Welcome to Passport's MusicTime Demo. MusicTime provides a fast, fun and creative way to play, compose, record and print out music with your personal computer.
MusicTime records any music you play on a MIDI-equipped musical instrument, and displays it in standard musical notation on your computer screen. You can also click music in with the mouse, or enter it one note at a time from your synthesizer keyboard. Once your music is recorded, MusicTime's powerful commands and easy-to-use tools let you edit the score to look just the way you want. Simply click and drag to move notes and graphics. Place any musical symbol--notes, sharps, flats, and dozens of others. With MusicTime it's easy to reposition notes and measures and modify any aspect of your musical score. MusicTime also includes the ability to add guitar chord fret diagrams to your music.
MusicTime will play your music back through MIDI instruments exactly as it's notated. Hear your music played back as soon as you write it - a great way to sharpen your playing and composing skills!
GUIDED TOUR - HOW TO USE THIS DEMO DISK
Please Note: This demo will not print or save files.
Before You Begin
• Pull down the Layout menu and choose Size to Fit. This fits the score horizontally in the window.
• If you are using a MIDI Keyboard make sure your MIDI settings (in the Goodies Menu) are correct for your equipment.
Entering Notes
You can put notes on a MusicTime staff in four ways:
1) inserting with the mouse
2) inserting with a MIDI keyboard in step time
3) playing a MIDI keyboard in real time
4) importing a MIDI file or Master Tracks Pro sequence
To insert notes with the mouse:
• In the notes palette to the left of the edit window, click on the note duration you want.
• Click on the staff where you want the note.
To insert chords with the mouse:
• Enter the first note of the chord (any note you like) by clicking as you did for single notes.
• Click directly above or below the first note, on the appropriate line or space, to write the remaining notes of the chord.
To make a note sharp or flat:
• In the note palette, click on the sharp, flat, double sharp, double flat or natural icon, or press "s", "f" or "n" on your computer's keyboard.
• Click on the head of the note in the score
To insert notes with a MIDI keyboard in step time:
• Press "a" or click on the arrow icon.
• Click on the spot in the score where you want to insert the first note.
• Click on any note duration in the notes palette.
• Play either single notes or chords, one at a time, on your MIDI controller.
• Click on different note values in the notes palette to change durations.
• Use the "r" key to change to rests of the selected duration instead of notes.
To import a Master Tracks Pro sequence or a MIDI file:
• Pull down the File menu and choose Import File...
• Select the BACH-MIDI File from the Songs folder of the MusicTime Demo Disk.
MusicTime will automatically guess the note durations and beam the notes after you import or play a piece of music (as long as "Auto Beam/Guess" is checked on in the Goodies Menu).
To record in real time:
• At the top of the edit window, click the Rec button (or press the Enter key).
• After the 4-beat countoff, play a few bars of music on your MIDI instrument.
• Click the Rec button again (or press the Space bar) to stop recording.
MusicTime can play back a score as soon as you enter music in any of the above four ways.
• Press "a" on your computer to get the arrow cursor.
• Click the arrow cursor on the first bar of the score.
• Press the space bar or click the Play button at the top of MusicTime's Edit window. Any music you've put in the score will play back over MIDI channel 1.
EDITING
There are three primary ways to edit a score in MusicTime: with the Staff Sheet, by clicking and dragging, and by using menu items to edit notes you select.
Staff Sheet Editing
Use the Staff Sheet (Command+L) to set the play status, size, playback key (part transposition), MIDI channel, program change and volume for each staff.
Setting MIDI Channels
Each staff can be set to a separate MIDI channel and program number so different instruments or patches play for each staff.
• Pull down the Windows menu and choose Staff Sheet (or press Command+L).
• In the top (Staff 1) line of the Staff Sheet window that appears, click on the box below.
"Chnl" (A1 is the default). You'll see the Choose Channel/Port dialog box for staff 1.
• In the selected text entry box for voice 1, enter a number from 1 to 16.
• Click OK.This causes staff 1 to play over the channel you designated. Follow the same procedure for each of the other staves in the score to set the MIDI channel for each staff. Remember, use the Voice 1 box for each staff.
