General:
Sound File Formats
Software
Free stuff?
Windows Sound Recorder

MIDI:
Music Setups
Instructional Uses
Example Lesson
Music Examples
Noteworthy

Music:
Acid Intro
Acid Loops

CD Production:
Ideas and Applications
Microphones and Mixers
Recording Digitally
Software
CD Packaging

Sound Applied:
The Web
PowerPoint

Elsewhere on this site:
General Instructional Technology
Presentation/Web
Imaging
Sound
Video,
Home

Sound and Music: Music Software - Noteworthy Composer

Writing Music

Start MIDI essentials Writing Music

Like any document, you begin by "File/New...", or clicking the "New" icon at the top left. First you'll be given a few general templates to choose from. They construct the staff and assign the MIDI instruments for some typical ensembles, such as a string quartet or 4-part choir ("satb" = Soprano/Alto/Tenor/Bass). Of course, you can always start from scratch. If you intend to write a lot of music with a certain instrumentation, you can construct your own "Custom" template by clicking on that tab. The "Rhythm" tab gives you some basic pre-constructed rhythm patterns already written out for you, which you can use as-is or make small changes for your composition. Remember - rhythm parts are written as notes on a staff, but the note values actually represent different instruments - see MIDI Essentials.

Then you'll be given a dialog box in which you can title your composition, and give copyright and other information. This isn't "Filename" - that happens when you save it for the first time. Although "Save early and often" is the adage, if you're using the shareware version, you'll want to only save at critical points, since you're limited to 10 saves.  Since MIDI software isn't processor-intensive, lockups and crashes are rare, so you needn't worry TOO much! (An aside - nope, "Save as..." and changing the composition's title does not get you past the 10 save limit.)

You may open as many compositions as you like, and move between them just as you can in Word or other software. Cutting and pasting between compositions is also possible - more later.

Now we're into the editing environment. All additions are accomplished by first clicking on the desired position - pitches require care in placement on the staff, other general additions just require you click on the correct horizontal position. Make sure you've selected the correct staff - it will be blue. It's easy to assume you've clicked on the correct place, only to find out you've selected a note far enough below or above the selected staff that it actually appears on top of another.

	Clefs and time signatures can be inserted by simply clicking on the location, and clicking the icons on the left. Key signatures can be selected by name (G major, etc.) through the pull-down "Insert/Key Signature" menu option - the correct selection and layout of sharps or flats is instantly installed on the staff. You can then highlight the time and key signatures, and copy/paste them elsewhere - if the clef isn't the same, the sharps and flats are automatically placed correctly in the new clef. Key signatures aren't just for notation - they actually influence how notes are played back in MIDI. Likewise, if you insert a "Tempo," that dictates MIDI performance speed.
Notes and rests are installed by the same position clicking, and then selecting which note value from the top icons. Once the note and position is selected, <Enter> places a note, and <Space bar> places a rest. If a note needs an accidental (a sharp, flat, or natural), click that icon first before creating the note. The arrow keys speed up finding the correct line or space on the staff - especially if you know the interval in advance (4 down-arrows gives a fifth, e.g.). If you have to enter a lot of a given accidental, the "Persistent Note Tool" remembers the accidental, and applies it to the next note created. Otherwise, the accidental turns off after each note is created.
All notational additions (accidentals, dots, slurs, ties, grace notes, accents, etc.) can be clicked before creating the note, or added later by highlighting a note and clicking the icon. Slurs require you to pre-select all the notes to be slurred, then click on the icon. For ties, designate the first note to be tied, and Noteworthy automatically ties to the next such note.  The <Tab> key places a bar line. Noteworthy automatically counts up the notes in a bar, and lines up the bar lines. If different staffs have missing beats, or the bar lines are not placed correctly, they will fail to line up between staffs - a dead giveaway for a rhythmic mistake. Grace notes take no rhythmic "space" in the bar, and are performed on the beat quickly by Noteworthy during playback.  All notes and most other notational additions have keystrokes associated with them - if you learn them, writing notation becomes almost as fast as word processing. The playback icons ("Play," "Stop") plays the composition from the selected position on the staff. If you want to play from the beginning, click there first. The output device will be whatever you've selected (see Getting Started).
Likewise, if you selected a MIDI input device (an attached keyboard, for instance) in "Tools/Options," you can opt to actually play notes onto a staff. This can happen in two ways - step-wise, or in real time. To record in real time, click on when you wish to begin recording, and click the red "Rec" button. The composition will begin play from that moment, and all play from the input device is recorded in a separate file, and accessible through the "Windows" menu. You can then cut and paste directly into a new staff. You can designate other recording placements as well. To do things step-wise, you click on the "MIDI Input Active" icon to make it active, click on a note value icon, and then play single notes or chords one at a time. The rhythm will be determined by the note values you select, not the speed at which you play, so a fast passage can be hunted and pecked in.

Most of the other tools available in the software can be accessed by either right-clicking or selecting from the menu. Many keystroke commands are also available.

To convert the MIDI file to other sound formats (such as WAV), you must provide some patching. If the MIDI playback device is the sound card, you can record using "Total Recorder" (see Sound Software). Otherwise, you'll need to send your play output to another device such as a tape recorder or other computer by patching the MIDI device to it.