Previously-noted issues with the Encore manual

[Rob M.]

A global search on this site using the word "manual" returned 202 hits. A quick scan of the first few pages of those hits suggested that a good percentage of them offered suggestions as to how the Encore manual might be improved -- or corrected, in a few cases.

Do those suggestions need to be re-posted here?

[q]

A global search on this site using the word "manual" returned 202 hits. A quick scan of the first few pages of those hits suggested that a good percentage of them offered suggestions as to how the Encore manual might be improved -- or corrected, in a few cases

Good point Rob.

Other common keywords are "documentation" "user guide" and "instructions."

Manual: 433 hits


http://www.gvox.com/forum/search.php?keywords=manual&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=all&sr=posts&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search
User guide: 90 hits


http://www.gvox.com/forum/search.php?keywords=%2Buser+%2Bguide&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=all&sr=posts&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search
Documentation 191 hits:


http://www.gvox.com/forum/search.php?keywords=documentation&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=all&sr=posts&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search
Instructions: 108 hits

http://www.gvox.com/forum/search.php?keywords=instructions&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=all&sr=posts&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

Many of the hits may be irrelevant, but these searches certainly flush up a lot.

q

[q]

 
This particular thread contains a lot of editing suggestions:


http://www.gvox.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1836
q

[Denkster]

Ok, I copy some here.

Template locations
From: Enc5.0.1Winb2 Can't choose user device drum map template loc
Documentation should inform users that

1. the program supposes the user templates are in:
   C:\Documents and setting\{username}\Local Settings\Application Data\Gvox\Encore 5\Templates
2. If a user template needs to be available for all users, it has to be copied to the corresponding location of all separate users
   Agreed.
3. if the user exports a file to another location, the program is unable to offer it as template
4. Files in a sub-folder of the User Templates folder are also excluded from the template list!

But - if this is how Encore 5 works - why offer the user the option of a different location?

A better solution - future development - would be to

1. Never ask user where user setting files are stored, instead:
2. Offer a function which enables users to change (default) locations for user settings files

Nudge left and right shortcuts
From: Enc5Win-b2 Shortcut Ctrl+Shift+] or [ only affects rests

According to the Edit menu,

• the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+] should nudge a selection up,
• the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+[ should nudge a selection down.
  [/list]

Both shortcuts do have no effects on notes (on W2K).
No matter what selection I tried

• note is shift-selected,
• note drag-selected,
• measure selected by [double click],
• system selected by [Margin-click].
• All systems selected by [Shift]+[Margin-click].

Only the rests are affected.
If this is intentionally, it is not what the user would expect.

Answer from Matt:
this was changed in 5.0 to work as you describe

"nudge" is now only a visual placement --
"move notes" is now what is used to change pitch (probably needs a name change as chords also are changed)

Definition of Staff
From: Re: "All staves same size" is stuck "on" - 5.0.3

.. it means that there are two definitions of "staff 1" - there's the real staff 1 of the score, and then there's the staff 1 of the (non-existent in this case) selected piano staff.

You hit the nail on the head.

1. Definitions are the base of every information system.
2. The use of the word 'Staff' in program and manual is uncontrolled, such that confusion is imminent.Three totally different concepts are often called 'Staff' in Encore:
   
   • 'Single Staff',
   • 'Piano Staff' (A set of 1 to 4 single staffs having certain relations to each other, notes are send out over 1 MIDI channel ...definition to be completed)
   • 'Staff' as member of Piano Staff;
   The definitions of 'Staff' and 'Pano Staff' in Encore are not clear, the ones in the manual are not correct;
3. Ergo: Encore has a bad base.

• Maybe correct definitions for the three concepts 'Staff' are available somewhere.
  If so, we need them to be public.
• Each of the three concepts need a clear distinguishable name.
• That name - and only that name - should be used to address the concept in every detail of program and documentation.

This is a MAJOR REQUIREMENT for usability and for translators too.

'Center' vs 'Distribute'
From: Re: Encore Win 5a5 - Report 137 - center staves and systems

'Distribute' is a suitable term for the functionality, as it is uses in graphic design programs, like CorelDRAW.

I think one should be cautious about changing Encore terminology that has been long-standing even if it's not perfect. I think that continuity is important, and each change has a knock-on effect in the documentation etc.

These are always considerations that need to be balanced.

