What's the competition got that we don't?

[q]

I'd like to stimulate a discussion that compares Encore's features and Encore's interface with those of the competition (particularly Sibelius and Finale). Although the Feature Requests area of the Gvox forum is open to all feature requests, I ask that people limit replies to this particular post according to the following request.

Please reply here only under the following conditions:

• if you can cite a feature in Sibelius, Finale, etc. that you would like to see in Encore
• if you've noticed an aspect of user interface more elegantly implemented in in Sibelius, Finale
• if you can think of an aspect of Encore's interface that other applications are able to live without—in other words, extraneous stuff that Encore should shed.

I hope we Encore enthusiasts are not too provincial ... lost, insulated and isolated in Encore's corner of the world. We'd be wise to keep an eye on all serious competitors and all innovative designs.

When revising Encore's existing interface, or when adding new features all competing paradigms are worth studying. If an intelligent interface exists, it can be used or improved upon. Let's take the best ideas and features, improve on the rest, make it work for us, and move on.

Here are a few posts where this sentiment has been previously expressed:

re: winged repeats
http://www.gvox.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=743&p=3493&hilit=competition#p3493


For perspective, are we looking at how the competition handles such things?

A solution or model may be immediately apparent in an approach taken by the competition. And, even if it not ideal, if we don't have a better solution, why not go with the prevailing approach. Then, when defectors convert to Encore, they'll feel more at home.
Re: courtesy accidentals
http://www.gvox.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=873&p=5945&hilit=competition#p5945


I haven't looked, but I really think we should study how the competition implements such features. They've probably honed an intelligent interface, and if so, adopting that would make Encore more familiar to those using the competition who may be looking for a simpler alternative like Encore.
Re: melisma
http://www.gvox.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1049&p=5517&hilit=competition#p5517


Is Encore using an elegant, sensible approach for entering melismas? Does the competition have a better method worth emulating?

q

[q]

More cles, pleeease
I'll never understand why, when you have implemented n objects, with n >1, it would be a problem to increment n by a few units!

Not sure I follow. Does 'cles' translate to clefs in English?

Are you trying to add clefs ... or staves?

q

[Denkster]

Yes, I'd need more cles or clefs sometimes : C clef on the first and second line, for instance, etc.

Do you mean, you want a piano staff with two C-clefs?
What is your problem?
just

1. create the staves,
2. open the clefs palette,
3. click on the icon of the clef you need,
   The cursor changes into the clef
4. click with that cursor on the clef at the beginning of the staff you need to change.
   The staff gets the new clef for its entire length.

k.r.E.

[q]

Yes, I'd need more cles or clefs sometimes : C clef on the first and second line, for instance, etc.

Do you mean, you want a piano staff with two C-clefs?

just

1. create the staves,
2. open the clefs palette,
3. click on the icon of the clef you need,
   The cursor changes into the clef
4. click with that cursor on the clef at the beginning of the staff you need to change.
   The staff gets the new clef for its entire length.

k.r.E.

This is correct. You can freely add clef signs with the clef cursors available in the clef palette. Were you looking for something more automatic?

q

[q]

It seems I wasn't clear enough
We have a percussion clef, an F clef, an F clef an octave down, a G clef, a G clef an octave up, a G clef an octave down, a C clef on the 4th line, a C clef on the 3rd line.

anaigeon

This is an accurate description of the clefs that Encore currently offers.

I'm lacking a few other ones !

... which other clefs are you suggesting/requesting?

q

[q]

Alain (anaigeon) has mentioned it, as a C-clef on the 1st and 2d lines. (Referring to the C-clefs by the staff line number - starting from the bottom - is common in french, but I haven't seen it in other languages).

Yes, staff lines are generally number from the bottom upwards, 1 through 5.

Plenty of information of clefs here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clef

I have missed once the C-clef on the first line. This clef is apparently used by composers for a soprano-voice.
But I understand that more keys were used in the past centuries, and Alain is particularly working on ancient music.
Perhaps the need for now unusual clefs is less for editing, than simply for note entry - copying from a manuscript or old print.

If there is a need, the reason is of secondary importance.

