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NoteWorthy Composer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Answers to the following questions are based on the latest version of NoteWorthy Composer. In addition to this page, you may find the User Tips & Tricks page and the Forum helpful. The NoteWorthy Composer Help file also includes a list of "Answers to Common Questions."

List of FAQ Titles

NoteWorthy Composer crashes when I open it. What is the problem?

I suspect that the MIDI driver is causing a crash. My first advice would be to remove all MIDI setup information from NWC. This is achieved by deleting the NWC.INI from the C:\Windows folder. Now start NWC32. If it runs OK, then we have identified the driver configuration as the culprit for the crash. You will then need to Reset the MIDI configuration and/or fix any computer MIDI setup problems. Top

Why are my notes highlighting before they are played?

Most likely, the computer is using a soft synth with a very high note latency (in other words, the notes are not being played by the computer when NWC asks them to be played). Switching to a synth built into a sound card will usually solve this, as "real synths" generally have a very small play latency compared to soft synths.

For more discussion regarding soft synths, see NoteWorthy Composer Forum messages: 957, 321, 706, 350. For tips on changing the MIDI device used by the MIDI Mapper, see messages 1049 and 1045. Top

How can I  get my instruments to sound more realistic?

The play back sound and instruments available are a function of your sound card.

You will get better sound if you have a Wave Table sound card versus an FM Synth card. A wave table card uses samples from actual instruments for play whereas the FM card uses a series of mathematical sin functions, etc. to make an instrument sound. So the wave table card is going to sound more like the real thing. Some cards will support both. Perhaps your sound card is now set on FM and you could change it to Wave Table.

One last thing to remember, if your speakers are very inexpensive, you may not be able to hear how good your sound card is. Top

Why is one staff playing back percussion/drum sounds?

Most sound cards have a percussion channel on channel 10 or 16. The staff that is playing back percussion sounds is set to this channel. You need to change the channel for this staff by going to Staff: Staff Properties, Midi tab, Channel. Top

How do I set NoteWorthy Player to play *.mid files that I double click in an Explorer Window?

If you would like NoteWorthy Player to open when you double click on midi files in the explorer window:

-Open an Explorer Window
-Select View: Options
-Click File Types tab
-Select Midi Sequence (under Registered File types)
-Click Edit
-Select NoteWorthy Player
-Click Set Default

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How can I get sound from a laptop computer?

If a lap top does not come equipped with a sound card, there are two options:

1 - Some synthesizers and other MIDI devices will connect to the serial or parallel ports on a computer. If the lap top has a free serial or parallel port, one option is to buy a synth that will connect to this port and includes the necessary MIDI driver to support it.

2 - If the PC has a PCMCIA slot, there are sound cards available in this format. Top

How can I use NoteWorthy Composer to create audio tracks on CDs to play on an audio CD player?

You can use NWC simultaneously with a digital audio capture utility. While NWC is playing back, you should record the material (using some other program) into a 16-bit stereo WAV file captured at CD audio frequency (which is 44.1 KHz). Then, if your CD-R drive supports writing the CD-Audio format, you can build a CD audio track list from one or more WAV files stored on your computer. You need:

- A sound card that will support digital audio capture while playing back MIDI data (from NWC or wherever); "full duplex"
- A digital audio capture program (sometimes bundled with your soundcard or CD recorder)
- A large, fast hard drive
- A CD-R drive with software support for the CD-Audio format Top

How do I print only 1 staff of a song with several staves?

With File: Page Setup, Contents, you can select one staff or several staves of a song to print. This also controls the staves shown in the editor. Top

I got an error message that NWCV15.ttf is missing. What do I do?

Re-install NoteWorthy Composer by Running the setup *.exe file. You can install from your diskette or download the latest Version 1 release from our web site. This file is lost by moving your NoteWorthy Composer program files after installing it or by copying the program files onto your computer instead of Running the setup *.exe file. Top

How do I change the title of a song?

The File: Info command (quick key Ctrl+i) will allow you to change the title, author and copyright information for a song.  Top

How can I broaden my practical knowledge of NWC and related topics?

Have a question about a feature in NWC and need several views? Want to do something above the basic with NWC? Wondering how to get it everything connected and talking? Check our the NWC Offline Forum as an easy topic search tool.

-Download the NWC Offline Forum
-Run the *.exe file to install the NWC Offline Forum
-Open the Forum
-Go to the Find tab
-Search on your topic
-Read all the threads

Read on to become more knowledgeable about NWC, MIDI and Music and Computers. Top

I got an error message that I have too many fonts. What do I do?

