Copyright: Song Player Help, Copyright © 1995, Musicware Inc.
Citation: Copyright © 1995, Musicware Inc.


Musicware Song Player 16-bit

The following Help Topics are available:

The Song Player is designed to help reinforce the application of skills and theory learned in the courseware and song pack lessons.  This is done through the use of accompaniments and interactive guides that provide performance feedback while you play.

When the Song Player is launched from the Piano courseware the default screen is the Guide Screen.  In the Guide Screen, keys light up on the keyboard display onscreen indicating the notes you should be playing in one color (red) and the notes you are playing - blue when different, green when the same.  There are two types of guides - Note Count and Pitch Accuracy.

The Song Player has the following screens:

Guide Screen

Instrument Screen

Lyric Screen

Setup

Printing Songbooks

Contacting Product Support

For Help on Help, Press F1


Product Support

When contacting Product Support be sure to provide the following information:

♦	Serial Number of the Musicware product you are calling about.

♦	Type of computer (486, Pentium, etc.) and the amount of RAM.

♦	Type of MIDI Interface (sound card, MIDI Interface card) manufacturer and model

♦	Brand and model of your MIDI keyboard

♦	A detailed description of the problem including any error messages and information about where in the program the problem occurs.

♦	Version of Windows

♦	Version of DOS/Operating System

♦	Amount of available hard disk space

Product Support can be reached in the following ways:

♦	CompuServe: GO MUSICWARE

♦	INTERNET: 75162.433@compuserve.com

♦	AOL:  TAPMusic

♦	Phone: 206-881-1419

♦	Hours:  10:00 am - 6:30 pm Pacific M-F

♦	Fax: 206-881-9664

♦	Mail:  Musicware, P.O. Box 2882, Redmond, WA  98073

Note:  If you are contacting product support by phone it is recommended that you be in front of your PC.

Contacting Customer Service

For Sales or Customer Service call

800-99-PIANO (800-997-4266) , (206) 881-9797

or fax (206) 881-9664

(Please do not call the 800 number for technical support.  The representatives answering the sales number are not trained to handle technical issues and will not be able to help you.)


Instrument Screen

The Instrument screen is where you can arrange your orchestrations and adjust individual instrument charactistics.

The middle portion of the screen displays the instrument panels that are associated with tracks in a loaded midi file.  Each track will be given an individual panel with a volume slider, Solo Mute buttons, Pan, Chorus, and Reverb sliders.

These panels attempt to optimize the amount of space they can occupy depending upon video resolution, screen font size, and current window size.   Higher resolution displays will show more panels on the screen than lower resolution displays.

If all the panels won't fit on the screen, then a scroll bar is provided to access the rows of panels that are off screen.  You may also swap panels by right clicking on the panel title and selecting a different track name from the list displayed at your cursor.  The name you select will replace the panel you clicked on.  The panel clicked on will take the position of the panel you selected in the list, which may be off screen.  This doesn't change actual track numbers of names.  It is purely for display and organization purposes.

See Also

Instrument Mapping


Guide Screen

Use the Guide screen to play along with your chosen accompaniment style.  On-screen keyboards display the notes you are playing, along with the notes being played by the computer, with several different variations on what notes the different keyboard styles display.

You may also select from the list of installed Guides to help you learn the song and accompaniment you have chosen.  Each Guide provides a different method of interpreting how you are playing and what is expected of you from the instrument track chosen to play along with.  The default Guides are the Note Count and Pitch Accuracy Guides.

The main screen area is where the keyboards are located.  Clicking on any empty area with the right mouse button brings up a menu of options at your pointer arrow.  These options allow you to select which keyboards you want displayed, and in what combination.

User   - Toggles On/Off the keyboard which displays your playing.

Computer - Toggles On/Off the keyboard which displays the notes the  computer is playing.

Computer and User - Toggles On/Off the keyboard which displays the

combined notes of the computer and your input.

Clicking on the "Computer" or "Computer and User" keyboard with the right mouse button displays a menu of options at your pointer arrow for selecting which instrument to play along with.

In the toolbar there are shortcut option buttons for turning on and off the accompaniments: Piano Left Hand, Right Hand, the Percussion, and the Orchestra.  When the button is depressed the corresponding track(s) is muted.


Control Panel

At the top of each screen is a panel of controls for listening to the loaded midi file.  The controls in this panel work consistently across all screens.  The appearance of these controls is similar to a tape deck or VCR. (Left to Right above).