I am glad you both are concerned about consistent use of terms in the program (menus and dialogs), between platforms (Windows and Mac) and between successive versions (4.5 and 5). In this case my balance weights more to the side of clarity and less to historic consistency.
I plea for changing 'Center Staves' to 'Distribute Staves' and
'Center systems' to 'Distribute Systems'.
Provided the change is done on every platform and every menu option and dialog, tooltip, manual and help text.
Postby q on Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:51 am
I concur with the preference for the term 'distribute.'

Postby polarbreeze on Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:20 am
Part of the reason for favoring historic consistency would be that any change necessarily introduces a difference between versions because they're not all updated at the same time. But I agree that clarity is often/usually more important.

Swing Notes
From: Re: Encore Win 5a5 - Report 133 - Swing notes

I think of it as a ratio between pairs of eighths, even though Encore doesn't express this concept as a ratio.

In other words:

Straight time (or 'no swing ') is a ratio of 50%:50% — where each eighth is worth half the beat.

'Text book' swing is a ration of 2/3 to 1/3 — I'd use decimals but they repeat: 66.6666...% to 33.3333...%

We exit the limit of swing when the ratio reaches 3/4 to 1/4 (i.e. 75%:25%) because that's where the notes can be expressed with dotted notation. In fiddling circles 75%:25% is sometimes called the Scottish snap (Unadvisedly at times, engravers use Scottish snap notation to indicate swing—which can be very misleading.

Settings
From: [url]Re: font/default prefs help wanted[/url]
just fyi (and perhaps something that can be put in documentation),
i went through all the code this is how i am seeing things right now

Global Settings [ changed in Encore and saved in prefs file only ]
Expressions
MIDI port/thru/sync/etc
Click settings/On/Follow Playback
Record/Transcription Settings
Toolbar Setup
AutoBeam & AutoSpace
Ruler Metric Setting
Show Margin & Control Pts
Print MIDI/Color/Rhythm Staff
QWERTY On & Range
Last Used Text Object Font ( remove? )
Last Used MIDI Object Font ( remove? )
Last Used Tempo Object Font ( remove? )
Last Handwritten Style Setting ( remove? - today fixed the bug where newscore dlog always had this turned on, btw )

Score Settings [ saved in score file ]
[ NOTE that they are ALSO stored in preferences file to be used for the defaults for the top 3 "on the fly" templates and importing MIDI/MTP/etc files -- as of TODAY i made sure that none of these settings change when the user tweaks these settings for currently open scores -- so now the ONLY way to change the defaults is to edit the preference file by hand (plist editor on mac, regedit on win) -- eventually we could add a preferences panel to set these things if users want it]

Colors (i.e everything in "change score colors" -- "factory presets" will set to defaults in prefs file)
MIDI "Graphics" (playback of dynamics, accents, etc..) (not on win)
Measure Number Settings
Spacing Settings (not on win)
Show/Hide: Ruler/StaffNames/Reminders/Cancellation/Rests/
All Text Element Settings
Tab Tuning Settings

Lyrics input and editing
From: Re: Improving Lyrics Input and Editing

Now I notice a big misunderstanding.
Voicing in lyrics is a totally different thing!

Voice of Lyrics != voice of notes!

Please read "Adding Additional Lyric Lines" in
Encore Manual 4.5 version 1.3 page 104
or
Encore Manual 5 version 2007.12 page 96

I reckon this helps.

Copy-Paste multiple staves
From: Re: Pasting problems

Your copy-paste problems may arise from misunderstanding the nature of the Piano Staff.
I mean not to disqualify your experiences; even Encore 5 Manual tutorial page 41 is wrong on this aspect!
Please let me explain?

Copy - Paste with Piano staffs asks for special care.

(colored by Eveline)

The Encore 5 Manual Edition 2007.12 on page 24:
Encore treats a piano staff in much the same way as a single staff. A piano staff in Encore is special because it allows you to use more than one staff for the same instrument. When you assign a MIDI channel to a piano staff, both treble and bass staves use the same MIDI channel. When you assign a MIDI program to a piano staff, it also affects both staves. And when you cut and paste in a piano staff, both staves are affected.

Here is the first tip of the vale (?)

More documentation is quoted at the bottom of this message.

What happens if you copy - paste in a piano staff?
Say, you have a 2-staff Piano staff.
You mean to copy notes from the first half of a measure in the bottom staff into the second half of this measure.
( I follow the erroneous example in the tutorial on page 40-41)

1. Select the arrow tool from the Score Window’s toolbar.
2. Drag select both the quarter note chord and the eighth note rest.
3. Go to the Edit menu and select copy (or right click/copy or use [cmd]+[c])
. The effect of the Copy command is not visible, but the notes of staff 2 are assumed to be copied to the clipboard.
What you cannot see is: not only the selected area, but also the contents of voice 5 of the corresponding area in all staffs above it are on the clipboard.
If any notes of other voices had been in the bottom staff, what would have happened with the notes in the same voice on the top staff?

