Questions |
| Why can I not hear the song playing even though the song position is moving? |
| Why is the song not playing and the song pointer is not moving when I have clicked on play? |
| Why can I not hear the song or track when I am recording MIDI? |
| How can I run Music Master or VS Pro on computers with less than 128Mb of RAM? |
| Why are my keyboard shortcuts not working? |
| What platforms can Music Master and VS Pro run on? |
| How can I change a Double Staff back to a Single Staff or vice-versa in notation? |
| How can I insert a 1/16 note(semi-quaver) or smaller note without it showing as an 1/8 note(quaver)? |
| How can I show tied notes in notation? |
| How do I get the notes to beam correctly in notation? |
Answers |
Why can I not hear the song playing even though the song position is moving?
- Music Master and VS Pro make all output drivers in Windows available to you when you start the program. If you are wanting to playback through the internal sound card, you will need to select the internal driver as the default output driver in Driver Preferences. If you want to playback through your synthesizer, you will need to select the MIDI Out driver as your default output in Driver Preferences.
- Check your MIDI cables and make sure you have the MIDI Out from the computer connected to the MIDI In on your synthesizer, and the MIDI In from the computer to the MIDI Out on your synthesizer.
- If you are using a serial cable connection to your synthesizer, it is normal for the switch on the synthesizer to be in the RS232-2 position for serial connection. This needs to be done with the power to your synthesizer switched off.
- If you can record but not playback, swap the MIDI cables over and try again - you could have a faulty MIDI cable.
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Why is the song not playing and the song pointer is not moving when I have clicked on play?
- The sync button is probably pressed in on the transport bar and needs to be depressed as it is waiting for input sync signal.
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Why can I not hear the song or track when I am recording MIDI?
- Music Master and VS Pro open all input drivers in Windows when you start the program.
- Check your MIDI cables and make sure you have the MIDI Out from the computer connected to the MIDI In on your synthesizer, and the MIDI In from the computer to the MIDI Out on your synthesizer.
- If you are using a serial cable connection to your synthesizer, it is normal for the switch on the synthesizer to be in the RS232-2 position for serial connection. This needs to be done with the power to your synthesizer switched off.
- If you can playback but not record, swap the MIDI cables over and try again - you could have a faulty MIDI cable.
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How can I run Music Master or VS Pro on computers with less than 128Mb of RAM?
- Music Master and VS Pro allow you to have up to 9 songs open simultaneously, and as many editors for each song open as you desire. This can be a 'hungry' resource on your RAM usage. If you reach your limit of RAM, when you attempt to open a new editor you may get unpredictable results or you may even cause a system crash.
- We have implemented two features to avoid this happening. In File Preferences there is a max. songs open field which defaults to 9. You can reduce this figure to prevent too many songs being open simultaneously.
- If you currently use the toolbar icons to switch between editors, the program has each of the other editors still open in background, even though you cannot see them. Either explicitly close each using the 'x', or tick 'Close Background Editors' in the Editor Preferences dialog. This will automatically close each editor as you switch to a different one using the toolbar icons.
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Why are my keyboard shortcuts not working?
- Music Master and VS Pro have many keyboard shortcuts which make functions faster to complete than using the mouse.
- Because the transport bar always sits on top of each of the editors, when it is the 'focused' window it receives all keyboard shortcuts. When keyboard shortcuts are meant for some other window, they will not receive it because it is 'eaten up' by the transport bar. Refocus the other window and retry the keystroke.
- The other most common cause of keystrokes not working is when the Caps Lock key is depressed. Turn this off and try again.
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What platforms can Music Master and VS Pro run on?
- Currently Music Master and VS Pro programs are written to run under the Windows operating systems, Windows 7, 8 and 10.
- Since February 2006, the Mac has been produced using Intel processors and will run Windows XP through the Parallels software.
- There is currently no native Mac or Linux versions of Music Master or VS Pro.
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How can I change a Double Staff back to a Single Staff or vice-versa in notation?
- Select the staves button on the notation editor category bar.
- To change to a double staff, select the double staves button and press the "apply to track" button on the end of this toolbar.
- To change to a single staff, select one of the single staff buttons and press the "apply to track" button on the end of this toolbar.
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How can I insert a 1/16 note(semi-quaver) or smaller note without it showing as an 1/8 note(quaver)?
- Because Music Master and VS Pro Score are both a sequencer and notation package, there must be some balance between the interpretation of the MIDI data into notation when played in realtime compared to step time entry via the mouse or piano keyboard.
- These programs use rules set at both the song level and the track level to make the notation look 'neat and tidy' when played in. In the Track Notation Interpretations dialog one of the parameters is called the minimum rest value which defaults initially to a 1/8 note(quaver) for each track. It can be changed to 1/16 note(semi-quaver) to allow individual notes of this duration to be entered, but this may affect the look of existing played performance data. The effect of this is that the program will not allow a rest less than the value shown for that track. This means that fast runs of 1/16 notes(semi-quavers) are catered for, but individual 1/16 notes(semi-quavers) will be extended to 1/8 notes(quavers) for display purposes to ensure the rule is not broken. The insertion of a second 1/16 note(semi-quaver) immediately after the first will cause the appearance of the first to revert to a 1/16 note(semi-quaver).
- If you desire individual 1/16 note(semi-quaver) rests, but this causes your played performance to look 'messy', use Display Quantize to make your played performance look more readable.
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How can I show tied notes in notation?
- You calculate the total duration of the note that is to be shown in notation.
- Select that duration on the notes toolbar (or the closest duration if that is not possible) and insert the note in the usual fashion at the desired position.
- If the note duration is longer than the next bar line, this software will automatically split the note into two, placing the remainder of the note duration in the next bar and placing a tie between the notes.
- If the duration is not quite the correct duration, change to the select tool and double click on the note head, changing the duration numerically in the open window.
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How do I get the notes to beam correctly in notation?
- You can change a single note, a series of notes, or the whole track, all by using the rhythmic beaming tool.
- To change a single 1/4 note(crotchet) tied to an 1/8 note(quaver) to a dotted 1/4 note(dotted crotchet), choose the rhythmic beaming tool from the blue buttons in the Notation editor. When its palette of options is open, scroll the number of notes to 3 and then draw a beam across their top using the left mouse button to beam these together. Place the mouse cursor at the position in the notation where the start of the notes are to be beamed differently is located and using the cursor position noted in the main toolbar, with the left mouse button underline the total note duration for its entire length from start to finish. When you release the mouse button, the note will be redrawn as a dotted 1/4 note(crotchet).
- To change a series of notes with the same configuration, choose the preset option of 2 groups of 4 notes and underline whole numbers of bars where you want this applied or click the "apply to track" button on the end of the toolbar to change the whole track.
- The appearance of rhythm in notation is a complex issue and different people have varying ideas on how certain rhythms should be shown. Indeed, there is no one correct answer on this issue. In fact different styles and eras of music show the same notes and durations differently. We have attempted to cater for this by allowing you to define your own rhythmic beaming pattern over each section of your music.
- The most common occurrence of this situation is with a time signature of 4/4. The program automatically assumes 4 groups of 2 quavers (1/8 notes) in a bar. Some people may prefer to see 2 groups of 4 quavers in a bar. Indeed, for a latin feel you may wish to see 3 groups of notes with a pattern of 3, 3, 2. Using the rhythmic beaming tool, you can set up any pattern you desire, and then apply it the desired area of notation.
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