Rewind 	- 	Returns to the beginning of the song.

Pause 	-	Pauses the play of the MIDI file.

Stop 	- 	Stops playback of the current song.

Play 	-	Starts playback of the current song.

Fast Forward 	- 	Move forward in the song at 3 times the normal tempo.

Meas:Beat	-	Shows the current beat and measure.

Master Volume	- 	Decreases/increases song volume.

Song Position 	- 	Current Measure & Beat.

Tempo	-	Adjust the base speed.


Lyrics Screen

The Lyric screen is only made available if lyric events are found in the loaded midi file.

The Lyric screen displays verses in the middle section of the screen.  Words turn red to indicate they are supposed to be sung at that beat.  Lyrics that have already been sung turn grey.

When a song is stopped you can reposition your place in the song by clicking on a lyric.  The Measure:Beat indicator will display the beat the word lands on.  And clicking Play will start playback from that beat.

The keyboard displayed under the lyric area works that same as the keyboards on the Guide screen.  (No guides can be used on this screen.)


Setup

The Setup property sheet present different options depending upon whether the program is run as part of a Musicware educational product, or whether it is run as a stand-alone song player.

The setup tabs consist of the following:

Midi Device Driver selection -

Select your installed device driver for midi input and output.  These two lists display all the active Windows drivers in your system for Midi, FM Synthesisers, and wavetable. This option is disabled when used from a Musicware Education program where the midi setup has already been set.  There is also a Thru check box at the bottom to enable Thru.

Midi Device Model selection -

The left-most list displays all the currently installed manufacturers of midi keyboards and other midi devices.  Selecting an option on this list fills the second list with all the available models for that manufacturer.  The model you select in this list determines the list of instruments that appear when you right click with your mouse on an instrument graphic in the Instruments screen.


File Open

Select a midi file to be loaded into the Musicware Song Player.  Musicware Song Player will load any valid MIDI file (GM, GS, Type 0 & 1, etc..).  Only one file may be loaded at a time.

Because the Song Player was designed using the GM specification the instrument mapping may be different on your keyboard/soundcard.  If the instruments sound strange try different keyboard options in the Setup, Keyboard tab.


Guide Position Meas:Beat counter

This counter follows the Guide Position Slider and indicates the Measure and Beat of the Guide.


Guide Position Slider

The Guide Position Slider and it's associated Measure:Beat counter display above the keyboards on the Guide screen.  This slider can be used for fine control of when the selected guide begins comparing your input to the selected instrument.

This is especially useful if you would like to play for a certain amount of time to get the "feel" of the song before you are being judged by the guide.


Instrument Activity Meter

To the right of the picture is the activity meter.  This is much like the level meters on tape decks and mixing boards.  But instead of volume it is sensitive to velocity.


Instrument Mapping

The Musicware Song Player is a General Midi based application.  It attempts to map non-General Midi instruments to General Midi where available.  Many instruments are not supported by General Midi and either map to something reasonably close, or to nothing at all.  If your device is not General Midi compatible and is not shown on the list of models, select something close from the same manufacturer. If the manufacturer is not available, then experiment with other options.


Instrument Panels

Instrument panels provide controls for adjusting the characteristics of individual instruments.

Each panel represents a track in a midi file.  The instrument assigned to that track will be assigned to an instrument group according to the General MIDI specification.  This instrument group will determine the picture that gets displayed for the track.  Instrument changes within a track are recognized and the picture will update dynamically.  Though if the new instrument is a part of the same instrument group you won't notice any change in the picture.

Clicking with your right mouse button on the instrument graphic pops out a list of the instrument groups.  Selecting an instrument group will display a list of instruments specific to the midi device selected in midi setup.  Instrument changes made during playback will go into effect immediately upon selection.   The following features are available on the Instrument Panel:

Instrument Activity Meter

Mute

Solo

Volume

More Controls

Pan

Reverb

Chorus

At the top of the panel is the title.  This title can come from a couple of different sources.  If there is no instrument name specified in the file, then the track name is used.  If there is no track name, then the instrument patch name is used.  You can swap panels by clicking on the title with your right mouse button and selecting from the local menu list at your cursor.


Instrument Picture

Each panel represents a track in a midi file.  The instrument assigned to that track will be assigned to an instrument group according to the General MIDI specification.  This instrument group will determine the picture that gets displayed for the track.  Instrument changes within a track are recognized and the picture will update dynamically.  Though if the new instrument is a part of the same instrument group you won't notice any change in the picture.

