Denemo is available from a variety of sources for different distributions. The latest stable release (tar.gz and .deb formats) is available for download from http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/denemo/. You can install Denemo from the Debian unstable repositories, using the command apt-get install denemo. Builds for Macintosh are available from the Gnu-Darwin project. The Denemo development branch can be downloaded using anonymous CVS or Git.

Anonymous Git checkout:

git clone git://git.savannah.gnu.org/denemo.git

Anonymous CVS checkout:

cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@pserver.git.sv.gnu.org:/denemo.git co -d denemo master

To build Denemo from a source package, the following dependent packages should be installed first. Remember to install the development packages as well (check your distribution for the specific package name):

	For Debian Users
	Type apt-cache showsrc denemo at a command line to determine what are the package names for Denemo dependencies. Type apt-get build-dep denemo to build the dependent files or use apt-get to install the packages individually by copying and pasting there names to the command line.

Denemo uses other applications for playback and printing. You may need to install the following applications, and edit the preferences menu to tell Denemo which you want it to use.

Denemo is available in a variety of formats. The current stable release is available either as source code or in binary format. The Development branch of Denemo is available as a GIT source tree.

On starting a Denemo up to two music scores (called init.denemo) are loaded, and any actions associated with them are run. The first of these is provided with the system and does essential initialization, the second you can provide yourself in the file ~/.denemo/actions/init.denemo (where ~ means your home directory).

In addition, on startup a set of keyboard and mouse shortcuts, and a selection of optional menu items are loaded. You are offered a choice on startup. Once you have settled on the set you wish to use, and perhaps started to customise it you can save it for next time using "Save as Default Command Set" in the command set manager.

	Note
	You should exit and re-start Denemo after creating a new command set to be sure of getting your keybindings to work.

	Note
	The "Score Titles, Controls etc" checkbox is undocumented, unfortunately. What it does is to show/hide a button bar where Titles and such can be displayed. The menu items you need are under Score->Titles etc and Movement->Titles etc. When you set a title, composer, etc the Titles etc button bar will become populated.

	Note
	The Playback Controls are undocumented, unfortunately. Mostly obvious commands, the lerft/right arrows move the start and end playback point forwards and backwards, while the up/down arrows set the start and end playback points to the current cursor position. See the links from the features list "To-do List" on the website.

Here are a few of the keyboard shortcuts that are commonly used in Denemo.

Here are a few of the mouse shortcuts that are commonly used in Denemo.

For more serious use of Denemo, for transcribing hundreds of measures of music, for example, you should explore other key shortcut schemes. These are offered when you start Denemo, until you decide to save one of them as your default scheme. The Arranger scheme uses two-key bindings such as "b,s" for start repeat barline and "b,e" for end repeat barline. For shortcuts like these to work the notenames are denoted by a double keypress, e.g. "b,b" for the note b. This works because the Arranger scheme is mainly for use with MIDI keyboard for inserting notes. Composer shortcuts is another scheme concentrating on rapid entry from the pc-keyboard. The LilyPond shortcuts scheme will be familiar to those who know the LilyPond music typesetting language, as well as including commands which generate easier-to-read LilyPond output.

The unit of work in Denemo is a musical score, which can be saved in a single file (with .denemo suffix). This is represented on the screen by a "tab". If you have several tabs open at once they appear just above the music in the main window, and you can switch between them by clicking on the tab.

One score may contain several movements, which you can move between, insert and delete with the Movements menu. A movement is a continuous piece of music with titles etc.

Within a movement there are staffs (arranged vertically) and within the staffs Denemo Objects. These can be notes, chords and Denemo Directives (see the section called “Denemo Directives”). The notes and chords are displayed in conventional format (though not fully typeset). The Denemo Directives are used for most things that are not chords or notes: Metronome marks, repeat barlines etc are good examples. They can also be attached to chords, individual notes in a chord, to a staff as a whole and to the score as a whole; in this case the directive can be thought of as an attribute of the object it is attached to. Each Denemo Directive carries its own display method. For example the Close Repeat barline appears as a Denemo Object in the converional music notation, while a Directive attached to a staff (e.g. Smaller Staff) may appear in a menu under a tools icon to the right of the staff. In the case of "Smaller Staff" the directive directs the LilyPond typesetter to make the staff smaller, and it can be edited from the menu under the tools icon to the left of the clef. Another tools icon appears if directives are attached to voices within a staff, again to the left of the clef, below the staff one.

The command Edit Object gives access to editing Denemo Directives, which generally have their own edit methods. You can use the Print View to indicate the padding that you wish to apply to some item, or to show where you want to drag it to.

The titles of the current movement can be set in the movement menu, and for the whole score in the score menu. In the movement menu you can cause a page break before the movement.

	Note
	When a file is loaded it opens at the point where you left off editing it.