Program changes
Using the Staff Sheet window, you can enter a MIDI program change number for any staff you want. When MusicTime plays the score back from the first bar, it will automatically set your MIDI instruments to the program change numbers you've entered. You can view the program change as numbers or expand the column to a text field of program names.
• In the Staff Sheet (Command+L), click on the heading of the "Prg" column. The column expands to show program names rather than numbers.
• To choose a program name for a staff, click in the column below the word "Program" in the appropriate staff line.
• In the Choose Instrument dialog box, click on the "Device" button and choose your synthesizer if it is listed - if it is not then leave it set to "Generic".
• Click on the desired sound to send the preset change to your instrument.
• Click OK.
The music in Staff 1 will now play with the synth patch you designated. You can also use the staff sheet to change the overall volume and playback key of a staff, in much the same way.
Click and Drag Editing
To move a note:
• With the arrow cursor, click on any note-head or rest and drag it.
To move a chord left or right:
• Select the chord, then use the "nudge" command - hold down the Command key and = (up),
- (down), ] (right) and [ (left) to move the entire chord.
To edit beams:
• Click the arrow cursor at the center of any beam.
• Drag the beam up or down to whatever distance from the notes you want.
• Click the cursor on either the left or right corner of any beam.
• Drag the corner until the beam is at the angle you want.
To delete with the eraser:
• In the upper left corner of the edit window, click on the eraser icon. (or press "e"). This turns the cursor into a crosshair.
• Click on any note, rest or graphic; it will go away.
To insert chord symbols, guitar chord symbols, text, lyrics or graphics in a score:
• Select the Graphics Palette from the Windows menu. (You can also Click on the right side of the word "Notes" in the palette until you see the word "Graphics.")
Clicking on one of the top two icons, containing the letters L and T, lets you type either lyrics or text respectively, in a score.
• Click on the L or T icon.
• Click on the score. If you are adding lyrics, click on the note head of the first note where you wish to begin adding lyrics.
• Type text or lyrics. The Tab key moves the Lyrics cursor to the next note.
• Click and drag with the arrow cursor to resize the text box or move text or lyrics.
• To adjust the vertical position for a lyric line select the lyric tool and click on the staff you wish to adjust. An arrow will appear to the left of the staff. Click and drag this arrow up or down to adjust your lyrics.
• To add a second, third or fourth line of lyrics, use the voice indicator selection in the upper right corner of your score. This is a small box with the the numbers "1-4" in the top half and separate boxes below for each voice. In lyric mode voices 2,3 and 4 are used for extra lines of lyrics. Highlighting one of these choices will allow you to enter additional lyrics below the first lyric line.
Clicking on the C icon lets you add chord symbols to the score; clicking on the G icon lets you add guitar chord symbols to the score.
• Click on the C or G icon.
• Click on the score where you want the chord symbol to appear.
• Select the root, bass note and quality of the chord then Click OK.
• Using the arrow cursor, you can adjust the horizontal position of chords after they have been input by clicking and dragging on the chord symbol.
Graphics
• Click on a graphic icon in the palette.
• Click on the point in the score where you want to place either the
left or right end of the symbol.
• Drag the cursor in any direction to stretch the symbol onto the score.
Slurs
• Click on the slur icon.
• Click on the score three times: once where you want the left end of your slur, once in the center of the slur, and once at its right end.You can edit the slur by clicking and dragging the "handles" on the slur with the arrow cursor.
Selection Editing
You can edit in MusicTime by selecting items, then using the menu commands to alter them.
MusicTime has many ways of selecting (with the arrow cursor selected):
• Select a measure by double-clicking on any blank spot in that measure.
• Select an entire staff line by clicking once in the margin to the left of the staff.
• Select an entire staff to the end of the score by double-clicking in
the margin to the left of the staff.
• Select a range of notes by clicking and holding on a blank spot in
the score, and then dragging a rectangle around the group of notes.
• Select several discontinuous areas by holding the Shift key as you are selecting regions.
• Select one or more individual notes by holding the Shift key and clicking on the note heads.
After you make a selection, MusicTime's menu commands can alter the selection in many ways.
