[sib-access] Re: NumPad Reporting Issues
- From: "Farfar on a Friday" <dgcarlson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <sib-access@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2012 14:26:24 -0800
Kevin and others,
A careful reading of this clipped text from the manual will help to explain.
Clearly inputting notes from the MIDI or computer keyboard start with
pressing the letter N for note input (or in the case of a MIDI device,
pressing the first key). In either case there is a caret that appears above
the relevant rest to indicate this special entry mode. This entry mode
behaves differently than when we simply arrow across notes that are already
entered.
Some of the rules for articulations and accidentals described in the manual
say to input them first before entering the note. The text below is clipped
without specific permission of the publishers, but hopefully they will
understand. From the Sibelius 5 Reference Manual starting on Page 9:
1.1 Note input [Page 9]
Alphabetic and step-time input
Alphabetic (computer keyboard) and step-time (MIDI keyboard) input are
perhaps the most efficient ways of writing your
music in Sibelius, because you can create
other objects (such as time
signatures, key changes and text) as you go along.
To start off alphabetic or step-time input:
* Select a rest (you can also select anything else, such as a text object or
a line, which will start
writing notes at that point)
* Choose Notes > Input Notes (shortcut N). This makes the caret (a vertical
line, colored according to the voice in which
you're inputting) appear.
* Choose a note value from the Keypad (unless the note value you want is
already selected)
* If you like, choose other markings on the Keypad:
- Accidentals from the first/fifth layout (not required for step-time input)
- Articulations from the first/fourth layout
- Ties and rhythm dots from the first/second layout (double dots are on the
second layout)
- Grace notes and cue notes from the second layout
- Tremolos and beaming from the third layout
* All of these buttons stay pressed down for successive notes until you
re-choose them, with the
exception of the accidentals on the first and fifth Keypad layouts. This
means you can (say)
input several notes with the same articulation.
* You can choose buttons from more than one layout at once - they'll all be
applied to the note/
chord when you input it. (Cycle through the different Keypad layouts using
the + key; F8 on
Windows and - on Mac returns you to the first layout.)
* Then input the note by:
typing A-G (which repeats the previous note/chord, with any alterations
made on the
Keypad); or
playing a note/chord on your MIDI keyboard
* To input a rest of the selected note value, simply hit 0 on the F8 Keypad
layout. (To continue
creating rests of the same note value, keep hitting 0.)
* To input a complete bar rest, hit 0 on the F9 Keypad layout.
* Go back to the first step to input the next note/chord.
There are some things you can do to the note you have just input and before
you create the next,
which are:
* To correct a mistake, you can adjust the pitch of a note you have input
afterwards with up or down;
hold down Ctrl to change the pitch by an octave
* To build up a chord using alphabetic input, input one note of the chord,
then add further note-
heads using one of these methods:
- hold down Shift and type the letter-name of the pitch you want to add
above, so to add a G#,
first type 8 on the first Keypad layout to select the sharp, then type
Shift-G to add the note;
or
- type a number 1-9 (from the main keyboard, not the keypad) to add a note
of that interval
above the current note, so to add a note a sixth above, type 6; Shift-1-9
adds notes below the
current note, so Shift-4 adds a note a fourth below the current note.
(Usefully, this also
works for selected passages, e.g. to create octaves); or
- choose the appropriate option from the Notes > Add Pitch or Notes > Add
Interval submenus, although it's much quicker
to use the keyboard shortcuts described above
* To add a tie, hit Enter on the numeric keypad after inputting the note
* To create a tuplet, type Ctrl+2-9 or choose Create > Tuplet) after
inputting the first
note of the tuplet
* To respell a note enharmonically (e.g. from a MIDI keyboard), choose Notes
> Respell Accidental
(shortcut Return on the main keyboard) after inputting it.
Useful keys
A number of other useful keypresses are at your fingertips when creating
notes:
* If you make a mistake, hit Delete or Backspace, which deletes the note and
selects the precedng one.
(What exactly happens when you delete a note is subtly different depending
on the context of
your music: if you delete a note, it is converted to a rest of identical
duration; if you delete a rest
or a bar rest, the caret moves past it, leaving it unchanged; if you delete
all the notes of a tuplet,
the tuplet bracket/number is selected - delete that, and it is replaced with
a rest of the duration
of the entire tuplet.)
* You can also use Left/Right to move between notes and rests
* You can swap the selected note(s) into another voice by typing
Alt+1/2/3/4/Up/Down/4; so
you could select one note of a chord in voice 1 and, say, type Alt+2 to move
it into voice
2, merging it with any notes that may already be in that voice
* To add a time signature in the course of creating notes, type T and choose
it from the dialog,
then hit Return or click OK to create it at the beginning of the next bar
* To add a key change, type K and choose the required key signature from the
dialog, then hit
Return or click OK to create it in your score directly after the current
note
* To add text, type the usual shortcut (e.g. Ctrl+E for Expression text),
then type the
required text; type Esc to go back to creating notes. Text is created at its
default position above
or below the staff, at the same horizontal position as the note that was
selected before creating it.
