NoteEdit - a music score editor for Linux
http://noteedit.berlios.de
=========================================

Summary
-------
NoteEdit is a music score editor that supports an unlimited number of staffs,
an unlimited length of staffs, up to 9 voices per staff, a MIDI playback of
written notes, a number of import and export filters to many formats like MIDI,
MusicXML, ABC Music, PMX, MusiXTeX and LilyPond and more! 


Main features
-------------
* Insertion/deletion/modification of notes, rests (and multirests),
  ties/slurs, stem/beam control, instrument changes, repeats,
  clef/time/key/volume/tempo and all other classical music notation
  signatures.
* Chords markings (based on KGuitar project).
* Dynamic expression markings ((de)crescendo, octaviation, arpeggio, fermata,
  trills, grace notes etc.).
* Fixed expression markings (staccato, sforzato, portato, strong pizzicato,
  sforzando etc.).
* Multiple voices per staff (polyphony).
* Drum notes (including drum and bass drum clef).
* Flexible UI based on Qt/KDE. Supports zoom, multiple windows, many keyboard
  shortcuts, Konqueror embedding and other candies.
* Playback and other MIDI operations (reading and recording from MIDI keyboard)
  are done using TSE3 library. Each staff can have its own channel, own
  intsrument and own MIDI settings (reverbation, chorus). Currently played
  element is highlighted!
* Support for lyrics.
* Basic score layout operations (setting brackets, braces, continuing bars over
  staffs etc.).
* Many useful tools like automatic placment of bars, automatic placement of
  beams, transposition, copying&pasting of elements, optimization and resetting
  of accidentals, MIDI importing (or recording from MIDI keyboard) filters etc.
* Exports MIDI (using TSE3 library), MusicXML, ABC Music, PMX, MusiXTeX and
  LilyPond.
* Imports MIDI and MusicXML.
* The NoteEdit fileformat is similar to the format of the music publication
  program (MUP). It's a plaintext format, with a simple syntax for describing
  the music, so computer geeks can edit it by hand if they want to:).
* NoteEdit is translated into the following languages: German, Spanish, French,
  Hungarian, Italian, Russian, Slovak, Slovene and Swedish. It supports UTF-8
  encodings for lyrics, score title, composer, copyright and other document
  strings. 


The TSE3 library
----------------
From version 1.5.0 on, NoteEdit bases on a library by Pete Goodliffe called TSE3
(TSE3 Homepage). It is a powerful open source sequencer engine written in C++.
The libkmid version is further supported but this version doesn't offer all
features (MIDI import for eg.).

TSE3 has its own file format and NoteEdit can produce it by means of TSE3
function calls. So the NoteEdit data are interchangable with sequencer
applications basing on TSE3.

The TSE3 library is not as much tested as the libkmid. So if you have problems
with MIDI playback, installation or other realated functions please contact Pete
Goodliffe. The TSE3 library comes with an application called tse3play. So you
can test whether it works on your system. If so NoteEdit should work too! 


Installation
------------
See INSTALL!


Konqueror embedding (experimental)
----------------------------------
You can configure the Konqueror browser such a way that it starts NoteEdit as an
embedded application. This requires installation of NoteEdit in KDE system.

To configure embedding, first search for a file noteedit.desktop in $HOME/.kde
(or $HOME/.kde2 or 3) and delete it!

Then start Konqueror and choose:

  Settings --> Configure Konqueror... --> File Associations -->
  Add... (Group) audio --> (Type name:) x-notes

In field Application Preference Order there should be already noteedit. In File
patterns: insert: *.not and *.not.sav

Press Apply and Ok! Now if you select a *.not and *.not.sav file the Konqueror
should show the NoteEdit program embedded in Konqueror surface. It should start
playing as well. 


FAQ
---
See FAQ!

The TiMidity server (only with TSE3)
------------------------------------
You can use the MIDI to WAVE converter and player TiMidity++
(http://timidity.sourceforge.net) in server mode. This approach is interesting
for all those who can't bring the MIDI device to work or don't have one.
Usually, TiMidity included in most Linux distros already works in server mode
out of the box. However, if you compile TiMidity yourself, don't forget to
include --enable-server paramater when running the configure script!

You should also try to change "the orchestra" by installing a different
soundfont. Please have a look at http://www.hammersound.net and search for
FluidR3 soundfont! Note that HammerSound includes many high quality soundfonts,
so you should check the others as well. There are also some nice soundfont
creator programs (eg. Swami) up there, which might help you with combining and
editing different soundfonts.