Use the File menu to perform global operations related to storing and retrieving from file systems. The File menu contains the following Menu Items:

Use the Edit menu to access common editing commands.

Use the View menu to toggle toolbars and palettes used with the mouse.

Choose whether to use external sources (Audio from the Mic input or MIDI) for Denemo. To use these you may need to review the settings in Edit->Prefs first.

Add commands to Denemo. Extra commands are available (those which not everyone will want) via this menu. More Commands gives commands shipped with Denemo, while My Commands gives ones that you have created locally. Note that the extra commands can also be loaded at the menu where you are looking for them (you right-click on a menu item, and if there are more commands for that menu the More Commands for this Menu item will show),

Update Commands from the Internet allows you to get the latest versions of commands directly from ftp://denemo.org. They are stored in the .denemo/download directory in your home directory. You can set a preference to have this happen in the background every time you start Denemo, if you prefer.

Use the Playback menu to start playback of your score. Denemo lets you hear your score, using an external MIDI player, or Csound.

Use the Help menu to get help using Denemo.

In the score properties dialog things that affect the whole piece can be set, as well as the titles of the current movement. In the score properties dialog you can include directives to apply to all the movements.

	Note
	When a file is loaded it opens with the final movement set as the current movement.

Dynamics, Slurs, Trills, Tempo Indications, and much more a found in the Markings menu

You can collect together your favorite ones, either by assigning shortcuts, or creating a menu of favorite commands which just invoke the action you use.

Procedure 4. Adding Markings using the Articulation palette

Some ornaments and articulations have been collected together as a palette.

Example 1. 

Denemo allows you to explore all the actions (insert/delete/edit/navigate...) using the menus. So, for example, inserting notes can be found under Notes/Rests while inserting a Staff comes under Staffs/Voices.

Note

When you have found the action you need you can right click on the menu item to get an explanation of the action and to view/set a key press- a keyboard shortcut - to activate the action. If you are setting a lot of keyboard shortcuts for menu items you can check the Edit->Keyboard Setup->Allow Quick Shortcut Edits button, whereupon you can set the keyboard shortcut just by pressing the desired key while the menu item is selected. In addition you can customize the mouse actions to initiate commands, and set the cursor that will show while certain mouse conditions apply.

Denemo offers several ways of entering music: typing at the keyboard, playing in via a MIDI keyboard (controller), playing in acoustically using a microphone or choosing items from the menu system.

Using the menus for everything would be very slow, but next to each menu item is the keypress that you can use instead. If there is no keypress shown, and you want to use that item often, then right click on the menu item and you can set a key combination for that menu action. Right clicking is also useful for getting a description of what the menu action is.

Typing at the keyboard can be very fast, if you forget which keypress you need you can consult the menu system to find out. This method is good for touch typists.

For entering a lot of already written-out music, playing the music in via a MIDI keyboard or microphone can offer the fastest and most musical method.

One way to do this is enter the music as pure rhythms, ignoring the note names. The durations show as brown notes. Each duration sounds its own pitch and length as you enter the durations. As you start each measure the bell will sound so that you can keep your eyes on the score you are copying without needing to look up and check that you haven't miss-typed. If you are a reading musician you will find that you tap in the rhythm rhythmically which helps to keep your place in the piece you are entering.

Once you have entered the rhythms you choose an external source from the Input menu, placing the cursor in the first measure, play the notes via MIDI or a microphone plugged into the mic input of your soundcard. When you play notes in via MIDI they give their pitches to the rhythm you have notated. By this means you can enter a piece of music in the time taken to play it twice - once to give the rhythm and once to give the pitches. If the piece modulates strongly you may need to shift the set of accidentals used to match the score.

The Audio Input button introduces a special entry mode where the pitches you play in will overlay the rhythm, appearing as blue notes. You can delete any wrong pitches using the usual delete keys, without deleting the rhythm. In fact if you have an "interloper" (an extra spurious note) you can delete it and the other pitches will all move along to their correct places.

Another method of playing music in acoustically doesn't involve entering the rhythm separately. For this select Input->Audio and then choose Insert instead of Overlays on the Pitch Recognition Panel that pops up. With Insert the sounded notes are entered as in the prevailing rhythm. The same applies if you have MIDI, only you just need to select Insert mode to enter the notes in that case. So by choosing a rhythm (e.g. half-note, quarter-note, or a custom rhythm pattern) and playing in the pitches you can enter the music into a blank score.

For MIDI input there are special modes (MIDI filters), such the "AngryDelete" filter. With this filter on notes are entered normally until, but if you make a mistake and press the wrong note just hit the next one much louder and it will make the correction for you! MIDI filters are found under Input->MIDI

The oldest Denemo keymaps are no longer supported. (see the section called “Adding Key/Mouse Shortcuts”). (Input via MIDI keyboard and Mic in is now available). Denemo shortcuts also work on Numeric Keypad.