Aside from the clefs that Encore supports, do you know which alternate clefs are offered by the competition. Does any software offer custom clefs?

q

[polarbreeze]

OK, back to the original question, here's a suggestion:

Finale's free "notepad" version allows unregistered users to view, transpose, save and print Finale scores. If Encore offered the same thing, it would be a big stimulus to more widespread use of Encore because the writer would not have to worry about persuading their collaborators to buy the full program in order to use the files.

[Doug Kerr]

OK, back to the original question, here's a suggestion:

Finale's free "notepad" version allows unregistered users to view, transpose, save and print Finale scores. If Encore offered the same thing, it would be a big stimulus to more widespread use of Encore because the writer would not have to worry about persuading their collaborators to buy the full program in order to use the files.

Amen!

Doug

[Denkster]

When you enter this kind of stuff with the same clef as the one used in the document, and optionally change the clef afterwards for publication, you are going to make much less errors than if you transpose immediately while reading (just my little experience).

That is my experience too!

Kind regards
Eveline

[hmspe]

I know this is terribly impolite to say, but "a version coded in this century". At this point I'm a lot more interested in getting a version compiled for current versions of Windows than I am in seeing a feature war.

Martin

[Nor]

Even I have added several new musical symbols within my recent Anastasia fonts provided to GVOX, i'd like the developper interrate those symbols in separate window interfaces, what i'd like to see:

-Mirco-Tonal notation;
-Customizing: lines, staves, font/size of any text in the score, clefs and their sizes, time-signature and its size...
-Export to PDF, JPG, GIF, BMP or PIC...
-Import Ghraphics
-Export Selection to MS WORD or similar desktop programs
-Export Audio as WAV or MP3
-Angled lines and texts
-Thickness of any drawn lines
-Auto-Save to a default directory
-Music Fonts library, from where I can fr example! use rests from NorMusic Fonts and flags from other music fonts, that would help very much!
- and more!!!!

[Rob M.]

  
I'd like to stimulate a discussion that compares Encore's features and Encore's interface with those of the competition. Although the Feature Requests area of the Gvox forum is open to all feature requests, I ask that people limit replies to this particular post according to the following request.

Please reply here only under the following conditions:

• if you can cite a feature in Sibelius, Finale, etc. that you would like to see in Encore
• if you've noticed an aspect of user interface more elegantly implemented in in Sibelius, Finale

I think Q's idea is a good one. Unfortunately, this thread seems to have gone somewhat sideways.

Nevertheless, I'll add another that I think does meet Q's criteria. It's not new; I'll just repeat the post I offered last December under "Encore Requests" re note placement on a score. It was noted that placement of a note is occasionally a little unpredictable; the note entered with a mouse click can sometimes end up a tone above or below the intended placement if the user is not extremely careful with the placement of the insertion cursor. That costs time. On that occasion, I offered the following:

Sibelius offers a useful approach: the program shows a shadow under the cursor that indicates where the note head will appear on the staff. That shadow "snaps to the grid", i.e., it will appear either centered on a staff or ledger line, or exactly between them.

Either that, or the insertion cursor itself could snap to the grid represented by the staff lines, so that the notator would have clear feedback as to where the note was going to land and could thus avoid having to correct entry errors.

[Ahndrew]

According to a recent advertisement: Finale has added the ability to view more than one page at a time. I don't know how difficult that would be for Encore to implement, but I have mentioned it in a prior thread as being highly desirable. It would improve productivity w/ page layout. Now that we are all getting those wide screen monitors, it's a shame to not have 2 pages side-by-side.

[q]

According to a recent advertisement: Finale has added the ability to view more than one page at a time. Now that we are all getting those wide screen monitors, it's a shame to not have 2 pages side-by-side.


Indeed. Here's the blurb on Finale's site:


http://www.finalemusic.com/Finale/Features/Timesavers/MultiplePageEditing.aspx
And it looks like finale's 'Multiple Page Editing' feature offers more than just facing pages.

q

[commnthings]

Here's what Sibelius (at least Sibelius Student version 3) does. It gives you a drop-down Combo box selection with full control of the Zoom-ratio as well as a nifty Navigator window which lets you click-drag a mini-window over the score to quickly navigate to the desired part of the score.

This is NOT trivial programming, I think!

Bob