Clicking on the picture with your right mouse button will display a list of instrument groups at your cursor.  Moving your cursor over these groups pops out a list of instruments specific to the selected midi device as they fall within the groups.


Instrument Swap

At the top of the panel is the title.  This title can come from a couple of different sources.  If there is no instrument name specified in the file, then the track name is used.  If there is no track name, then the Instrument Patch Name is used.  You can swap panels by clicking on the title with your right mouse button and selecting from the local menu list at your cursor.

The name you select will replace the panel you clicked on.  The panel clicked on will take the position of the panel you selected in the list, which may be off screen.  This doesn't change actual track numbers of names.  It is purely for display and organization purposes.


Instrument Title

At the top of the panel is the title.  This title can come from a couple of different sources.  If there is no instrument name specified in the file, then the track name is used.  If there is no track name, then the instrument patch name is used.  You can swap panels by clicking on the title with your right mouse button and selecting from the local menu list at your cursor.

The name you select will replace the panel you clicked on.  The panel clicked on will take the position of the panel you selected in the list, which may be off screen.  This doesn't change actual track numbers of names.  It is purely for display and organization purposes.


Instrument Volume

The Volume slider adjusts the volume of the individual instrument assigned to this panel.  You may notice this slider move automatically during playback of a song.  This is caused by Volume Controller messages within a midi file.


Keyboard Display

On the Guide or Lyric screen you may click with the right mouse button to display a menu of keyboard types to display.

User  	Toggles On/Off the keyboard which displays

your playing

Computer 	Toggles On/Off the keyboard which displays the

notes the computer is playing.

Computer and User 	Toggles On/Off the keyboard which displays the

combined notes of the computer and your input.

Clicking on the "Computer" or "Computer and User" keyboard with the right mouse button displays a menu of options at your pointer arrow for selecting which instrument to play along with.


Master Volume

The MASTER VOLUME slider works much like the volume knob on your stereo.  This Volume affects all instruments simultaneously, relative to their individual volume settings.   Sliding the Master Volume all the way to the left eventually renders all instruments silent.  Sliding to the right turns all the instruments up to their maximum relative volume.

As you slide the volume left or right all instrument volumes maintain their "mix" with the other instruments while gradually increasing or decreasing.  Velocity is also not affected.


Meas:Beat Counter

To the left of the Song Position slider is the Measure and Beat counter.  This indicates the current song position while playing or adjusting the Song Position slider.


More/Less Controls

More Controls expands the bottom portion of the panel to display controls for adjusting Pan, Reverb, and Chorus.  This can be done by right clicking on the instrument graphic, or by clicking on the down arrow at the bottom of the panel.   To retract the expanded portion either click on the arrow (which has now turned to an up arrow), or select "Less Controls" on the local menu presented by right clicking on the instrument graphic.


Mute

Mute can be accessed from by pressing the top square button to the right of the instrument volume slider.  Mute audibly turns an instrument off.


Pan

Pan adjusts the audible location of the instrument between far left and far right.  This allows you to create an effective stereo image that best compliments the assortment of instruments in use.


Play

Press PLAY to listen to a loaded song.


Reverb

Reverb is a common effect used to represent playing in enclosed spaces of varying size.  This effect can add desired ambience that closely represents live performance using real instruments and musicians.

This effect is not supported by all devices.


Rewind

Rewind takes you back to the beginning of the song.  Use the Song Position controls to move to a specific location in the song.


Solo

You can Solo a track by clicking on the bottom button next to the volume slider.  As you Solo a track the other tracks will be muted.  Solo allows you to hear an instrument by itself without having to mute all instruments individually.  Solo also allows for multiple instruments to be in solo mode so you can hear combinations for mixing in groups.


Song Position

The Song Position slider gives you dynamic visual feedback regarding your current position within a song.  As the song plays the slider moves left to right, tracking progress until the song is complete.

The slider always stays the same size.  The farthest left point on the slider always represents the beginning of the song.  And the farthest right point always represents the end.

You can use the slider to fast forward or rewind through the song by clicking on the slider tab with your left mouse button, and move the slider left or right while holding down the mouse button.  The slider will position itself at the location where you let up the mouse button.  The Measure:Beat counter to the left of the slider shows the Measure and Beat within the song and adjusts according to your movements.


