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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

What is the best way to get started using NWC?

One of the best places to go first is the Help file's Getting Started section. This area will guide you in setting up for play back, creating new songs, and working in the score editor. You may also want to review the Keyboard Reference section for a list of quick keys to make notating even faster. Top

How do I create a MIDI File (*.mid)?

Use File: Save As and select Save as type to be Type 1 MIDI File or Type 0 MIDI File to create a MIDI file (*.mid) from the current active score. Top

How do I enter more than one staff?

When you open a new song file from a Blank template, there is one staff on the screen. To enter more staves use Staff: New Staff or the quick key Ctrl+A. The Staff menu is where you add, move and delete staves. Top

How do I work with chords - notes aligned vertically?

For chord entry (notes vertically aligned and played at the same time):

  1. Enter the first note of the chord.
  2. Position the insertion point to the right of the note and at the pitch for the second note in the chord.
  3. Press Ctrl+Enter to place the second note in a chord with the first note.
  4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 to add more notes to the chord.

You can remove a chord member by positioning the insertion point to the right of the note to be removed and pressing Ctrl+Backspace. For more information on chords, search the NWC Help file for Chord Member Command. Top

What is the procedure to change notes to a new clef?

  1. Select the clef,  press Alt+Enter to access the clef dialog box, and change it as necessary.
  2. Press Home, then Shift+End, which selects the whole staff (you can also try this procedure on smaller selections, where appropriate by left clicking the mouse and dragging across the notes).
  3. Press Shift+Ctrl+Up/Down Arrow until the notes are at the proper position for the new clef
  4. Press F9 to update the key signature. Top

Is there an easy way to change the key of a song?

  1. Use Tools: Force Accidentals to assign an accidental to each note.
  2. Select the key signature, and change it using Alt+Enter. If no key exists, then use Insert: Key Signature (or K) to enter a key signature at the beginning of the staff.
  3. Select Tools: Audit Accidentals to update notes to the key.
  4. If necessary to change the enharmonic spelling of notes, select Tools: Transpose Staff and specify an interval of "0". Top

What does Preserve Width mean?

You will see the option to Preserve Width in dialog boxes under Expression Placement. One example is Insert: Text. If you select Preserve Width, the text will take up its own width on the staff and notes will start after the text. If you do not select Preserve Width, the text will not take any width on the staff. In this case, text placed at the top of the staff will allow notes to be entered under the text. If you do not Preserve Width, the symbol or text you are entering will appear with a diamond beside it. Since the item has no width of its own, the diamond gives you something to select for editing or deleting. The diamond will not appear in your prints. Top

Why are my Beam and Triplet commands not available?

You must select a proper sequence of notes for the commands to become active. For example to beam notes, you must have at least two flagged (ex: eighth) notes selected (highlighted). Once selected, the beam icon will become available as well as the ability to use the quick key Ctrl+B. Clicking the beam icon will beam the selected notes. Top

Is there a way to quickly edit symbols?

There is an easy way to edit symbols like the clef, key signature, and text. First, select (highlight) the item, then press Alt+Enter. The dialog box for that item will appear for quick editing. Top

What is the fastest way to notate with NoteWorthy Composer?

Use the computer keyboard as much as possible. Most commands and actions have a keyboard shortcut. For example, standard bar lines can be entered by pressing the Tab key. Search on Keyboard Guide in NoteWorthy Composer's help file for a listing of all the keyboard shortcuts. Top

How do I make more space between staves so the notes do not intersect?

Click on the staff you want to add more space around. Press F2 to bring up the Staff Properties dialog box. Under the Visual tab, use the Vertical Size -- Upper and/or Lower settings. Increasing the Upper setting provides more space above the staff. Increasing the Lower setting gives more space below the staff. Do this for any staves you need more space around. Top

How do I enter a multi-measure rest?

Multi-measure rests are not currently supported in NoteWorthy Composer. However, the following tips provide a good solution:

If your primary need is for printing, enter a whole measure rest. Then, with the insertion point to the left of the rest, select Insert: Text. In the Expression box, type |---- "a number for the number of measures to hold the rest" ----|. Set Display Font to Bold. Under Expression Placement, do not check Preserve Width and do set the Staff Position for 6. Click OK. This will place a | ---- x ----| over the whole measure rest, which now looks a lot like a multi-measure rest. If you do not like the vertical placement of the number, select the diamond beside the number, and press Alt+Enter to edit the Staff Position.

If you also need the multi-measure rest to play back, use Insert: Bar Line (Decorated), to insert a Local Repeat Open and a Local Repeat Close around the rest. When inserting the Local Repeat Close, enter the number of times to repeat the rest (measure).

You could also use both methods above and create a Print Group and a Play Group. Top

How do I Audit Bar Lines with a pick up note (anacrusis)?

If you want to use Tools: Audit Bar Lines to check your bar alignment and have a pick up note, you need to isolate the pick up note before doing the audit. You can isolate the note by placing a double bar line or section close (Insert: Bar Line Decorated) after the note instead of a single bar line. Then run the audit. When the audit is complete, replace the double bar line with a regular bar line. Top

Where do I select how I want the staves to be connected?