Beam notes
To add beams to any group of notes:
• Select the notes to be beamed.
• From the Notes menu, choose Beam Group.MusicTime will beam the all appropriate notes together (i.e., it will not try to beam whole, half or quarter notes). Note: if any of the selected notes have been beamed the beam command will unbeam the notes with the first command. Select Beam Group again and all the selected notes will then be beamed.
Change Menu
The Change Menu provides a number of powerful editing commands.
The Change Duration command is a good example.
• Select any note, group or groups of notes.
• From the change menu, choose Duration.
• Click in the box labeled: "Set Face Values To=>"
• Click the radio button next to any note value.
• Click OK.
The selected notes will change to the value you designated.
Voicing
When importing and guessing prerecorded sequences or recording music into MusicTime, all notes on each staff are assigned to a single voice. In many cases this will be correct but there are two occasions where multiple voices might be needed to display the music. The first will occur if you wish to display two instruments on the same staff. The second may occur when trying to notate for instruments capable of playing two or more voices, such as a piano
Entering and Viewing Different Voices in MusicTime
In the upper left corner of each score window is a box with "1-4" in the upper half and four numbered boxes in the lower half. This is the Voice Selection box. When 1-4 is selected (in reverse video) all voices can be selected and edited. Information entered with the mouse or MIDI keyboard is always assigned to voice 1 in this mode. Highlighting one of the lower four choices will limit editing, viewing and new note entry to the voice number selected.
To Enter Two Instruments On a Single Staff
• Select either all voices ("1-4") or simply "1" to enter the first instrument.
• Use either the note palette or MIDI keyboard to enter/record music for your first instrument.
• Select "2" in the voice selection box. Notes entered for voice 1 will become "grayed out".
• Enter the second instrument's note information.
• While still viewing only voice 2 note information, make any changes to stem direction or beaming that you would like. Voice one (your first instrument) will be unaffected. If you need to edit the first voice only, you can select and edit only voice 1 info in the same fashion.
• To assign different MIDI channels and program assignments for each voice use the Staff Sheet, making the appropriate changes in the fields for each voice indicated.
To Notate Two Voices Used by a Single Instrument.
Normally, MusicTime assigns all information to a single voice. An instrument such as a piano will frequently play more than one voice, however, as in the case where a chords is held for an entire measure while additional notes are then played. Under these circumstances, you will need to use more than one voice or MusicTime will not indicate the correct durations.
Entering Multiple Voices in MusicTime
As an example of multiple voices we will use a chord held for one measure with three quarter notes played after the first beat.
• Select voice one (or all voices "1-4") and enter a rest followed by three quarter notes.
• Select voice two and enter a whole note chord in the same measure.
• As in the example above, stem direction and other editing operations will only affect the notes assigned to the same voice as the voice selected.
• Normally when notating a single instrument requiring multiple voicings, the Staff Sheet should have all voices assigned to the same MIDI channel and program assignments.
• Rests in voices 2, 3, and 4 are hidden by default. If you wish these rests to be visible select "Show/Hide... " from the Goodies menu and uncheck rests you do not wish to have hidden.
• If the music you are editing has been imported or recorded in real time you should determine and select notes which should be assigned to additional voices and, with those notes selected, use the Command key plus a number key to assign those notes to a new voice.
If the above example was recorded in real time, for instance, MusicTime's guessing routine would turn the chord into quarter notes instead of whole notes. To correct this you would select those notes and use Command + 2 to change the chord to voice 2. A quarter note rest could then be added to voice one (turn Auto Space in the Goodies menu off before doing this). Finally, you would switch to voice 2 and change the duration of the chord from a quarter note to a whole note.
MusicTime is amazingly simple to learn and use. Print out music for band members, students - or publish your own! There’s no easier way to turn your performance into beautiful sheet music! Included when you buy the program are Passport's new Frets (guitar chord) font, the Adobe® Sonata™ font , Adobe Type Manager ™, sample music files, device lists and a complete, indexed manual.
Increase your musical productivity – without inhibiting your creativity. Let MusicTime take you into the future of printed music!
MusicTime and other Passport products are available at fine music and computer stores worldwide.
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