Song Title

The currently loaded Song Title is displayed above the Song Position indicator.  If used in conjunction with a Musicware Song Pack the Song Title will be a complete title.  If a file is loaded using the File:Open command the file name will appear as the title.


Stop

Pressing the STOP button halts the playback of a song.  The song position remains where it was stopped, and pressing PLAY will resume from that point.

Pressing the Tempo Down arrow decreases the tempo of the song by ten with each click.  Tempo changes within the song are scaled relative to this new value to maintain the original feel of the music.

Click on the number displayed in the Tempo Field to edit it's value and set the tempo to a specific number.

The valid tempo range is between 1 and 240.

Pressing the Tempo Up arrow increases the tempo of the song by ten with each click.  Tempo changes within the song are scaled relative to this new value to maintain the original feel of the music.


Changing Patches

You can change the instrument assigned to a track by clicking with your right mouse button on the instrument picture.  A list of instrument groups will appear under your cursor.  These groups represent the General Midi instrument groups.  Individual instruments are grouped according to where they fall within these categories.

Move your cursor up and down the groups to display the lists of instruments currently assigned to each group.  The instruments that appear on this list are determined by the Device Model you have selected in the Setup.  Select the instrument you would like assigned to this track of music.  If the instrument chosen is in a different group from the one previously selected the graphic in the instrument panel will change to reflect your choice.

Sometimes the instrument chosen and the Instrument Group graphic don't seem to make any sense.  For example, upon choosing "Timpani" you will notice the graphic change to a "Strings" graphic.  This is how the instruments are assigned according to the General Midi specification.


Note Count Guide

The Note Count Guide is a very simple guide that evaluates the number of notes the user is expected to play at any rhythmic step in the music.  The guide will stop the music until the correct number of notes has been played by the user.  Once the correct notes have been played, the music continues.

Select the track of music you would like to play along with by clicking your right mouse button on either the "Computer" or the "Computer and User" keyboard displayed on the Guide Screen.  If neither of these keyboards is displayed you may turn them on by clicking the corresponding button:


Pitch Accuracy Guide

The Pitch Accuracy guide is a more sophisticated guide.  This guide evaluates that the correct notes are being played.  The guide will stop the music until the correct notes have been played by the user.  Once the correct notes have been played, the music continues.

Select the track of music you would like to play along with by clicking your right mouse button on either the "Computer" or the "Computer and User" keyboard displayed on the Guide Screen.  If neither of these keyboards is displayed you may turn them on by clicking the corresponding button:


Pause

Pauses the playing of the MIDI file.


Chorus

Chorus is a detuning effect which provides extra body to notes and chords.  The detuning is slight so that it doesn't effect the integrity of the original note (like a pitch shifter or harmonizer).

Turning Chorus to its maximum creates an oscillating or warbling effect, although this depends upon the implementation of the effect on the individual device.


Tempo

A slider is provided to change the tempo of a MIDI file.  The slider is located to the right of the volume control.  Moving the slider to the right increases the tempo, moving it to the left decreases the tempo.  The valid tempo range is between 10 and 240.

Note:  To make permanent changes to the MIDI file you would need to use a sequencing software package.


Setting Up the Acrobat Reader

At the end of installing Musicware Piano you will be prompted as to whether you would like to setup the Acrobat Reader now or later.  If you select Now the Acrobat install will run after the Musicware install is complete and a Course songbook icon will appear in the Musicware group.  If you select Later an icon will be placed in the Musicware group to Setup Acrobat in addition to the Course songbook icon.

See Also

Troubleshooting Printing Setup

Printing Songbooks


Printing Songbooks

Musicware songbooks can be printed using the Acrobat Reader.  If the reader is already setup there should be a Course song book icon for the course(s) you have installed in the Musicware group.  Double clicking on this icon will bring up the Acrobat Reader.  On the left hand side of the screen there will be these options:  Title Page, Introduction, Note to Teachers, and Table of Contents.  To select a song to print, click on Table of Contents and then click on the page number of the song you wish to print.  Once you have made your selection, click on File, Print.

For more information on how to use the Acrobat Reader, run Acrobat and click on Help, Acrobat Reader Help.

See Also

Setting up the Acrobat Reader

Troubleshooting Printing Setup


Troubleshooting Printing Setup

If the Acrobat reader does not get installed properly during the Musicware installation or the icons dont appear in the Musicware program group, the setup can be run manually from the Acrobat directory on the Musicware CD-ROM.

See Also

Setting up the Acrobat Reader

Printing Songbooks