NoteWorthy 2 adds many new features

[Paul Coats]

I am using a pre-release version of Noteworthy 2. It will open all files made with previous versions, but is not backwards compatable. You can't open files produced with NWC2 with earlier versions.

This new version adds most all of the features that were complained about in earlier versions, most notably:

Slurs now follow the contour of the notes, and will automatically arch up over accidentals and accents.

Hairpin style cresc/decresc (< and >) are easy to apply and size automatically to the notes selected.

X head or blank note heads, for percussion parts.

[] style clef marking for percussion parts.

And many other such features. So far I have found no bugs or problems.

You may download this version. You will need (MUST have):

(1) Your v.1.75 CD, it will be requested during the installation.

(2) Your Customer Number and related information from the CD package label.

Without this, you will not be able to install NWC2.

You may have BOTH NWC 1.75 and 2.0 on the same computer, and you may even have them both running at the same time. But if so, the one that is opened first will have captured the sound card. The second one to be opened will not be able to play. But this will allow you to copy/paste from one to the other.

I have already opened a few of my older NWC files in 2.0 (just drag and drop the file onto the NWC2 icon on your desktop) and the slurs will be automatically arched correctly. Other than this, the appearance will be the same as before.

Still learning, but this looks to be a real winner, an excellent low cost, EASY to use alternative to Finale and Sibelius.

[Nefertiti]

Paul,
Can you use the jazz font replacement that I used for 1.75 on 2? I have 1.75 and 2 but haven't figured out how to get the jazz font on 2. Thanks.

[Paul Coats]

No. And it is not going to work unless a new Jazz font is created for NWC2.

The Jazz font you and I use on 1.75 shows up in the font folder renaming itself as NWCV15.ttf, which is the font NWC 1.75 looks for and uses. When you put in the jazz font it replaces the old font.

But NWC2 uses the font NWC2STDA.ttf. I would think this has extra items used by NWC2 that are not in NWCV15.ttf. So, it is not just a matter of renaming the jazz font.

I am sure this will be remedied!

BTW, that jazz font was a user created font, not supplied by NWC.

On the other hand... it has been my experience that while the handwritten appearance of jazz fonts is impressive, they are not nearly as easy to read as Maestro, and other more traditional printed fonts. So, what my music lacks in that "big band flavor", it gains in being easier to sight read.

I have pretty much abandoned "jazz fonts".

[tubbycub]

Does it include a chord tool so that when I transpose the chord symbols get transposed as well?

[Paul Coats]

Don't know. Haven't gotten that far into it yet.

[awholley]

Has their customer service improved any?

I dropped NWC like a rock after I needed a refresh of my license code six years ago.

They didn't seem interested in the fact that it was because my house burned to the ground, even when I offered to prove it. They begrudgingly reissued my license and admonished me not to "lose" it again.

[Paul Coats]

I've always gotten very nice treatment from the NWC staff.

[Al Stevens]

Does it include a chord tool so that when I transpose the chord symbols get transposed as well?

If not, NWC is useless, in my opinion. I discussed this requirement many times on other forums and concluded that the NWC developers do not understand the requirement and do not know how to implement it. They are probably classical musicians who wouldn't know a B7(#9) if it bit them.

I got tired of manually transposing text chord symbols for band charts that have solos by different instruments, and I got tired of manually transposing chord symbols every time I wanted to do a lead sheet for a different singer. I also got tired of getting virtual blank stares whenever I asked about plans to add the feature. I asked for a programmer's API so someone who understands the problem could do it for them and was met with silence. I thought about reverse engineering the file structure and doing it myself and decided it wasn't worth the trouble.

Eventually I bit the bullet and climbed the Finale curve. Haven't looked back since.

[pknight]

Am I correct in understanding that unless you purchased a 1.75 disc, you are out of luck in terms of using this pre-release version of 2.0? I purchased NWC at version 1.09 (on floppy!) and have upgraded online ever since. I don't see any point in buying a 1.75 disc when I already have 1.75, and then have to pay again for the release version of 2.0.

[Paul Coats]

Yes, you will need the 1.75 disk, but the cost is minimal.

[Riff]

Al Stevens said:

I got tired of manually transposing text chord symbols for band charts...
Eventually I bit the bullet and climbed the Finale curve. Haven't looked back since.

Amen to that! I too signed on with Finale. It does everything NWC wouldn't do for me and a whole lot more. Worth every penny.

[blaine hoopes]

There were only a few things in the old NWC that bothered me and it's possible I just don't know how to use the thing. I could never figure out how to draw a multibar rest (not sure if that is the correct term but I mean a line with a number, like 4 to indicate 4 bars of rest). I always get around this by maked a single bar of rest with a number over it and then a mark it by hand after I print it.

Anyone know how to creat those sorts of markings in NWC?