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Old 11-07-2016, 06:14 PM
Gurra1 Gurra1 is offline
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Default Missing notation features

Hi,

My daughter is studying for a music degree and she got this music technology assignment, to accurately recreate some sheet music using "any" music notation software. So I downloaded the latest notation composer preview because I still find this piece of software the most intuitive notation software I have ever tried.

First of all I got stuck into this excerpt of modern piano music, as far as I can see there are 3 main stumbling blocks preventing it from being done in composer in order to pass the assignment:
1. Can't create the octave down bass clef
2. Can't pick the appropriate dotted quaver/semiquaver beam groups for any of the meters so composer gets confused right away with the first bar right hand, I can't figure out how to convert those beamed notes back to the dotted quaver I inserted.
3. Can't create any of the tuplets
4. Can't display tuplet ratios
5. Can't display tuplet brackets.

Second part of the assignment is a Brahms excerpt in 3/8.
Noticed beams across both bars and staves right away and still can't find a way of doing this in composer. On a closer look there are some more issues:
1. Can't figure out how to draw beams across bars
2. Can't figure out how to draw beams across staves
3. Can't figure out how to draw courtesy accidentals without brackets
4. Can't figure out how to draw bar 10 right hand without using 3 voices, but composer only has two.
5. It doesn't seem to want to draw the combined dotted quaver+3x semiquaver beams used in bars 4 and 9-13. Is this another beam group issue?

The other requirement for both parts of this assignment was to use the same layout as in the example, i.e. on the Brahms 3 bars on the first row, 4 on the second, 3 on the third etc.
Since I couldn't finish this excerpt in composer either I can only assume that this is possible.

While I was at it I also checked arpeggios across staves - it is a feature I come across quite frequently, this also seems not implemented yet.

My question is this - are any (or all) of these features in the queue for being implemented? I hate having to revert to sibelius / finale every single time something like this needs to be done. Take hiding rests for example, used extensively in that Brahms. It took me all of 10 seconds to find in composer. Took significantly longer in finale.


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  #2  
Old 11-08-2016, 07:39 PM
Sherry C's Avatar
Sherry C Sherry C is offline
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Default Re: Missing notation features

Hi,

First of all thank you for your kind words regarding Notation Composer. We are glad that you find it to be intuitive to use - we have spent a lot of time working to make it "musician friendly."

Many of the features that you refer to have occasionally been requested and are on the "wish list" of advanced features. However, our main target audience is "everyday musicians", and we work diligently to provide the features that "everyday musicians" need while keeping our prices low so that these musicians can afford the software. The current features in Notation Composer are the ones that we've found to satisfy the majority of our target audience, as well as even more advanced composers who like the usability of Notation Composer as an actual composition tool. These folks use Composer for the actual composition process, and then use our MusicXML export feature to take the composition to another program such as Finale or Sibelius to "polish" the score with the more advanced engraving features available there.

The development time for the more advanced engraving features would be substantial, and of course that cost gets passed on to our customers. The newly released Dorico notation software doesn't even have any of those features currently, and costs about 5 times the price of our Notation Composer.

So while I am sorry that Notation Composer does not meet all the fine engraving needs for your daughter's music technology assignment in regards to advanced engraving needs for this assignment, perhaps her instructor will have an assignment for an original composition later. In that scenario, Notation Composer would give her tools that the other programs haven't even dreamed of

There are a few points below where Composer may do what you're looking for, and I'll try to give a few tips.

Quote:
1. Can't create the octave down bass clef
Composer does not have that clef as it is not so common as the octave up treble clef.

Quote:
2. Can't pick the appropriate dotted quaver/semiquaver beam groups for any of the meters so composer gets confused right away with the first bar right hand, I can't figure out how to convert those beamed notes back to the dotted quaver I inserted.
You can do beams and dotted notes on a case-by-case basis. Just click on the note(s) to select it/them, and you can use the tools in the Notes palette to make adjustments. In Help/Users Guide you can use the Index to look up how to do various editing tasks.

Quote:
3. Can't create any of the tuplets
4. Can't display tuplet ratios
5. Can't display tuplet brackets.
The tuplets that are in the piece you attached are indeed a more advanced category of tuplets than Composer currently supports. We do have more advanced tuplet support on the "wish list".