4. Move the cursor to after the eighth rest.
5. Go to the Edit menu and select paste (or right click/paste or use [cmd]+[v])
. You have now copied the first half of the measure and pasted it in the second half using the universal copy and paste method.
At least, according to the manual!

But what is not mentioned:
. The content of voice 5 of the top staff is also copied onto the second half of the top staff. Since the top staff had no notes on voice 5, and 'all voices' was selected in the voice selector, the second half of the top staff is cleared.
Unintended, of course.

Use Voice Selector!
The solution for Copy-Paste problems in Piano staff is this: Use the voice Selector.
Before copying the notes of the bottom staff, the voice selector should be set to voice 5.
Only notes from voice 5 are copied.
Only notes of voice 5 are pasted.
No notes of other staffs are overwritten.
After pasting, the voice selector should be reset to all voices and align spacing can be done.

Error "Can't paste here. To many staves on the clipboard"
The above error message, reported by michelet on Thu Apr 03, 2008 8:52 am, originates from the same issue.
You can understand now how this message can be true.

Michelle assumed to copy notes from the bottom staff only.
But her top staff also contains notes in the same voice as the notes from the bottom staff she copied (clear by the fact they are cross-staff beamed!).
These notes are copied onto the clipboard too.
Thus, the clipboard contains notes from both staffs.
Next, Michelet tries to paste the contents of the clipboard, being notes from both staffs, in the bottom staff.
Of course, pasting everything here is not possible, because there is no staff below the bottom staff.

What Michelle could do
1. Switch invisible rests to visible in the View/Hide menu
2. Use the voice selector to show only the notes she needs to copy (in her case: voice 4)
3. Select the notes to copy by drawing a rectangle including both staves
4. Click in the top staff to place the insertion cursor.
5. Paste her selection there.
6. Reset the voice selector to all voices
Remember, if the voice selector is set to a single voice, only notes in that voice are played!

What should be done by GVox?
What should be done to reduce confusion, enhance user satisfaction, enhance user user experience, enhance user usability and consequently improve sales?
First of all, the Tutorial page 40-41 should be corrected.
Then of course, people should read the manual.
Since this recommendations not really help users and rarely help selling software, something should be done on the user interface, functionality, text of error message, or whatever.
Maybe even the concept should be rethought?

Kind regards
Eveline


Special properties of Piano Staffs
Copy - Paste with Piano staffs asks for special care.

The Encore 5 Manual Edition 2007.12 on page 136:
Piano Staff
A Piano staff in Encore is a special combined staff that appears as only one item in the Staff Sheet. A piano staff is the only staff type that allows
cross-staff beaming.

The Encore 5 Manual Edition 2007.12 on page 193:
A Piano Staff is a combined staff that defaults to a treble and bass clef but each staff is linked to the other staff to allow for cross-staff beaming. The
Staff Sheet will only display one instrument for a piano staff and a staff name Staff Sheet.

With cross-staff beaming is meant: group notes with beams, even if these notes are in separate staffs.

More about Voicing in a Piano Staff
All staffs of the Piano staff can have voices 1 - 8.
Encore defaults to

• voice 1 for top staff,
• voice 5 for second staff,
• voice 7 for third staff,
• voice 8 for fourth staff

Exception:

The Encore 5 Manual Edition 2007.12 on page 101:
Chords placed on the lower staff of a Piano staff, will default to Voice 1

More documentation:
The Encore 5 Manual Edition 2007.12 on page 194, 229, 230, 232, 237

But Encore does not force this voicing, absolutely not. On the contrary:

The Encore 5 Manual Edition 2007.12 on page 195
Piano staves are required for cross-staff beaming. To create a beam between two staves in a Piano Staff, you must use the same voice for notes in both staves. For instance, to beam an eighth note on the treble staff to another eighth on the bass clef, you must enter or change both notes to the same voice. Entering the notes in all voices view will use different voices by default for each, so when creating a cross-staff beam, you must select a specific voice before entering the notes.

'Staff MIDI Device and Instrument Settings' dialog
From: 'Staff MIDI Device and Instrument Settings' or 'Choose Instr
Too long to copy, many images.

MIDI Initialization
From: Enc Win 5.0.0 - Report 605 - MIDI initialization (volume)
This post is to long to copy.

Dynamics
From: Encore Win 5b3 Report 420 - Dynamics
This post is to long to copy.