FluidR3 soundfont is in sfArk compression format. Download the decompressor from
http://www.melodymachine.com and unpack:
 $ tar -xvzf sfarkxtc_lx86.tar.gz

Then decopmress the archive FluidR3122501.zip (Because of the spaces in file
name the apostrophs are necessary):
 $ unzip FluidR3122501.zip
 $ ./sfarkxtc "FluidR3 GM.sfArk"

It is recommended to rename the resulting file FluidR3  GM.SF2, because some
Linux shells have problems dealing with spaces in file names:
 $ mv "FluidR3 GM.SF2" FluidR3.sf2

 Then in /usr/share/timidity/timidity.cfg
(or /usr/local/share/timidity/timidity.cfg) change:
 dir<<path_to_the_directory_there_the_FluidR3.sf2_file_is_situated>>
and add:
 soundfont FluidR3.sf2

Comment all other lines! If all is ok, you can start TiMidity++ with:
 $ timidity -iA -B2,8 -Os1l -s 44100     

If you run the sound applications on your system with jack, you can connect
timidity to it, like this:
 $ timidity -iA -Oj -B2,8
Take care that timidity and jackd (qjackctl) are started by the same user.
You can optimize the B parameters to the capabilites of your system.

Some Linux distros support automatic TiMidity server startup on system startup
as well. 

In NoteEdit sound configure dialog (Settings --> Configure NoteEdit --> Sound),
you should see 4 new MIDI devices:
 * Timidity port 0 128:0
 * Timidity port 1 128:1
 * Timidity port 2 128:2
 * Timidity port 3 128:3

Choose one of them and the playback should work!
An external midi keyboard has to be connected with NoteEdit with an external
application like kaconnect or qjackctl.

Tip!
----
If the playback interrupts during turn over, then start TiMidity as root. This 
increases the priority of the TiMidity process. Use the following command in
this case:
 # timidity --realtime-priority=100 -iA -B2,8 -Os1l -s 44100

Note!
-----
This can lead to operating system problems if your CPU performance is too weak!
If so, then try to decrease the priority and/or the frequency: 
 # timidity --realtime-priority=60 -iA -B2,8 -Os1l -s 22050

 
Bug reports
-----------
Should you encounter any bugs, you have any requests or would like to contact
the NoteEdit development team for any reason, please send us an email to
noteedit-devel@lists.berlios.de mailing list.


News Groups
-----------
NoteEdit has no special news group. You can find information about new
versions and features at (but do not uses these groups for bug reports, see Bug
reports):

    * alt.music.midi                    * comp.text.tex
    * comp.music.midi                   * de.comp.text.tex
    * comp.music.misc                   * rec.music.compose
    * comp.os.linux.announce            * rec.music.makers
    * comp.os.linux.development.apps    * rec.music.misc

    
Mailing lists
-------------
noteedit-user@lists.berlios.de
noteedit-devel@lists.berlios.de


Documentation
-------------
The documentation is part of the NoteEdit archive. You find it in the doc
directory. The german translation can be found under "de", the english original
is in the NoteEdit directory including all the pictures.

After having installed NoteEdit, you can read the documentation by selecting the
NoteEdit Handbook option from the Help menu.

In case of an error when trying to open the documentation file it might be that
KDE can't find it if you compiled the program from the sources. Try to change
the prefix so it points to the KDE directory on your distribution (usually /usr)
in that
case. 

We Need Your Help
-----------------
If you're a composer, arranger or other musician who use NoteEdit,trust us
your  wishes, ideas and features you'd like to see them in future versions of
NoteEdit, show us your own compositions, arrangements or other work you
created and share your thoughts and vision of NoteEdit with us. If you're
a programmer and would like to become a developer, join our mailing list and
we'll gladly help you to get familiar with the code. If NoteEdit doesn't
support your language yet or you  would like to update the current translation,
contact us and become a translator! NoteEdit also lacks the amount and quality
of documentation in  places. If you feel like updating or adding a paragraph
or two to our documentation, we'll be grateful for your efforts. And if you
think you could contribute to our project in any other  way, feel free to 
join the mailing list and make a contact with us. Our goal is to make NoteEdit
composer's best friend. We can achieve that only with *your* help!

License
-------
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option)
any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be
useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General
Public License (http://www.fsf.org/copyleft/gpl.html) for more details.


NoteEdit team, based on original README by
J. Anders, Professur Rechnernetz u. verteilte Systeme TU-Chemnitz