* You can also add any other object from the Create menu during note input.
Symbols and chord
diagrams, for example, all appear at their default position above or below
the staff at the same
horizontal position as the selected note.
For lines (especially slurs and hairpins), it's only practical to input ones
lasting for two notes
without stopping note input temporarily; this is because the right-hand end
of the line needs a
note to attach to, and you typically won't have entered that note yet. Hence
it's usually easiest to
go back and add lines after inputting a phrase or so of notes.
* Esc terminates note input (the caret disappears).
Dave Carlson
Tastefully composed and transmitted from somewhere in the Western United
States, using a Dell Latitude E6520 and Windows 7
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin L Gibbs" <kevjazz@xxxxxx>
To: <sib-access@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2012 14:01
Subject: [sib-access] Re: NumPad Reporting Issues
I doubt it's in the Sib manual. It's something that only relates to us.
Remember that, in the case of the tie, the tie is actually inserted, even
though the user is one position to the right of the note to which the tie
has been appended. I have just tested the sharp scenario as you describe.
In this case, unlike the case of the tie, I have enough vision to report
that the sharp actually is not inserted even though JAWS reports the
presence or absence of a sharp alternately. No idea why I don't see a sharp
but do see a tie.
Best,
Kevin
On Mar 2, 2012, at 3:57 PM, Farfar on a Friday wrote:
> Kevin,
>
> Exactly what I get, also. In fact if you experiment with entering a note
> and
> then pressing 8 for a sharp, it will say "sharp" but one will not be
> applied. That's even more confusing in my mind. You have to go back to the
> note and press sharp before it actually gets applied.
>
> This must all stem (pardon the pun) from a note entry as being an
> incomplete
> action until we move off the note, and that articulations and accidentals
> don't get added until we land on a completed entry.
>
> Of course if I had just entered an A# note instead of A then # I would
> have
> had what I wanted in the first place.
>
> Good observation, Kevin. I'll see if there is some deeper explanatory text
> in the manual.
>
>
> Dave Carlson
> Tastefully composed and transmitted from somewhere in the Western United
> States, using a Dell Latitude E6520 and Windows 7
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kevin L Gibbs" <kevjazz@xxxxxx>
> To: <sib-access@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Friday, March 02, 2012 13:49
> Subject: [sib-access] Re: NumPad Reporting Issues
>
>
> Dave,
> I think I've come up with the reason why at least some of us have this
> bogus
> report of no tie when the tie is, in fact inserted where you want it. I
> have enough vision to have tested this and I have found the results
> consistent.
> 1. Play a note on your MIDi keyboard and then immediately after playing
> that note, press the numpad enter button for a tie in the common notes
> template. when I say immediately, I merely mean that the tie command
> should
> be your next keystroke. Feel free to allow as much time to elapse as you
> wish between playing the note and pressing the tie. JAWS will say "No
> Tie."
> In fact, the tie is inserted. However, because the insertion point has
> moved to the next note entry position, JAWS correctly reports that you
> can't
> insert a tie without a note.
> 2. However, if after inserting your note, you then immediately left arrow
> once so that you are actually on the note instead of having moved to the
> next entry position, pressing the numpad enter key will consistently
> report
> tie or no tie correctly depending on the actual state of things at that
> position. Everybody should check this out and see if the results I'm
> describing are what you experience. If you do get the results I've
> described, consistently, then all is working well.
> Kevin
> On Mar 1, 2012, at 5:43 PM, Farfar wrote:
>
>> I'm thinking along the lines more and more that the problem being
>> reported
>> is graphics or color related, due to display settings on specific
>> machines.
>>
>> The reason I think this is because of the old Sibelius 3 and the
>> SibSpeaking
>> interface. For those of you who remember setting up SibSpeaking, there
>> was
>> a
>> large amount of time spent in training SibSpeaking to correctly recognize
>> all the numpad graphics and their on/off states.
>>
>> When one of the numpad keys is pressed, a graphic changes color or shape,
>> or
>> something, and Sib Access is somehow reading this change and reporting
>> the
>> new state. Unless Dan Rugman has come up with a very different approach,
>> this dependency on correctly reading the graphics may still be necessary.
>>
>> In fact, it's not only when pressing one of the keys, but also when
>> navigating through the score, that Sib Access is reading note durations
>> and
>> other enhancements via graphics on the keypad changing. At least I'm
>> presuming this.
>>
>>
>> One idea I have for you to try (for those with this problem) is to make
>> sure
>> you've not only run your registry keys again, but that you've also made
>> sure
>> you copied all the JAWS files to the correct folder (your Settings/ENU
>> folder for your user settings). I think Dan provided a graphics
>> identifier
>> file (Perhaps .JGF) with all the secrets contained there.
>>
>> Add this to my earlier tips on screen resolution and color settings, and
>> that should keep you busy trying out different permutations.
>>
>> Maybe Dan will chime in to put me straight.
>>
>>
>> Dave Carlson
>> Tastefully composed and transmitted from somewhere in the Western United
>> States, using a Dell Latitude E6520 and Windows 7
>>
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