Score Setup

Denemo provides different ways to set up scores:

• Create template with the special name "default.denemo". If this is placed at the top level of your templates directory (that is ~/.denemo/templates/default.denemo), then it will be opened each time you start a new score.

• Create an init.denemo score with everything you want to start up with, and any actions you want to be taken before you begin. This will be opened when you first start Denemo (that is once per Denemo session). See the section called “Musical Score that Do Things!” for details on what actions you can have Denemo perform before you start.

• Use a Template

• Use shortcut keys to add staves and set attributes

• Use the Setup Wizard

• Use Menus

Using Templates to Setup Scores

Denemo comes with a few preinstalled templates. You can also design your own templates as well.

1. Navigate to File, New From Template, The Open dialog box appears.

2. Double click on a template name from the list of templates. The dialog box closes and the template appears.

	Note
	Adjust the clef, key and time signatures as needed.

Using Shortcuts to Setup Scores

Inserting attributes with shortcut keys is an effective way to quickly customize a template.

• Navigate to the Staff you want to change an attribute using one of these shortcuts:

  • Select Staffs/Voices-\>StaffDown to move down one staff

  • Select Staffs/Voices-\>StaffUp to move up one staff

Using Templates to Setup Scores

Denemo Comes with a wide range of prebuilt templates for standard vocal and instrumental scores. If you have a custom score setup you use over and over create a score layout using the Setup Wizard and save it as a template.

1. Click on File-\>New From Template, The Open Dialog box appears displaying the currently available Templates.

2. Double click on the template name in the righthand pane. The template loads in the Main Denemo Window.

   	Note
   	The currently active staff will be black. All other staves will be yellow, until they are active.

It is possible to add more commands to the set that Denemo ships with. Some of these are shipped with Denemo, but not added automatically so as to keep the menu sizes manageable. Generally, you right-click to find more menu items to add; once added you can set a keyboard/mouse shortcut and keep the command in your default setup.

You can also get Denemo to remember a frequently used sequence of actions - it can be installed in the menu system and given a keyboard shortcut just like any other command.

To do this you right-click and choose Show Scheme Script. (You do not have to understand what a Scheme Script is to use this!). In the little window that pops up set Record Scheme Script and then do the set of steps you wish Denemo to remember, using the menu items, not keyboard, for each step.

As a simple example, suppose you wanted a command to delete the next note (there are commands to delete the previous note and the current note, so why not?). You would enter some notes, put on Record Scheme Script and then from the menu Cursor select Cursor Right (to move on to the note to be deleted), and with the Notes/Rests->Delete->Delete Object menu item you would delete the note. (Each time you use a menu item you will see a new command entered into the Scheme window). Now turn off Record Scheme Script and you can experiment with your new command by pressing Execute in the Scheme Script window. To save this new command for future use, you right click on a menu item (in the menu where you would like the command to appear) and choose "Save Script as New Menu Item", this will ask you to make up a name for your new command as well as a label for the menu item etc.

You can save the command in your default sequence of commands (via Edit->Customize Commands...->Manage Command Set->Save as Default Command Set). If not you will be asked if you want to save your new commands when you exit. Otherwise you can re-load via the More->My Commands menu item.

There is an even easier way of adding your own favorite LilyPond tweaks, which is by modifying a tweak that has already been done. This can be done by using the text-edit dialog on an existing Denemo Directive (usually found under the Advanced button provided by an edit script). Here you can see the actual LilyPond text that will be inserted, and there is a button to create a script to generate whatever you choose to enter. You can also enter the name of graphic images (.png files) that are to be used to represent your item in the display, and say where it should be positioned.

Once you have created the script, it can be saved in the menu system by right clicking on an item in the menu where you want to place the command, and choosing "Save Script as New Menu Item" as above.

If you are a programmer you will have guessed that you can edit the Scheme Script window to create any command you want. Even if you are not familiar with Scheme you may find that you can adapt other scripts to do what you want.

A good example of this is a script to insert a particular LilyPond directive into the score. This is all that many scripts do: it is easy to see the piece of LilyPond in the Scheme Script window, and by changing it you can create a new command.

For example, from the More menu select the command /menus/ObjectMenu/Instruments/Orchestral/RehearsalMark (the files are laid out in folders/directories in the same way as the menu system itself). Then choose Get Script from the right click menu. With this command its script is appended to the Scheme Script window. Here you can see the part that says

which is inserting the LilyPond directive "\mark \default" which inserts the default rehearsal mark. (The extra \s are needed to tell Scheme that you literally mean a \ sign). You can change this to insert any other LilyPond that you need - always doubling the \ signs. The you can save as a new menu item, or use Save Script to customize the script you started with.

More ambitious programmers will need to know all the commands available. Besides the complete Denemo command set (the list is given in the Command Management window) there are the following additional Scheme procedures defined.