation Composer scores.

I would like to be able to select a Part who's name matches the instrument and row, like say, Hohner GC right hand inner row. That selection would display 10 measures in the key of C setting up a screen shot as shown in the attached picture. Alternatively selecting a part named Hohner GC right hand outer row would display 11 measures in the key of G.

However the method to create a different number of measures in different keys in parts in the same file isn't obvious, so I may be headed down a blind alley.

Part's seemed the way to go because they can be selected from a list within Notation Composer, thus organizing 4 entries per melodeon for many many types of melodeon. I'm considering the alternative of a .not file for each row of buttons (4 files per melodeon) but hope to avoid this proliferation.

Re: Multiple Tunes in One File?
 

Hi,

You are correct that any Part of the same song file will have the same number of measures. Therefore, if you want different numbers of measures, you'll need to create separate .not files, unless blank measures at the end is acceptable. My guess is it's not an acceptable alternative, as it wouldn't look nearly as nice as your attached PDF :)

ttfn,
Sherry

Re: Multiple Tunes in One File?
 

p.s.

I might add that Parts are intended to be different parts of the same tune. Eg. if a quartet of violin, viola, cello and contrabass are playing a tune, there would be a Part for each instrument so that the violinist didn't have to have all the other instruments' notation on their score. Hope this helps understand the intent of the Part feature.

ttfn,
Sherry

Re: Multiple Tunes in One File?
 

Exactly, thanks for the explain. I'm clearly venturing beyond the intended use -- like hammering with a wrench -- but so far Notation Composer is remarkably rich in features and comes close to what I need.

As for the different number of measures, without too much effort I can insert a double bar at measure 10 and then use PPT to crop measure 11 from the screen shot. That should satisfy the reader.

My hope that I can still use Parts within a single file leads to more questions.

1) Can parts be in different key signatures within the same .not file? I ask because when I transposed the outer row part to G Major the inner row part was also transposed. I suspect that I set up the parts incorrectly to begin with or used the wrong kind of transpose?

2) Is there a limit to the number of parts within a file?

Re: Multiple Tunes in One File?
 

Hi,

I'm glad Composer is working well for you. And not to worry - I hammer with the wrench at times to, if it accomplishes what I need done :)

Yes, you can do this by using the Instrument Transposition feature. In Staff/Transpose, you can select to Transpose Instrument Key. This allows you to transpose for instruments such as Bb clarinet, but in your case you should be able to manipulate the transposition (and the subsequent note placement) to accomplish your demo. Do note that this feature is used on a per-staff basis. Just for clarity, a Part can be defined as a single staff, or a group of staves.

Nope - as many staves (and subsequent Parts) as your machine has memory to hold (which these days should be a ton.)

ttfn,
Sherry

Re: Multiple Tunes in One File?
 

Ah, excellent news. I'm envisioning a single .not file documenting every melodeon ever made. Well, perhaps not, but then again, why not?

Thanks again for the helpful information.

Doc