To connect your staves in an orchestral fashion or with a brace (as for piano), go to Staff Properties (F2) for each staff. Under the Visual tab, for Style, select Orchestral for each staff or Upper Grand Staff for the top staff and Lower Grand Staff for the bottom staff (for the brace). Top

How do I skip notes that I do not want to have lyrics?

If you have a few notes or an entire section of notes that you do not want lyrics assigned to, use an _ (underscore) in the Lyric Editor (Ctrl+L) for each note you want to skip. For example, entering _ _ _ in for Lyrics will skip 3 notes. You can also select the notes that you do not want to have lyrics, press Alt+Enter, and under the Notes tab, set Lyric Syllable to Never.

Top

Can you move a note instead of deleting and re-entering it?

For any selected note(s), Ctrl+Shift+(up/down arrow keys) will move the note(s) up and down on a staff.

You cannot move just one note in a chord. However, you can place your insertion point to the right of the chord member and press Ctrl+Backspace to remove the chord member. Top

Is there a way to put notes closer together on the staff?

The command File: Page Setup, Options tab allows you to toggle the setting "Increase note spacing for larger note durations." To adjust the spacing around one note, select it, press Alt+Enter, edit Extra Note Spacing.  Top

How can an icon be forced to stay on, or active?

For example, if you will be entering more notes that are accented (Notes: Accent) than are not accented, use Persistent Note Tools (Tools menu) to keep the Accent icon on. To do this, click the Persistent Note Tools icon. Top

How do I create my own templates?

  • You can change the templates provided in NoteWorthy Composer and save them as new templates:
    -Open the rhythm that you want to change
    -Change the template as you want
    -File: Save As
    -Save file under Template, Rhythm as whatever name you want
    -Now you have a new template the way you want it
    -When you enter Ctrl+N, you template will be there
  • You can create a template from new:
    -Create your song file
    -File: Save As
    -Save under Template, Rhythm or Custom

Top

How can other people play back my *.nwc files if they do not have NoteWorthy Composer?

Have them download or send them a copy of NoteWorthy Player. It is freeware and will play back *.nwc files. Top

Is there a loop play feature in NoteWorthy Composer?

No, but you can use NoteWorthy Player for loop play of your *.nwc files. It is freeware. Top

How does the Multi-point Controller work (volume example)?

An example may provide the best explanation. The file mpcex.nwc (1K) includes a .nwc file with multi-point controllers for volume. When you play back the song, you can hear the volume fade in one area due to a multi-point controller and change instantaneously in another. Select the {mpc} symbol in the .nwc file and press Alt+Enter to see how the multi-point controller was set. Top

Do I always have to start play back from the beginning?

Pressing F5 or Tools: Play will start play back. However, you can set where you want play to begin each time. Select Tools: Options and click on the MIDI tab. Under Play Options, you can select play to start from the beginning, from the current measure, from the insertion point or from several other choices. Top

Why does a note sometimes keep playing all through an entire song, as if it were stuck?

When this occurs, the quick fix is to hit the Stop button twice. The second Stop command will cause Note Off events to be sent for all notes on every MIDI channel for every selected device.

As for the cause, there are several possibilities:

The most likely cause for this situation is from note ties across bar lines, where both notes do not have the same accidental assigned to them. For example, you might be selecting to tie a note outward, and then changing the key signature or clef before the recipient of the note tie is encountered. This will cause stuck notes, as the "Note Off" pitch will not coincide with the original "Note On" pitch. For example, if you have a B-Flat note, including its accidental, tied outward into a bar line, then you need to make sure that the note on the other side of the bar line at that staff position is also a B-Flat note, either via the key signature or by its accidental. Any accidental that you assign to the recipient of a note tie will be suppressed when the note is displayed.

The second cause is mostly a consequence of internal data getting confused. NoteWorthy Composer can be very sophisticated in how it handles note ties: for example you can tie a note going into a special ending, and NoteWorthy Composer will figure out that the note should be tied to the next note in all of the special endings automatically. If you do not resolve the note tie on one of the special endings, then the tied note will be "stuck".

It is also possible that the score needs to be audited. Sometimes, after cutting and pasting notes, or adding notes with the tie outward attribute set, the internal data gets out of synch with the visual score. In this case, one note may understand that it is tied to the next note with its pitch, but the next note does not yet understand that it is the recipient of a note tie. Use the Audit Staff and/or Audit Score command to resolve this situation.

Lastly, if you play a score which includes the Sustain Pedal markings, and Stop the play back while the pedal is down, the "pedal down" effect remains for that MIDI channel even after you start play back again. This can cause stuck notes when play is selected again. If this is the cause, the easiest solution is to hit the Stop button twice. Top

How can I play back only one staff of my song?

If you only want one staff to play back, make the staff active and press Shift+F5 to play the active staff. If you want some staves to play and some not to play, use Tools: Mute List for quick access to setting the staves to mute or not mute. Top

 

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