banjotom2 - Posted - 05/18/2012:  08:40:09

I'm working on a violin manuscript, in standard music notation... a little different than my usual banjo tablature offerings...

I have figured out everything except the following:

1) How to indicate phrasing... can't find the tools, I've searched the Tabledit manual and don't see it there or in their visual samples...

ANSWER to #1: Phrasing is called 'LEGATO' by Tabledit: 1) Edit... 2) Insert... 3) LEGATO! Place cursor under or over the note that begins the legato... DURATION is how many notes will be included in the Legato... The Legato slur mark will increase its hover over the notes to be included as this number is increased in the dialogue box... Amplitude determines how deep the slur mark is. You can also determine whether the Legato mark is above or below the notes in question with the 'a' or 'z' keys... these keys will only work if you have the LAST note of the legato slur selected... The AMPLITUDE or depth of curve to the Legato slur is what will get the curve 'over' the notes to be included in the legato slur... this is neccessary when the slur mark crashed into or runs into notes... The larger the number, the deeper or higher the curve...

2) Since I am copying specific measures out of a public domain violin manuscript, I would like to show 4 eighth notes with one beam, rather than breaking them up into groups of two, which I find visually distracting, and I really want to be able to visually match the original... which is 4 eighth note with one cross beam.

Answer to #2) 4 Eighth notes to one beam: 1) Score 2) Time Signature 3) 1/1 or 1/2: This option tells Tabledit to consider the measure as a whole or half: it will then beam 4, 5 or 6 eighth notes with ONE beam or 8 eighth notes with two beams... Some of these things are not very intuitive, and this was one of those NON-intuitive things... File this for the future! The more complex the measure, the more likely an odd outcome will result, but it works very effectively on simple eighth note measures.

Figured this out myself by accident... I did pray though, so I guess the help came from above... Thanks!  

Any help is greatly appreciated...

Tom

Edited by - banjotom2 on 05/18/2012 10:46:48

trapdoor2 - Posted - 05/18/2012:  09:11:46

I can't really help you Tom, I have never figured out how to "add" beams, only to remove them. I don't think TablEdit is capable of producing phrase marks beyond slurs and ties.

I'd post your question to the TablEdit group over on Yahoo. Matthieu reads that forum and responds pretty quickly to queries and requests for improvements.

banjotom2 - Posted - 05/18/2012:  09:50:47

Marc,

I had forgotten about that forum!

Thank you partner...

I owe you one...

Let me know...

Tom

banjotom2.com

banjotom2 - Posted - 05/18/2012:  09:58:42

The "Free Bar" option tells TablEdit to ignore the beat values for the display of note beams within the selected measures. Use this when you want to change the style of note beaming. This option has two possible values. The "1/1" setting treats the entire measure as a single block. The "1/2" option splits it into two equal blocks and beams notes in groups of four rather than the default of two. "1/1" will beam all notes with a single beam.

banjotom2 - Posted - 05/18/2012:  10:05:09

3) How to force hammer or pull-off phrase marks (slurs) up or down in notation: 

IF the slur is pointing UP, but you want it down, select the SECOND note of the 2-note slur and hit either 'a' or 'z'... the slur will change direction instantly...

Tom

banjotom2 - Posted - 05/18/2012:  10:36:06

More fun: Legato!

I was calling these buggers 'slurs' and 'phrasing', but Tabledit calls them Legato...

Having established that...

1) Edit

2) Insert

3) Legato

4) Duration is the 'length' or how many notes are included in the legato... amplitude is the depth of the arch of the Legato slur mark.

Man, I'm learning some stuff here!

This information applied to standard musicc notation, not to tablature itself... although the tab part is neccessary to build the notation file.

More will be included here as I figure this monster out...

Tom

banjotom2.com

Edited by - banjotom2 on 05/18/2012 10:36:39

trapdoor2 - Posted - 05/18/2012:  11:22:15

Cool. I use the (L) to tie notes but never have messed with the "Legato" feature. I knew it was there...but didn't know it was for phrasing.

I also didn't know the tie could be altered using the (a) (z) keys...those are normally used (at least for me) to arrange how the notes are flagged. I generally prefer to have all note flags (in TAB) pointing down...which forces all slurs "up" and allows the "H" (hammer-on) or "P" (pull-off) to print above the tie.

Ah, 'free bar'. OK. I don't need to alter beaming very often but I'll try to remember!

You should try to work with grace notes. Simple ones are, well, simple. If you want to articulate them over two non-adjacent strings (which happens often enough in the Classic Banjo rep)...gaaaak! 

banjotom2 - Posted - 05/18/2012:  11:52:38

Trapdoor,

Well, I finally figured out all of the things that I needed to figure out notation-ally to get this short and small project done...

Unfortunately Tabledit was not up to the challenge...

Tabledit does Tablature exceptionally well...

It does NOT do standard music notation well.

When copying a manuscript, you should wind up with an absolutely identical piece to what you are copying...

In my effort, I found that Tabledit could do what was needed, but it did it poorly... and there were things that should have gone so easily... that caused me to pull out my hiar... i.e., it made simple procedures way too complicated, i.e., it is not intuitive on the 'notation' side of things...

I was working on a fairly simple violin piece and Tabledit fell radically short when it came to the 'proper positioning' of the legato slurs... it ran our of ability before satisfaction was achieved...

I still love Tabledit for tablature, banjo specifically... I don't think it can be beat...

But for notation, I'm sure Finale is a better product...

Tom

banjotom2.com

Thor - Posted - 05/18/2012:  13:40:11

Try Harmony Assistant:

myriad-online.com/en/products/harmony.htm

... at a fraction of the price of Finale or Sibelius (and it does more, too)