Quote:
Second part of the assignment is a Brahms excerpt in 3/8.
Noticed beams across both bars and staves right away and still can't find a way of doing this in composer. On a closer look there are some more issues:
1. Can't figure out how to draw beams across bars
2. Can't figure out how to draw beams across staves
Sorry that's not supported at present either.

Quote:
3. Can't figure out how to draw courtesy accidentals without brackets
Typically a courtesy accidental is an accidental that is within the written key, and is put on a note in a measure following a measure where the note was "accidentalled" out of the key.

I *think* that what you're referring to is the D in the last measure of the 3rd line in the attached example. All I can say is that Composer only adds accidentals with parentheses to avoid confusing the live musician about keys.

Quote:
4. Can't figure out how to draw bar 10 right hand without using 3 voices, but composer only has two.
I'm just counting bars as shown in the piece, and am not seeing that 3 voices are needed for bar 10. What am I missing?

Quote:
5. It doesn't seem to want to draw the combined dotted quaver+3x semiquaver beams used in bars 4 and 9-13. Is this another beam group issue?
This is indeed a bug, and is on the "fix it" list- sorry for that.

Quote:
The other requirement for both parts of this assignment was to use the same layout as in the example, i.e. on the Brahms 3 bars on the first row, 4 on the second, 3 on the third etc.
Since I couldn't finish this excerpt in composer either I can only assume that this is possible.
Yes, this is indeed possible. The Layout tools are really nice for putting things exactly like you want them (there is a quick Tutorial Video on that at http://notation.com/TutorialVideos.php )

Quote:
While I was at it I also checked arpeggios across staves - it is a feature I come across quite frequently, this also seems not implemented yet.
Not yet, but on the wish list.

ttfn,
Sherry
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  #3  
Old 11-12-2016, 12:31 AM
Gurra1 Gurra1 is offline
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Posts: 6
Default Re: Missing notation features

Hi Sherry, thanks for your reply


Quote:
Originally Posted by Sherry C View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gurra1 View Post
2. Can't pick the appropriate dotted quaver/semiquaver beam groups for any of the meters so composer gets confused right away with the first bar right hand, I can't figure out how to convert those beamed notes back to the dotted quaver I inserted.
You can do beams and dotted notes on a case-by-case basis. Just click on the note(s) to select it/them, and you can use the tools in the Notes palette to make adjustments. In Help/Users Guide you can use the Index to look up how to do various editing tasks.
I think this is another bug. I thought it was a beam group issue (in that it shouldn't convert the dotted notes to beamed notes if the beam group is configured correctly, and I couldn't and still can't figure out how to configure those) but I guess it isn't. Composer isn't able to draw a dotted semiquaver followed by a dotted quaver followed by a dotted semiquaver as in the first bar of the modern piano piece. It won't do it for me anyway. It insists on drawing the dotted quaver as 3 tied notes, in my example above it uses a demisemiquaver + semiquaver + dotted semiquaver, if you try entering it in e.g. a 6/8 meter it uses a demisemiquaver + quaver + demisemiquaver. If you try to collapse either of these back to a dotted note with (ct) you get the message "Collapsing the tie would result in irregular note duration. Try changing voice of notes".

Quote:
I *think* that what you're referring to is the D in the last measure of the 3rd line in the attached example. All I can say is that Composer only adds accidentals with parentheses to avoid confusing the live musician about keys.
A lot of accidentals in that Brahms piece are courtesy accidentals. I am not sure why there are no parentheses around them but I do come across scores where courtesy accidentals are drawn without parentheses from time to time. Having said that I would agree that this one isn't as fatal as the other issues.

Quote:
I'm just counting bars as shown in the piece, and am not seeing that 3 voices are needed for bar 10. What am I missing?
Try drawing bar 10. The meter is 3/8. The upper voice gets the beamed dotted quaver + 3 semiquavers.
The lower voice gets the two dotted crotchets. Because the crotchets are dotted you cannot draw the following two quavers in the lower voice as they would overlap. If you draw them in the upper voice they convert to beamed semiquavers and connect with the notes above and that's not how they are supposed to be played.

Last edited by Gurra1; 11-12-2016 at 03:01 PM. Reason: correction
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