If you system is not seeing the fonts and giving you the warning message about full fonts, what is probably full is the Windows/Fonts directory. Windows does not supported an unlimited number of fonts, even though you can put a bunch in the directory. You need to remove some of the fonts you do not use (or move them to another folder until you do need them).

Once you have moved or removed the fonts, restart your computer and re-install NoteWorthy Composer.  Top

What happens to my song files when I uninstall NoteWorthy Composer?

In general, your song files are safe when using the uninstall utility. If you do an "Automatic" uninstall, only the files originally installed by the setup will be removed. However, there are two scenarios where your song files are at risk:

Scenario #1:

  1. You store your files in the NoteWorthy Composer program sub-folder "Samples"
  2. You use the same filenames as the existing samples installed by the program

Scenario #2:

  1. You store your files in the NoteWorthy Composer program folder
  2. When uninstalling, you perform a "Custom" uninstall
  3. During the custom uninstall, you tell the removal utility to remove the NoteWorthy Composer program directory

If you fit into one of these two scenarios, then you should immediately rearrange your filing system on your computer. You should never store your own files in the same directory as program files. We recommend that you keep your song files in a separate folder. You can configure NWC to use this folder from Tools | Options | Folders. If you are using Windows 95 or better, a good place to keep your own files is the "My Documents" folder on your C: partition. It is then an easy process to backup your files, as they are all filed within a single folder hierarchy.

If you have not implemented a backup strategy, this should be your next planned action. Nothing is more important than protecting your work product. You can always reinstall your programs, but you can never recover your hard work unless you keep good and frequent backups.

Also see, What if I already uninstalled NWC and I cannot find my song files? below.

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What if I already uninstalled NWC and I cannot find my song files?

Well, for starters, we should point out that you should always keep a backup of your work. Hard drives do fail, and when they do, you will sing a sigh of relief when you have a current, working backup of your work.

Backups aside, after uninstalling and then installing a new version, some people confuse the absence of their NWC file history as having lost their song files (they no longer show up in the File | History command). If this is the case, then you will find your song files on your computer in the location where they are still stored. One way to track them down is to use the Windows "Find" command. From an Explorer window, simply type Ctrl+F and the find utility will open. From there, you can search for your files by name. Use the "Look in" box to specify all of your drives, select "Include subfolders", then specify the name of one of the files that you are trying to find.

If this does not work, see the previous question for possible scenarios where you may have inadvertently deleted your files. If you ever mistakenly delete your files, there are utilities on the market that might help you to recover them, including Norton Utilities. A discussion of this topic is beyond the scope of this answer, but some users have given advice in our forum. Some threads touching on this subject can be found at:

http://www.ntworthy.com/nwcforum/1/1034.htm
http://www.ntworthy.com/nwcforum/1/1239.htm

Also see, What happens to my song files when I uninstall NoteWorthy Composer? above.

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How do I open a *.bak file created by NoteWorthy Composer?

If you do not have file extensions showing in your Windows Explorer Windows, you need to change that. Following is one way to show File Extensions in Windows 98. We do not offer Windows support, so you may want to review your Windows help for other methods. In an Explorer Window, go to View: Folder Options. Under the View tab, un-check Hide file extensions for known file types. Click Apply.

Once you have file extensions showing, you will see the *.bak extension. Click the file name in the Explorer Window and press F2 to have access to the file name. Change the extension from "bak" to "nwc".

Now you can open the *.nwc file in NoteWorthy Composer. Top

How do you set NoteWorthy Player to play a list of songs?

Although this feature is not currently available in NoteWorthy Player, you can setup play lists using a Windows 95 batch file.

You create a batch file (*.bat) that executes your play list. The file playlist.zip (2K) provides an example. Save the ZIP contents to your hard disk, in a new folder. You can then run the batch file (double click the PlayList.BAT file) to play both songs. The batch file assumes that NoteWorthy Player is installed in the default location.

Batch files are a historical artifact from the days of DOS, but as in this case, they are occasionally useful. An old DOS manual, perhaps from the library, would probably be a good reference.

Commands used in the *.bat file:

start /wait c:\path\nwplayer c:\path\music1.nwc /play /close
start /wait c:\path\nwplayer c:\path\music2.nwc /play /close

While in a DOS session, you can get help on the "Start" command by running "Start /?" on the command line. Top

Where can I learn more about pitch bend in NoteWorthy Composer?

You can read about using pitch bends from this thread and the links out of the thread: http://www.ntworthy.com/nwcforum/1/1289.htm

Detune.nwc (1K) is a sample of a pitch bend that detunes over the span of two measures, then is restored to normal tuning. Try it out, then select the MPC instructions in the second staff to see how it was done. Top

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